Am.  Jonr.  Pharm. ) 
Oct.,  1882.  j 
Editorial. 
543 
action  by  the  Association.  Nearly  its  whole  time  could  then  be  devoted  to 
the  discussion  of  papers  and  of  subjects  of  general  pharmaceutical  interest. 
It  is  true  that  the  labor  of  the  Council  would  thereby  be  increased,  but  we 
apprehend  not  the  slightest  difficulty  in  finding  tried  and  exi3erienced  men, 
willing  to  give  their  time  for  the  benefit  of  the  Association,  and  for  the 
furtherance  of  its  objects. 
Seventeen  papers  were  read  at  the  meeting,  a  smaller  number  than  might 
liave  been  expected  from  such  a  large  representation.  It  has  been  suggested 
by  Several  members  that  a  falling  off  in  the  number  of  these  essays  must  be 
expected  in  consequence  of  the  multiplication  of  State  and  County  Phar- 
maceutical Societies,  by  which  bodies  a  number  of  papers  would  be  absorbed 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  presented  to  the  National  Association. 
We  believe  that  such  is  not  the  case,  or  only  to  a  very  insignificant  degree; 
but  we  are  convinced  that  the  fault  lies  rather  in  the  defective  manner  of 
securing  the  co-operation  of  members.  During  the  26  years  since  queries 
were  presented  for  investigation  it  has  rarely  happened  that  more  than  one- 
third  of  them  have  been  answered  at  the  next  meeting.  This  failure  is  not 
due  to  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  acceptors,  but  in  nearly  all  cases  to 
causes  which  could  not  be  foreseen  at  the  time  of  acceptance  ;  and  it  has 
thus  happened  that  members  who  by  the  force  of  events  were  compelled  to 
disapi^oint  the  Association  in  the  expectation  of  receiving  the  results  of 
their  investigations,  as  a  rule,  afterwards  refused  to  accept  other  queries  so 
as  to  be  relieved  from  the  unpleasantness  of  breaking  an  implied  promise. 
On  the  other  hand,  members  who  could  and  would  have  answered  some 
of  the  published  queries  refrained  from  doing  so  because  other  members 
had  been  announced  as  willing  to  furnish  the  reply.  In  our  opinion  there 
exists  no  good  reason  whatever  for  this  practice;  on  the  contrary,  we  can 
see  good  reasons  why  it  should  be  discontinued,  and  why  the  names  of 
those  willing  to  work  for  the  Association, while  they  should  be  known  to 
the  proper  committee,  should  not  be  made  public.  It  would  frequently 
happen  that  two  or  more  members  would  investigate  the  subject,  thus 
extending  the  investigation  in  different  directions,  and  if  one  should  be 
prevented  from  carrying  out  his  intention,  he  would  not  hesitate  to  pri- 
vately accept  a  subject  on  another  occasion,  because  he  would  feel  that  by 
so  doing  he  would  not  deprive  the  Association  of  communications  from 
others.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  volunteer  papers  have  occasion- 
ally outnumbered  those  written  in  answer  to  queries,  and  that  at  the  late 
meeting  eight  valuable  papers,  out  of  the  seventeen,  were  voluntary  com- 
munications, made  without  a  promise  given  a  year  or  two  before. 
We  can  merely  briefly  refer  to  the  excursions  an  the  homeward  trip. 
Those  laid  out  by  the  Entertainment  Comir\ittee  were  not  very  numerously 
participated  in,  because  many  members  had  been  over  the  same  routes 
after  the  meetings  held  in  Boston,  Toronto  and  Saratoga;  perhaps  in  no 
distant  time  a  meeting  in  Maine  or  on  the  St.  Lawrence  River  will  again 
take  the  members  to  the  same  interesting  country  through  wliicli  these 
excursionists  traveled.  A  number  of  the  members  visited  Watkins'  Glen, 
Trenton  Falls,  Howe's  Cave  nd  other  places  of  interest,  as  far  as  we  have 
learned,  all  highly  i)leased  with  their  journeys. 
