Aljanua"yPi907.m"}     The  Council  on  Pharmacy  and  Chemistry.  35 
rially  if  he  has  kept  and  is  constantly  keeping  himself  in  touch  with 
the  work  of  the  Council.  When  the  Council  publishes  a  report  of 
a  remedy  and  gives  its  reasons  for  not  favoring  it  for  a  place  on  its 
list  of  new  and  non-official  remedies,  the  pharmacist  should  know 
about  it.  All  this  knowledge,  which  he  can  easily  obtain  by  a  faith- 
ful perusal  of  the  published  results  of  the  work  of  the  Council,  is  now 
appearing  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association.  If 
the  average  pharmacist  is  qualified  to  give  physicians  what  they 
desire,  well  and  good ;  if  not,  then  it  must  resolve  itself  into  a  ques- 
tion of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  among  them  :  there  will  be  a 
separation  of  the  true  pharmacist  from  the  mere  seller  of  drugs, 
patent  medicines  and  so  forth.  There  will  be  professional  men  and 
tradesmen.  To  regain  the  good-will  and  respect  of  medical  practi- 
tioners is  the  only  hope  the  pharmacist  has  of  making  true  phar- 
macy triumph  over  the  spirit  of  commercialism  that  pervades  it  at 
present  and  is  dragging  it  down  into  the  mire  of  mere  trade  and 
shopkeeping. 
The  organization  of  the  Council  shows  plainly  that  medical  prac- 
titioners are  alive  as  to  protecting  themselves,  and  pharmacists  can- 
best  demonstrate  their  right  to  protection  by  co-operating  with  the 
Council  whenever  possible  and  offering  friendly  criticism  when 
honestly  thought  justifiable.  The  pharmacist  owes  it,  not  only  to 
himself,  not  only  to  the  doctors,  but  to  the  public  at  large  who 
must,  in  the  last  analysis,  depend  on  him  to  protect  them  from  un- 
scrupulous manufacturers  of  medicinal  remedies.  In  this  country 
•the  law  holds  the  pharmacist  responsible  when  he  dispenses  a  pre- 
scription containing  a  lethal  dose ;  if  the  law  places  the  pharmacist 
between  the  physician  and  patient  in  this  particular  regard  why 
should  he  not  be  held  responsible  for  dispensing  harmful  nostrums? 
Moral  law  demands  that  he  should  be  ever  on  the  alert  to  safeguard 
the  public  health. 
The  work  of  the  Council  has  resulted  in  a  more  widespread 
interest  on  the  part  of  physicians  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  and  National 
Formulary.  If  this  were  the  only  good  the  Council  had  brought 
about  it  would  be  sufficient  reason  for  the  unqualified  endorsement 
and  support  of  pharmacists.  When  the  interest  of  physicians  be- 
comes more  awakened  and  general  as  to  what  these  books,  rightly 
used,  can  do  for  them,  then  pharmacy  will  surely  come  into  its  own, 
provided  the  members  of  the  profession  prove  themselves  worthy. 
