468 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  { 
Am.  Jour.  Pharrn. 
September,  1897. 
The  first  question  which  I  desire  to  take  up  is  that  of  membership.  For  several  years  past 
our  numbers  have  fluctuated  between  1,500  and  2,000.  The  last  report  of  the  Membership 
Committee  showed  that  we  had  i,8oo  enrolled  in  this  Association.  At  the  same  time,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Section  on  Legislation  and  Education,  in  his  report,  stated  that  there  were 
51,000  druggists  in  the  United  States  and  2,000  in  Canada,  making  a  total  of  53,000  from  which 
we  can  draw  for  our  members.  The  discrepancy  thus  revealed  between  our  membership  and 
the  total  number  of  pharmacists  is  indeed  very  striking ;  and,  even  admitting  that  53,000 
represents  good,  bad  and  indifferent,  and  perhaps  many  who  would  or  should  not  be  deemed 
desirable  to  be  had  as  members,  there  still  remains  a  great  field  for  earnest  work  in  the  direc- 
tion of  recruiting  our  ranks.  Five  thousand  is  a  moderate  estimate  to  make  of  what  our  num- 
bers should  be  before  we  can  become,  as  has  been  suggested,  a  delegate  organization,  such  as 
the  American  Medical  Association,  or  before  we  can  hope  to  wield  the  influence  to  which  our 
organization  is  entitled  by  reason  of  the  high  objects  which  it  has  in  view 
The  securing  of  new  members  is  a  matter  which  has  heretofore  been  left  solely  and  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  committee  charged  with  this  work.  That  committee  has  been  unremitting 
in  its  efforts,  and  I  know  that  the  chairman  and  members  of  the  Auxiliary  Committee  have 
rendered  yeoman  service.  While,  however,  expressing  my  appreciation  of  the  valuable  work 
done  by  these  gentlemen,  I  will  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  offered  to  state  that  on  the 
part  of  the  members  at  large,  more  could  and  should  be  done  towards  increasing  our  member- 
ship. Every  member  of  the  Association  should  constitute  himself  an  auxiliary  member  of  the 
Auxiliary  Committee,  and  should  take  advantage  of  every  occasion  which  presents  itself  for 
setting  forth  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  this  Association,  or  enlisting  the  sympathy  and 
active  interest  of  fellow-pharmacists  in  this  Association. 
It  has  been  brought  to  my  notice  that  many  valuable  papers  are  presented  at  the  annual 
meetings  of  the  State  associations  by  members  of  this  body,  and  that  these  papers  would  be 
presented  at  onr  meetings  if  the  State  associations  were  not  in  existence.  Among  these 
papers  are  to  be  found  many  worthy  of  a  wide  circulation,  and  of  being  preserved  in  more 
permanent  form  than  that  offered  by  the  usual  volume  of  State  association  proceedings.  I 
would,  therefore,  suggest  that  an  arrangement  be  entered  into  with  the  State  associations  by 
which  we  would  be  permitted  to  publish  these  papers  in  our  Proceedings,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  our  Committee  on  Publication.  We  would  thus  secure  what  is  best  and  most 
worthy  of  preservation  among  these  papers,  and  also  make  our  Annual  Proceedings  a  more 
complete  record  of  pharmacal  progress  in  this  country. 
The  Treasurer's  report  will  contain  a  statement  of  the  number  of  members  who  have  been 
delinquent  in  the  payment  of  their  fees,  and  who  will  be  dropped  from  the  rolls.  The  num- 
ber of  delinquents  has  been  increasing  of  late  years,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  assign  the  prin- 
cipal reason  for  this  state  of  affairs.  It  is  due  simply  to  the  changed  and  changing  conditions 
of  pharmacy.  The  pharmacist,  originally  a  manufacturer,  and  a  combination  of  chemist,  bot- 
anist and  merchant,  has  allowed  the  last-mentioned  component  to  greatly  overshadow  the 
others,  and  has  become  almost  entirely  a  dealer  in  patent  medicines,  toilet  articles,  soda  water 
and  drugs.  The  laboratory  is  not  to  be  found  in  connection  with  modern  pharmacy.  Every- 
thing that  should  be  made  is  bought  from  the  wholesaler  or  manufacturer.  Pharmacy  as  a 
profession  is  apparently  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  is  now  but  a  trade  or  mercantile  pursuit.  But 
I  believe  that  we  are  now  going  through  one  of  the  transition  stages  in  the  process  of  evolu- 
tion which  governs  all  things,  and  that  we  will  find  our  present  troubles  to  have  been  a  fire  of 
purification  in  preparation  for  a  new  era,  in  which  pharmacy  will  be  differentiated  into  a  pro- 
fession and  a  trade.  We  see  evidence  of  this  in  the  pharmacal  journals  and  the  colleges.  We 
find  the  former  devoting  a  large  amount  of  their  space  to  the  matter  of  advertising  and  other 
strictly  commercial  topics,  showing  that  the  mercantile  feature  is  rapidly  developing.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  find  that  the  colleges  are  increasing  the  number  and  length  of  their 
courses.  Subjects  which  some  years  ago  were  thought  unnecessary  or  useless  are  now 
included  in  their  curricula,  and  pharmacy  by  them  is  regarded  as  a  profession  alone. 
Can  the  average  individual  put  into  practice  his  college  instruction  in  chemistry,  phar- 
macy, pharmacognosy,  microscopy,  etc.,  and  at  the  same  time  look  sharply  after  the  buying 
and  selling  of  the  thousand  and  one  items  which  go  to  make  up  the  stock  of  the  modern  phar- 
macy ?  Impossible.  And  a  change  must  come  and  we  must  prepare  for  it.  If  we  desire  to 
follow  pharmacy  as  a  trade,  we  must  adopt  the  methods  of  other  trades.  We  must  buy  in  the 
cheapest  market,  sell  as  cheaply  as  our  neighbors,  use  printer's  ink  on  every  possible  occa. 
sion  and  in  ever}'  possible  way,  and,  in  a  word,  spare  no  effort  to  increase  our  trade. 
'  But  then  we  must  be  prepared  to  stand  the  fierce  fire  of  commercial  competition,  and  can- 
not claim,  because  we  are  druggists,  any  more  protection  than  that  given  other  merchants. 
