88 
EDITORIAL. 
they  should  be  willing  to  run  the  risk  incurred  by  engaging  in  so  many 
petty  items,  when  the  regularly  recognized  preparations  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia and  dispensatories  afford  them  so  wide  a  scope.  They  have  had, 
and  still  have,  an  admirable  opportunity  to  take  a  firm  and  unflinching 
stand  in  upholding  the  purity  and  perfection  of  pharmaceutical  products 
and  manipulations,  and  on  their  true  assumption  of  this  position  will  de- 
pend their  future  success. 
There  is  one  point  on  which  we  feel  called  to  offer  a  caution.  It  is 
this :  although  unjust  censure  will  not  destroy  the  virtue  of  good  extracts, 
no  amount  of  praise  or  of  puffing  will  make  bad  preparations  good  ;  nor 
will  it  prevent  their  ultimate  condemnation  by  physicians,  though  it  may 
retard  the  discovery.  Tilden  &  Company  have  had  the  confidence  of  the 
medical  and  pharmaceutical  professions  to  a  degree  that  it  merits  their 
utmost  endeavors  to  retain.  Let  them  keep  to  the  strict  letter  of  phar- 
maceutical authority  in  their  manufactures.  Let  them  refuse  to  issue 
imperfect  preparations  under  any  pretence  of  use  for  special  applications: 
Let  them  give  more  attention  to  the  manipulation  of  their  laboratory,  and 
less  to  the  influence  of  the  press,  and  their  house  will  possess  a  basis  of  ex- 
cellence so  broad  and  pyramidal,  that  editorial  censures  will  prove  as 
harmless  as  they  are  undeserved. 
Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  at  the  Seventh 
Annual  Meeting,  held  in  Washington,  D.  C,  September,  1858,  with  the 
Constitution  and  list  of  members.    Philadelphia,  1858,  pp.  488  octavo. 
The  Executive  Committee  have,  after  much  expenditure  of  labor,  owing 
to  the  imperfections  of  several  of  the  MSS.  submitted  to  them,  issued  the 
volume  of  "  Proceedings."    As  a  whole,  with  a  proper  allowance  for  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  was  produced,  it  is  a  production  creditable 
to  the  Association  and  to  the  Executive  Committee.    We  propose  to  give 
a  sketchy  outline  of  the  papers  it  includes.    These  are  divided  into  two 
sections,  1st.  Reports  of  Committees,    2d.  Scientific  Reports  and  Essays; 
premising  that  the  record  of  minutes  is  nearly  the  same  as  that  already 
published  in  the  November  number  of  this  Journal. 
The  Report  on  the  Progress  of  Pharmacy,  by  Frederick  Stearns,  occu- 
pies fifty-two  pages  and  embraces  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  leading  observa- 
tions and  discoveries  in  chemistry,  organic  and  inorganic,  having  a  phar- 
maceutical bearing,  Practical  Pharmacy,  Materia  Medica,  Toxicology, 
Pharmaceutical  Institutions,  and  the  Sale  of  Poisons.  It  concludes  with  a 
catalogue  of  the  literary  publications  of  the  past  year  bearing  on  pharmacy, 
and  a  list  of  the  quantities  of  Drugs  imported  into  New  York  during  1858. 
The  chief  value  of  this  Report  will  be  as  an  index  to  the  subjects  investi- 
gated during  the  year,  references  being  made  to  the  journals. 
The  Syllabus  of  a  Course  of  Study,  intended  as  an  aid  to  students  of  phar- 
macy, being  a  special  report  by  Wm.  Procter,  Jr.,  occupies  66  pages,  one-half 
