488 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
would  give  greater  value  to  the  result  of  its  labors.  I  would  not  advise 
to  alter  the  construction  of  the  Committee ;  but  merely  assign  a  separate 
portion  to  each  member  of  the  Committee,  with  the  addition  of  others,  if 
deemed  necessary.  Each  to  bring  in  a  separate  report, — the  object  sought 
being  to  get  fuller  and  more  concise  reports  upon  each  subject;  collecting 
special  information  by  personal  effort,  which  would  not  be  attempted,  if 
to  be  collated  by  one  individual  of  a  committee. 
Act  or  Incorporation. — The  committee  appointed  to  procure  a  charter, 
have  paid  attention  to  the  subject.  I  am  not  aware  of  the  nature  of  their 
report  to  you  ;  but,  from  the  information  I  have,  I  should  infer  that  no 
act  of  incorporation  granted  to  us  by  the  General  Government  would  be 
acceptable.  Congress  does  not  grant  charters  for  such  purposes, — leaving 
such  matters  for  the  action  of  individual  States  ;  unless  as  legislating  for 
the  District  of  Columbia,  we  would  take  a  local  charter  subject  to  the  laws 
of  the  District,  and  having  our  head-quarters  in  Washington  to  a  degree 
that  would  not  be  acceptable.  In  fact,  the  present  sphere  of  our  operations 
does  not  seem  to  require  a  charter;  but,  from  the  interest  taken  in  our 
objects  by  all  dealers  in  medicines,  it  seems  to  be  only  a  question  of  time 
as  to  our  future  operations.  One  of  our  chief  aims  should  be  to  give  a 
uniform  system  of  instruction  throughout  the  country  to  those  engaged  in 
pharmaceutical  pursuits,  or  as  druggists  ;  and,  although  our  present 
organization  is  accomplishing  much  good — perhaps  as  much  as  can  be 
expected  at  present — yet  who  believes  that  the  scope  of  our  efforts  is  to  be 
confined  to  its  present  limits,  when  there  is  so  much  to  accomplish,  and  so 
wide  a  field  to  cover  ?  In  process,  of  time  it  is  probable  there  will  be 
made — if  the  time  has  not  already  arrived  to  make — some  provision  for -our 
professional  education,  on  a  more  diffusive,  practical  and  uniform  scale 
than  at  present  exists.  There  are  but  few  cities  in  the  United  States  at 
present  that  can  maintain  a  school  of  pharmacy,  for  various  reasons, — one 
of  the  principal  being  a  want  of  practical  professors  of  pharmacy  of 
sufficient  influence  to  secure  the  attendance  of  a  remunerative  class;  and, 
to  some  extent,  the  same  exists  with  other  professorships  required  in  the 
same  course  of  instruction.  The  want  of  such  instruction  is  daily  becoming 
more  apparent ;  and  the  increasing  interest  manifested  in  pharmaceutical 
education  seems  to  indicate  a  time  not  far  distant  when  such  schools  will 
flourish.  Strangers  of  good  professional  qualifications  and  repute  would 
be  more  likely  to  succeed  in  such  efforts  than  those  educated  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  their  classes. 
Taking  this  view  of  the  subject  into  consideration,  a  charter  with 
educational  powers,  conferred  from  some  State,  encouraging  such  efforts, 
would  answer  our  purpose  better  than  one  from  the  General  Government. 
We  could  then,  in  addition  to  encouraging  local  schools  and  colleges  of 
pharmacy,  organize  a  learned  faculty  on  a  uniform  national  basis;  conferring 
on  them  the  power  of  examining  candidates  and  conferring  degrees,  granting 
diplomas  and  certificates  of  qualification.    The  appointment  of  professors 
