VARIETIES. 
79 
proposed,  satisfactory  to  all  honorable  dealers,  importers,  owners,  and  con- 
signees, and,  at  the  same  time,  do  away  with  the  not  unreasonable 
objections  entertained  by  our  marine  insurance  companies ;  while  its 
efficiency,  instead  of  being  in  any  manner  impaired  by  the  amend- 
ments, will  be  more  perfectly  guarded  and  essentially  strengthened. 
The  particulars  and  details  connected  with  this  duty  I  must  defer 
to  another  time-  but  I  must  be  permitted  before  closing  this  commu- 
nication to  say,  that  to  the  present  able  and  distinguished  head  of 
the  Treasury  Department,  Hon.  Thomas  Corwin,  is  due  a  debt  of 
gratitude,  from  all  true  friends  of  this  important  measure,  not  easily  can- 
celled. Soon  after  he  was  called  to  take  upon  himself  the  responsibilities 
of  one  of  the  most  important,  and  by  far  the  most  arduous  offices  under  the 
general  government,  the  downward  and  fatal  tendency  of  a  maladministra- 
tion of  the  law  was  brought  to  his  notice  ;  when,  rising  above  all  minor 
considerations,  he  rescued  it  from  impending  danger,  and  placed  it  upon 
what  he  deemed  a  safe  basis ;  and  has  since,  on  all  occasions,  lent  a  willing 
ear  to  every  suggestion  calculated  to  render  it  more  perfect,  to  add  to  its 
efficiency,  or  perpetuate  its  usefulness.  A  noble  example  truly,  and  one 
well  worthy  of  the  man. 
To  conclude,  I  beg  to  say,  that  although  I  have  not  the  honor  of  belonging 
to  any  Pharmaceutical  Association,  I  nevertheless  take  great  interest  in 
everything  calculated  to  advance  the  good  cause  and  noble  calling  in  which 
you  have  so  long  been  engaged  ;  and  I  hope  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when 
every  city  and  town  of  importance  throughout  this  wide  extended  country, 
will  be  favored  with  an  organization  of  the  kind,  radiating  from  a  National 
Pharmaceutical  Association  as  a  common  center.  It  would  be  of  vast 
benefit  to  the  community  at  large,  as  well  as  eminently  useful  to  the  medical 
profession  ;  for  as  all  must  admit,  it  is  of  the  most  vital  importance  to  the 
success  of  the  physician,  that  his  remedial  agents  are  properly  prepared  by 
a  well-bred  and  perfectly  educated  chemist  and  pharmaceutist ;  and  I  may 
add  my  conviction,  that  medical  and  pharmaceutical  chemistry,  a  part  of 
medical  education  that  has  thus  far  been  most  unpardonably  neglected, 
should  be  universally  and  efficiently  taught  in  our  Schools  of  Medicine. 
I  am,  dear  Sir, 
Very  respectfully,  your  obd't.  serv't., 
M.  J.  Bailey,  M.  D., 
Special  Examiner  of  Drugs,  Medicines,  Chemical  Medicinal  Preparations,  &c. 
Proceedings  of  the  National  Pharmaceutical  Convention. 
The  Effects  of  Pulverization  on  the  Properties  of  Bodies. — Hitherto,  phar- 
maceutists have  considered  pulverization  as  simply  a  change  of  form  in 
bodies,  the  particles  of  the  pulverized  body  being  considered  as  so  many 
divided  portions  of  the  entire  mass,  without  having  undergone  any  change 
of  property,  but  merely  one  of  change  of  form.  M.  Dorvault  thinks  that 
there  are  many  substances  in  which  the  operation  of  pulverization  effects 
