Am'SfiS2arm'}    British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  535 
BRITISH  PHARMACEUTICAL  CONFERENCE.1 
TWENTY-NINTH  ANNUAL  MEETING  AT  EDINBURGH. 
In  accordance  with  the  custom  that  has  become  established,  the  proceedings 
commenced  on  Monday  evening,  August  22,  with  a  reception  of  visitors,  in 
the  Waterloo  Rooms,  by  the  President,  Mr.  B.  C.  C.  Stanford, "who  was  sup- 
ported by  several  other  officers  of  the  Conference  and  by  the  members  of  the 
Local  Committee. 
At  the  first  general  meeting  on  Tuesday  there  was  a  very  large  attendance. 
The  members  of  the  Conference  were  welcomed  by  the  Lord  Provost,  and 
after  the  usual  exchange  of  mutual  compliments  the  list  of  delegates  was 
read. 
The  report  of  the  Executive  Committee  was  then  read  by  the  senior  Hon- 
orary Secretary.  It  was  very  brief,  and  even  less  cheering  than  that  of  last 
year,  the  first  point  mentioned  being  the  continued  disappointment  experi- 
enced by  the  Committee  at  the  inability  to  record  an  increase  in  the  member- 
ship of  the  Conference,  notwithstanding  the  special  efforts  which  have  been 
made  in  that  direction,  during  the  last  few  years,  with  the  view  of  maintaining 
the  position  of  the  Conference  as  a  representative  organization.  The  report 
continued  by  stating  that  the  Executive  Committee  has  met  on  various  occa- 
sions during  the  past  year  and  that,  among  other  business  dealt  with,  the 
suggestion  of  concurrent  meetings  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  and  the 
Conference  in  provincial  centres  has  been  considered,  though  without  any 
apparent  prospect  of  advantageous  issue.  Mention  was  made  of  the  severe 
loss  sustained  by  the  death  of  Emeritus  Professor  Redwood,  a  former  Presi- 
dent and  active  participator  in  the  work  of  the  Conference,  and  by  .the  death 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Hyde  Hills,  a  former  Vice-President  and  liberal  promoter  of 
the  welfare  of  pharmacy.  The  report  also  stated  that  a  further  grant  has  been 
made  to  enable  Mr.  Cripps  to  continue  his  investigation  of  ipecacuanha,  and 
that  earlier  publication  of  the  Year-Book  "  for  1892  may  be  hoped  for,  since  a 
considerable  part  of  the  manuscript  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  printers.  It 
was  also  stated  that  sixty  new  members  had  been  elected  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Executive  on  the  previous  evening. 
•As  the  Conference  does  not  aspire  to  becoming  a  wealthy  body,  the  particu- 
lars of  its  financial  affairs  do  not  require  great  elaboration  :  and  on  the  present 
occasion  the  Financial  Statement  read  by  the  Treasurer,  Mr.  R.  H.  Davies, 
presented  much  the  same  items  of  expenditure  as  is  usually  the  case. 
The  President  then  proceeded  to  deliver  his  address.  Reverting  to  the 
inauguration  of  the  Conference  twenty-nine  years  ago  by  twenty-one  pharma- 
cists, who  were  then  attending  a  meeting  of  the  British  Association,  and  to 
the  rapid  progress  the  organization  had  made  between  that  time  and  the  meet- 
ing held  in  Edinburgh  in  1871,  he  proposed,  by  looking  backwards,  to  trace 
the  general  progress  that  has  been  made  by  the  world  during  the  period  the 
Conference  has  been  in  existence,  with  the  object  of  inquiring  whether  phar- 
macy has  kept  pace  with  that  general  advancement.  Before  entering  upon 
such  a  retrospect  it  was,  however,  natural  that  reference  should  be  made  to 
the  gaps  which  have  been  left  in  the  ranks  of  the  Conference  by  the  deaths  of 
From  Pharmaceutical  Journal  and  Transactions,  August  27. 
