EDITORIAL. 
399 
be  stationed  in  San  Francisco,  Cal.  Then  appoint  five  Apothecaries  with 
the  rank  and  pay  of  Majors  of  Cavalry,  to  be  stationed  at  the  headquar- 
ters of  each  military  division,  to  take  the  place  of  the  Medical  Purveyors. 
Twenty  Apothecaries,  with  the  rank  of  Captain  of  Cavalry,  to  be  stationed 
as  Medical  Purveyors,  at  the  headquarters  of  each  Military  Department, 
and  two  to  be  on  duty  in  the  office  of  the  Apothecary-General.  Twenty 
Assistant  Apothecaries,  with  the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant  of  Cavalry,  to 
Ve  in  charge  under  direction  of  the  Surgeons  of  the  large  hospitals ;  and 
one  hundred  Assistant  Apothecaries,  with  the  rank  of  a  Second  Lieuten- 
ant of  Cavalry,  to  be  in  charge  of  small  garrison  hospitals,  and  seventy- 
five  Assistant- Apothecaries,  with  the  rank  of  a  Cadet,  to  be  stationed  as 
Assistants  in  large  hospitals. 
A  Board  should  meet,  composed  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Squibb,  to  examine 
applicants  for  the  Corps  of  Apothecaries,  and  appointments  should  be 
made  according  to  the  orderof  merit  in  which  the  candidates  have  passed. 
Afterwards  promotions  should  be  made  by  seniority,  always  subjecting 
the  member  next  on  the  list  for  promotion  to  another  thorough  examina- 
tion until  he  reaches  the  grade  of  Apothecary,  with  the  rank  of  Major. 
All  new  applicants  should  enter  as  Assistant  Apothecaries  with  the 
rank  of  a  Cadet.  They  should  serve  at  least  six  months  before  they  can 
be  admitted  to  another  examination  and  promoted.  In  every  grade  above 
that  of  Cadet  they  should  be  required  to  serve  at  least  five  years  before 
they  can  again  be  examined  and  promoted. 
The  total  number  of  commissioned  officers  of  the  corps  of  Apothecaries 
would  be  148,  thus  :  One  Apothecary-General  with  the  rank  of  Colonel  of 
Cavalry,  two  Deputy  Apothecary-Generals  with  the  rank  of  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  of  Cavalry,  five  Apothecaries  with  the  rank  of  Major  of  Cavalry, 
twenty  Apothecaries  with  the  rank  of  Captain  of  Cavalry,  twenty  Assist- 
ant Apothecaries  with  the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant  of  Cavalry,  one  hun- 
dred Assistant  Apothecaries  with  the  rank  of  Second  Lieutenant  of  Cav- 
alry, and  seventy-five  Warrant  Officers  or  Cadets. 
This  corps  would  prove  less  expensive  than  the  present  system  of 
assigning  Medical  Officers  as  Purveyors,  who  are  often  very  much  de- 
pendent on  their  clerks  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  living,  naturally 
enough,  ignorant  of  the  drug  business. 
It  is  a  wrong  impression  most  physicians  have  that  a  physician  must  eo 
ipso  be  an  apothecary,  and  that  all  an  apothecary  needs  to  know  is  how 
to  put  up  a  prescription.  Pharmacy  is  as  much  of  a  science  and  requires 
as  much  study  and  industry  as  medicine.  The  practice  of  medicine  de- 
pends in  no  small  measure  on  the  advancements  in  pharmacy  for  its  suc- 
cess, nnd  pharmacy,  again,  looks  to  chemistry  for  new  developments. 
The  establishment  of  a  Government  Laboratory  would  be  an  excellent 
school  for  the  apothecaries.  Two  establishments  of  this  kind  have  been 
in  operation  during  the  last  two  years  and  a  half  of  the  war,  and  most  of 
the  medicines  used  have  been  prepared  there  at  a  great  saving  to  the 
Government.  One,  situated  at  Astoria.  L.  I.,  was  partly  destroyed  by 
fire  in  February  last,  but  up  to  the  present  time  is  still  in  operation.  The 
other  is  located  in  Philadelphia. 
Almost  every  Government  shop  has  been  noticed  in  some  paper  or 
other,  but  the  Laboratories  have  never  received  any  attention — may  be 
because  they  owe  their  origin  to  the  Ex  Surgeon-General,  W.  A.  Ham- 
mond, and  were,  perhaps,  for  this  same  reason  never  recognized  by  the 
Secretary  of  War;  but  whatever  maybe  said  about  the  administration  of 
Dr.  Hammond,  the  establishment  of  a  Government  Laboratory  was  cer- 
tainly a  move  in  the  right  direction.  M. 
