562 
Pharmacy,  a  Profession. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
J    December,  1910. 
their  functional  duties,  are  constantly  discarding  that  which  the 
body  in  a  healthful  state  does  not  want.  In  perspiration,  which  is 
moisture,  there  is  thrown  from  the  pores  of  the  skin  a  combination 
of  mineral  and  vegetable  acids,  and  this  may  all  be  summed  up  in 
the  word  "  dirt."  This  combination,  or  dirt,  contains  food  for  a 
number  of  species  of  insects.  When  the  hands  which  are  soiled 
are  laid  on  clean  paper,  some  of  the  matter  attached  to  the  hands  will 
be  left  upon  the  paper,  in  this  way  producing  food  for  insects.  We 
say  this,  because  man  from  a  material  stand-point  has  his  grosser 
body  made  of  matter,  and  matter  in  a  concrete  form  is  made  of  the 
dust  of  the  earth.  Cleanliness  in  the  handling  of  papers,  books,  and 
documents  will  be  of  more  value  than  all  the  poisons  combined. 
Let  common-sense  prevail,  make  sanitary  rules  in  the  home  and  in 
the  public  library  an  enforced  rule,  and  it  will  lessen  and  arrest 
the  rapid  growth  of  the  little  insects  which  feed  upon  our  silent 
friends  of  so  much  value  to  us,  besides  eliminating  the  possibilities 
of  contagious  diseases.  The  library  of  the  future  will  be  found  to 
contain  lavoratories  where  every  one  wishing  to  make  use  of  the 
books  in  the  collection  will  first  have  to  thoroughly  cleanse  his  or 
her  hands.  This  is  a  subject  which  should  be  considered  in  the 
near  future  by  the  bacteriologist,  as  well  as  the  entomologist,  biolo- 
gist, and  general  visitors  to  the  halls  of  learning. 
SHALL  WE  HAVE  A  PROFESSION  OF  PHARMACY? 
By  F.  E.  Stewart,  Ph.G.,  M.D. 
(Concluded  from  p.  534.) 
There  is  some  truth  in  this  claim,  but  if  the  physicians  and  phar- 
macists of  this  country  had  given  the  public  a  square  deal  regarding 
materia  medica  products,  the  present  conditions  need  never  have 
arisen.  LTnfortunately,  the  medical  schools  have  neglected  to  prop- 
erly teach  materia  medica,  while  the  retail  druggists  have  carried  on 
a  proprietary  medicine  business  of  their  own  on  a  smaller  scale,  to 
which  are  equally  applicable  the  very  objections  they  now  urge 
against  the  manufacturing  houses.  But  a  reaction  has  occurred. 
The  worm  has  turned.  And  the  pure  food  and  drug  laws,  instead  of 
resulting  from  co-operative  effort  on  the  part  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession and  the  retail  druggists  to  reform  conditions,  are  largely 
due  to  public  resentment  of  the  deplorable  conditions  mentioned. 
This  reform  should  have  come  from  the  medical  and  pharmacal 
