572 
EDITORIAL. 
Our  Journal. — With  this  number  ends  the  forty-second  voluraie  of  the- 
American  Journal  of  Pharmacy;  and  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  few  words 
in  regard  to  the  future.  For  some  time  past  the  plan  of  making  the 
Journal  a  Monthly  has  been  entertained,  a  change  proposed  in  harmony  with 
the  prevailing  idea  of  frequent  issues  in  scientific  serials.  If  this  is  car- 
ried out,  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Publishing  Committee  to  make  a  com- 
plete change  in  the  organization  of  the  business  department  of  the 
Journal,  and  especially  in  reference  to  its  facilities  and  value  as  an  ad- 
vertising medium,  to  accomplish  which  it  is  proposed  to  have  a  Business 
Editor,  who  shall  have  charge  of  the  entire  business  of  the  Journal,  ad- 
vertising sheet,  accounts,  finances,  distribution  and  custody  of  the  stock;, 
and  who  shall  have  his  office  at  the  College  Hall,  where  all  business  in 
relation  to  the  Journal  will  be  transacted.  Although  this  arrangement  has 
the  entire  approval  of  the  present  Editor,  in  view  of  the  best  interests  of 
the  Journal  and  the  College,  and,  in  fact,  was  suggested  by  him,  yet  he 
believes  the  time  is  drawing  near  when  it  will  be  right  for  him  to  retire 
from  the  helm  which  he  has  so  long  guided  in  the  varying  sunshine  and 
gloom  of  its  career,  and  let  some  younger  and  more  efficient  worker  take 
his  place.  It  is  more  than  one-third  of  <i  century  since  his  connection 
with  its  pages,  as  a  contributor,  commenced,  during  twenty-five  years  of 
which  his  services  as  Editor  have  been  continuous  ;  and,  though  much  of 
this  time  it  has  been  a  labor  of  love,  he  believes  that  now  he  is  entitled 
to  a  season  of  rest  from  the  pressure  of  responsibility  which  ever  attends 
faithful  editorial  service. 
New  chapter  in  the  History  of  Chloroform. —  vVe  learn  from  the 
Pharmaceutical  Journal  of  Oct.  15th  that  Mr.  George  Waldie,  a  chemist 
and  druggist  of  Linlithgow,  Scotland,  has  published  a  pamphlet  entitled, 
"  the  true  story  of  the  introduction  of  chloroform  into  anaesthetics."  In 
this  pamphlet  Mr.  Waldie  claims  for  his  brother,  David  Waldie,  now  of 
Barnagore,  Calcutta,  much  of  the  credit  due  for  the  discovery  of  the 
anaesthetic  properties  of  chloroform.  The  account  given  by  David 
Waldie,  himself,  of  his  share  in  the  discovery  is  as  follows  : 
"  On  the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  Dr.  Simpson,  when  in  Scotland,  in  1847, 
he  spoke  to  me  of  his  trial  of  various  vapors,  in  his  endeavors  to  discover 
something  else  than  ether,  at  that  time  employed  to  some  extent  for 
anaesthetic  purposes,  amongst  others  mentioning  chloric  ether,  the  chemi- 
cal constitution  of  which  he  was  evidently  not  aware  of.  This  1  explained 
to  him,  showing  him  that  it  was  chiefly  vapor  of  alcohol  that  would  be 
inhaled,  and  advised  him  to  try  pure  chloroform,  which  appeared  to  me 
likely  to  be  suitable.  I  promised,  also,  to  prepare  some  as  soon  as  1 
could  on  my  return  to  Liverpool  and  send  it  to  him  for  trial." 
On  returning  to  Liverpool  the  destruction  by  fire  of  the  Apothecaries 
Company's  Laboratory,  where  Mr.  Waldie  was  an  operator,  prevented 
him  from  giving  attention  to  the  matter,  when  sometime  after  he  read 
the  announcement  that  Dr.  Simpson  had  discovered  the  anaesthetic  prop- 
erties of  chloroform,  he  having  obtained  it  through  Duncan  &  Flockhart, 
