ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT 77 Our library is increasing in both size and scope. Your Library Chairman and Historian, Harry Isacoff, is currently working out a plan whereby our library will receive new technical books from publishers, gratis, provided we publicize the books to our membership. No president could accomplish very much without the aid of the Ar- rangements Committee Chairman, Walter Wynne and the Publicity Chair- man, Savery F. Coneybear. I am greatly indebted to both these men for their wholehearted cooperation. Morris J. Root, our Membership Committee Chairman, reports an in- crease of 97 new members over last year, bringing the total up to 633 mem- bers. Among these new members are three from Canada, one from Israel and one from Holland. This is indeed in keeping with the world-wide recognition and prestige that the SociETY enjoys. Our Treasurer, Dr. Walter A. Taylor, has been keeping a watc!•ful eye on our finances and finds us financially fit. The Executive Committee made up of the last five presidents with George G. Kolar as Chairman has made the president's task a relatively easy one by its thorough study of all pertinent problems. My sincerest thanks to all these gentlemen for their display of wisdom and guidance this past year. Tonight, December 10, 1957, marks the end of the Society's twelfth year and we honor our tenth recipient of the Medal Award. This Medal is the highest honor the SOC•F•T¾ can bestow upon any scientist for out- standing contributions in the field of cosmetic science. This year our recipient, Dr. John H. Draize, is a man well known to all of us for his out- standing work in the fields of pharmacology and toxicology. The selection of a recipient was left in the hands of the Medal Award Committee made up of past medalists. This year the Committee was headed by Dr. Emil G. Klarmann and included Miss Florence E. Wall, Dr. Everett G. McDonough, Dr. Ernest G. Guenther and William A. Poucher. My hat is off to this Committee for a job well done. With deepest appreciation, I wish to thank William Giese for his most capable aid as administrative assistant and also our directors, Gabriel Barnett and Savery F. Coneybear for their help and complete cooperation. Before introducing your new officers and directors for the year 1958, may I point out that Edward Morrish, the Chairman of the Nominating Committee, was himself nominated for President of the Soc•Ex¾ and in or- der to save him the embarrassment of counting his own votes I asked him to reassign the chairmanship and asked James Baker, your President-Elect and new president for 1958 to take over the committee. The results of the election indicate that: Savery F. Coneybear is your new President-Elect. Robert A. Kramer is again your Secretary.

78 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS Dr. Walter A. Taylor is again your Treasurer. Dr. Paul G. I. Lauffer and Dr. Sophie L. Plechner are your new directors Ladies and Gentlemen consider yourselves officially installed in your re- spective offices as of tomorrow morning. And now may I present your new President for 1958 who will take over completely after tonight's affair--James H. Baker. President's Luncheon Address* By James H. Baker I AM GRATEFUL to all those who elected me president of this still growing and imposing society. The honor carries with it a trust and a duty. I am thankful to you for the honor and conscious of both trust and duty. With your indulgence, I would like to present a few comments on what has been accomplished up to now and to tell you what I hope to do during the next year. May I go back and refresh your memories, for a few moments, as to why this SOCIETY was born. There must have been sound reasons or else we would not have prospered in all directions as we have in the relatively short period of thirteen years. The primary and paramount reason was: To elevate and promote the professional stature of the cosmetic chemist. I believe that all other rea- sons are subordinate to this. The dissemination of scientific work pertinent to our field by means of papers at our semiannual gatherings, seminars, chapter meetings and through the JOUR•^L, together with the opportunity to exchange personal ideas and fraternize, are merely means of elevating and promoting our stature in the scientific world. Those of us who worked in this industry during the nineteen thirties and early forties, know that the professional stature of a cosmetic chemist was well-nigh nil. We were more or less frowned upon by the learned chem- ical groups, even though our chemical education and training was parallel to other chemists. In fact, we are called upon to broaden our scope of scientific knowledge to such an extent that we nmst today understand and discuss intelligently additional fields, such as: Dermatology, Toxicology, Skin Allergies, * Presented at the December 10, 1957, Meeting, New York City.