EDITORIAL. 
331 
The  practice  of  prescribing  for  diseases  in  general  by  apothecaries  is 
certainly  highly  reprehensible,  and  deserves  the  rebuke.of  the  third  reso- 
lution when  carried  beyond  the  ordinary  information  regarding  doses  and 
minor  complaints  about  which  it  is  unusual  to  consult  physicians.  Pre- 
scribing is  not  the  province  of  the  pharmaceutist,  and  in  doing  it  he  is  con- 
stantly liable  to  do  mischief  to  the  patient  and  injustice  to  the  physician, 
who  is  not  only  thus  deprived  of  his  proper  employment,  but  is  too  often 
called  in  after  cases  have  become  less  curable  by  delay.  Yet  knowing  the 
constant  temptation  to  prescribe,  owing  to  public  importunity,  especially 
from  the  lower  classes,  it  is  not  surprising  that  much  of  it  is  done.  We 
trust  our  brethren  of  St.  Louis  are  not  disposed  to  overstep  the  bounds  of 
their  profession,  but  are  desirous  of  rendering  efficient  aid  as  co-laborers 
with  the  physician,  and  we  should  be  sorry  to  see  them  by  any  ill  advised 
measures  of  their  medical  friends  do  from  a  spirit  of  opposition  what  we 
believe  is  now  done  in  a  great  measure  from  the  force  of  circumstances. 
St.  Louis  Pharmaceutical  Association. — It  is  with  pleasure  that  we  an- 
nounce the  organization  of  a  pharmaceutical  society  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
By  a  letter  from  Mr.  Alexander  Leitch,  we  are  informed  that  the  pharma- 
ceutists of  that  city  met  on  the  25th  of  May,  1854,  and  determined  to  form 
an  association  "  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  a  more  generous  and  brotherly 
feeling  among  the  members  of  the  profession  of  pharmacy,"  that  they  may 
co-operate  in  carrying  out  measures  for  the  advancement  of  pharmacy  and 
the  improvement  of  the  educational  status  of  the  apothecaries  and  druggists. 
The  following  gentleman  were  elected  officers  of  the  association,  viz : 
President,  J.  E.  Jones. 
_.    n    . ,  {  William  L.  Maddox. 
v  ice- Presidents,    ....    {  m  T  -r.. 
(  T.  L.  Rives. 
Treasurer,  H.  T.  Piatt 
Recording  Secretary,    .    .    .    H.  G.  Wade. 
Corresponding  Secretary,  .    .    Alexander  Leitch. 
We  hope  that  five  delegates  from  this  new  organization  will  be  timely 
appointed,  that  they  may  be  welcomed  by  the  representatives  of  older 
societies  at  the  Cincinnati  meeting. 
"  Old  Physic  and  Young  Pharmacy,"  or  "  a  few  words  with  the 
Apothecary." — The  following  remarks,  under  the  above  caption,  in  the  May 
number  of  the  New  Jersey  Medical  Reporter,  are  from  the  pen  of  the  as- 
sociate Editor. 
11  The  noise,  and  show  of  quackery,  in  these  days  of  patent  Elixirs  and 
Cure-alls,  seem  to  have  ensnared  our  friends  of  the  mortar — and  we  have  a 
few  words  for  them.  We  hope  they  will  take  our  counsel  kindly,  for  though 
our  prescription  may  be  difficult  to  compound,  and  still  more  difficult  to 
take,  we  feel  assured  that  it  is  a  good  one.  We  do  not  pretend  to  assert  that 
physicians  themselves  are  just  what  they  ought  to  be ;  but  still  we  believe, 
