442  The  War  and  Pharmacy.  {Ambltoh^\lri7' 
THE  WAR  AND  PHARMACY.1 
By  Curt  P.  Wimmer,  A.M.,  Phar.D. 
On  August  i,  191 7,  three  years  will  have  passed  since  the  out- 
break of  what  history,  no  doubt,  will  call  the  "  world  war."  And, 
indeed,  this  term  will  be  well-chosen,  for  the  majority  of  the  civi- 
lized nations  of  the  world  are  now  engaged  in  a  life  and  death  strug- 
gle, the  likes  of  which  the  world  has  never  seen  before.  War  is  the 
most  serious  business  in  which  a  nation  can  engage ;  a  business  in 
which  tremendous  sacrifices  in  life  and  property  must  be  made  and 
in  which  compensation  for  the  investment  is  most  uncertain,  be  the 
war  aims  ideals  or  provinces  or  indemnities. 
Modern  wars  are  not  fought  by  armies  alone  but  by  the  com- 
bined effort  of  the  nation's  entire  population  and  resources.  This 
again  means  that  each  and  every  business  and  profession  must  be 
profoundly  affected  in  some  way  or  other,  and  now  that  we  have 
entered  the  great  struggle  and  are,  from  all  appearances,  to  play  a 
leading  and  possibly  deciding  part,  it  is  both  timely  and  appropriate 
to  devote  a  short  time  to  a  discussion  of  the  influences  which  the 
war  has  had  upon  pharmacy  up  to  the  present  time  and  is  likely  to 
have  in  the  future. 
And  another  question  which  we  might  well  try  to  answer  at  the 
same  time  is :  Is  there  not  in  this  carnival  of  blood  and  devastation 
to  be  found  a  consoling  element,  a  compensating  factor,  the  pro- 
verbial silver  lining  of  the  cloud?  Compared  with  the  other  nations 
at  war  we  have  felt,  so  far,  little  of  the  effect  of  war  upon  pharmacy. 
Should,  however,  the  conflagration  last  for  two  or  three  more  years, 
as  some  of  our  high  officials  say  it  will,  we  shall,  no  doubt,  feel  as 
much  as  European  countries,  at  least  as  the  group  of  Allies  whom 
we  have  joined.  Let  us,  therefore,  make  a  brief  survey  of  the  con- 
dition of  pharmacy  in  the  European  countries  and  deduce  from  that 
what  may  be  in  store  for  us. 
Unquestionably,  the  difficulties  of  the  pharmacists  in  the  Central 
Powers  are  great  and  perplexing.  A  careful  review  of  German  and 
Austrian  publications  reveals  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  consider- 
able shortness  of  qualified  assistants.    Almost  every  other  adver- 
1  Read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  New  Jersey  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation, June,  1917. 
