EDITORIAL. 
479 
Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  New  York  for  the  year 
1861.  Albany:  Charles  Van  Benthuysen,  Printer,  1861;  pp.  408,  8vo. 
We  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Edward  R.  Squibb  for  the  above  Report,  but  it 
was  received  too  late  to  notice  several  papers  contained  in  it  which  have 
some  bearing  on  the  subjects  discussed  by  this  Journal,  and  we  may  take 
another  opportunity  of  recurring  to  thern. 
OBITUARY. 
Joseph  Laidley. — lb  will  be  remembered  by  those  familiar  with  the 
graduating  class  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  of  1850 — a  class 
which,  though  small  in  number,  was  rather  remarkable  for  the  ability  of 
its  members — that  Joseph  Laidley,  was  among  them,  and  by  no  means  the 
least  brilliant.  Entering  upon  his  apprenticeship  as  a  Pharmaceutist  with 
the   late   celebrated    firm  of    Smith  &   Hodgson   he  continued  with 
them  and  their  successors,  Bullock  &  Crenshaw,  until  1850,    Suon  after 
this  period  he  obtained  a  clerkship  with  Messrs  Adie  &  Gray  of  Richmond, 
Virginia,  at  a  liberal  salary,  and,  we  are  informed,  introduced  a  new  eta 
into  their  establishment  as  regarded  its  manufacturing  department.  Seve- 
ral years  since  Mr.  Laidley  commenced  business  in  Richmond  in  partner- 
ship with  Mr.  Edward  Robinson  of  that  city,  from  which  firm  he  subse- 
quently retired,  and  last  year  opened  an  establishment  on  his  own  account 
in  the  same  city.    About  six  weeks  before  his  death,  wo  are  informed  that 
he  advertised  to  prepare  detonating  powder  for  military  purposes,  which 
ofi'er  appears  to  h  ive  brought  him  to  the  notice  of  the  authorities,  as  at  the 
time  of  his  decease  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Confedrate  Government 
at  their  cartridge  factory. 
Mr.  Laidley  is  said  to  be  of  Irish  parentage.    Several  years  since  he 
married  a  lady  of  Nelson  County,  Virginia,  who  survives  him.    Our  last 
interview  with  him  was  last  spring,  some  time  before  the  secession  of 
Virginia,  and  he  had  evidently  m  ide  up  his  mind  to  cast  his  fortunes  with 
the  S.)uth  in  the  event  of  a  disruption  of  the  then  existing  relations. 
As  a  pharmaceutist,  the  subject  of  this  notice  was  able,  and  capable  of 
original  investigation,  but  more  marked  for  the  boldness  with  which  he  ad- 
vocated his  views  than  by  accuracy  in  their  demonstration.  He  formerly  was 
a  valued  contributor  to  this  Journal,  the  pages  of  which  bear  testimony  to  his 
industry,  in  the  25th,  26th,  and  27th  volumes.    At  one  period  Mr.  Laidley 
was  an  active  member,  and  one  of  the  Vice  Presidents,  of  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  of  which  he  became  a  member  at  its  orsaniza- 
tion  in  1852,  at  Philadelphia,  but  for  the  last  five  years  he  has  ceased  to 
take  any  public  interest  in  the  advancement  of  Pharmacy.  Owing  all  that 
rendered  him  efficient  as  a  man,  as  well  as  a  chemist  and  pharmaceutist, 
to  his  northern  education  and  connection,  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
he  would  have  voluntarily  aimed  a  blow  at  his  country,  and  in  the  very  act 
