s?pfe0mber,hia89^'}      British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  469 
useful  in  a  civilized  state  of  societ3',  the  duties  and  landmarks  of  which  are  as  capable  of 
definition  as  medicine,  biology,  physiology  and  tnany  other  well-recognized  divisions  of 
knowledge.  I  am  aware  that  it  has  no  claim  to  stand  alone  as  an  abstract  science,  but  must 
depend  on  botany  and  chemistry  for  the  elucidation  of  many  of  its  problems,  but  in  this 
respect  is  it  not  on  a  par  with  the  other  divisions  I  have  mentioned  ?  Medicine,  of  course,  is 
dependent  on  even  a  larger  number  of  the  various  branches  of  science  than  pharmacy  ;  but 
have  biology  or  physiology  any  claims  to  be  considered  as  abstract  sciences?  Are  not  their 
very  names  indicative  of  the  want  of  knowledge  of  those  who  study  them,  and  how  dare  an3' 
man  say  that  a  biological  investigation  is  science,  and  worth}'  of  all  the  honor  which  societies 
can  bestow,  while  a  pharmaceutical  investigation  must  conceal  its  very  name  under  some 
other  title  ? 
As  to  the  whirlwind^of  modern  trade,  poor  pharmacy  is  threatened  and  is  in  grave 
danger  of  being  entirely  overwhelmed  by  it.  In  my  address  last  year  I  pointed  to  the  fact 
that  pharmacy  was  attempting  the  impossibility  of  posing  as  a  profession  while  it  practiced 
the  baser  methods  of  trade  ;  and  the  answer  from  the  headquarters  of  the  craft,  which  can  be 
read  by  all  men  in  the  altered  features  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  is  that  pharmacy  is 
content  to  be  a  trade,  and  the  Council  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  the  leaders  of  a  trade 
Association." 
The  President  then  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  formation  of  local 
associations  had  been  recommended  as  a  panacea  for  the  ills  of  pharmacy, 
but  he  wished  to  point  out  the  weakness  of  such  a  remedy. 
The  duties  of  pharmacy  then  claimed  the  speaker's  attention  ;  after  the 
duty  of  dispensing,  which  should  be  assigned  entirely  to  the  pharmacist,  there 
should  be  some  time  given  to  the  Pharmacopoeia  and  to  research. 
The  scope  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  "  should  be  to  provide  the  greatest  number  of  the  average 
medical  men  and  pharmacists  with  accurate  descriptions  of  all  the  drugs  and  preparations 
which  are  in  reasonably  common  use  at  the  time  of  its  publication,  so  that  they  may  judge  of 
the  identity  and  quality  from  the  pharmacopoeial  description." 
The  error  should  be  in  having  too  many  rather  than  too  few  formulas  for 
stable  and  reliable  preparations  of  drugs. 
The  omissions  from  the  Pharmacopoeia  provide  the  happy  hunting-ground  for  the  cupid- 
ity of  the  empiric  and  the  quack  in  pharmacy. 
In  regard  to  pharmaceutical  research,  it  was  declared  "  the  duty  which  is  incumbent  upon 
every  man  to  do  something  either  to  increase  the  aggregate  amount,  or  to  render  more  exact 
and  scientific  the  knowledge  which  is  in  the  possession  of  his  calling,  cannot  be  too  seriously 
taken  to  heart  by  pharmacists." 
The  balance  of  the  remarks  on  this  topic  and  the  conclusions  will  scarcely 
bear  condensation,  they  had  previously  been  well  condensed  by  the  speaker, 
and  every  sentence  is  worthy  of  the  careful  consideration  of  pharmacists  in 
this  country  as  well  as  in  England. 
The  president  having  completed  his  address,  the  Executive  Committee,  the 
Treasurer  and  the  Formulary  Committee  reported,  which  brought  the  Confer- 
ence, in  less  than  two  hours,  to  the  reading  of  original  communications. 
The  first  paper  read  was  on 
SANDAL  WOOD  OIL. 
By  E.  J.  Parry. 
In  attempting  to  devise  a  quantitative  method  for  the  determination  of  the 
value  of  this  oil,  the  author  found  that  the  best  plan  was  to  ascertain  the 
amount  of  santalol  it  contains.  Other  alcoholic  bodies  present  are  expressed 
in  terms  of  santalol.  The  alcohol  is  converted  into  an  acetate,  and  the  amount 
of  acetic  acid  present  in  the  acetylated  oil  determined,  the  result  being  ex- 
pressed in  terms  of  potash  necessary  to  saponify  the  oil.    Tables  were  given  to 
