786  Year  Book  or  Abstract  Journal.    {Am.  jour.  Pharm. 
/  «-  .December,  1919. 
eign  and  domestic,  together  with  the  briefest  possible  description  of 
their  scope  analogous  to  the  Chemical  Abstracts  of  the  American 
Chemical  Society,  but  even  briefer,  and  also,  continue  the  publica- 
tion of  the  present  Year  Book? 
Such  a  procedure  would  be  entirely  practicable.  The  held  of 
pharmaceutical  research  is  comparatively  limited  and  it  would  nor 
take  many  pages  of  the  Journal,  each  month,  to  cover  the  field.  It 
would  be  less  expensive,  also,  to  utilize  the  Journal  as  the  medium 
of  expression,  than  to  publish  a  separate  periodical,  while  to  the 
practical  worker  the  manner  of  publication  would  be  immaterial  so 
long  as  he  got  the  gist  of  the  matter  and  could  refer  to  the  original 
promptly.  Such  a  department  of  the  Journal  could  be  called 
"  Pharmaceutical  Abstracts  "  or  "  Current  Pharmaceutical  Litera- 
ture." 
The  function  of  a  Year  Book  is  radically  different  from  that  of 
an  Abstract  Journal.  The  object  of  the  Year  Book  is  to  give  an 
annual,  systematic  review  or  digest  of  pharmaceutical  progress  in 
orderly,  logical  sequence,  fully  and  completely. 
■It  is  unthinkable  that  the  Year  Book  be  abandoned.  It  fills  a 
niche  occupied  by  no  other  book  in  pharmacy  as  a  work  of  refer- 
ence. For  sixty-seven  years,  the  Association  has  published  its  "  Re- 
port on  the  Progress  of  Pharmacy"  as  contained  in  its  former  Pro- 
ceedings and  its  present  Year  Book,  and  these  volumes  constitute 
the  history  of  the  development  of  American  Pharmacy  and  give  to 
the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  a  prestige  that  is  interna- 
tional, as  well  as  national. 
The  Association  cannot  afford  to  discontinue  the  publication  of 
the  Year  Book  which,  under  the  able  and  brilliant  editorship  of  H. 
V.  Amy,  our  Reporter  on  the  Progress  of  Pharmacy,  is  maintain- 
ing the  highest  traditions  of  the  Association.  Its  continued  publica- 
tion is  essential,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the  pharmaceutical  research 
workers  of  today,  but  also,  as  a  duty  the  Association  owes  to  pos- 
terity in  furnishing  a  recorded  history  of  the  development  of  Amer- 
ican Pharmacy. 
The  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  Year  Book  vs.  an  Abstract 
Journal  would,  therefore,  seem  to  be  to  publish  both — the  former, 
as  heretofore,  and  the  latter  as  a  department  of  the  Journal. 
But  the  question  arises :  Can  the  Association  afford  the  in- 
creased expense?  And  I  am  frank  to  say  that  I  do  not  believe  it 
can  without  increased  revenue,  but  I  do  believe  that  increased  rev- 
