348 
Association' s  Latent  Power. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1920. 
Advertising  in  national  magazines  is  not  the  only  channel  through 
which  these  forces  can  be  applied.  In  fact  the  imagination  can  con- 
ceive of  so  many  others  that  it  is  my  purpose  merely  to  cite  one  or 
two  b}^  way  of  illustration  rather  than  to  attempt  to  cover  them  all 
comprehensively.    Let  one  additional  one  suffice. 
When  you  consider  the  years  of  experience  and  accumulated  data, 
the  wealth  of  scientific  brains,  the  elaborate  organizations  of  labora- 
tory equipment,  and  the  great  advantage  of  organized  capital  that  is 
behind  this  industry  your  imagination  must  conceive  a  rather  glow- 
ing picture  of  the  leading  place  that  the  industry  could  attain  in 
medical  science  if  it  would  only  make  full  use  of  its  powers.  It  is 
quite  true  that  we  have  the  prejudice  of  the  scholastic  scientist  with 
which  to  contend,  but  I  hope  to  show  that  the  prejudice  is  no  very 
formidable  obstacle  after  all. 
There  are  innumerable  drugs  on  which  the  literature  is  unsatis- 
factory or  meagre.  There  are  scientific  men  universally  recognized 
as  authorities  and  whose  work  on  these  drugs  would  at  once  receive 
recognition  from  all  factors  in  the  scientific  world.  In  the  archives 
of  our  members  are  many  years  accumulations  of  invaluable  data 
on  these  drugs.  There  are  besides  some  fifty  odd  laboratories  whose 
cooperation  would  give  a  research  worker  ample  corroborative  tests. 
If  the  membership  were  disposed  to  make  full  use  of  its  resources 
the  Association  could  select  some  problems  whose  solution  would 
constitute  a  conspicuous  contribution  to  the  science  of  medicine,  it 
could  likewise  retain  a  man  of  this  caliber  to  devote  a  year  or  more 
of  his  time  to  it,  and  it  could  give  him  many  years  start  on  a  private 
investigator  working  alone  by  placing  the  experience  of  its  members 
at  his  disposal  and  by  giving  him  the  cooperation  of  these  fifty  odd 
laboratories. 
His  report  published  under  the  auspices  of  the  Association  and 
given  freely  to  the  world  would  be  accepted  on  the  strength  of  his 
name  by  even  those  ultra  academic  scientists  who  deprecate  the 
work  of  commercial  laboratories. 
Conceive  of  the  interest  with  which  a  work  of  so  elaborate  a 
character  would  be  received  by  the  Pharmaceutical  and  Medical 
worlds  and  ask  yourself  if  many  years  would  pass  before  these  annual 
or  biennial  contributions  to  science  by  the  American  Drug  Manu- 
facturers' Association  would  take  their  place  as  one  of  the  most  eagerly 
awaited  and  most  authoritative  of  scientific  series.  And,  judged  in 
the  light  of  this  work,  the  American  Drug  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
