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Alfred  Bower  Taylor. 
Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
April,  1898 
having  filled  with  marked  ability  many  laborious  and  public  posi- 
tions. In  1848  he  was  appointed  Inspector  of  Drugs  for  the  Port  ot 
Philadelphia,  and  it  was  probably  because  of  his  interest  in  this 
department  of  pharmaceutical  activity  that  he  was  elected  the  first 
Secretary  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  at  the  initial 
meeting  which  convened  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1 85 1,  twelve 
members  being  present.  He  served  the  Association  as  secretary 
until  1854,  and  in  1890  was  elevated  to  the  highest  office  in  the  gift 
of  the  Association — that  of  president. 
He  was  also  the  first  treasurer  of  the  Association  (1852),  and  the 
second  local  secretary  (1867). 
His  connection  with  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  began 
in  1 841,  when  he  matriculated  as  a  student,  and  he  served  in  his 
Alma  Mater  subsequently  in  the  following  capacities:  Elected  a 
member  of  the  College  in  1848,  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  in  the  same  year;  elected  secretary  of  the  College  on  May 
25,  1850;  serving  twenty-one  years  in  this  capacity,  he  then  became 
corresponding  secretary,  holding  this  office  until  1886.  He  was  thus 
a  secretary  of  the  College  for  thirty-six  years.  He  also  served  on 
the  Publication  Committee  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy 
for  twenty-one  years,  beginning  in  1850.  In  1887  the  College 
conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Pharmacy. 
But  of  all  the  services  he  rendered  Pharmacy,  none  have  been  of 
such  enduring  value  as  those  upon  the  Committees  of  Revision  of  the 
U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Revis- 
ion of  the  College  for  the  Pharmacopoeias  for  i860,  1870,  1880  and 
1890,  and  president  of  the  College  Committees  in  1880  and  1890. 
Of  all  pharmacists  he  undoubtedly  has  to  his  credit  the  greatest 
number  of  years  of  uninterrupted  service  upon  the  National  Commit- 
tee of  Revision,  having  acted  continuously  from  1 860  until  the  time  of 
his  death,  a  period  of  thirty-seven  years.  He  was  the  secretary  of 
the  National  Committee  for  the  i860  and  1870  revisions  of  the 
Pharmacopoeia,  and  during  these  years  his  position  as  editor  and  sec- 
retary required  continuous  and  laborious  duties  involving  critical 
experiments,  recording  and  reconciling  the  views  of  the  members  of 
of  the  Committee,  and,  finally,  correcting  the  proofs  and  making  the 
business  arrangements  for  the  books. 
In  practical  pharmacy  he  was  the  first  to  propose  the  use  of  cacao 
butter  as  a  basis  for  suppositories,  and  in  1859  he  wrote  a  masterly 
