MINUTES

OF THE

FIFTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING.

The Fifty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Pharmaceutical Association was held in the city of Indianapolis, Ind., during the week of September 3-8, 1906, with headquarters at the Claypool Hotel, on Illinois and Washington streets. The attendance was good, and the sessions were interesting and instructive. A most satisfactory feature of the meeting was the report of 311 applicants for membership by the General Committee on Membership, a list decidedly larger than that of any previous year, and bringing the total membership up to near the 2,000 mark, the highest point yet reached in the history of the Association. This gratifying evidence of the growth and prosperity of the Association, and its increasing favor with the great body of pharmacists of the country, was heartily appreciated by those who were fortunate enough to be present at the meeting.

FIRST SESSION-MONDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 3, 1906.

The first general session was called to order at 3: 45 p. m., in the palmroom on the topmost floor of the hotel, with President J. L. Lemberger, of Lebanon, Penna., in the Chair.

The session was opened with prayer by the Rev. Hiram W. Kellogg, of Indianapolis.

The program called for an address of welcome by the Hon. Charles A. Bookwalter, Mayor of Indianapolis, but neither the Mayor nor any representative of his was present, and the Chair called on Dr. George J. Cook, President of the Indiana Medical Association, who welcomed the Association on behalf of that body in terms of great cordiality, at the same time paying an eloquent tribute to the evolution and advancement of pharmacy in the last quarter of a century, since the city of Indianapolis last had the honor of entertaining the American Pharmaceutical Association. To the efforts of this society he attributed much of the success attained in eliminating the crude drugs of the past and substituting for them finished preparations of definite strength, from which the physician could expect.

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definite results, thereby placing in his hands powerful weapons to combat disease, impossible of acquirement in the years agone. He congratulated the Association upon its progressive spirit in keeping fully abreast of the times, for its great advance along all scientific lines, and for its stand for higher education and the gradual elimination of the ignorant from the ranks of pharmacy.

Mr. John F. Hancock, of Baltimore, at request of the Chair, responded in appropriate terms to the address of welcome just made, and said that he wished to remind the doctor that pharmacy was the offspring of the physician, having had its birth in the physician's office, where the first pharmacist was a medical student, there compounding prescriptions and preparations, from which status the art gradually evolved into an independent calling, but still dependent upon the physician, as the physician in turn was dependent upon it. He said that he believed the physician was now recognizing the importance of pharmacy as never before, and that the pharmacist was recognizing more and more that the physician was the one to use the remedies the pharmacist prepared. He closed with a plea for higher pharmaceutical education and qualification as a means of inviting the confidence of the physician and the public.

Mr. Leo Eliel, of South Bend, Ind., warmly welcomed the Association on behalf of the Indiana Pharmaceutical Association, and stated that the first visit of the American Pharmaceutical Association to Indianapolis in 1879 made it possible to organize the Indiana State Association in 1882, which fact made it a particular pleasure to extend a welcome from the State Association at this time. He referred with pride to the enviable position Indiana had taken in education, literature and material development, and referred to Indianapolis as "the central gem in the cluster of beautiful cities with which the State is studded."

Mr. Eugene G. Eberle, of Dallas, Texas, was called on to acknowledge the cordial welcome extended by Mr. Eliel. He said he was accused of not being able to talk about anything but Texas when he was away from home, but would try to avoid that fascinating subject on this occasion. He then proceeded to express appreciation of the kindly words of welcome. just spoken, and congratulated the State of Indiana upon her splendid material progress, and particularly her pharmacists upon the advanced position they occupied professionally.

The President here stated he would forego his privilege of delivering his address at this time, and would give the various delegates present as the accredited representatives of other affiliated bodies an opportunity to address the Association.

Under this invitation, Mr. A. M. Roehrig, of the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service of the United States Government, spoke first, and extended the greetings of that Service. He gave assurance that SurgeonGeneral Wyman was at all times ready and willing to co-operate with the

American Pharmaceutical Association for the welfare and advancement of all matters concerning pharmacy in the different branches.

Dr. Reid Hunt also spoke briefly for the same Service.

ment.

Mr. Lyman F. Kebler, as the representative of the Department of Agriculture, extended the greeting of the Bureau of Chemistry in that DepartHe congratulated the Association upon the recent action of Congress in the recognition of the National Formulary as one of the standards of the Pure Food and Drug Law, to go into effect January 1st next, and remarked the fact that there was only one o her association similarly recognized, and that the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. He said that the passage of the bill as it went through was a great surprise to everybody, even to those intimately in touch with the Senators. and Representatives in Congress, and that he hoped it would be freely discussed at this meeting, for it would be far-reaching in its effects, and his Department would want all the light and information possible to obtain on the subject, in its future working under the new law. The Drug Laboratory was continuing its investigation of cod-liver oil specimens, he said, and they had now some two hundred specimens of liver oils but not all cod-liver; they expected to be able to send out a bulletin during the next year, showing their work along this line. He spoke of the study of methods of assay being conducted, and the work being done in the determination of drugs and the preparations made therefrom. Under the new law, he hoped some of the spurious drugs that had been imported into the country might be kept out, or at least compelled to be labeled what they are.

Mr. Thos. V. Wooten, of Chicago, Secretary of the National Association of Retail Druggists, extended the cordial fraternal greetings of that body. He accorded full credit to the American Pharmaceutical Association for what it had done to attain objects aimed at by both organizations, and said he believed, on the other hand, that full credit was accorded the N. A. R. D. by this Association for honesty of purpose in its efforts to bring about desired results-whatever might be the differences of opinion as to the best methods for accomplishing the important end in view, namely the improvement of the condition of the pharmacist. He expressed his appreciation of the cordiality with which the delegates from the body he represented had always been received by the American Pharmaceutical Association from year to year, and for the grateful words of commendation and encouragement coming from individual members of this Association. He illustrated by a concrete example the difference in view-point sometimes held by physician and pharmacist, and, applying it to the general situation, spoke for a better understanding between the two National organizations working to the same end, and for emulation in good works, to the end that, through properly-directed effort, the drug business might be rendered a greater source of profit, in the truest, best

sense of that term, that the hardships of the pharmacist might be lessened or removed in many instances, and that the occupation of the pharmacist might be made more deserving of the ardent devotion of its followers. Lastly, he said the fact that the best energies of the American Pharmaceutical Association had been devoted to this cause for half a century was a constant stimulus to his organization, spurring it on to more heroic effort.

Mr. William Scott, of Indianapolis, spoke as the representative of the National Wholesale Druggists' Association, and extended the cordial greeting of that body, and welcomed the Association to Indianapolis and the Hoosier State. It was an honor, he said, to have again in Indiana the oldest society organized for the improvement and welfare of pharmacy, whose example had induced the formation of other associations looking tothe same end, "none of them having any relationship to a trust." He spoke of the mutuality of interest existing between wholesaler and retailer, and the importance of acting in harmony. He bespoke consideration of the new Pure Food and Drug Law, as this Association had always favored the adoption of every safeguard that could protect the public by insuring the purity of drugs.

In referring to the educational side of pharmacy, which the A. Ph. A. especially represented, he paid a graceful tribute to the life and work of the late George W. Sloan, elected president of this Association at the Indianapolis meeting in 1879.

The Chair said he began to realize that there was a combination or understanding between the Mayor and Mr. Scott, and he would call on Mr. C. S. N. Hallberg, of Illinois, to respond to this address of welcome. to Indianapolis and the State of Indiana.

Mr. Hallberg began by recalling some memories of the meeting in Indianapolis in 1879. He well remembered, for example, a pile of cascara sagrada bark on exhibition by Eli Lilly at the meeting-hall on Washington street, which Mr. Lilly explained had been secured at great expense to show the members that there was really such a thing as cascara sagrada, and that the extracts were not made of nux. (Laughter.) Mr. Hallberg threw some verbal bouquets at the city of Indianapolis for her progress in the arts and industries, and upon her magnificent public buildings and monuments. He applauded her as the greatest railroad center on earth, and paid tribute to some of her distinguished men in public life and literature. He said Indiana was unique in having a pharmacist who had operated uninterruptedly for twenty-five years a business which had demonstrated the possibility of conducting a pharmacy without the sale of proprietary or patent medicines. He spoke of the varying conditions affecting pharmacy in a country so vast as ours-conditions varying greatly even within the confines of the state of Indiana—and thought it well for all to remember this fact, and that what will suit one section of the country will not always suit another.

In the absence of Dr. W. J. Robinson, Chairman of the Delegates from the American Medical Association to this body, Mr. M. I. Wilbert, of Philadelphia, spoke as the representative of that organization. He gave a glowing and most encouraging picture of the present attitude of the medical profession towards scientific pharmacy. He was present at the last meeting of the American Medical Association in Boston, and was satisfied that the work that Association was doing, and proposed to do, for pharmacy would mark a new era in American pharmacy. In the light of the present situation, he felt assured that scientific pharmacy had a prospect that it had never had in the past one hundred and fifty years of its existence in this country, for at no time in all this period had the physicians taken such interest in official remedies as they were taking today, nor had they at any time realized the importance of practical pharmacy to the science of medicine as they were to-day. It only remained for the individual pharmacists to help along with this work, and spread the knowledge of existing conditions, to work an entire revolution in the practice of pharmacy, and bring about an era of better times for pharma-cists, individually and collectively. The American physician, he said, had the highest regard for the American pharmacist, and was ready and anxious to get better acquainted with him.

The President stated that this concluded the list of delegates from national bodies, and that remarks from the delegates from state and other bodies would be deferred to another time, as the hour was getting late.

First Vice-President Chas. Holzhauer, of New Jersey, was then called to the Chair, while the President read his address :

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

Fellow Members of the American Pharmaceutical Association:

A year of more than ordinary interest has been added to the history of our Association as we convene the Fifty-fourth Annual Meeting.

I congratulate you on the progress made, the evidence of our good faith in the principles upon which our fabric was founded, and a fuller realization of the purpose as planned by the illustrious founders. We live to know that the profession is making most rapid advances, the educational standard has been raised, the knowledge of drugs has become more extensive, investigation more exhaustive, and our general equipment more complete. These utterances are no reflection upon the ability or skill of our predecessors. They laid the foundation; we are rearing the structure.

Having fairly entered the fifth decade of existence, it is my purpose, in some way verifying the fact, if possible so to do, to plant, if you please, decade markers of our progress. Many important events in the history of our country, as well as the Association, have transpired since the meeting in 1851. Do you younger men and women think of it, or can you believe it, that at the beginning of our work tallow candles or lard furnished the illumination to help our fathers and mothers in their duties after sunset? A more luxuriant equipment was camphene and a burning fluid composed of camphene or pine-oil and alcohol, one part to four parts, and whale or sperm oil. In the second decade came kerosene or petroleum oil and illuminating gas; and only in the third decade, scarcely more than twenty years ago, the application of electricity as an illuminant was in its infancy.