454 THE PRICE OF MEDICINES. 



1870. liable to become deteriorated by keeping, requires constant care 

 to preserve in order and efficiency. 



Another item of cost to be considered in relation to this 

 question is that involved in house-rent; for the premises of a 

 good pharmacy ought to be light, airy, and commodious, and in 

 all cases to include some apartment fitted up as -a laboratory. 

 A Laboratory To insure the quality of preparations, and, in some instances, 

 necessary to to secure pecuniary advantage, a laboratory, though on ever so 

 ' e cist " small a scale, should be regarded as an integral part of the 

 establishment of the pharmacist. Not that I advocate the 

 manufacture of everything for which a formula may be found 

 in the British Pharmacopoeia ; however advantageous in theory 

 such a plan of procedure, virtually it is neither practicable nor 

 desirable. Many medicines can be better prepared in large 

 batches than in small; but there are others for which, it is 

 satisfactory to think, manufacture on a small scale offers no 

 disadvantage, so far as quality is concerned. The pharmacist 

 who can say, " These preparations were made in my own laboratory" 

 has stronger ground for claiming remunerative prices than he 

 who supplies his shop with ready-made articles from the nearest 

 wholesale druggist. 



Remuneration I n the remuneration of his employes, the pharmacist has to 

 to assistants, encounter higher rates of payment than those which prevail in 

 other businesses ; nor is this surprising, when we reflect on the 

 importance of the service of a well-trained, intelligent assistant. 

 In fact, the growing desire for improved acquirements is tending 

 to insure for our young pharmacists a more liberal scale of 

 payment than that which their fathers were able to command. 



The price of a medicine by no means wholly depends on the 

 value of the ingredients; in fact, there are certain cases in 

 which the sum demanded by the compounder can only be 

 regarded as a professional fee. Take, for instance, a bottle of 

 atropine drops for application to the eye. What is easier than 

 to dissolve a twentieth of a grain of atropine in an ounce of 

 water, and how small the cost; yet what medicine is it more 

 important to prepare with accuracy and intelligence ? And who 

 would grudge the modest remuneration asked for in return ? 





