482  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.    { A^ober,^907\m' 
The  present  is  witnessing  an  educational  renaissance  in  pharmacy, 
and  this  is  helping  to  stimulate  the  activity  on  the  part  of  the  medi- 
cal profession,  which  fact  was  acknowledged  and  confirmed  by  Dr. 
Cohen.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  one  to  familiarize  himself  with 
present  conditions  for  reform  and  to  find  some  place  in  which  to 
work,  both  women  and  men. 
These  two  addresses  were  discussed  as  follows  : 
Jacob  Diner  refuted  the  statement  made  by  Dr.  McCormack  that 
the  National  Association  of  Retail  Druggists  maintained  an  expen- 
sive lobby  to  promote  nostrum  interests  ;  he  said  that  as  a  past 
officer  of  the  association  he  had  no  knowledge  of  such  a  lobby. 
He  said  that  sometimes  the  members  of  the  N.  A.  R.  D.  found 
themselves  on  an  opposite  side  from  the  medical  profession  in  State 
legislation.  He  said  the  druggists  are  not  interested  in  legislation 
merely  to  protect  their  pockets,  but  to  protect  their  profession,  and 
cited  as  an  example  of  adverse  legislation  the  law  proposed  in  New 
York  to  the  effect  that  no  drugs  should  be  sold  by  druggists  except 
on  physicians'  prescriptions.  On  the  other  hand,  he  said  the  mem- 
bers  had  supported  anti-narcotic  legislation,  and  he  maintained  the 
honor  and  principle  of  the  druggists  of  the  United  States. 
Professor  Hallberg  said  that  the  members  of  the  Section  should 
not  discuss  past  matters  on  account  of  loss  of  valuable  time.  He 
claimed  that  it  was  necessary  for  Dr.  McCormack  to  repeat  the 
statement  which  he  made  as  a  matter  of  history,  as  it  was  by  virtue 
of  it  that  he  had  been  invited  to  speak  to  the  association.  He  said 
that  we  should  cut  loose  from  the  moorings  of  the  past,  and  pointed 
out  that  the  whole  medical  profession  seems  to  be  a  subject  for  the 
caricaturist  as  a  result  of  such  discussions. 
Dr.  William  Muir,  of  New  York,  said  that,  from  his  experience 
in  legislative  work,  he  agreed  with  Mr.  Diner;  that  he  had 
approached  the  medical  men  of  the  State  Legislative  Committee  of 
New  York,  and  that  they  appeared  not  to  be  willing  mutually  to 
consider  the  form  of  legislation,  but  rather  to  desire  to  dominate  the 
proceedings. 
He  also  took  exception  to  the  statistics  quoted  by  Dr.  McCormack, 
showing  that  the  majority  of  the  habitues  of  narcotic  drugs  in  insane 
asylums  owe  their  condition  to  the  unscrupulous  selling  of  these 
drugs  by^pharmacists  ;  he  said  that  his  own  investigations  showed 
that  the  free  use  of  hypodermics  by  physicians  is  largely  responsible 
for  the  number  of  these  victims. 
