Fellow Members : This section was founded to give the pharmacist a clearing house, for the exchange of practical hints and information about dispensing, and the practice of real pharmacy, as well as to provide an institution to aid and foster initiative and advancement. The record' of our proceedings should form an accurate history of the progress of practical pharmacy and dispensing within these United States, and the papers presented at these meetings should throw a vivid light on the

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... l application of scientific pharmaceutical advancement of the year, reflecting a credit to American pharmacy second to none. Excellent work has been done by this section since its very beginning, work of a quality that has served as an inspiration to your officers, and work that we hope to equal this year. The scope and usefulness of this section, however, is such that, up to the present, I believe we have but barely scratched the surface of our possibilities. Officers have labored under great handicaps, and the general SUPport of the membership is still to be enlisted. Gradually these handicaps should be eliminated, and each year should add, to the number of actively interested members, until by growth and, development, the section will reach the zenith of service and usefullness t o American pharmacy. I did not fully realize the inadequateness of my experience, whmen you honored me with this important office, or I should have been more reluctant about assuming it and the duties involved. I am mentioning this with a definite purpose, for I believe that all previous officers have felt, to a greater o r less extent, the lack of experience in conducting work of this nature. I also believe that something can be done to help overcome, in part at least, this handicap, and it is for this reason that I am devoting a portion of my address to the work of the section direct, embodying a few questions that I hope may receive your earnest consideration. Guided by the experience obtained in a year's effort on behalf of our section. I am led, to believe that one of the greatest handicaps to the officers lies in the absence of all records pertaining to the work done by their predecessors. Each year we have succeeded in collecting a number of valuable and inshuctive papers, m a t of them written by what we might call the old guard ; small indeed is the quantity of new blood enlisted. Either there exists a shameful apathy on part of the rank and file of our members, or we officers are on the wrong track in our efforts to enlist their interest and cooperation. Would the preservation of our correspondence, mailing lists, etc., help future officers in selecting the names of members to whom to address their appeal for papers? Would a record of how and what, was done, with a notation of the results btained, serve as a usemay be executed with the greatest efficiency and economy? Could we in course of a few years by following a definite system, make an effective appeal to the entire membership and enlist the cooperation of all who are interested in practical pharmacy and dispensing? Could the final results of such appeals be tabulated or reduced to a card-index system, that would eliminate guesswork and un-ful comparison or prove of value in determining how t R e duties of the officers