Aloctober,S!m;}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  481 
pharmacist  can  afford  to  dispense  any  preparation  of  which  he  does 
not  know  the  composition  and  purity.  This  he  said  meant  getting 
back  to  the  Pharmacopoeia  and  National  Formulary,  although  it  did 
not  interfere  with  the  use  of  substances  of  known  composition  and 
value,  but  that  it  would  put  an  end  to  all  secret  remedies. 
Dr.  McCormack  said  that  instruction  of  this  kind  is  not  only  being 
urged  upon  the  medical  schools,  for  the  benefit  of  the  future  physi- 
cian, but  that  it  is  being  made  a  permanent  feature  of  the  post- 
graduate courses. 
The  speaker  then  said  that  not  only  is  the  work  of  reform  in 
these  matters  in  its  infancy,  but  that  the  results  in  some  directions 
must  be  long  delayed  and  imperfect  without  the  earnest  co-operation 
of  the  rank  and  file  of  druggists.  He  further  said  :  "  I  believe  that 
there  should  be  such  an  effective  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive, 
between  this  organization  and  the  American  Medical  Association 
as  will  insure  only  pure  drugs  for  the  sick  people  of  this  country. 
This  would  require  joint  action,  through  committees  and  otherwise, 
in  framing,  passing  and  enforcing  the  necessary  legislation,  and  in 
what  is  even  more  important  as  a  necessary  premise  for  all  this — such 
a  campaign  of  education,  systematically  conducted  over  the  entire 
country,  as  will  give  the  professional  and  public  sentiment,  without 
which  all  such  legislation  is  almost  worse  than  useless." 
Dr.  H.  H.  Rusby  briefly  discussed  the  question — "  What  are  the 
best  means  which  the  pharmacists  may  adopt  to  render  their  services 
most  valuable  to  the  medical  profession  and  the  public,  and  to  com- 
mand their  confidence  and  appreciation?"  speaking  as  follows: 
When  physicians  give  evidence  of  their  ability  to  diagnose  correctly 
and  cease  from  dispensing,  then  will  pharmacists  respect  them, 
When  pharmacists  refrain  from  prescribing  and  give  evidence  of 
competency,  then  will  physicians  respect  them.  The  remedy  does 
not  lie  in  criticising  the  other  profession,  but  in  each  disciplining  the 
members  of  its  own  profession.  If  pharmacists  improve  themselves 
physicians  will  know  it,  and  vice  versa. 
The  question — Is  pharmacy  a  profession  ?  has  been  answered  in 
the  affirmative. 
Of  the  methods  adopted  to  secure  pure  drugs,  none  are  so  effective 
as  those  originated  by  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
On  the  other  hand,  no  one  could  ask  more  effective  methods  for 
eliminating  quackery  than  those  adopted  by  the  American  Medical 
Association. 
