Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  1896.  J 
Editorial. 
627 
EDITORIAL. 
SOME  NOTABLE  PRESIDENTIAL  ADDRESSES. 
The  season  of  annual  scientific  meetings  may  be  said  to  have  recently  closed 
both  in  this  country  and  in  England.  Among  the  great  number  of  addresses 
which  have  been  delivered,  four  stand  out  conspicuously.  In  this  country 
those  of  William  Trelease,  before  the  Botanical  Society  of  America,  and  of 
Nathaniel  L.  Britton,  before  Section  G  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  are  especially  worthy  of  perusal.  Dr.  Trelease's 
address,  on  "  Botanical  Opportunity,"  has  been  printed  in  full  in  the  Botanical 
Gazette  for  September.  It  is  not  a  paper  that  will  bear  condensation,  but  it 
may  be  noted  that  one  thing  especially  is  shown  which  should  be  a  comfort  to 
every  struggling  botanist,  viz. : 
For  most  of  us  opportunity  of  life  does  not  lie  in  a  great  and  abrupt  change  of  condition, 
but  that  it  is  composed  of  countless  minor  chances,  which  are  great  only  when  viewed  collec- 
tively. To  see  and  use  them  calls  for  alert  senses,  a  knowledge  and  use  of  the  means  of  ascer- 
taining what  has  already  been  done,  and,  by  exclusion,  something  of  what  remains  to  be 
done,  facilities  adequate  to  the  task  in  each  case,  and  indomitable  perseverance  and  ceaseless 
activity.  Great  as  the  value  of  facilities  is,  they  are  merely  means  to  an  end.  The3'  accom- 
plish nothing  themselves.  Hence,  though  it  is  certain  that  the  most  voluminous  and,  per- 
haps, the  most  comprehensive  results,  and  those  resulting  from  the  performance  of  coherent 
■experiments  extending  through  a  long  series  of  years,  will  come  from  the  great  centres  of 
research,  there  is  no  reason  why  qualitative  results  equal  to  the  best  may  not  continue  to 
come  as  they  have  in  the  past,  from  isolated  workers,  to  the  rounding  out  and  completion  of 
whose  studies  the  facilities  of  the  larger  institutions  will  be  more  and  more  applicable  as  the 
problems  of  equipment  are  worked  out. 
Professor  Britton's  address  before  the  Botanical  Section  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  was  on  the  subject  of  "  Botanical 
Gardens,"  their  origin  and  development.  As  might  be  expected,  those  of  the 
United  States  receive  a  large  share  of  attention.  This  address  was  printed  in 
Science,  September  4th,  and  in  the  Alumni  Journal  of  the  New  York  College 
of  Pharmacy,  for  October  ;  it  is  especially  worth  the  studious  attention  of  bot- 
anists. 
The  foreign  addresses  are  equally  noteworthy  with  those  delivered  in  America, 
one  by  Sir  Joseph  Lister,  and  the  other  by  Ludwig  Mond.  The  one  by  Sir 
Joseph  Lister,  on  "The  Interdependence  of  Science  and  the  Healing  Art,"  was 
a  presidential  address  before  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  and  was  printed  in  the  Chemical  News  for  September  18th  and  25th  ; 
that  by  Ludwig  Mond  appeared  in  the  same  journal  for  September  25th  and 
October  2d,  and  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  for  September  26th,  and  was 
delivered  before  the  Chemical  Section  of  the  same  Association.  It  was  devoted 
to  "A  Brief  History  of  the  Manufacture  of  Chlorine." 
Sir  Joseph  Lister's  address  naturally  covered  a  range  of  topics,  but  from  his 
relation  to  modern  antiseptic  surgery,  he  was  in  a  position  to  speak  as  a  master, 
and  he  did  it.  On  page  612,  of  this  issue,  we  have  printed  his  remarks  on  anti- 
toxin, which  we  believe  is  a  concise  and  accurate  statement  of  the  condition  of 
this  subject  at*the  present  time.  We  regret  that  the  other  matters  touched  on 
by  the  speaker  cannot  also  be  produced  here  in  full,  especially  the  summary  of 
work  done  by  Pasteur. 
Ludwig  Mond  spoke  with  authority  on  his  subject,  and  recited  a  complete 
