534 
Pharmacy,  A  Profession. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharni. 
\  ^oyember,  1910. 
public  is  growing  wiser,  and  no  longer  believes  the  advertisements 
of  the  nostrum  manufacturers. 
Recognizing  the  limitations  of  drugs  as  therapeutic  agents,  many 
persons  are  seeking  in  Christian  Science,  Osteopathy,  the  Emanuel 
Movement,  Psychotherapy,  etc..  the  relief  not  afforded  by  doctors 
and  druggists,  with  results  disastrous  to  the  drug  business  and  the 
medical  profession.  For  this  condition  two  remedies  are  suggested, 
one  being  that  druggists  should  have  the  same  faith  in  their  drugs 
that  Christian  Scientists  have  in  the  doctrines  of  Mrs.  Eddy  and 
should  inspire  the  public  with  such  faith,  giving  their  patrons  the 
benefit  of  suggestive  therapeutics :  in  other  words,  druggists  are  to 
become  quack  doctors  and  resort  to  pretense  as  a  therapeutic  agent. 
The  other  remedy  is  the  plan  I  have  been  advocating  :  namely, 
that  pharmacists  study  medicine  and  obtain  a  license  to  practise 
therapeutics,  taking  advantage  of  their  close  contact  with  the  people 
to  educate  them  on  the  subject  of  medicine,  that  they  may  learn  to 
avoid  the  numerous  pitfalls  for  the  unwary  set  by  quacks  and  pre- 
tenders of  all  kinds.  Aided  by  the  enforcement  of  pure  food  and 
drug  laws,  this  plan  would  doubtless  prove  of  the  greatest  value  to 
mankind  and  do  more  than  anything  else  yet  suggested  to  raise  phar- 
macologic practice  to  its  proper  position  as  a  learned  and  beneficent 
profession.  What  we  need,  and  what  the  public  is  going  to  have 
sooner  or  later,  is  an  honest  pharmacologic  service,  and  if  physicians 
and  pharmacists  will  co-operate  in  this  endeavor  the  confidence  of 
the  public  in  medicine  and  pharmacy  will  be  restored. 
ENCROACHMENT   OF    THE    MANUFACTURING  HOUSE. 
Many  retail  druggists  object  to  the  pure  food  and  drug  laws. 
Thev  claim  that  the  manufacture  of  medicine  is  the  exclusive  right 
of  the  retail  druggists,  and  that  the  enforcement  by  the  courts  of 
standards  for  materia  medica  products  is  taking  from  the  retailers 
their  business  as  manufacturers  and  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
great  commercial  houses,  which  are  conducted  by  a  non-professional 
body  of  men  who  do  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice  the  public  for  gain. 
(To  be  continued.) 
