Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  1903.  J 
Meetings  at  the  College. 
517 
cuss  matters  of  scientific  interest,  monthly  meetings  were  instituted 
in  1824.  It  was  on  November  ioth,  of  this  same  year,  that  Dr. 
George  B.  Wood,  then  the  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmacy,  delivered  his  stirring  address  to  the  members 
in  which  he  pointed  out  to  them  a  number  of  ways  in  which  they 
might  improve  their  profession  and  at  the  same  time  increase  their 
own  individual  sphere  of  usefulness. 
In  December  of  the  following  year  (1825)  the  first  number  of  the 
Journal  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  was  published. 
The  object  of  this  publication,  as  announced  in  the  introduction  to 
this  first  number,  was  "  To  bring  about  a  more  rapid  diffusion  of 
information  and  to  awaken  and  foster  a  spirit  of  research  and  experi- 
ment in  an  obscure  and  humble  portion  of  the  vineyard  of  science." 
Both  the  monthly  meetings  and  the  Journal  appear  to  have  been  a 
little  premature,  for,  after  the  first  burst  of  enthusiasm,  which  does 
not  seem  to  have  lasted  more  than  six  or  eight  months,  the  meetings 
languished  and  the  Journal  was  practically  discontinued.  This 
lack  of  support  is  well  illustrated  by  the  preliminary  numbers  of 
the  Journal.  The  first  number,  published  in  December,  1825, 
contains  four  communications  that  had  been  read  at  a  college  meet- 
ing, the  second  number  contains  eight,  the  third  contains  only  one 
original  essay,  while  the  fourth  number  is  composed  entirely  of 
selections  from  other  sources.  * 
The  monthly  meetings  were,  nominally  at  least,  continued  until 
November,  1837.  For  some  years  after  the  regular  publication  of 
the  Journal  was  commenced  (1829)  considerable  interest  appears 
to  have  been  manifested  on  the  part  of  the  local  members  in  the 
monthly  meetings.  A  number  of  essays  appear  in  the  early  vol- 
umes that  had  been  read  and  discussed  at  a  college  meeting. 
In  the  meantime  an  additional  effort  to  hold  regular  meetings  for 
the  reading  and  discussion  of  scientific  papers  had  been  instituted 
by  the  students  or  undergraduates  of  the  college.  In  1827  these 
students  had  organized  the  Chemical  Society  of  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmacy,  and  held  regular  meetings  in  the  college  hall 
to  read  essays  and  discuss  matters  relating  to  general  and  pharma- 
ceutical chemistry. 
This  was  the  third  distinctly  chemical  society  that  has  existed  in 
Philadelphia,  and  merits  more  than  the  passing  notice  that  we  can 
give  to  it  here.    The  minutes  of  the  society  are  in  the  archives  of 
