106  Professor  John  Attfield,  F.R.S.  {AVa?$M&rm" 
of  the  manual  in  the  United  States.  Since  then  seven  editions  have 
been  adapted  to  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  and  the  eighth, 
that  is,  the  nineteenth  of  the  consecutive  editions,  is  now  in  course 
of  preparation.  The  total  number  of  copies  of  the  manual  issued  up 
to  the  present  time  is  between  50,000  and  60,000. 
One  of  the  principal  projects  in  which  Professor  Attfteld  has  inter- 
ested himself  is  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference,  of  which  he 
was  one  of  the  founders.  The  first  annual  meeting  was  held  in 
1863  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  The  objects  of  the  Conference  were  to 
promote  pharmaceutical  research  and  good  fellowship  among  its 
members.  These  objects  have  been  achieved  with  a  success  which 
the  founders  of  that  body  probably  never  quite  anticipated.  The 
yearly  meetings  of  the  Conference  have  always  been  well  attended, 
and  over  a  thousand  valuable  scientific  communications  have  been 
read  before  its  members.  In  addition,  this  Association  has  published 
a  "  Year  Book  of  Pharmacy,"  containing  not  only  a  full  report  of  its 
meetings,  but  a  digest  of  the  scientific  work  bearing  on  pharmacy 
which  has  been  published  in  other  countries.  The  editorship  of 
the  Transactions  was  entrusted  to  Professor  Attfield  and  retained  by 
him  for  many  years.  For  seventeen  years  after  its  inception,  Pro- 
fessor Attfield  was  senior  secretary  of  the  Conference,  and  according 
to  the  testimony  of  Richard  Reynolds  and  Henry  B.  Brady,  the  two 
other  chief  organizers,  its  large  success  owes  much  to  his  efforts.  On 
relinquishing,  in  1880,  his  official  connection  with  the  Conference  as 
its  honorary  secretary,  Professor  Attfield  was  presented  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Conference  with  500  volumes  of  general  literature,  chosen 
by  himself.  The  late  Mr.  Schacht,  in  making  the  presentation, 
referred  in  eulogistic  terms  to  the  past  work  of  the  retiring  secretary. 
"  Broadly  speaking,"  said  he,  "  it  appears  to  me  that  the  usefulness 
of  our  friend's  life  has  consisted  in  this,  that  he  first  of  all  achieved 
a  high  and  distinguished  position  for  himself,  and  from  that  moment 
has  endeavored  to  hold  up  both  for  our  admiration  and  achievement 
that  higher  life  of  mental  culture  which  is  so  plainly  open  to  us  in 
the  very  nature  of  our  calling,  but  which  we  are  so  prone  to  forget 
amidst  the  pressure  of  business.  It  seems  to  me  it  has  been  in  that 
constant  protest  against  pharmacists  sinking  into  anything  like  per- 
functory drudges,  and  in  his  recommendation  of  the  only  genuine 
remedy  for  that,  namely,  that  each  man  should  do  something,  or  at 
least  try  to  do  something,  for  the  general  good,  that  the  main  influ 
