PHARMACY  IN  GERMANY  AND  PRUSSIA. 
433 
lower  price  than  others,  when  that  cheapness  is  not,  as  is  too 
frequently  the  case,  anything  more  than  the  result  of  fraud  or 
falsification,  necessarily  pre-supposes  that  the  means  of  fabrica- 
tion, the  capability  of  employing  whatever  materials  may  be 
judged  suitable,  and  the  selection  of  such  process  as  may  be  the 
most  economical,  are  entirely  subject  to  the  will  and  judgment 
of  the  individual. 
None  of  these  elements  of  rational  and  honest  competition  are 
available  for  the  pharmaceutist.  The  composition  of  medicines 
is  regulated  by  the  codex.  The  pharmaceutist  must  conform  to 
its  directions  not  only  in  regard  to  the  quality,  number,  and 
quantity  of  substances  which  he  employs,  but  likewise  with  re- 
gard to  the  process  for  making  them.  It  is,  therefore,  physi- 
cally impossible  that  he  can  effect  any  licit  or  avowable  saving  in 
their  fabrication.  This  necessity  of  conforming  to  the  codex 
excludes  any  idea  of  alteration,  and  likewise  excludes  any  idea 
of  improvement  which  the  pharmaceutist  might  otherwise  put 
forward  as  a  plea  to  his  customers  for  such  alteration.  Perfec- 
tion for  him  in  the  practice  of  his  art  consists  in  strict  adherence 
to  the  directions  of  the  codex,  in  the  fulfilment  without  parsi- 
mony and  with  absolute  exactitude  the  prescription  of  the  medi- 
cal man.  There  is  no  possibility,  as  in  ordinary  industrial  pur- 
suits, of  increasing  the  sale  of  his  products,  or  of  forcing  their 
consumption  by  taking  advantage  of  the  appetite  for  cheapness, 
and  compensating  for  the  small  profit  by  a  larger  return. 
It  may  be  easily  understood  that  the  cheapness  of  any  com- 
modity increases  its  consumption  ;  that  it  may  be  a  reason  for 
applying  it  to  a  greater  number  of  purposes,  or  for  its  use  by  a 
greater  number  of  persons  ;  but  the  cheapness  of  a  medicine  will 
never  be  a  sufficient  attraction  to  induce  persons  to  make  use  of 
it  except  in  cases  of  strict  necessity.  The  most  valuable  medi- 
cines might  be  offered  gratuitously  without  a  grain  more  being 
consumed.  The  pharmaceutist  has  not  even  a  right  to  sell  his 
goods  to  any  one  who  may  wish  to  buy  them  ;  he  dares  not  do  so 
without  the  authority  of  a  physician's  prescription. 
In  the  duties  attached  to  such  a  profession  it  is  impossible  to 
recognize  any  circumstance  which  resembles  the  conditions  under 
which  ordinary  industry  is  exercised,  nothing  which  could  sug- 
gest the  application  of  the  same  principles. 
30 
