Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Aug.,  1881.  j 
Editorial. 
427 
offered  by  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Raih'oad,  both  from  Chicago  and  St. 
Louis.  Reclining  chairs  will  be  provided  for  all  who,  going  by  way  of 
Chicago,  will  notify  Mr.  R.  H.  Cowdrey,  of  that  city,  and  those  going  by 
way  of  St.  Louis  notify  the  Permanent  Secretary.  These  trains  are  also 
provided  with  hotel  cars.  The  fare  for  the  round  trip  between  Chicago 
and  St.  Louis  will  not  exceed  $10.  Particulars  concerning  the  reduction 
secured  by  the  Local  Secretary,  Mr.  William  T.  Ford,  may  be  obtained  by 
addressing  him ;  these  reductions  from  the  regular  fares  apply  to  all,  or 
nearly  all,  the  railroads  west  of  the  AUeghenies,  and  are  secured  for  the 
return  trip  upon  a  certificate  from  the  Local  Secretary. 
This  will  be  the  second  time  the  Association  will  meet  in  the  Mississippi 
Valle3^  Since  the  very  successful  meeting  in  St.  Louis,  in  1871,  ten  years 
have  elapsed,  and  the  Association,  very  properly,  enters  \i\)0\\  new  terri- 
tory, several  hundred  miles  further  west,  to  hold  its  meeting  on  the  west- 
ern border  of  Missouri ;  and  with  the  view  of  invading  still  farther  west- 
ern territory,  the  Kansas  Pharmaceutical  Association  delegated  Messrs. 
Robert  J.  Brown,  of  Leavenworth  and  George  Leis,  of  Lawrence,  to 
arrange  an  excursion  which  is  to  take  place  after  adjournment.  The 
route  of  this  excursion  will  be  through  Kansas,  Southern  Colorado  and 
Northern  New  Mexico  to  Santa  Fe,  and  will  occuj^y  not  over  ten  days; 
the  fare  for  the  round  trip,  including  Pullman  cars,  will  be  $30.  Concern- 
ing the  attractions  of  this  excursion,  we  copy  the  following  from  a  West- 
ern paper : 
"  No  other  locality  on  tlie  Western  Continent  offers  such  inducements 
to  an  expedition  of  this  kind  as  does  New  Mexico,  In  addition  to  the 
cool,  bracing  and  invigorating  air  of  these  dry  and  elevated  regions — 
which  acts  as  nature's  tonic  and  not  only  restores  the  invalid  to  health  but 
wonderfully  invigorates  and  rejuvenates  the  strong  and  healthy — there  is 
here  found  a  vast  region  which  is  almost  a  terra  incognito  to  science.  The 
vegetable  productions  of  New  Mexico  are  peculiar  and  strongly  marked, 
the  dryness  of  the  climate  giving  greater  aroma  and  pungency  to  plants 
than  is  found  elsewhere,  and  producing  a  large  number  of  strikingly 
original  forms  of  vegetation.  There  are  in  these  mountains  and  elevated 
valleys  many  plants  and  herbs  supposed  to  jDossess  wonderful  medical  vir- 
tues which  are  unknown  to  the  medical  fraternity,  and  we  shall  look  for 
some  valuable  discoveries 'to  be  made  by  the  botanists,  chemists  and  other 
scientists  of  the  expedition. 
"  New  Mexico  is  at  once  the  oldest  and  the  newest  region  of  America  and 
is  peculiarly  the  land  of  wonders.  Here  are  found  the  latest  and  fullest 
remnants  of  the  wonderful  Aztec  and  Toltec  civilization,  the  ruins  of 
their  ancient  cities  offering  an  inexhaustible  field  of  research  to  the  arclue- 
ologist  and  of  speculation  to  the  thoughtful  student  of  history.  Long  ere 
the  white  man  had  planted  settlements  even  at  Plymouth  Rock  and  James- 
town, the  Spanish  Jesuits  had  commenced  building  churches  among  the 
Indians  of  this  region,  some  of  the  oldest  buildings  on  the  continent  being 
still  standing  in  excellent  preservation.  It  was  from  New  Mexico  that 
Coronado  started  on  his  wonderful  expedition,  in  the  year  1543,  in  search 
of  the  seven  fabled  cities  of  Cibola,  and  the  details  of  the  historians  of 
his  great  march  show  that  even  then  the  Spaniards  had  made  a  permanent 
lodgment  and  considerable  progress  in  settling  this  region.  Here,  too, 
may  now  be  seen  the  civilization  of  centuries  ago,  the  forked  stick  plow 
and  the  most  primitive  methods  of  working  and  living. 
"  The  mineral  productions  of  New  Mexico  are  well  known  to  be  varied 
and  include  many  rare  varieties  and  unique  specimens." 
