As™pfember.hia89™'}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  475 
medicine  or  treatment,  and  the  weary  and  struggling  outside  general  practitioner  can 
go  home,  shut  himself  up  with  his  emaciated  wife  and  starving  children,  and  turn  on  the  un- 
lighted  gas."  The  Journal  of  the  American  Association,  referring  to  the  same  subject,  says  : 
"  The  doctor  as  a  private  physician,  working  for  himself,  will  more  and  more  find  his  position 
disappearing.  There  will  be  general  practitioners  in  out-of-the-way  places,  as  there  are  now  ; 
there  will  be  men  of  rare  ability,  who  will  attract  by  their  personality  and  who  will  remain 
individualistic  in  their  work  But  the  great  mass  of  town  physicians  may  be  obliged  to  adapt 
themselves  to  other  conditions,  and  either  become  salaried  employees  of  State  and  private 
institutions,  or  form  mutual  and  co-operative  hospitals  and  dispensaries,  thereby  employing 
themselves  ;  which  plan  or  plans  will  soonest  find  adoption,  the  future  alone  will  tell ;  but  the 
general  physician  will  probably  not  remain  as  he  is,  and  sooner  or  later  will  be  obliged  to 
choose  between  the  old  and  the  new  paths."  The  writer  then  adds  :  "If  the  prophets  are 
true,  and  the  physician  of  the  future  is  to  exist  as  part  of  the  great  medical  institution,  the 
pharmacist  will  follow  suit.    .    .  ." 
While  I  do  not  agree  with  the  medical  journals  or  physicians  quoted,  that  the  future  of 
the  average  physician  is  a  close  room  with  the  unlighted  gas  turned  on,  I  think  we  must 
all  agree  that  those  physicians  who  are  too  indolent  or  too  ignorant  to  write  for  such  reme- 
dies as  each  case  demands,  and  who  depend  upon  the  printed  slips  of  specialties,  tablets  or 
triturates,  are  certainly  approaching  a  suicidal  condition.  It  is  not  for  us  to  discuss  the 
future  of  the  physician,  but  when  the  writer  adds,  "  the  pharmacist  will  follow  suit,"  we  pro- 
test. Pharmacy  is  a  science,  and  we  don't  propose  to  abandon  our  scientific  methods  by  any 
such  unscientific,  selfish  and  cowardly  act.  We  have  been  trained,  and  our  life  depends  upon 
faithful  service  for  the  public  good  ;  and  exposing  the  public  to  the  hazard  of  gas  explosions 
is  not  for  the  public  good. 
Feebly,  and  as  briefly  as  possible,  I  have  presented  a  few  points  which  seem  to  me 
to  demand  your  careful  consideration 
Fellow-members  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  :  As  sure  as  the  sun  rises 
in  the  east  and  gives  us  light,  as  sure  as  the  North  Star  has  been  a  guide  to  the  mariner,  so 
sure  is  it  that  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  has  been  and  will  continue  to  be  the 
light  and  guiding  star  of  the  coming  pharmacist.  Because  clouds  sometimes  obscure  the 
light,  or  storms  and  contentions  drive  us  from  our  course,  are  we,  like  the  clam,  to  bury  our- 
selves in  the  s=md  ?  There  is  a  future  for  pharmacy  ;  there  is  work  for  us  to  do  at  at  the  pres- 
ent and  in  the  future  as  in  the  past.  Our  colleges  of  pharmacy  are  graduating  one  thousand 
or  more  every  year.  lectures  by  mail,  correspondence,  and  private  instructions  with  special 
study  are  enabling  boards  of  pharmacy,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  to  register  two  thousand  or 
more  every  year.  And  it  is  but  fair  to  assume  that  the  average  pharmacist  of  the  past  three 
years  is  a  better  educated  and  professional  pharmacist  than  the  average  pharmacist  of  ten 
years  ago,  hence  the  educational  progress  must  be  an  accepted  fact.  I  repeat,  there  is  a  future 
for  pharmacy  ;  and  the  future  may  be  likened  to  the  mining  industry.  Mines  that  have  been 
profitably  worked  and  exhausted,  as  supposed,  have,  under  modern  skill  and  science,  been 
reopened  and  worked  more  profitably  than  before  So  pharmacy  to-day,  in  a  few  places,  is 
testing  and  experimenting  on  the  lines  of  assay,  analysis,  microscopy  and  bacteriology. 
The  President's  address  was  received  and  referred  to  a  Committee  consisting 
of  W.  S.  Thompson,  of  Washington  ;  S.  A.  D.  Sheppard,  of  Boston,  and  H.  M. 
Whelpley,  of  St.  Louis.  President  Whitney  then  resumed  the  chair  and  Secre- 
tary Caspari  called  for  the  various  standing  and  special  committees.  The 
selection  of  the  Nominating  Committee  to  elect  officers  for  the  ensuing  year 
was  the  next  business  in  order,  and  a  recess  of  five  minutes  was  granted  for  the 
purpose  of  affording  the  members  for  the  various  States,  Territories  and  Prov- 
inces an  opportunity  to  choose  their  representatives.  The  following  States,  etc., 
were  represented  :  New  York,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Maryland,  Vermont,  Maine, 
Missouri,  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Illinois,  South  Carolina,  Iowa,  Michigan,  Ken- 
tucky, Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  Canada,  Virginia, 
Rhode  Island  and  District  of  Columbia.  These  selected  their  representatives 
and  nominators.  In  addition  the  President  appointed  at  large  five  members. 
The  Nominating  Committee  decided  to  meet  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
session. 
