436  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {^^pteXr^mT' 
of  the  teaching  and  examinations  in  Pharmacognosy  that  1  have 
not  been  aiming  to  estabhsh  an  ideal  so  much  as  to  direct  attention 
to  the  need  of  our  considering  our  work  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
practicing  Pharmacist.  There  are  many  things  that  every  Pharma- 
cist should  know,  and  these  relate  especially  to  the  specific  char- 
acters and  properties  of  the  important  drugs.  There  are  other 
things  which  he  may  know  of  certain  drugs,  and  indeed,  should 
know,  to  stimulate  him  in  his  professional  work.  But  these  are 
subjects  that  can  be  better  handled  in  an  oral  examination  than  in 
written  examinations.  In  Pharmacognosy  we  have  a  subject  dealing 
with  natural  products  and  we  should  treat  it  in  a  natural  way, 
instead  of  according  to  hard  and  fast  lines  and  involving  the  framing 
of  questions  in  the  form  of  riddles  or  conundrums  which  depend 
for  their  solution  upon  so  much  memorizing  rather  than  clear 
thinking  and  direct  study  of  the  drugs  themselves,  as  we  do  in  the 
study  of  other  physical  objects. 
THE  BOSTON  MEETING  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION 
By    M.    I.  WiLBERT. 
The  Boston  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation will  long  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  most  eventful  meet- 
ings in  the  history  of  that  Association.  This  distinction  will  be 
given  it  not  because  of  the  superior  nature  of  the  programme 
offered  or  the  unexpected  announcement  of  an  unusual  scientific 
achievement,  but  because  at  this  meeting  the  Association  chose  to 
break  with  the  past  and  to  engage  in  enterprises  more  or  less  new 
and  untried  so  far  as  the  organization  itself  is  concerned. 
Many,  if  not  all  the  three  hundred  or  more  members  of  the  Amer- 
ican Pharmaceutical  Association  present  at  Boston  no  doubt  expected 
and  were  therefore  prepared  for  the  developments  announced  in  the 
course  of  the  week  and  many,  if  not  all  of  the  members  present 
were  thoroughly  in  accord  with  the  programme  as  outlined  and 
wish  the  officers  for  the  coming  year  well  in  the  development  of 
their  pioneer  work. 
While  the  happenings  at  Boston  were  neither  unexpected  nor 
revolutionary  in  nature,  they  nevertheless  entail  changes  in  policies 
