^'"MaS';i9iL'""}     Wholesale  Druggists'  Association.  119 
tinental  Europe,  that  its  prominent  members  are  well  known,  its  high 
standing  is  recognized,  and  every  American  who  visits  foreign 
pharmacists  and  foreign  laboratories  will  be  surprised  to  know 
that  very  frequently  these  gentlemen  are  better  known  in  foreign 
countries  than  they  are  among  ourselves.  Mr.  Plant  urged  every 
one  to  join  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  and  thus  assist 
in  the  elevation  of  pharmacy. 
President  Martin  in  his  presidential  address  touched  upon  many 
topics  of  importance  to  the  country  at  large,  which  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  repeat,  and  which  are  really  not  capable  of  being  condensed,  as 
they  would  necessarily  have  to  be,  to  be  included  in  this  paper. 
Sufficient  is  it  to  say  that  his  report  showed  that  the  Association 
has  co-operated  with  many  commercial  bodies  throughout  the  coun- 
try and  assisted  in  bringing  about  important  improvements  in  trade 
conditions.  Mr.  Martin  advised  that  the  authorities  on  legislation 
be  instructed  to  support  the  passage  of  an  amendment  to  the  Food 
and  Drug  Act,  adopting  the  use  of  the  name  Wood  Naptha  " 
to  take  the  place  of  the  name  "  Wood  Alcohol,"  which  name  is 
misleading  and  has  often  caused  death  and  blindness  because  of 
misunderstanding  as  to  the  character  of  the  substance.  President 
Martin  called  the  attention  of  the  Association  to  the  fact  that  the 
world  has  reached  that  stage  in  its  progress  when  little  is  accom- 
plished except  through  organization  and  united  effort,  and  that  the 
day  of  small  things  has  passed  and  it  is  the  duty  of  all  to  participate 
in  the  organized  effort  that  makes  for  the  good  of  the  whole. 
He  stated  that  it  was  not  fair,  in  fact,  it  was  a  gross  wrong,  that 
the  burden  of  organization  be  left  on  the  shoulders  of  the  most 
enterprising  and  conscientious,  while  the  selfish,  the  indolent,  and 
those  without  a  proper  scruple  in  appropriating  the  fruit  of  other 
people's  labor,  remain  at  home. 
The  report  of  the  Committee  on  The  Prevention  of  Adulteration 
was  exceedingly  interesting  this  year,  and  all  those  interested  in 
scientific  study  and  the  purity  of  drugs,  as  they  are  offered  on  the 
markets,  should  read  the  report  in  full.  The  Committee  stated  that 
an  eminent  expert,  who  not  very  long  ago  uttered  in  the  public 
prints  a  rather  wholesale  denunciation  of  the  traffic  in  crude  drugs 
on  the  ground  of  widespread  practices  of  sophistication,  has  more 
recently  been  quoted  as  saying  that  there  is  no  longer  one-tenth  the 
adulteration  there  was  formerly.  The  report  then  called  attention 
to  the  indiscriminate  looseness  with  which  the  words    adulteration  " 
