IO  State  Pharmaceutical  Associations.     { A januaryfii™' 
honor  ;  as  their  volunteer  papers  were  presented  to  the  various 
bodies  in  the  earlier  history,  how  eagerly  we  welcomed  such  well- 
prepared  contributions,  and  how  we  remember  the  pleasure  and 
satisfaction  we  enjoyed  listening  to  them,  or  at  leisure  reading  their 
papers  in  the  annual  reports.  For  some  of  the  State  associations 
we  can  safely  say  that  their  successful  organization  and  existence 
is  due  to  the  care  bestowed  upon  this  educational  feature.  We 
know  that  no  better  prepared  scientific  papers  are  presented  any 
where  than  appear  in  some  of  the  reports  of  State  associations.  It 
has  also  been  observed  that  many  young  graduates  of  the  colleges 
of  pharmacy  are  attracted  and  become  useful  and  influential  mem- 
bers. We  can  note  with  satisfaction  how  helpful  the  State  associa- 
tions were  in  formulating  and  extending  a  knowledge  of  the  National 
Formulary — it  was  indeed  mainly  through  the  State  Association 
that  the  medical  fraternity  were  made  iamiliar  with  this  departure, 
and  some  of  us  remember  what  faithful  service  was  rendered  to  the 
National  Formulary  Commission. 
Can  we  doubt  the  usefulness  of  a  free  circulation  of  knowledge 
as  found  in  many  of  the  reports  of  the  annual  meetings  ?  Our 
mind  runs  to  one  of  the  meetings  when  elaborate  papers  embodied 
laboratory  notes  by  several  of  the  members;  a  valuable  paper 
on  "  Commercial  Training  Courses  in  Colleges  of  Pharmacy,"  by 
one  of  the  professors.  On  another  occasion  we  find  6  J  pages  devoted 
to  the  report  of  a  Committee  on  Botany  of  said  State  association. 
The  annual  addresses  of  the  presiding  officers  are  usually  pre- 
pared with  scrupulous  care,  and  very  few  there  are  which  are  not 
most  valuable  reviews  of  the  past,  with  up  to-date  observations  and 
suggestions  that  do  not  only  entertain  but  contribute  valued  infor- 
mation, and  not  infrequently  contain  important  seed-thoughts  for 
future  research. 
To  one  of  the  State  associations  is  attributed  "  the  great  and 
good  work  of  uniting  the  pharmacists  when  all  was  chaos  and  con- 
fusion " — when  each  looked  upon  the  other  with  a  feeling  anything 
but  gracious,  and  by  the  bond  created  the  pharmacists  were  organ- 
ized, the  Illinois  Pharmacy  law  was  passed,  and  they  recognized  the 
fact  that  pharmacy  is  not  a  mere  trade  but  an  honorable  profession 
as  well. 
Among  the  happiest  influences  exerted  is  the  cultivation  of  inter- 
state fellowship ;  greetings  are  borne  from  one  to  the  other  by  dele- 
