t 
498  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
ber,  now  conducted  the  President  elect  to  the  Chair.  On  taking 
his  seat  Mr.  Colcord  made  the  following  remarks: 
Gentlemen  Associates  : — The  honor  you  have  conferred 
by  electing  me  to  preside  over  your  deliberations,  I  accept  with 
reluctance,  on  the  score  of  my  own  personal  disqualifications, 
though  as  a  compliment  in  giving  the  office  to  Boston,  and  as 
the  highest  compliment  from  the  Association  to  me,  I  value  it 
highly,  as  reposing  confidence  in  one  of  your  oldest  members, 
who  has  always  been  ready  to  offer  his  views  for  what  they  are 
worth,  at  a  period  in  your  history  when  there  was  no  precedent 
to  follow,  and  no  landmarks  to  guide — at  a  period  when  a  mis- 
take in  our  organization  might  have  proved  fatal  to  the  realiza- 
tion of  our  hopes. 
Happily,  those  questions  of  a  perplexing  character  that  must 
necessarily  arise  and  be  settled  in  the  first  efforts  of  our  organi- 
zation, in  the  general  plan  of  our  operations,  have  been  met  and 
settled ;  and  it  must  be  gratifying  to  you,  as  to  me,  that  it  has 
been  done  without  jar  or  discord,  that  all  have  been  united  in 
one  common  object — to  promote  the  advancement  of  pharmaceu- 
tic skill  and  science  throughout  the  land.  To  attain  this  end 
we  have  thrown  our  doors  wide  open  to  welcome  all  well-wishers 
to  our  profession  to  unite  with  us  to  receive  whatever  of  good 
we  may  have  to  impart,  and  to  do  what  we  may  for  the  benefit 
of  our  common  cause.  How  different  are  the  circumstances 
under  which  we  meet  to-day,  our  eighth  anniversary,  to  what 
was  our  first  meeting  with  but  nine  members,  strangers.  A.n 
imperative  necessity  existed  for  associated  effort  to  regulate  and 
improve  our  profession.  We  then  met  without  confidence  in 
ourselves,  and  under  a  still  greater  embarrassment  of  having  no 
leaders  in  our  labors ;  strangers,  by  reputation  even,  to  our  dis- 
tant brethren,  how  could  we  look  with  confidence  to  their  sup- 
port, in  the  general  apathy  which  all  knew  hung  like  an  incubus 
over  all  ranks  in  our  line  of  business. 
I  have  said  that  an  imperative  necessity  existed  for  such  an 
organization,  and  that  I  can  give  as  the  only  reason  why  we 
exist.  All  other  trades  and  professions  have  their  organizations 
for  associated  efforts,  and  as  it  is  the  general  average  of  varied 
talent  and  ideas  that  make  the  unit  nearest  perfection,  so  we 
shall  find  it ;  every  one  has  a  mission  to  perform,  as  well  to  his 
