380 
EDITORIAL. 
Nor  has  said  apothecary  any  right  to  make  use  of  said  prescription  in  any 
way,  unless  by  the  consent  of  the  physician. 
Resolved,  That  in  case  this  Society  can  be  positively  assured  of  the  viola- 
tion of  the  foregoing  resolution,  we  pledge  ourselves  to  withhold  our  influ- 
ence from  any  druggist  who  may  thus  act,  and  we  will  use  other  means  to 
make  such  conduct  public. 
Resolved,  That  we  withhold  our  support  from  all  apothecaries  who  persist 
in  the  reprehensible  practice  of  prescribing  for  diseases. 
Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  this  Society,  furnish  every  retail  druggist 
in  the  city  with  a  copy  of  these  Resolutions." 
The  course  adopted  by  the  Medical  Society  to  remedy  the  evils  complained 
of,  appears  to  have  given  umbrage  to  many  of  the  apothecaries  of  St. 
Louis,  and  some  of  them,  in  their  individual  capacity,  have  availed  them- 
selves of  the  columns  of  the  daily  press  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  pub- 
lic in  a  way  not  calculated  to  promote  good  feeling  between  physicians 
and  apothecaries. 
There  are  some  points  in  the  resolutions  that  deserve  notice.  In  the  first 
place,  the  Society,  in  issuing  such  a  paper,  should  have  appended  the  names 
of  the  officers,  or  given  some  attest  of  its  genuineness,  else  it  might  be  con- 
strued to  be  the  work  of  some  mischievous  person. 
The  ground  taken  in  the  first  resolution,  "  that  the  apothecary  has  no 
right  to  put  up  a  prescription  the  second  time  unless  authorised  in  writing 
by  the  presenter,"  is  not  only  not  held  out  by  the  usual  practice  in  Eng- 
land, whence  most  of  our  customs  are  derived,  but  we  believe  if  such  a  law 
was  promulgated  by  medical  societies  their  own  members  would  be  among 
the  first  to  break  it,  as  it  as  convenient  as  usual  for  the  physician  to  ver- 
bally direct  the  nurse  or  patient  to  have  a  prescription  renewed.  It  has 
become  the  custom  here  among  apothecaries  to  retain  the  original  prescrip- 
tion, but  in  England  it  is  quite  common  to  return  the  original  to  the  pur- 
chaser or  patient  enclosed  in  a  stamped  envelope.  It  is  a  part  o£  medico- 
pharmaceutical  ethics  yet  to  be  settled  by  general  consent,  how  far  the  pa- 
tient who  pays  for  the  prescription  is  entitled  to  it.  Some  physicians  have 
assumed  that  the  fee  covers  only  the  application,  or  the  right  to  use  the 
prescription  at  the  time  it  is  given  •  and  such  it  would  appear  is  the  opinion 
of  the  St.  Louis  Medical  Society.  Others  take  a  more  liberal  view  and  leave  the 
matter  entirely  to  the  patient,  trusting  to  the  influence  of  good  sense  to 
regulate  it. 
There  are  cases  where  the  undue  renewal  of  a  prescription  should  be 
avoided  when  known  to  the  apothecary ;  as,  for  instance,  where  A.  tells  B. 
that  certain  medicine  prescribed  by  Dr.  C.  for  her  child,  certainly  will  cure 
B.'s  child,  on  the  mere  supposition  that  the  cases  are  similar  ;  besides,  it  is 
an  injustice  to  the  family  physician  of  B.  who,  if  the  child  is  too  sick  for 
legitimate  domestic  treatment,  should  be  consulted. 
The  second  resolution  is  not  put  forth  in  a  spirit  to  do  any  good  ;  it  is  too 
threatening  in  its  character  for  a  western  city,  where  men  of  all  classes  are 
less  controlled  by  custom  and  chartered  privilege  than  in  the  older  cities. 
