Martin  I.  Wilbert. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
*-  February,  19 17. 
the  articles  appearing  in  this  journal  from  his  prolific  pen  would 
take  much  space.  It  will  suffice  to  say  that  one  can  hardly  pick  up  a 
number  appearing  in  the  last  fifteen  years  without  coming  across  a 
paper  by  him. 
Martin  I.  Wilbert  was  regarded  by  all  who  knew  him  intimately 
as  a  particularly  fine  type  of  man.  He  never  made  any  special  effort 
to  gain  any  one's  good  opinion  or  respect,  he  was  just  himself  all  the 
time.  His  wide  knowledge,  kindliness,  and  good  common  sense, 
which  was  recognized  by  everybody  here,  and  which  he  had  in  large 
measure,  commanded  respect  and  admiration  from  all  who  came  in 
contact  with  him,  either  in  a  business  or  social  manner.  He  was 
never  ostentatious  in  any  of  his  actions  or  words.  He  was  tolerant, 
modest,  and  unassuming  and  always  charitable  in  his  judgments  of 
others.  Can  any  one  have  any  finer  characteristics  than  these? 
His  many  friends  and  associates  at  the  German  Hospital  felt  his 
departure  keenly  and  to  the  day  of  his  death  took  a  keen  interest  in 
all  he  did  in  his  new  sphere  of  activity.  And  of  the  hospital,  he 
always  spoke  of  it  as  "  home.',  And  in  the  home  that  he  loved  so 
well  and  among  friends  of  many  years,  it  was  vouchsafed  him  to 
pass  into  the  great  beyond. 
As  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association  rightly  says, 
"the  full  measure  of  his  influence  at  Washington  in  behalf  of  the 
public  health  will  never  be  fully  known."  He  was  most  active  in 
helping  along  the  passage  of  the  Harrison  Narcotic  Law,  and  a  valu- 
able counselor  to  the  National  Drug  Trade  Conference,  the  repre- 
sentative body  whose  efforts  resulted  in  the  law  as  it  now  stands. 
By  his  work  in  connection  with  the  Digest  of  Comments  on  the 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia  and  the  National  Formulary  he  has 
built  a  monument  that  will  endure  for  a  long  time.  This  really  very 
necessary  adjunct  to  the  revision  of  a  pharmacopoeia  was  inaugu- 
rated by  Dr.  Charles  Rice,  who  was  one  of  the  first  to  point  out  the 
real  necessity  of  a  compilation  of  the  criticisms  on  the  pharmacopoeia 
and  the  substances  that  enter  into  it.  Only  by  some  such  method 
would  it  be  possible  to  publish  a  book  that  would  be  representative 
of  the  time.  The  request  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  United 
States  Pharmacopoeial  Convention  to  the  surgeon-general  of  the  U. 
S.  Public  Health  Service,  for  assistance  and  cooperation  in  the  com- 
pilation and  publication  of  a  "  Digest  of  Comments  "  not  only  gave  to 
this  work  the  backing  and  resources  of  the  federal  government,  but 
likewise  brought  to  the  task  the  assistance  of  the  one  man  in  this 
