Am'oc"a!6arm'}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  503 
AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION. 
This  Association  not  having  met  in  the  New  England  States  since  1875, 
it  was  to  be  expected  that  the  thirty-fourth  annual  meeting  which  con- 
vened in  Providence,  R.  I.,  on  the  afternoon  of  September  7th,  should  be 
attended  by  a  large  number  of  members  residing  in  that  section  of  the 
country.  This  expectation  was  verified ;  and  since  Providence  is  very  ac- 
cessible, and  is  located  in  close  proximity  to  numerous  places  of  resort  on 
the  seashore,  on  islands  and  among  the  mountains,  an  opportunity  for 
a  few  days  rest  and  recuperation  was  afforded  to,  and  enjoyed  by,  many 
after  the  sessions  had  finally  closed.  The  weather  had  become  unexpect- 
edly warm  ;  but  during  the  night  was  moderated  by  refreshing  breezes  from 
the  beautiful  Narragansett  Bay.  Though  the  location  of  Blackstone  Hall, 
where  the  sessions  were  held,  was  not  near  as  quiet  and  free  from  noise  as 
had  been  supposed,  and  within  the  hall  the  sultriness  of  the  atmosphere 
was  but  little  mitigated,  the  attendance  at  the  sessions  and  the  interest  mani- 
fested in  the  proceedings  were  quite  satisfactory.  The  number  of  members 
and  delegates  registered  was  175 ;  but  considering  those  who  had  omitted  to 
place  their  names  on  the  register,  the  attendance  was,  probably,  fully  200. 
The  sessions  were  opened  on  Tuesday  afternoon  with  the  reading  of  the 
annual  address  by  President  Roberts.  After  a  few  introductory  remarks 
the  speaker  referred  to  the  present  unremunerative  condition  of  pharmacy 
as  a  business,  and  to  one  of  the  most  prominent  causes,  namely,  to  the 
large  and  increasing  demand  for  proprietary  medicines  which  filches  from 
the  pharmacist  so  large  a  portion  of  his  legitimate  profits.  The  so-called 
"  elegant "  pharmaceuticals  are  included  under  the  same  head,  but  the 
president  very  properly  regards  these  latter  as  having  attained  such  im- 
portance that  they  must  not  be  ignored.  As  a  remedy  the  amplification  of 
a  resolution  passed  by  the  Maryland  State  Pharmaceutical  Association  in 
1885  was  recommended,  urging  its  members  "to  use  their  best  efforts  to 
induce  physicians,  when  prescribing,  to  give  preference  to  officinal  remedies." 
By  way  of  a  retrospect  we  may  be  permitted  to  refer  to  the  action  of  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association  at  the  close  of  the  first  year  of  its 
existence  (1853),  when  the  elixir-nuisance  and  the  semi-proprietary  phar- 
maceuticals of  the  present  day  were  unknown.  This  action  was  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  increasing  nostrums;  and  without  quoting  the  whole,  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  state  that  it  was  declared  to  be  "  the  duty  as  well  as  interest 
of  the  apothecaries  and  druggists  to  advocate  the  use  of  the  officinal  medi- 
cines in  lieu  of  the  quackery  of  the  day;  that  this  can  only  be  done  by  a 
united  and  sustained  action  on  the  part  of  the  pharmacists  and  druggists 
of  the  Union,  and  that  this  course  should  receive  the  sanction  of  the  phy- 
sicians as  the  only  one  likely  to  remedy  the  evil  aimed  at." 
It  will  be  seen  that  these  expressions,  made  one-third  of  a  century  apart, 
are  alike  in  spirit ;  but  President  Roberts  proposed  also  the  practical  action 
to  communicate  officially  with  the  various  medical  associations  on  this 
subject. 
In  next  speaking  of  the  diminished  numerical  growth  of  the  Associa- 
