524 
Memoir  of  Prof .  Wm.  Procter,  Jr. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t    Nov.  1, 1874. 
and  his  opinions  had  a  weight  of  authority  with  them  which  has  rarely 
been  disturbed  by  after  experience. 
In  1846,  William  Procter,  Jr.,  was  associated  with  Prof.  Joseph  Car- 
son as  co-editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  ;  for  two  years 
previous  he  had  assisted  Prof.  Carson  in  its  editorial  management. 
In  1850,  Prof.  Carson  resigned  from  his  position,  and  Prof.  Procter 
assumed  the  sole  editorial  charge.  In  1853  the  Journal  was  enlarged 
by  the  issue  of  six  numbers  annually  in  place  of  four.  In  1871  the 
issue  of  the  Journal  was  made  monthly.  Prof.  Procter  inaugurated 
the  monthly  issue,  and  after  editing  the  April  number  resigned  his 
position,  and  was  succeeded  by  Prof.  John  M.  Maisch.  He  had  contem- 
plated a  relinquishment  of  his  editorial  duties  for  some  time,  and  in 
a  written  communication  to  the  College,  some  months  previously,  had 
advocated  a  monthly  issue  of  the  Journal,  and  requested  to  be  relieved 
from  the  editorship  as  early  as  the  College  could  find  a  suitable  suc- 
cessor. 
For  twenty  years  the  Journal  had  been  under  his  management  in 
its  editorial  department,  and  how  successfully  that  management  was 
conducted,  the  volumes  issued  during  that  period  are  the  best  testi- 
mony. The  original  matter  from  his  pen,  and  his  judicious  selections, 
gave  to  it  a  value  and  standing  among  American  pharmacists,  and  made 
it  the  most  complete  history  extant  of  the  progress  of  pharmaceutical 
science  in  the  United  States.  As  an  editor,  he  was  just  to  all  con- 
tributors, pleasant  in  criticism,  never  indulging  in  the  personal  or 
sarcastic,  ever  ready  to  expose  fraud  and  empyricism,  loving  truth 
and  sometimes  proclaiming  it  when  it  was  a  disagreeable  duty.  After 
resigning  the  editorship,  his  time  was  so  much  occupied  by  his  busi- 
ness that  his  name  does  not  appear  as  a  contributor  direct  to  the 
Journal ;  in  April,  1871,  we  have  an  article  from  his  pen  "On  Phar- 
maceutical Titles" — the  last  of  the  long  series.  The  General  Index 
of  the  Journal  exhibits  seven  columns,  numbering  some  550  items, 
under  his  name,  exclusive  of  extracts  and  editorials.  We  think  it 
may  be  safely  said,  without  disparagement  to  any  of  his  predecessors 
in  the  editorial  management  of  the  Journal,  that  the  College  was  for- 
tunate in  placing  the  Journal  in  his  hands.  No  man  of  the  time  could 
have  been  placed  on  the  outlook  commanding  the  horizon  of  pharma- 
ceutical literature,  whose  heart  was  more  thoroughly  engaged  in  the 
work,  and  who  was  gifted  with  quicker  perceptions,  or  better  judg- 
ment.   His  name  will  ever  be  associated  with  the  progress  of  phar- 
