^""xig^rXt""'}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  439 
Third  Session — Wednesday  afternoon^  September  Sth. 
After  the  reading  and  approval  of  the  records  of  the  second  session, 
a  resolution  was  passed  inviting  the  medical  profession  of  Boston  and 
vicinity  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the  Association  and  visit  the  Exhibi- 
tion-room at  their  convenience.  Invitations  w^ere  received,  and 
thankfully  accepted,  for  visiting  the  works  of  the  New  England  Glass 
Company  and  the  Merchants'  Exchange. 
The  report  on  legislation  was  read  ;  it  discussed  the  constitutionality 
of  the  pharmacy  laws,  recently  enacted,  about  which  doubt  had  been 
expressed  by  a  member  ;  it  was  stated  that  a  decision  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  State  could  only  be  obtained  by  bringing  a  test 
case  before  that  tribunal,  a  proceeding  beyond  the  purpose  of  the  Com- 
mittee. However,  legal  advice  had  been  repeatedly  asked,  and  was 
always  in  favor  of  these  laws  ;  moreover,  among  the  objections  to  these 
bills  while  pending  before  the  State  Legislatures,  the  constitutionality 
of  the  measures  had  never  been  questioned  as  far  as  the  Committee  was 
aware,  and  there  appeared  to  be  no  valid  reason  to  doubt  the  correctness 
of  these  views.  The  failures  to  pass  the  required  examinations  in  the 
different  States,  frequently  amounted  to  25  per  cent,  of  the  number 
examined.  Attention  was  then  directed  to  the  pharmacy  laws  recently 
enacted  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  and  the  Province  of  Quebec, 
to  the  establishment  of  a  college  of  pharmacy  in  the  latter  place,  and 
to  the  final  settlement  of  the  stamp  tax  on  medicine  by  the  passage  by 
Congress  of  the  so-called  "  Little  Tariff  bill  "  (see  "  Amer.  Journ. 
Pharm.,"  1875,  pp.  137,  192  and  233). 
The  report  of  the  Committee  on  E!ixirs  was  read  by  the  chairman, 
Wm.  Mclntyre.  There  appeared  to  be  little  necessity  for  any  alter- 
ation of  the  formulas  adopted  in  1873  '  nomenclature  should  express 
the  remedial  composition  of  the  preparation  ;  a  simple  elixir,  answering 
general  purposes,  and  meeting  ordinary  requirements,  could  serve  to  the 
physician  as  a  guide  for  suiting  the  taste  of  his  patient  ;  the  tendency 
of  the  "  Pharmacopoeia  "  to  present  simple  preparations  representing 
the  drugs  should  be  adhered  to  ;  greater  attention  was  demanded  in  the 
choice  of  suitable  vehicles,  correctives  and  other  auxiliaries.  These 
were  the  most  important  points  dwelled  upon  in  the  report,  which 
closed  with  a  number  of  formulas,  given  mainly  as  patterns  of  how 
elixirs  may  be  extemporaneously  prepared. 
During  the  discussion  which  followed,  some  objection  was  made 
