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well balanced, that is, in which neither the one interest nor the other prepon¬ 
derates is best calculated at once to advance its owners material and social 
position. We see the effect of an undue excess of the commercial spirit m those 
suicidal "cases of cutting down prices too frequent amongst a certain class ot 
pharmaceutists. The desire to increase the funds of the exchequer is undoubt- 
edlv in itself very natural, and one to be commended; but this desire should 
always be controlled and leavened, and toned down by a feeling of professional 
responsibility, and if this responsibility were once realized the danger of low- 
prices would very soon fade away. The public, as a rule, do not ask for and do 
not want cheap physic. If the pharmaceutist would only take his better feel¬ 
ings into confidence we should hear no more of starving prices, unseem y 
jealousies, and selfishness, for, after all, selfishness is at the bottom of all price- 
cutting. On the other hand, if the professional spirit outweighs all other con¬ 
siderations, we find one of those painful cases in which the individual feels him¬ 
self so far above, and out of the pale of ordinary commercial transactions, that 
disappointment and failure are merely questions of time. TV e find this ma 
continually chafing and mortifying himself, constantly complaining of his 
business, finding fault with everybody and everything around him, unsettled m 
his mind, because he thinks it very much infra dig. to sell twopenny-worth of 
rhubarb or spread a threepenny plaster. He has entered what he thought a 
profession, and finds it, if I may use the expression, a professional trade. 
^ Pharmacy, as a trade, is surrounded by responsibilities which do not obtain 
in any other business, and which the public have not altogether as yet appre¬ 
ciated, because the pharmaceutist himself has not sufficiently considered the 
■nature of his calling, nor valued in a just manner the intellectual ability 
required of him over and above that which is necessary to the carrying on ot an 
ordinary business. , - . , • 
It may be said, however, “ It’s all very well to tell us we are not fairly paid, 
and so on; we are very willing to receive more for our services, but how is it to 
be done? How do you propose to improve our pecuniary position . 
Well this I believe to be a far easier matter than is generally suspected. 
The one great thing necessary is, that all petty jealousies and underhand rivalry 
amongst neighbours should be eliminated from our minds, and discouraged in 
every possible way ; we should strive rather to promote and acquire a feeling ot 
confidence in each other. , 
Mr. Giles struck the right chord when he said “our scale of charges should 
be regulated by the number of doses.’’ I have long advocated this princip e, 
which I believe to be the only fair one. Oftentimes it is merely the momen¬ 
tary whim of the prescriber whether we have a mixture of six doses, or double 
the materials in the same bottle in twelve doses. Now, if the first be charged 
eighteenpence, it is manifestly unfair to charge the second the same price or a 
few pence more, and yet this is frequently and habitually done. If we adopt 
the plan of charging per dose, we become perfectly independent, as far as pront 
is concerned, whether the physician orders his medicine to be taken by drops or 
by bucketfuls; and nothing would give a more deadly blow to the modern 
system of concentrated medicines which is adopted, so says the British Medical 
Journal,’ u chiefly with a view to economy for the patient, who gets more tor 
his money.” But surely, if the patient desires economy, it would be far more 
honourable to allow the pharmaceutist to prove his liberality by charging a 
nominal price to patients who are not in a position to pay regular prices toan 
coerce him, through the medium of a prescription, to do that grudgingly w ic 
would be otherwise a source of pleasure to him. I think I may confidently 
appeal to the general body of pharmaceutists to bear me out in this, that we do 
repeatedly make, and are in the habit of making, allowances in charging medi- 
cines to those who we believe or know are not in a position to pay the usual 
and legitimate charges. 
