Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  1910.  / 
Pharmacy,  A  Profession. 
533 
PERSONNEL  OF  THE  PHARMACOLOGIC  PROFESSION. 
The  pharmacologic  profession  shall  consist  of  licensed  physi- 
cians especially  interested  in  materia  medica,  either  as  practitioners, 
teachers,  or  laboratory  workers ;  graduates  of  pharmacy  engaged  in 
the  retail  or  wholesale  drug  business  or  in  the  manufacturing  chem- 
ical or  pharmaceutical  industries ;  pharmaceutical  chemists  with 
degrees  from  reputable  schools  or  universities ;  botanists  specially 
interested  in  pharmacognosy,  and  members  of  botanical  societies  in 
good  standing ;  physiologists  engaged  in  pharmacodynamic  inves- 
tigation and  materia  medica  standardization;  bacteriologists  con- 
nected wTith  laboratories  for  the  production  of  biological  materia 
medica  products,  or  their  investigation  and  standardization;  and 
government  experts  in  any  way  associated  with  departments  engaged 
in  the  identification,  or  standardization,  of  drugs,  or  the  study  of 
medicinal  plants  and  their  agriculture. 
CO-OPERATE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  MATERIA  MEDICA  AND 
INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  PRODUCTS. 
Progress  in  pharmacologic  science  can  be  attained  only  through 
co-operative  materia  medica  investigation,  the  results  of  which, 
according  to  professional  ideals,  belong  not  to  the  individual  inves- 
tigators but  to  the  profession.  Members  of  the  pharmacologic  pro- 
fession, with  the  exception  of  teachers  and  government  experts, 
should  be  supported  by  materia  medica  commerce,  hence  it  is  essen- 
tial that  such  commerce  shall  be  a  professional  vocation,  that  phar- 
macologists supported  by  commerce  shall  be  considered  scientists 
and  entitled  to  rank  wTith  the  members  of  the  medical  profession. 
PURE  FOOD  AND  DRUG  LAWS. 
The  Pure  Food  and  Drugs  Act  protects  materia  medica  standards 
not  only  directly,  but  indirectly,  by  forcing  manufacturers  to  label 
their  products  truthfully.  Although,  with  few  exceptions,  drugs  are 
not  specifics,  both  retail  and  wholesale  manufacturers  of  medicines 
have  long  advertised  their  products  as  "  cures,"  and  it  is  by  means 
of  these  false  claims  that  the  so-called  proprietary  medicine  business 
has  reaped  such  a  rich  harvest.  By  ruling  against  the  use  of  the 
word  "  cure  "  on  labels  the  Government  has  dealt  a  solar  plexus 
blow  to  such  fraudulent  exploitation  of  the  public.    Moreover,  the 
