Am.  Jour.  Phaim.l 
March,  1899.  J 
Pharmaceu  tic  a  I  Mee  ting. 
Executive  Committee. — James  C.  Perry,  Chairman  ;  B.  R.  Gatchel,  D.  H. 
Ross,  H.  C.  Blair,  Jr.,  B.  J-  Finnerty,  Jr. 
At  a  later  meeting  the  Constitution  and  By-L,aws  were  adopted. 
The  question  is  asked  by  many,  what  does  all  this  amount  to,  and  what 
advantage  will  this  be  to  me  individually  ?  A  body  of  men  working  together 
for  some  general  good  can  do  more  than  one  individual,  and  that  is  the 
reason  almost  every  trade  or  profession  have  their  organizations.  Whatever 
advantage  is  gained  by  the  National  Association  will  be  a  benefit  to  each 
one  of  us,  because  the  Wholesale  Druggists'  Association,  and  the  Proprie- 
tors' Association,  will  hesitate  to  do  anything  which  would  be  contrary  to  the 
wishes  of  the  National  Association,  and  backing  the  National  Association  there 
will  be  nearly  30,000  retail  druggists  throughout  the  United  States,  and  it  is 
through  these  druggists,  that  the  wholesale  druggist  makes  his  money  and  the 
patent  medicine  manufacturer  sells  his  remedies. 
By  organization  a  sociable  feeling  is  created.  We  become  more  friendly  one 
with  the  other,  learn  new  ideas  and  improved  methods  of  doing  business,  and 
we  can  unite  together  to  promote  any  plan  which  will  benefit  us. 
It  is  proposed  to  establish  for  the  benefit  of  the  members  of  the  Association  : 
A  classified  record  of  clerks.  A  credit  bureau.  To  create  a  proper  feeling 
between  the  physician  and  pharmacist,  and  to  induce  the  physician  to  pre- 
scribe more  generally  the  "U.S. P."  and  "N.F."  preparations. 
Our  meetings  are  held  the  first  Friday  in  each- month  at  3  P.M.  sharp,  in  the 
museum  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  the  use  of  this  room  having 
been  granted  to  the  Association  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmacy.  At  our  June  meeting  delegates  to  the  National  Conven- 
tion will  be  elected.  The  membership  dues  are  one  dollar  a  year,  and  the 
hearty  co-operation  is  asked  of  all  retail  druggists  in  Philadelphia,  that  our 
Association  may  be  a  success,  that  we  may  become  a  power  in  the  National 
Association  and  an  honor  to  the  profession  which  we  represent. 
W.  A.  RtjmsEy, 
Secretary,  P.  A.  R.  D. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  February  21,  1899. 
The  regular  monthly  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  was  held  in  the  Museum  of  the 
College,  with  Wallace  Procter  in  the  chair. 
The  minutes  of  the  previous  meeting  were  allowed  to  stand  as  published. 
As  a  result  of  the  recent  belladonna  plaster  controversy,  Prof.  F.  X.  Moerk 
furnished  a  paper  on  "The  Assay  of  Belladonna  Leaves,  and  Some  of  Its  Pre- 
parations," which  will  no  doubt  prove  to  be  a  most  important  contribution  to 
the  literature  of  the  subject  (see  page  105). 
A  paper,  incorporating  improved  formulae  for  the  "Syrups  of  Acacia  and 
Althaea,"  was  presented  by  F.  W.  Haussmann,  and  will  be  published  in  full  in 
a  subsequent  issue  of  this  journal. 
Speaking  on  the  preservation  of  syrups,  Wallace  Procter  said  that  he  had  been 
able  to  keep  Jackson's  Pectoral  Syrup  almost  indefinitely  by  the  addition  of 
small  quantities  of  oil  of  sassafras.    Professor  Ryan  stated  that  almost  any 
