AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION.  491 
to  the  dealer,  is  very  great  •  and  I  have  little  confidence  that  any  law  could 
be  passed  to  protect  the  public  against  designed  cases  of  poisoning.  Yet, 
a  judicious  law,  regulating  the  sale,  might  greatly  reduce  the  number  of 
accidents.  Several  States  of  the  Union  have  passed  laws  relating  to  poisons, 
but  none,  that  1  have  seen,  are  at  all  calculated  to  remedy  the  existing  evils. 
Ft  is  to  be  regretted  that  our  profession  is  so  poorly  represented  in  the 
law-making  and  law-executing  power;  inquests  and  juries  have  usually 
been  alike  deficient  in  pharmaceutical  knowledge  when  such  cases  are 
under  legal  investigation.  It  would  be  well  if  we  could  secure  a  greater 
amount  of  legal  influence  as  a  profession;  by  paying  more  attention  to  the 
subject,  as  no  class  of  business  is  so  poorly  represented  in  legislative 
assemblies  as  ours. 
The  great  difficulty  of  legislating  upon  this  subject,  is  the  great  number 
of  articles,  the  large  amount  of  sales,  variety  of  their  uses,  the  classes  of 
people  to  whom  they  are  sold,  and  the  frequency  of  the  sales.  To  some 
extent  this  subject  has  received  the  attention  of  this  Association,  but  it  has 
never  been  arranged  in  such  shape  as  to  facilitate  efficient  legislation,  or  a 
plan  submitted  for  general  adoption,  to  meet  required  wants  in  regulating 
the  sale.  I  would  therefore  recommend  referring  this  subject  again  to  a 
committee,  with  instructions  to  report  upon  the  best  plan  for  the  safe  keep- 
ing, labelling,  celling,  dispensing  and  registering  sales  of  poisons  :  also,  to 
set  forth  specific  principles  on  which  to  frame  a  suitable  law  for  regulating 
the  traffic,  with  a  view  to  accommodate  and  protect  the  public,  as  well  as 
pharmaceutists  and  druggists. 
Sunday  Trade. — The  custom  of  pharmaceutists  transacting  business  the 
same  number  of  hours  on  the  Sabbath  as  on  other  days  of  the  week,  is  at 
present  receiving  the  attention  of  our  profession  in  many  of  the  larger 
cities,  and  it  is  generally  conceded  that  six  hours  on  the  Sabbath  would  be 
sufficient  time  to  supply  all  the  medical  wants  of  the  community  in  ordinary 
times  of  health.  It  is  due  to  a  proper  observance  of  the  Sabbath  that  our 
stores  should  be  closed  during  the  usual  church  services,  it  is  also  proper 
to  notice  the  fact  that  we  have  no  more  legal  right  to  transact  business  "or 
labor  on  Sunday  than  any  other  class  of  citizens.  As  one  of  the  chief 
objects  of  our  organization  is  to  deliberate  for  those  places  that  contain  but 
few  apothecaries,  where  there  is  consequently  but  little  concert  of  action,  I 
would  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  suitable  resolution  as  the  sense  of  this 
Association  upon  this  subject,  embodying  proper  recommendations  for 
general  adoption. 
Members  will  find  the  preface  to  each  volume  of  Proceedings,  by  the  Exe- 
cutive Committee,  to  contain  information,  explanations  and  suggestions  of 
interest  up  to  the  time  of  its  publication,  worthy  the  attentive  consideration 
of  each  member. 
Gentlemen,  the  subjects  to  which  I  have  drawn  your  attention,  are  those 
which  to  me  appear  most  important  to  present  at  this  time,  in  compliance 
with  the  requirements  of  our  Constitution ;  but  permit  me  to  make  a  few 
remarks  on  our  vocation  as  dealers  in  drugs  and  medicines.    Our  roll  of 
