The chemist and druggist, 15. September 1859

TO OUR READERS. " SI MONOMENTUM REQUIRIS CIRCUMSPICE." With a slight modification Ave might adopt this oft quoted passage for our address. The present number forms our prospectus, and upon its reception depends our further progress. We feel, however, that our readers will expect a few introductory words ; and, indeed, should be loath to send our offspring into the " wide, wide world," without asking for it at their hands the indulgence that is usually accorded to a first appearance. This indulgence is the more necessary, inasmuch as we have not yet been able fully to organise our staff"; many who promise their support stand aloof watching our debut, which, of course, renders that debut all the more difficult, and has, in fact, prevented our fully realising our intentions. Such as we are, however, we confidently anticipate a favourable verdict; and while we refer "all whom it may concern" to the pages of The Chemist and Druggist itself for its matter and manner, we will briefly recapitulate the plan of our publication, and the mode in which we propose to carry it out. In a circular forwarded to a few of the leading wholesale houses we stated, that "the establishment of the Book Post had been followed by the production of several ' Class Papers,' —thus the Publishers had The Bookseller, the dealers in Textile Fabrics The Draper and Clothier, and the Ironmongers The Metal Trades' Advertiser, all of which had proved highly beneficial to the trades represented; and although the Chemists and Druggists, possessing such an excellent periodical as The Pharmaceutical Journal, could not be said to be unrepre- sented, we proposed occupying entirely different ground, and we considered the commercial magnitude and numerical importance of the constituency appealed to rendered any apology for our appearance superfluous." To this we might add, that class journals are a necessity of the limes in which we live. In these days of steam and electricity, all things—trade included— are rapidly changing; and they who realise the fact, and take advantage of it, soon outstrip their competitors. It is necessary now-a-days not only to possess a greater amount of information than our ancestors, but also to turn it to better account; and it is quite impossible to derive special information from general publications : hence the utility of a literature which collects, as it were, into one focus the requirements of its constituents, and enables thein to gain possession of the necessary information with the least possible expenditure of time. A writer whose remarks on the subject we have much pleasure in adding to our own,* and who from his position possesses the best means of judging, cousidcrs the status of the Chemists as a body to be rapidly improving. This, thanks to the efforts of the Pharmaceutical Society, and other means now within reach, seems an undoubted fact, and is proved by the success of The Pharmaceutical Journal, which would have been an impossibility a few years back. A well-worn proverb says, " tell me your company and I will tell you what you are ;" in like manner it might be said, let us see the journals of a country or class, and we will tell you the status of its constituents. Leaving the scientific field in the possession of its present occupant, our humble aim is to be simply useful ; and in the capacity of a trade journal—while we propose devoting a few pages in each number to Original Scientific Articles—we shall issue a resume' of the month, winch will include Leading Articles ; Extracts ; Trade Kcports ; Price Currents, and Statistics ; Reports of Trade Meetings, &c.; Lists of English and Foreign Patents, and Novelties (illus- trated when necessary) ; Correspondence ; Gazette ; Chronology of the Month ; and all other matters interesting to the Trade, specially selected and arranged for our columns. Our Journal will also contain a complete List of Businesses in the Market; wants of Employers mid Assistants ; and every other species of class advertisement: our object being to provide Manu- facturers, Inventors, and others, with a regular channel through which their Price Lists, Inventions, Articles suited to the Season, &c, may be economically and usefully brought under the notice of the Trade, in a form calculated to ensure their greatest efficiency and pre- servation, and to give (at a trifling expense) a publicity unattainable by any other method, except the expensive, troublesome, and irregular one of sending Lists, &c., by post, not one in a hundred of which, from their irregularity of size, &C., ever finds its way into the List Book; and to supply the Trade with a reliable medium for making known their mutual wants and * Sec Spliool of Chemistry, p. G. B