Am.  Jour.  Pbarai.  1 
March,  1903.  J 
Biographical  Sketches. 
133 
ings.  He  also  served  the  Association  in  various  official  capacities, 
as  its  first  treasurer,  185  2— 1 854 ;  local  secretary,  1863  and  presi- 
dent, 1890. 
It  is,  however,  as  a  member  of  the  National  Pharmacopceial 
Revision  Committee  that  Mr.  Taylor  did  his  most  important  work, 
contributing  much  toward  the  gradual  and  successful  evolution  of 
that  volume  into  a  book  of  authority  second  to  none  for  complete- 
ness and  scientific  worth. 
As  a  contributor  to  the  literature  of  American  Pharmacy,  Mr. 
Taylor  must  be  classed  with  the  leaders  of  his  time.  The  papers 
from  his  pen  are  not  alone  numerous,  but  they  also  give  evidence 
of  much  study  and  a  complete  mastery  of  the  subjects  under  dis- 
cussion. To  show  the  wide  variation  in  the  lines  of  thought,  it  may 
be  well  to  enumerate  a  few  of  the  subjects  that  Mr.  Taylor  has  dis- 
cussed more  extensively.  A  critical  review  of  these  various  papers 
would  readily  convince  any  one  how  completely  he  had  made  him- 
self master  of  the  different  subjects.  Among  the  more  interesting 
papers  we  may  call  to  mind  his  contributions  on  Fluid  Extracts, 
Cinchona  Bark  and  the  preparations  made  from  it,  Weights  and 
Measures,  and  a  proposed  system  of  octonary  numeration. 
This  latter  subject  is  interesting  in  that  it  demonstrates  how  far 
Mr.  Taylor  was  ahead  of  his  contemporaries.  It  is  now  generally 
conceded  that  if  it  were  possible  to  introduce  an  octonary  system 
of  numeration,  the  advantages  accruing  from  such  an  innovation 
would  more  than  repay  any  inconvenience  that  may  be  occasioned 
by  its  introduction.  While  it  is  improbable  that  any  change  in  our 
system  01  enumeration  will  be  made  in  the  immediate  future,  never- 
theless, a  system  of  numeration  in  which  round  figures  can  be  con- 
tinually halved  without  leaving  awkward  and  lengthy  fractions, 
must  be  acknowledged  to  have  merits  not  possessed  by  our  present 
system  of  decimal  notation.  Nor  could  the  oft-proposed  and  quite 
recently  rejuvenated  system  of  duodecimal  numeration  compare 
in  efficiency  or  applicability  with  an  octonal  system.  A  compari- 
son of  the  possible  indivisible  fractions  will  readily  convince  any 
one  of  the  theoretical  advantages  possessed  by  the  simpler  multi- 
plication by  eights.  The  practical  application  of  this  theory,  how- 
ever, will  be  a  problem  for  future  generations  to  solve. 
Altogether  it  must  be  said  that  Alfred  Bower  Taylor  was  not 
alone  an  able  pharmacist,  who  was  always  ready  to  take  advantage 
