Am-/u°iy?i89h6arm- }  Editorial— Reviews.  40 1 
EDITORIAL. 
STATE  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATIONS. 
June  is  the  month  in  which  the  greatest  number  of  State  Pharmaceutical 
Associations  hold  their  meetings.  We  are  always  ready  to  give  room  to  an 
account  of  their  proceedings,  especially  when  any  business  of  a  practical  or 
scientific  character  is  transacted,  although  we  cannot  devote  the  prominence  to 
the  "  social  features  "  which  they  receive  in  many  of  the  associations.  Judging 
from  some  of  the  programmes  which  have  been  received,  the  Olympic  tenden- 
cies have  run  rampant  in  a  number  of  the  States  this  year,  but  it  is  only  a 
question  of  time  when  such  excess  will  effect  its  own  cure. 
We  do  not  wish  to  insinuate  the  impropriety  of  a  reasonable  amount  of  social 
entertainment,  but  we  do  consider  that  it  is  at  a  considerable  sacrifice  of  dignity 
when  three  prizes  are  offered  for  every  paper  read  at  a  meeting,  and  that  these 
prizes  consist  of  such  heterogeneous  substances  as  tooth  paste,  "listerine"  and 
subscriptions  to  a  drug  journal.  It  does  not  alter  the  case  to  have  some  of  the 
prizes  consist  of  $10  in  gold.  No  one  is  going  to  give  much  time  to  a  paper 
which  may  entitle  the  author  to  a  bottle  of  essence  of  pepsin.  Papers  have 
been  offered  at  associations  in  times  past  that  have  required  months — and,  in 
some  instances,  years— of  patient  research.  Would  the  author  of  such  a  con- 
tribution allow  it  to  compete  for  a  bottle,  or  a  hundred  bottles,  of  some  pro- 
prietary preparation,  which  he  is  required  in  his  daily  routine  of  business  to 
buy  and  sell  without  a  legitimate  profit  ? 
It  would  be  an  entertaining  mental  occupation  for  a  pharmacist  to  sit  down 
and  figure  out  who  finally  bears  the  expense  of  the  numerous  prizes  offered  in 
the  contests  at  the  meeting  of  a  State  Pharmaceutical  Association.  It  is  not 
the  manufacturer  who  offers  the  prize,  for  it  is  an  advertisement  for  him  or  he 
would  not  do  it ;  it  is  not  the  public,  for  the  numerous  members  of  that  class 
are  getting  their  remedies  at  wholesale  rates  ;  then  who  is  it  ?  Perhaps  the 
pharmacist,  who  acts  as  the  unwilling  distributor  without  compensation,  bears 
his  share  of  the  expense.  We  have  heard  much  of  the  profession  of  pharmacy 
and  of  its  equality  with  that  of  medicine  ;  but  what  State  medical  society  would 
waste  time  at  a  meeting  by  devoting  it  to  guessing  contests  and  racing  events  ? 
The  profession  of  pharmacy  will  be  just  what  its  members  make  it — no  more, 
no  less. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Missouri  Botanical  Garden.  Seventh  Annual  Report.  St.  Louis, 
Mo.    1896.    Pp.  209.    William  Trelease,  Director. 
The  contents  of  the  Report  for  1896  consists  of  Reports  for  the  Year  1895; 
two  Scientific  Papers,  three  Anniversary  Publications,  four  Library  Contribu- 
tions— the  Sturtevant  Prelinnean  Library.  Six  full-page  half-tone  plates  are 
distributed  through  the  work,  besides  sixty-six  plates,  which  illustrate  the 
scientific  papers. 
According  to  the  Director's  report,  as  many  as  30,000  people  have  visited  the 
Garden  on  a  favorable  Sunday  in  September,  thus  indicating  that  it  is  appreci- 
ated by  the  people  of  St.  Louis. 
