EDITORIAL. 
191 
and  efficiently  labored.  Previous  to  taking  this  step,  he  determined  to 
publish  in  a  collective  form  many  of  the  Introductory  Lectures  which  have 
been  delivered  during  his  long  career  as  a  teacher ;  besides  several  ad- 
dresses, biographical  and  otherwise,  more  or  less  relating  to  medical  sub- 
jects. The  first  of  the  collection  is  an  address  to  the  members  of  the  Phila- 
delphia College  of  Pharmacy  thirty-six  years  ago,  at  a  period  when  its 
school  of  Pharmacy,  in  which  the  author  at  that  time  occupied  the  chair 
of  chemistry,  was  in  a  very  depressed  state.  The  object  of  the  address 
was  to  arouse  the  members  of  the  Institution  to  a  clearer  appreciation  of 
its  condition,  its  duties,  its  powers,  and  in  what  way  these  should  be  ex- 
erted to  fulfil  the  destiny,  to  which,  in  the  mind  of  the  writer,  it  was  called. 
In  concluding  this  address,  which  contains  many  excellent  points,  Dr. 
Wood  uses  the  following  prophetic  remarks  :  "  With  great  confidence  we 
may  anticipate,  not  perhaps  an  immediate,  but  certainly  a  high  degree  of 
ultimate  prosperity  for  the  Institution.  In  the  progress  of  years,  it  will 
out-grow  its  present  sick  and  fragile  condition.  Strong  internally  by  its 
own  regulations,  and  externally  by  your  unanimous  support,  it  will  be  en- 
abled to  exercise  over  your  profession  an  authority  equally  beneficial  to 
yourselves  and  to  the  community.  Provided  with  ample  means  of  instruc- 
tion, and  holding  out  strong  inducements  to  studious  application,  it  will 
diffuse  copious  and  accurate  knowledge  among  the  apprentices  to  your  art, 
and  will  greatly  elevate  your  standard  of  scientific  attainments.  Finally, 
when  the  division  of  the  professions  shall  have  become  more  general,  and 
apothecaries  shall  be  required,  not  only  in  our  larger  towns,  but  in  almost 
every  village  of  the  country,  it  may  widen  the  sphere  of  its  attraction  far 
beyond  the  limits  originally  contemplated,  and  render  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia the  centre  of  Pharmaceutical,  as  it  has  long  been  of  medical  instruc- 
tion to  the  whole  extent  of  the  Union." 
In  glancing  over  the  medical  addresses,  one  is  struck  by  their  apparent 
unity  of  design — by  the  relationship  they  bear  to  each  other  as  parts  of  a 
whole — though  delivered  at  periods  and  under  circumstances  greatly  differ- 
ing. The  first,  on  the  history  of  the  Materia  Medica,  and  the  next,  on  the 
history  of  the  Materia  Medica  in  the  United  States,  are  specially  interesting 
to  the  apothecary,  as  throwing  much  light  on  the  history  of  our  art,  and  on 
the  influences  which  in  this  country  have  tended  to  its  development. 
By  the  frequent  employment  of  foot-notes,  the  author  has  added  much 
to  the  interest  of  the  subjects  discussed  by  explanations  and  comments. 
One  of  these,  appended  to  an  address  to  the  Pharmaceutical  Graduates  in 
1833,  referring  to  the  then  rising  influence  of  the  College  of  Pharmacy  in 
Philadelphia,  we  cannot  refrain  from  transcribing. 
"Justice  requires  that  some  allusion  should  here  be  made  to  the  services  of 
a  gentleman,  to  whom  the  Pharmacy  of  this  country  is  greatly  indebted  •  I 
refer  to  Daniel  B.  Smith,  formerly  President  of  the  Philadelphia  College' of 
Pharmacy.  Standing  among  the  first  apothecaries  of  his  time  in  literary  and 
scientific  attainment,  peculiar  skill  in  his  art,  and  general  reputation,  he 
entered  zealously  into  the  movement  which  originated  and  sustained 'the 
