190 
EDITORIAL. 
distinctly  understood  that  all  payments  on  the  Society's  account  and  for 
duties,  must  be  in  gold,  or  its  equivalent  in  currency. 
Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  at  the  Thirteenth 
Annual  Meeting,  held  in  Boston,  Mass.,  September,  1865  ;  also,  the  Con- 
stitution and  Roll  of  Members.    Philad.  1866,  260  pp.  octavo. 
Before  this  number  reaches  our  readers,  those  -who  are  members  of  the 
Association  will  have  received  their  copies  of  the  "  Proceedings"  for  1865. 
After  the  delay  of  last  year,  it  was  generally  anticipated  that  this  volume 
would  appear  more  promptly,  but  despite  all  the  resolutions  and  precautions 
adopted  by  the  Association,  the  Editor  was  not  able  to  put  the  complete 
copy  in  the  printer's  hands  until  the  17th  of  January,  although  at  that  date 
much  of  it  had  been  in  type  for  months.  A  hurried  glance  over  the  book 
shows  a  full  record  of  minutes,  a  meagre  report  on  the  progress  of  Phar- 
macy, but  forty  pages  of  answers  to  scientific  queries,  and  thirty- six  pages 
of  volunteer  papers  ;  it  is,  in  fact,  the  smallest  volume  since  1857.  In  look- 
ing for  the  cause  of  this  deficiency  of  bulk,  it  will  be  found  chiefly  in  the 
Report  on  the  Progress  of  Pharmacy,  which  is  less  than  50  pages,  against 
123,  127,  and  142  in  the  previous  three  years.  The  Chairman  attributes  it 
partially  to  causes  over  which  he  had  no  control,  and  largely  to  the  in- 
accessibility of  foreign  journals,  which  delayed  action  upon  them  until  too 
late  to  include  much  valuable  information  that  might  otherwise  have  been 
included  from  foreign  sources.  No  one  can  fully  appreciate  the  labor  of 
preparing  a  report  of  this  kind  without  they  have  undertaken  it.  Without 
a  knowledge  of  the  German  and  French  languages,  (or  liberal  aid  from 
those  who  have  it,)  and  a  free  access  to  the  foreign  pharmaceutical  periodicals, 
it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  prepare  papers  like  those  which  for 
the  previous  three  years  have  marked  the  Proceedings.  The  Report  differs 
from  most  of  its  predecessors  by  a  more  detailed  account  of  the  papers  to 
which  it  refers,  which  enables  the  reader  to  get  a  good  idea  of  their 
contents. 
Of  the  special  reports  and  essays,  we  have  published  previously  or  in 
this  number  most  of  those  which  were  read  at  the  meeting,  and  some  of 
the  others  we  hope  to  print  in  future  numbers.  As  a  whole,  the  volume  is 
very  interesting  and  instructive  ;  the  paper  on  percolation  alone  is  worth 
the  cost  of  the  volume,  and  the  discussions  appended  to  the  minutes  add 
very  much  to  their  interest  and  usefulness  as  a  record  of  the  proceedings. 
A  new  feature  of  the  volume  is  the  Roll  of  Members,  which  is  now 
classified  in  eight  groups,  consisting  of  honorary,  active,  and  deceased 
members,  and  those  whose  names  have  been  directed  to  be  stricken  from 
the  rolls  for  neglect  of  payment  of  their  contributions,  because  of  resigna- 
tion, or  from  not  having  signed  the  Constitution. 
The  paper,  printing,  and  binding,  are  much  as  the  previous  year,  and  do 
not  come  up  to  some  former  volumes,  when  materials  and  workmanship 
were  less  costly  than  at  present. 
