290 
AMERICAN  PHARMACY. 
The  object  and  scope  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Associa- 
tion was,  from  the  first,  widely  different  from  this.  In  the  Phila- 
delphia College  of  Pharmacy,  where  the  idea  of  such  an  organi- 
zation originated,  it  was  proposed,  at  the  time  of  selecting  dele- 
gates to  the  convention  in  New  York  for  the  above  purpose,  that 
the  delegates  should  suggest  holding  a  convention  at  a  future 
day,  with  a  more  general  object  in  view — a  convention  in  which 
all  well-disposed  druggists  should  enjoy  an  opportunity  to  mingle 
and  compare  sentiments  upon  their  common  duties,  responsibili- 
ties and  interests,  and  originate  plans  for  the  improvement  of 
their  art  and  the  advancement  of  their  professional  interests. 
The  convention  of  1851,  in  New  York,  entertained  this  pro- 
position, and  issued  an  invitation  confined  to  delegates  from  exist- 
ing pharmaceutical  organizations  to  attend,  in  the  following  year, 
in  Philadelphia ;  but  the  convention  of  1852,  as  soon  as  the  ques- 
tion of  organizing  came  before  it,  evinced  a  wider  and  more 
liberal  spirit,  adapted  to  the  more  extended  field  of  labor  which 
seemed  opening  before  it,  and,  as  a  result,  adopted  the  present 
section  of  the  constitution  relating  to  members. 
And  yet  this  section  must  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  compro- 
mise between  the  more  progressive  and  ultra  conservative  ideas 
of  members.  For  although,  practically,  it  seems  to  have  opened 
the  door  to  all  rightly  disposed  pharmaceutists  to  enter  the  or- 
ganization by  pursuing  the  rather  awkward  and  sometimes  diffi- 
cult preliminary  steps  laid  down,  yet  in  the  Code  of  Ethics,  which 
is  made  a  test  of  admission  to  membership,  a  clause  is  inserted 
which  would,  if  strictly  construed,  keep  out  some  of  the  most  in- 
terested and  efficient  members.  The  obligation  "  to  discounte- 
nance quackery,"  although  one  which  will  certainly  be  increas- 
ingly felt  by  members  as  they  become  imbued  with  the  prevailing 
spirit  of  the  association,  has  never  impressed  itself  as  a  duty 
upon  many  whose  aid  we  desire  to  invoke  in  our  earliest  efforts. 
It  is  mainly  by  the  sale  of  quack  medicines  that  many  druggists 
subsist,  who  yet  desire  a  reform  in  their  business,  and  would  be 
glad  to  co-operate  in  the  laudable  objects  of  the  association.  In 
view  of  these  considerations  the  writer  is  led  to  advocate  a  cor- 
dial welcome  into  the  association  of  all  druggists,  apothecaries 
and  chemists  who  desire  self  improvement,  and  are  vailing  to 
identify  themselves  with  the  general  progressive  movements 
