A REVIEW OF 1955 By KENNETH L. RUSSELL L^sT YE^a at our December luncheon we installed the officers for the coming year. In 1954 and in previous years the new officers were not known until the day of the December meeting. This year, because of a change in By-laws approved by the membership at the May meeting, the new officers and directors were elected by November 10, 1955. Mem- bers received announcement of the results of the election along with the November 15th notice announcing this meeting. I am sure this earlier election of officers is a forward move because it gives the new officers an opportunity to plan their committees and programs before they take office in December. In fact, by this new procedure, we were able to have at our Board meeting on December 15th next year's officers and committee chair- men as well as our present board and committee chairmen. Until 1954 it was the custom of the SociETY to install the new officers and directors at the Medal Award dinner meeting. I am glad that Donald Powers broke that custom, because this year with our dinner meeting to- night being not only to honor our Medalist, but also the 12 charter mem- bers of the SomE•Y, we have enough business for that occasion. In 1954, Donald Powers also gave you a report of the accomplishments of the SOCIETY during his year as President. In accepting the office as President, I pointed out that the pattern set by past officers was of such high quality that my efforts would be directed toward following it. I feel in reporting the progress the SociETY has made during the past year, that most of the credit should go to those past officers for the planning of activities which have made the ScenErY so successful during this year. Since last December the membership of the ScenErY (U.S.) has in- creased by 73 members. Last December we had a membership of 390 plus 180 members in the affiliated British Society. Today Membership Chair- man Horsey, reports 463 in our U.S. Scenery and about 200 in the British. The formation of the New York Chapter was officially completed at the March Board of Directors meeting. The chapter now reports a member- ship of about 175. I feel that the formation of this chapter and the fine programs which they have had at their regular meetings, have stimulated interest in the SOCIETY and played a part in the national membership in- crease during this year. 73

74 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS Your President addressed both the Chicago Chapter and the New York Chapter at their annual "President's Night" meetings. The chairmen of these chapters, William Lieb in Chicago, and Michael Stanton in New York, report excellent attendance at their chapter meetings. A fine spirit of cooperation exists in these chapters and many of the chapter members are active participants in the affairs of their own group and of the national SOCIETY. The library has been completely reorganized in our office at the New York Academy of Sciences, and Miss Florence Wall reports that soon everything will be in order for the efficient handling of the lending of books. We hope that the membership will become acquainted with our library and feel free to use it whenever they wish. The May technical meeting, outstanding in its quality and scope, at- tracted a record attendance of over 400. Today's program of scientific papers is also an excellent one--thanks to the efforts of Program Chairman Strianse. The SOCIET¾'s first Special Award of $1000 was presented at the May meeting luncheon. This award, given to Dr. Stephen Rothman, Pro- fessor of Dermatology at the University of Chicago, resulted from extensive work and planning by James Baker and received financial support from 41 companies. Mr. Baker has continued his efforts on this committee since May and has already received contributions which make a similar award certain for 1956. The Second Annual Seminar was held in September and followed the same pattern as the previous year's Seminar. Scientific experts from three fields: radioisotopes, antiperspirants and aerosols, discussed topics of cosmetic interest, and a series of plant trips were arranged. This year arrangements were made to accommodate 225, a hundred over last year, and still reservation requests had to be denied. Gabriel Barnett, although elected a director a year ago, continued a second year as Seminar Chairman, and the success of the first two Seminar meetings has been due to his extraordinary, untiring performance of duty in this position. The task of getting out our JouR•^L has been handled ardently and painstakingly, as in the past, by M. G. deNavarre. This job is such an enormous and time-consuming one that I feel his full committee should be recognized. The other members of this important committee are Dr. Emil Klarmann, Miss Ruth Bien and Mrs. Veronica Conley. This year five issues of the JouRN^•. have been published, three by our publications committee and two by the British. By careful planning, arrangements have been made that next year there will be six issues, four U.S. and two British, and that these will be scheduled to be mailed on the tenth of every-other-month, beginning in January. Anticipating definite publica-