448  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {AsTptJe?nbef,1i903Q' 
"  When  and  by  whom  are  complete  files  of  the  proceedings  and 
transactions  of  the  several  national  associations  of  retail  druggists 
kept,  so  that  they  can  be  consulted  by  a  student  of  pharmaceutical 
economy  ?  " 
In  regard  to  the  work  of  the  sub-committee  on  Wholesale 
Druggists,  he  said:  What  we  need  is  a  history  of  each  individual 
firm,  pa9t  as  well  as  present,  and  then  a  history  of  the  wholesale 
drug  business  as  such  can  be  written,  but  not  before. 
Of  the  sub-committee  on  Manufacturers,  it  was  stated  that 
while  it  was  true  that  the  manufacturer  is  unwilling  to  make  public 
much  of  his  legitimate  private  information,  he  might  be  asked  to 
preserve  documents,  and  turn  them  over  to  a  national  museum 
when  he  has  no  further  use  for  them  ;  catalogues,  price-lists  and 
even  bills  could  be  contributed  for  this  purpose. 
It  was  pointed  out  in  regard  to  State  Boards  that  there  is  no  com- 
plete collection  of  the  reports  of  the  numerous  State  Boards  of  this 
country.  They  certainly  should  be  collected.  A  systematic  study 
of  their  examination  questions  and  of  the  educational  history  of  the 
men  who  compose  these  boards  are  specially  to  be  desired. 
The  sub  committee  on  Adulterations  might  make  collections  of 
adulterated  drugs  and  chemicals.  The  immediate  cause  of  the  or- 
ganization of  the  A.  Ph.  A.  was  the  poor  quantity  of  drugs  and 
chemicals  imported. 
Of  the  work  of  the  sub-committee  on  Literature  and  Libraries 
he  said  :  While  we  need  more  well  equipped  college  libraries  to  serve 
local  interests,  we  need  a  national  pharmaceutical  library.  A  phar- 
maceutical department  in  the  medical  library  of  the  Army  and  Navy 
cannot  satisfy  us.  It  is  not  impossible  that  the  Lloyd  Library  may 
some  day  become  a  national  institute.  If  we  desire  to  see  it  such,  we 
should  do  something  more  than  merely  sit  by  and  calmly  observe  the 
development  of  things. 
As  indicating  the  importance  of  the  work  of  the  sub-committee 
on  Drugs  and  Medicinal  Plants  it  was  pointed  out  that  the  dis- 
covery of  a  New  World  created  an  interest  on  the  part  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Old  in  the  medical  plants  of  the  western  continent  and 
the  drugs  derived  thereform.  At  the  time  of  the  celebration  of  the 
four-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  America,  it  was  a 
German  scientist  who  wrote  a  book  on  the  history  of  American 
Drugs  and  their  significance  in  modern  materia  medica.    It  would 
