Prof. I. V. S. Stanislaus, in opening the general discussion, gave it as his opinion that the pharmacist of the future would again hold the same relative position to the public as did the apothecary of old. The pharmacist of the future will be the chemist of the people, the food and drug analyst, the assistant and adviser of the physician, in all matters relating to materia medica and chemistry, and will, therefore, practically be the sanitarian of the community. The subject was further discussed by Messrs. John K. Thum, Franklin Apple, Jacob Eppstein, M. I. Wilbert, H. C. Blair, E. Fullerton Cook, John Hahn and Dr. F. E. Stewart. From the general trend of this discussion it was plainly evident that the better informed retail pharmacists deeply appreciate their responsibility to the public, and are willing and even anxious to meet their obligations fully. At no time in the history of pharmacy in this country has it been so evident that the mentally and morally poor man should not be allowed to jeopardize the health and even the lives of his fellow beings as now. It is clearly evident that pharmacists are beginning to realize that a full and complete appreciation of their duties to society at large must of necessity react to their own pecuniary advantage and will in addition procure for them the respect and the admiration of their fellow men. M. I. WILBERT, _Secretary_. A REVIEW OF THE OPSONINS AND BACTERIAL VACCINES.[2] BY E. M. HOUGHTON. As requested by the _Therapeutic Gazette_, I shall attempt to describe as succinctly as possible the theory of the opsonins and the therapeutic results that have been obtained by the application of the new theory. As the years go by we realize more thoroughly the correctness of the prophetic belief of the “Immortal Pasteur,” that the day would come when it would be possible to eradicate the infectious diseases by vaccination. We are indebted to Metchnikoff for calling attention to and explaining the rôle of the white blood cells in the defence of the body against bacterial invasion, but the phenomenon of phagocytosis is not so simple as it at first appeared, as little by little new facts are developed which amplify our knowledge of the subject. It was shown by Denys and Leclef, in 1895, that when rabbits were immunized against _Streptococcus pyogenes_ the serum acquired but slight bactericidal properties, but that such serum, when brought in contact with the leucocytes of normal or immunized rabbits, greatly enhanced their phagocytic activity. Conversely no acceleration of phagocytosis was observed when the corpuscles were brought in contact with the serum of a normal animal. Mennes two years later confirmed this by showing that similar results were obtained from the blood serum of guinea-pigs treated with cultures or toxins of Pneumococci.