EDITORIAL. 
5T3 
•chemists,  of  Edinburgli.  The  only  acknowledgement  ever  given  by  Dr. 
Simpson  for  the  essential  information  given  by  Waldie,  was  in  these 
words,  in  a  foot  note  in  his  original  pamphlet  :  "  Mr.  Waldie  first  named 
to  me  the  perchloride  of  formyle,  as  worthy,  among  others,  of  a  trial." 
Mr.  Waldie,  feeling  disappointed  that  Dr.  Simpson  should  say  so  little 
about  his  agency  in  the  matter,  wrote  a  paper  entitled,  "  Chloroform,  the 
new  agent  for  producing  insensibility  to  pain  by  inhalation,"  which  he 
read  before  the  Liverpool  Library  and  Philosophical  Society,  in  which 
he  gives  a  full  account  of  the  transaction,  preceded  by  a  history  of  chloric 
ether  and  chloroform.  Mr,  Abraham,  of  Liverpool,  gives  great  weight 
to  the  claims  of  Mr.  Waldie,  who  introduced  the  custom  of  making  chloric 
ether  from  pure  chloroform,  instead  of  the  direct  method  of  Guthrie,  and 
thinks  that  but  for  his  suggestion  some  other  person  might  have  made 
the  discovery,  if,  indeed,  it  would  have  been  made  at  all. 
Resignation  of  a  Faithful  Officer. — But  few  who  have  had  to  do 
"with  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  during  the  past  forty  years  will  fail  to 
remember  with  satisfaction  their  intercourse  with  the  gentleman  who, 
during  that  long  period,  has  held  the  position  of  Apothecary  in  the  Insti- 
tution. The  pharmacy  of  that  hospital  is  conducted  in  a  well-appointed 
shop,  which,  during  the  incumbency  of  Dr.  Conrad,  has  been  refitted  with 
many  improvements  for  dispensing.  The  corps  of  physicians  who  give 
their  services  to  the  hospital  have  always  been  among  the  first  men  of 
the  medical  profession  in  Philadelphia,  whose  prescriptions  involve  a 
great  variety  of  dispensing,  and  especially  include  the  newer  remedies. 
Hence,  it  has  often  happened  that  the  experience  of  Dr.  Conrad  has 
been  useful  to  others  beyond  the  Institution,  and  has  been  freely  ac- 
corded. The  corps  of  resident  physicians,  changing  as  it  does  annually 
or  biennially,  has  brought  Dr.  Conrad  into  intimate  intercourse  with  many 
members  of  the  medical  profession,  and  with  numerous  medical  visitors 
to  library  and  wards,  and  it  is  with  much  pleasure  we  record  a  recent 
action  of  those  of  his  medical  friends  who,  in  one  way  or  another  have 
been  associated  with  him  during  his  long  career.  Knowing  his  intention 
to  resign,  these  gentlemen  quietly,  without  going  beyond  their  own  num- 
ber, made  up  a  purse  of  seventeen  hundred  dollars,  and  handed  it  to  Dr. 
Conrad,  with  the  assurance  that  it  was  his  without  any  conditions.  The 
sum  itself  is  a  handsome  testimonial,  but  the  presentation  with  it  of  a 
beautifully  engrossed  tribute  of  friendship,  signed  by  the  numerous  friends 
who  originated  it,  was  as  truly  grateful  to  the  recipient  as  it  was  highly 
honorable  to  the  hearts  and  the  liberality  of  the  donors.  After  so  long 
and  meritorious  a  service  we  trust  Dr.  Conrad  will  live  many  years  to 
enjoy  the  retirement  which  he  has  sought. 
The  Medical  Times,  a  semi-monthly  Journal  of  Medical  and  Surgical  . 
Science.    Published  on  the  1st  and  1.5th  of  each  month,  by  J.  B.  Lip- 
pincott  &  Co.,  715  Market  street,  Philadelphia.    Saturday,  Oct.  1, 
1870.    Vol.  1,  No.  1. 
