Am.  Jour.  Pharru. ) 
September,  1903.  j" 
American  Pliarmaceittical  Association. 
423 
ing  leading  institutions  of  learning  connected  with  pharmacy,  to  lay  the  matter 
before  your  board,  and  to  proffer  their  services  to  the  board  in  furnishing  any 
information  that  may  be  desired  regarding  research  in  this  particular  field. 
In  the  original  deed  of  trust  the  donor  says  that  it  is  proposed  to  found  an 
institution  which  "  shall  in  the  broadest  and  most  liberal  manner  encourage 
investigation,  research  and  discovery — show  the  application  of  knowledge  to 
the  improvement  of  mankind,  etc. ' '  This  phraseology  warrants  the  inference 
that  some  portion  of  the  funds  of  the  institution  are  to  be  devoted  to  applied 
science,  and  if  this  should  be  done  this  committee  respectfully  urges  that  the 
Board  of  Trustees  name  an  Advisory  Committee  on  Pharmaceutical  Research 
and  appropriate  such  funds  as  may  be  required  to  carry  out  certain  lines  of 
co-operative  research  with  the  advice  and  under  the  direction  of  such  Advisory 
Committee,  and  also  appropriate  funds  for  individual  research  work  in  this  field. 
It  is  respectfully  suggested  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  that  it  is  not  only  im- 
portant to  determine  as  to  what  work  should  be  done  in  the  domain  of  science, 
but  also  to  determine  what  work  is  not  being  done  and  not  likely  to  be  done 
through  other  agencies  already  interested. 
There  are  many  broad  problems  awaiting  solution  in  pharmacy  which  can 
only  be  solved  either  by  a  widespread  and  comprehensive  co-operation  on  the 
part  of  individual  workers  or  by  long  continued  and  careful  research  on  the 
part  of  specialists.  The  results  to  be  achieved  by  such  researches,  while  of  the 
first  importance  in  applied  science,  offer  no  prospect  of  any  financial  returns 
whatever,  and  unless  their  study  is  undertaken  through  some  central  agency  of 
broad  scope  and  ample  means,  such  as  the  Carnegie  Institution,  these  problems 
will  remain  untouched. 
At  the  International  Conference  for  the  Unification  of  Potent  Remedies,  held 
at  Brussels  on  September  15-30,  1902,  a  motion  made  by  the  Swiss  delegates 
that  the  conference  determine  the  methods  of  alkaloidal  assay  was  defeated 
on  the  ground  that  in  the  whole  field  of  alkaloidal  assay  there  was  no  one  alka- 
loid of  which  it  could  be  definitely  stated  that  any  certain  method  was  the  best 
to  be  used  in  making  the  assay.  Much  good  has  been  done  by  individuals  in 
this  direction,  but  until  this  work  is  taken  in  hand  in  a  broad  and  generous 
manner  there  can  be  no  reasonable  hope  that  any  definite  results  can  be 
obtained.  In  his  annual  address  the  chairman  of  the  New  York  Section  of  the 
Society  of  Chemical  Industry  has  pointed  out  the  serious  character  of  the  errors 
arising  from  differences  in  methods  in  alkaloidal  assay  and  the  importance  of 
standardization  in  this  field. 
In  the  correspondence  which  has  appeared  in  the  columns  of  Science  during 
the  past  few  months  touching  on  the  most  profitable  field  for  the  research  work 
of  the  institution,  several  contributors  have  emphasized  the  need  for  some  cen- 
tral body  to  aid  and  undertake  the  direction  of  co-operative  investigations  such 
as  would  be  required  to  settle  the  above  questions.  This  is  but  one  of  the  many 
and  important  problems  awaiting  solution  in  pharmacy,  and  which  can  only  be 
solved  through  co-operative  research  work  on  a  large  scale. 
Researches  of  this  character  can  be  carried  out  in  pharmacy  at  a  compara- 
tively slight  expense,  since  competent  workers  can  be  found  who  will  make 
experiments  along  certain  lines  at  little  or  no  expense  to  the  general  fund,  pro- 
vided that  the  direction  of  the  work  and  the  codification  and  publication  of  the 
results  obtained  can  be  carried  out  at  the  expense  of  the  institution. 
