530 
Pharmacy,  A  Profession. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\  Xovember,  1910. 
prehended  under  any  general  law,  does  not  reach  the  meaning  of 
science."  Pharmacy,  as  previously  defined,  is,  therefore,  not  suffi- 
ciently comprehensive  to  justify  dignifying  it  as  a  science. 
The  logical  conclusion  is  that  the  terms  "  Profession  of  Phar- 
macology "  and  "  College  of  Pharmacology  "  are  to  be  preferred  to 
the  less  comprehensive  terms  now  used.  • 
HOW  THE  PROFESSIONAL  IDEAL  IS  TO  BE  REALIZED. 
Progress  in  pharmacologic  science  and  practice  is  dependent 
upon  four  essential  features;  namely,  organization,  co-operation, 
standardization,  and  legislation. 
Organization. — It  is  evident  that  the  true  professional  ideal 
includes  the  organization  into  one  association  or  fraternity  of  all 
persons  devoted  to  the  science  of  pharmacology  or  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  the  pharmacologic  arts.  Such  an  association  would 
include  pharmacists  engaged  in  retail,  wholesale,  and  manufacturing 
drug  business,  the  pharmaceutical  chemists  connected  with  the 
laboratories  of  manufacturing  houses,  and  the  teachers  in  medical 
and  pharmaceutical  schools  working  in  the  field  of  pharmacology. 
And,  as  pharmacotherapy  is  dependent  upon  pharmacology,  physi- 
cians interested  in  that  branch  should  also  be  included. 
The  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  approaches  more 
nearly  to  being  such  an  organization  than  any  other  now  existing, 
and  could  be  made  to  cover  the  field  by  broadening  its  work  to 
include  pharmacodynamics  and  therapydynamics,  and  later  to  include 
pharmacotherapy  also.  The  work  of  the  National  Syllabus  Com- 
mittee has  become  part  of  the  work  of  the  Section  on  Education  and 
Legislation  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  and  I 
would  suggest  that  the  report  of  the  committee  (pages  750-58  of 
the  Proceedings  of  the  A.  Ph.  A.  for  1908)  is  worth  most  serious 
consideration  by  all  teachers  and  students  of  pharmacy. 
Co-operation. — Progress  in  pharmacologic  science  and  practice 
requires  co-operation  between  practitioners  of  the  pharmacologic 
arts  and  the  medical  profession.  Unless  the  medical  profession 
employs,  in  treating  the  sick,  the  medicines  properly  prepared  by 
professional  pharmacologists,  of  what  use  is  a  profession  of  phar- 
macology? The  pharmacologist  is  not  educated  to  diagnose  and 
treat  disease,  and  when  he  ignorantly  prescribes  medicines  for  self- 
medication  he  is  a  menace  to  public  health  and  should  be  suppressed. 
Either  the  pharmacologist  to  be  evolved  by  the  operation  of  the 
