THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 155 



THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF A PROFESSIONAL PHAR- 

 MACIST. 

 By J. Leon Lascoff, of the New York State Board of Pharmacy. 



A great deal has been said at pharmaceutical meetings, and in phar- 

 maceutical periodicals concerning the elevation of pharmacy as a 

 profession, all tending to raise the standard on a par with other pro- 

 fessions. 



However, most of what has been said, or at least the greater part of 

 it, has seemed to me to be problematical, or rather speculative, and that 

 because the remedy suggested was of such nature it would be almost 

 impossible to accomplish the desired results under existing conditions. 



My personal experience in this and foreign countries has taught me 

 that there is a royal road to the success of modern pharmacy as a 

 profession, if members will bear in mind some or all the factors which 

 I have attempted to outline for their consideration and approval. 



In every civilized country of the world other than our own, a dis- 

 tinction is made between the mercantile druggist and the professional 

 pharmacist. I have pointed out this fact before, in another article. 

 Custom, however, has decreed our position and we are to-day en- 

 cumbered because we confine our efforts in the direction of one goal, 

 namely, "money-making," and are practicing our art in a "store." 



Now, inasmuch as we must live up to custom, and incidentally to 

 the expense incurred in conducting our businesses, the remedy — I 

 say the following with a marked degree of positiveness — lies in the 

 "divorcing" or separating of our stores from our dispensing depart- 

 ments, not merely by putting up a counter or ground glass partition, 

 but by having an entirely separate and distinct room in which there 

 shall be, not only the necessary paraphernalia, such as scales, gradu- 

 ates, mortars, spatulas, etc., but a full line of the necessaries in every 

 day use for compounding drugs, chemicals, tinctures, syrups, etc. The 

 store should be divided in such a way that the prescription department 

 would occupy the major part, the front being used for mercantile pur- 

 poses only, and containing the soda fountain, and the departments 

 for sundries, proprietaries, etc. 



The prescription department should be an entirely separate feature 

 and by itself, where strict silence and secrecy can be observed for the 

 proper checking of prescriptions so as to avoid errors and complaints, 

 and where we can properly fulfill the extreme responsibility thrust 

 upon us and safe-guard ourselves against erroneous dispensing. 



