Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
June,  1882.  j 
Editorial. 
335 
class  is  the  "  Index  Medicus,"  to  the  intrinsic  value  of  which  we  have  repeat- 
edly directed  attention  since  its  publication  was  commenced  in  1879.  The 
necessity  for  such  rej^orts  has  become  so  pressing  that,  at  present,  the 
literature  of  all  or  nearly  all  sciences,  and  very  often  of  more  limited 
branches  thereof,  are  thus  rendered  more  readily  accessible  than  they 
otherwise  would  be,  and  that  most  of  the  journals  devote  more  or  less 
space  not  merely  to  the  republication  of  selected  essays  from  other  journals 
but  to  the  condensation  of  most  of  them  in  some  form  or  other. 
Reports  on  subjects  connected  with  pharmacy,  covering  as  much  as  pos- 
sible the  literature  of  all  countries,  were  commenced  at  an  early  date.  In 
order  to  be  of  the  greatest  possible  value,  such  reports  should  not  merely 
be  a  collection  of  abstracts  without  obvious  systematic  arrangement,  but 
they  should  be  properly  classified.  Among  the  earlier  ones  nia^^  more  par- 
ticularly be  mentioned  those  published  since  1819  in  "  Buchner's  Reperto- 
rium,"  which  were  devoted  to  chemistry  and  more  especially  to  phar- 
maceutical chemistry.  An  annual  report  known  as  "  Canstatt's  Jahres- 
bericht,"  commenced  to  appear  in  Germany  in  1840,  embracing  all 
branches  of  medical  science,  including  pharmacognosy  and  pharmacy, 
the  reports  on  these  latter  having  been  prepared  since  1844  by  the  late  Pro- 
fessor Wiggers,  and  attained  w^ell-merited  recognition  for  thoroughness 
and  completeness,  throughout  the  pharmaceutical  world.  Since  1866  this 
Jaliresbericht,"  embracing  pharmacognosy,  pharmacy  and  toxicology, 
is  published  as  a  distinct  work  and  is  now  edited  by  Professor  DragendorfF, 
its  fame  as  a  reliable  repository  of  investigations  made  in  the  departments 
mentioned,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  is  well  established  and  unquestioned. 
These  reports  being  printed  in  the  German  language  are,  of  course,  inac- 
cessible to  those  not  conversant  with  that  tongue;  but  the  necessity  of 
such  an  annual  compendium,  regularly  issued,  was  deeply  felt  both  in 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  and  in  the  former  countr3^  the  want 
was  supplied  by  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference,  by  which  body 
the  "  Yearbook  of  Pharmacy  "  is  published  since  1870. 
In  the  United  States,  the  late  Prof.  Procter,  in  1855,  pointed  out  the 
desirability  of  preparing  such  a  report  regularly,  so  as  to  be  accessible  to 
American  pharmacists,  and  in  that  year  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  consisting  of  Edward  Parrish, 
Samuel  M.  Colcord  and  James  S.  Aspinwall,  whose  report  included  a 
provision  for  the  appointment  of  a  Committee  on  the  Progress  of  Phar- 
macy, and  was  adopted  in  1856.  The  first  chairman  of  this  committee 
was  Prof.  Procter,  who  in  the  following  year  made  the  first  report,  cover- 
ing 30  printed  pages,  and  based  mainly  on  the  publications  in  the  Englisli, 
and  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  French  language.  Since  that  time  this 
report  has  been  published  annually,  with  the  exception  of  1871-72,  and 
was  prepared  by  different  members,  well  known  to  American  pharnuxcists. 
About  twenty  years  ago  the  report  became  so  voluminous,  and  its  prej^ara- 
tion  involved  such  an  amount  of  labor,  tliat  it  soon  became  evident  that 
the  plan  of  preparing  it  would  have  to  be  changed,  and  in  1878  Ihe  com- 
mittee was  abolished  and  its  place  taken  by  a  Reporter  on  the  Progress  of 
Pharmacy,  to  which  position  l*rof.  C  L.  Diehl  was  elected,  who  had  jire- 
