THE  AMERICAN 
journMfof  pharmacy 
By  the  immutable  laws  of  the  Solar  System  another  annual  cycle 
has  been  completed  and  we  are  brought  to  the  dawn  of  a  new  calendar, 
another  Gregorian  year.  Before  an  appreciative,  broad  view  of  the 
expanse  before  us,  a  very  brief  retrospect  of  the  year  just  closed  may 
not  be  amiss.  We  are  not  prepared  to-day  to  subscribe  to  the  sen- 
timent that 
"What's  past,  and  what's  to  come,  is  strewn  with  husks, 
The  formless  ruin  of  Oblivion." 
The  year  1919,  despite  the  fact  that  it  did  not  bring  to  fruition 
the  anticipated  reign  of  established  Peace  on  Earth  and  universal 
Good  Will  among  mankind,  has  not  been  lacking  in  actual  accom- 
plishments. Despite  the  fact  that  the  demoralization  of  the  most 
gigantic  of  all  wars  has  been  followed  by  a  year  of  unprecedented 
social  and  economic  disturbances  and  world  unrest,  there  has  been 
written  in  the  historical  chronicles  of  19 19  much  that  bespeaks  real 
progress,  much  that  is  vital  to  the  destinies  of  many  nations  and  the 
welfare  of  millions  of  human  beings.  These  events  can  never  be 
obliterated  from  the  records  of  the  year  nor  buried  in  oblivion.  ; ' 
The  wise  statesmen  and  the  thoughtful  men  of  all  civilized'    ' ' 
nations  realize  that  the  gigantic  problems  of  this  period  of  titanic  ' 
reconstruction  are  necessarily  being  carried  over  to  the  new  year  and 
that  the  world's  peace,  prosperity  and  progress  is  dependent  upon 
the  wisdom  and  the  justice  of  the  decisions  of  these. 
In  matters  pharmaceutic,  the  events  of  the  year  past  have  been 
encouraging.  The  conventions  of  the  national  pharmaceutical 
organizations  of  England  and  of  America  evidenced  intense  interest 
'"Xm^'  THE  THRESHOLD  OF  1920. 
"Time,  as  he  passes  us,  has  a  Dove's  wing, 
Unsoil'd  and  swift,  and  of  a  silken  sound." 
