CHEMISTRY AND PHARMACY. 47 



who establishes the facts which are to be made use of. He spends his 

 time in delving in out-of-the-way corners, turning over this and that, 

 and endeavoring to get at the principles which underlie what is called 

 chemical action. Such a one is following the science of chemistry. 

 Now you, gentlemen, are primarily chemists in the first sense you 

 are to practice to a limited extent the art of chemistry. 



It has seemed to me that, during the short time to be devoted to 

 my remarks, it might be both interesting and profitable to examine 

 into the questions : What has Chemistry to thank Pharmacy for ? and 

 what has Pharmacy to thank Chemistry for ? 



As regards the former question, it may be answered that, in the 

 first place, the desire to discover new substances for medical purposes 

 originally formed a strong incentive to those engaged in chemical work, 

 and undoubtedly a large number of valuable observations have been 

 made by those who were working primarily to gain possession of sub- 

 stances which might be valuable to pharmacy. We know that the col- 

 lection and the manufacture of drugs of many forms is one of the most 

 ancient of occupations, and it seems to have been regarded as a very 

 important one, as all who have ever been afflicted with the ills that flesh 

 is heir to (and who has not ?) can easily appreciate. The alleviation of 

 human suffering is a high object to strive for, and for this purpose the 

 physician and pharmacist join hand to hand, and they had been work- 

 ing together for long ages before chemistry and chemists were ever 

 heard of. While gaining experience which proved of direct value to 

 them in their professions, they were also, though unconsciously, doing 

 something toward laying the foundations of a science which has since 

 been developed. They were helping to collect the material, the accu- 

 rate scientific study of which was undertaken at a later date. Finally, 

 there came the time when men began to study some of the substances 

 which they gained possession of, with no other purpose in view than 

 to learn something more with reference to their general properties, and 

 their conduct under different circumstances. When that time came, 

 the science of chemistry was born. 



Again, in addition to the collection of much of the material which 

 formed the basis of the first chemical study, indeed, as a consequence 

 of this, we find that during a considerable period from the middle of 

 the seventeenth century many of those who achieved the greatest 

 distinction in chemical work were those who began as pharmacists. 

 Among the earliest of these may be mentioned Kunkel, the discov- 

 erer of phosphorus ; Lemery, author of one of the most valuable of the 

 text-books of chemistry ; Geoffroy, whose investigations on chemical 

 affinity were of such great importance to chemistry ; Marggraf, the 

 discoverer of alumina and of the composition of gypsum ; Scheele, the 

 great discoverer of oxygen and of chlorine ; in France, Lefevre, Glaser, 

 and others ; and, finally, more recently, the most influential chemist of 

 modern times, the great German, Liebig. 



