54 
Editorials. 
Am.  Jour.  Phaim. 
Jan.,  1885. 
while  advocating  the  Campion  plan,  undertook  to  drag  in  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association  as  endorsing  the  plan,  the  writer  interrupted 
the  speaker,  and  asked  the  gentleman  to  correct  his  statement  as  far  as  it 
related  to  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  as  the  delegation 
present  were  in  position  to  say  that  this  Association  did  not  favor  the 
Campion  or  any  other  plan  that  furthered  the  interests  of  nostrums.  The 
gentleman  who  had  made  the  allusion  accepted  our  corrections,  and  this 
adds  to  our  perplexity  of  Mr.  Shoemaker's  charges,  when  he  says:  "One 
might  have  supposed,  in  listening  to  their  long-continued  and[  eloquent 
efforts,  that  the  chief  part  of  the  business  of  the  modern  apothecary  con- 
sisted in  buying  and  selling  proprietary  remedies,  secret  preparations,  of 
which  they  know  nothing  beyond  the  printed  name,  accompanied  by  cer- 
tificates of  those  who  had  been  miraculously  cured  by  their  use." 
If  Mr.  Shoemaker  will  make  the  correction,  that  the  remarks  that  were 
made  at  this  meeting  upon  this  subject  of  quack  medicines,  were  not  made 
by  representatives  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  we  will 
admit  that  it  was  a  deplorable  situation  to  listen  to  the  remarks  of  men  who 
are  at  the  head  and  front  of  the  National  Retail  Druggists'  Association,  and 
by.  their  cringing  and  whining  appeals  brought  the  tingling  of  shame  upon 
the  cheeks  of  all  such  who  have  the  welfare  of  Pharmacy  at  heart.  How- 
ever, a  lesson  can  be  learned,  and  attached  is  a  moral :  Scan  the  representa- 
tions of  the  Colleges  of  Pharmacy  located  east  of  the  Alleghanies  at  the 
Milwaukee  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
If  Pharmacy  is  degenerating,  where  are  the  existing  evidences  of  it? 
Where  is  the  dangerous  shallow  shore  with  its  hidden  reefs  and  turbulent 
surf?  Let  us  from  this  time  on  ])lace  competent  and  tried  men  at  the  helm 
of  our  ship  of  organization  and  we  will  be  certain  to  steer  clear  of  the 
breakers,  whether  they  are  east  or  west,  north  or  south,  and  should  the  sea 
become  too  heavy,  we  will  lighten  our  craft  hy  throwing  overboard  the 
nostrums,  regain  the  deep  and  safe  wide  expanse  of  the  open,  calm  sea,  and 
make  a  prosperous  journey  in  our  ship  of  Pharmacal  Progress. 
Respectfully, 
Albp]RT  E.  Ebert. 
CHiCAtJo,  December  23, 1884. 
Destruction  of  Science  Hall,  Univ^ersity  of  Wisconsin.— On  the 
evening  of  December  1,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  engine  room  of  Science  Hall, 
oneof  the  buildings  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  at  Madison.  It  resulted 
in  the  total  destruction  of  the  building,  which  was  four  stories  in  height, 
the  central  building  being  79  by  52  feet  in  dimension,  while  the  two  wings 
were  109  feet  long  and  42  feet  wide  The  cost  of  the  building  exceeded 
$94,500,  independent  of  its  furnishings  and  later  expensive  improvements, 
and  it  contained  besides  various  lecture  rooms,  laboratories  for  investiga- 
tions in  physics,  chemistry  and  mineralogy,  and  collections  of  art  and  natu- 
ral history.  Many  of  the  specimens  cannot  be  replaced,  and  the  results  of 
years  of  labor  by  several  of  the  j^rofessors  have  been  lost. 
Serious  as  the  loss  has  been  by  this  calandty,  the  faculty,  with  commend- 
able energy,  proceeded  at  once  to  make  the  best  possible  arrangements  for 
continuing  without  interruption  the  instruction  of  the  students  in  the 
remaining  buildings.  The  pharmaceutical,  botanical,  and  agricultural 
departments  were  not  directly  sufferers,  though  they  naturally  must  expe- 
rience more  or  less  inconvenience  through  the  destruction  of  the  laborato- 
ries and  cabinets  mentioned  above. 
