Am.  Jour.  Pbarm.") 
November,  1903.  J 
Meetings  at  the  College. 
521 
As  noted  before,  Wm.  Procter,  Jr.,  served  as  assistant  secretary 
for  ten  years.  After  his  resignation  in  1852,  Edward  Parrish  was 
elected  secretary  and  served  consecutively  to  the  end  of  1 85 5. 
At  the  meeting  in  December,  1855,  Mr.  Parrish  requested  that  a 
member  might  be  appointed  as  register,  to  have  charge  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  pharmaceutical  meetings,  issue  the  notices,  record  the 
minutes  of  the  meetings  and  prepare  them  for  publication. 
Samuel  S.  Garrigues  was  subsequently  elected  and  accepted  the 
office  of  register.  The  remaining  minutes  in  the  book  are  signed 
by,  or  for,  S.  S.  Garrigues,  Register.  The  last  record  in  the  book  is 
dated  March,  i860,  and  is  signed  W.  H.  Pile,  Secretary  pro  tern. 
The  subjects  that  were  presented  at  these  various  meetings  cover 
a  very  wide  range.  In  addition  to  the  numerous  communications 
published  in  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  verbal  communi- 
cations and  the  presentation  of  specimens  formed  a  very  important 
part  of  the  proceedings,  many  of  the  meetings  being  devoted 
largely,  if  not  entirely,  to  what  the  secretary  was  pleased  to  call 
"social  conversations"  on  matters  relating  to  pharmacy.  Consider- 
able attention  appears  to  have  been  devoted  to  the  exhibition  of 
interesting  or  new  drugs  and  preparations.  A  close  watch  was  also 
kept  on  the  local  drug  market  for  any  possible  adulterations  or 
sophistications,  and  these,  when  found,  were  promptly  reported  at 
a  pharmaceutical  meeting  with  all  available  details  and  data.  This 
close  watch  on  the  local  drug  market  had  a  salutary  effect  on  the 
reputation  of  Philadelphia  apothecaries,  who  were  reputed  far  and 
wide  as  being  far  in  advance  of  their  fellow-tradesmen  in  other 
cities. 
The  Civil  War  brought  with  it  a  number  of  changes  in  the  drug 
business  of  Philadelphia.  In  addition  to  the  large  number  of  young 
men  who  enlisted  in  the  regular  service,  the  demand  for  apothecaries 
in  the  army,  as  hospital  stewards,  was  very  great,  and  this  in  turn 
affected  the  available  supply  of  good  clerks  for  retail  stores.  When 
we  add  to  this  dearth  of  clerks  the  brisk  trade  in  all  classes  of 
business,  it  will  be  readily  appreciated  why  the  pharmacists  of  Phil- 
adelphia had  little  time  to  devote  to  scientific  investigations  or 
pharmaceutical  meetings. 
Despite  the  fact  that  no  scientific  meetings  had  been  held  for  a 
number  of  years,  the  constitution  and  by-laws  of  the  college,  pub- 
lished in  1869,  retained  the  chapter  relating  to  pharmaceutical  meet- 
