'^embe?,^*}    Revision  of  Dispensing  Pharmacies.  415 
in  this  country,  and  is  usually  lost  sight  of,  particularly  in  discus- 
sions on  the  improvement  of  drugs  and  preparations. 
In  addition  to  drug  deterioration,  there  are  a  number  of  other 
factors  that  should  be  taken  into  consideration  in  connection  with 
the  dispensing  of  medicines  on  physicians'  prescriptions. 
Among  these  we  may  cite  the  position  and  general  condition  of 
the  dispensing  department  of  the  drug  store  ;  the  accuracy  and  also 
the  sensitiveness  of  scales,  weights  and  measures ;  the  presence  or 
absence  of  authoritative  works  and  works  of  reference  on  the  Materia 
Medica;  the  presence  or  absence  of  the  necessary  apparatus  to 
properly  test  and  identify  the  various  drugs  for  which  such  tests  are 
known  ;  a,nd  last,  but  not  least,  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  probity, 
technical  knowledge,  training  and  general  ideals  of  the  proprietor  or 
manager  of  the  pharmacy  or  store. 
Any  rational  individual  must  admit  that,  no  matter  how  excellent 
a  material  may  be  when  it  leaves  the  manufacturer,  there  are  still 
numerous  chances  of  its  becoming  worthless,  if  not  positively  dan- 
gerous, through  carelessness  or  neglect,  before  it  reaches  the  con- 
sumer. 
It  is  for  these  reasons  that  the  proposed  "  National  Bureau  of 
Medicines  and  Foods  "  cannot  be  considered  far-reaching  enough  in 
its  objects  to  benefit  the  physician  and  the  pharmacist ;  but  might, 
on  the  other  hand,  by  giving  a  false  sense  of  security,  be  positively 
harmful  in  its  influence,  by  delaying,  if  not  preventing,  improve- 
ments along  more  desirable  lines. 
It  would  be  reasonable  to  suppose  that  if,  instead  of  one  bureau 
more  or  less  closely  connected  with  manufacturers  and  wholesale 
dealers,  we  had  a  thousand  independent  investigators  constantly  on 
the  lookout  for  materials  that  did  not  correspond  to  certain  well- 
known  requirements,  that  the  consumer  would  be  at  least  as  well,  if 
not  better,  protected  from  adulteration  and  fraud,  and  that,  on  the 
whole,  he  would  be  getting  better  service,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
would  be  fostering  a  spirit  of  investigation  in  a  more  or  less  competi- 
tive way. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  said  that  it  can  hardly  be  supposed 
that  we  have  arrived  at  that  stage  of  our  development  when  all 
scientific  work  can  be  entrusted  to  institutions  especially  devised  for 
that  particular  field  of  investigation.  There  always  have  been,  and 
there  always  will  be,  men  who  are  especially  gifted  in  certain  direc- 
