486 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
in  drugs  and  medicines,  and  whether  such  laws  would  be  likely  to  prove  salu- 
tary, without  oppressing  the  well-disposed  druggist  and  pharmaceutist. 
(Signed)  William  Procter,  Jr., 
George  D.  Coggeshall,* 
On  behalf  of  the  Executive  Committee. 
Pending  the  reading  of  the  Statistical  reports  accompanying  it, 
the  Association,  on  motion  ofD.  Henchman,  adjourned  till  half-past 
3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
Afternoon  Session. 
The  members  generally  assembled,  the  President  in  the  chair. 
The  Committee  to  audit  the  Treasurer's  account,  made  a  written 
report  that  it  was  correct,  and  they  were  discharged. 
In  the  absence  of  the  Treasurer,  W.  Procter,  Jr.,  was  appointed 
to  serve  in  his  place,  and  proceeded  to  collect  the  annual  contri- 
butions of  members  present. 
The  following,  offered  by  Jos.  Laidley,  was  adopted. 
Resolved,  That  the  members  and  officers  of  the  Massachusetts 
College  of  Pharmacy,  be  invited  to  attend  the  sittings  of  the  present 
meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
The  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  proceeded  with  the 
reading  of  the  documents  accompanying  his  report,  till  finished. 
On  motion  of  C.  B.  Guthrie  they  were  accepted. 
The  Committee  appointed  last  year  to  consider  the  whole  subject 
of  the  Inspection  of  Drugs,  with  reference  to  fixing  standards  for 
importe  1  drugs,  presented  a  report,  which  was  read,  and  on  motion 
accepted. 
[The  report  of  this  Committee  wras  a  voluminous  document,  and  not  heing 
among  the  papers  authorized  to  be  published  in  the  "  Proceedings'5  by  the  Asso- 
ciaton,  we  have  made  a  few  extracts,  to  render  the  minutes  which  follow  more 
intelligible  than  they  are  in  the  authorized  publication.  The  report  was  written 
by  the  chairman,  Alfred  B.  Taylor,  of  Philadelphia,  and  signed  by  that  gentleman 
and  Mr.  Meakim,  of  New  York ;  the  other  members  of  the  Committee,  Dr. 
Stewart,  of  Baltimore,  and  Mr.  Burnett,  of  Boston,  did  not  see  or  sign  it. 
The  Committee  frankly  acknowledge  the  very  great  difficulty  of  carrying  out 
the  view  of  the  Convention  of  1852,  by  fixing  standards  for  the  judgment  of  drugs. 
They  say  :  "  To  decide  between  articles  of  so  high  a  standard  as  to  be  just  below 
passable,  and  others  of  so  low  a  standard  as  to  be  barely  admissible,  or,  in  other 
words,  between  the  best  rejected  and  the  worst  admitted  drugs,  is  a  task  re- 
quiring the  exercise  of  sound  judgment  and  the  wisest  discrimination."  In  the 
case  of  chemical  preparations,  many  of  the  gums,  gum  resins,  some  of  the  roots, 
woods,  barks,  &c,  it  will  perhaps  be  no  very  difficult  matter  to  assign  satisfac- 
tory standards;  that,  whilst  they  will  exclude  adulterated  and  deteriorated  arti- 
cles, will  not  interfere  with  the  business  arrangements  of  the  honest  importer; 
whereas,  in  the  case  of  herbs,  leaves,  flowers,  and  extracts,  many  of  the  essential 
oils,  &c,  it  will  be  very  troublesome,  if  not  utterly  impossible,,  to  devise  means 
whereby  they  may  be  uniformly  judged  of." 
"After  a  careful  consideration  of  the  subject,  the  Committee  believe  that  the 
opinion  advanced  by  one  of  its  members,  Dr.  Stewart,  at  our  last  Convention, 
that  "  all  varieties  of  drugs  that  are  good  of  their  kind  should  be  admitted  by  the 
*  Mr.  Joseph  Burnett,  the  third  member  of  the  committee,  was  absent  in 
Europe,  and  did  not  see  or  sign  the  report. 
