462 
Editorial. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(      Sept.,  1878. 
"It  is  high  time  that  the  vocations  of  the  pharmacist  and  the  physician  be  recog- 
nized as  two  wholly  and  distinct  careers.  The  doctor  is  yet,  in  many  places,, 
physician  and  apothecary  in  one,  and  the  saddlebag  system  of  dispensing  medicine 
and  advice  has  done  the  pioneer  work  in  many  a  now  thronged  and  prosperous 
locality.  It  was  indispensable;  it  may  be  so  yet,  on  the  frontiers;  but  when  not 
necessary,  the  custom  should  be  discountenanced.  Pharmacy  is  too  complicated, 
too  delicate,  too  difficult  a  science  to  be  made  any  longer  an  appendage  to  a  medical 
education,  or  to  be  taught  in  any  other  than  a  superficial  manner  in  medical  schools. 
Pharmaceutists  should  be  men  highly  trained  and  specially  given  to  their  delicate 
and  responsible  work;  for  more  delicate  or  careful  work  than  the  compounding  of 
prescriptions  can  hardly  be  named  ;  the  apothecaries  bear  the  people's  lives  in  their 
hands,  and  the  subject  is  one  of  real  consequence  to  every  person. 
"  The  physicians  of  this  country  are  calied  upon  to  encourage  the  separation  of 
the  two  vocations,  in  their  own  interest.  They  cannot,  indeed,  do  away  with  the 
(  counter  prescribing '  of  the  apothecary.  Accidents  and  cases  of  sudden  illness 
are  brought  to  him,  and  while  the  physician  may  be  at  once  summoned,  it  is  still 
necessary,  at  least  it  is  desirable,  that  the  apothecary  should  be  able  to  take  the  place 
of  the  doctor  for  the  time,  and  do  the  needful  professional  offices. 
"  It  has  come  to  this,  indeed,  that  the  apothecary  has  indirectly  a  large  amount  of 
practice.  People  drop  in  upon  him  for  all  kinds  of  medical  advice,  and  in  thousands 
of  cases  apothecaries  have  a  degree  of  trust  reposed  in  them  which  is  not  proper, 
unless  the  party  is  a  man  of  exceptional  intelligence  and  education.  Nor  is  this 
the  case  only  in  villages  and  sparsely  populated  neighborhoods;  in  such  sections 
the  practice  thrives  through  the  inability,  at  all  times,  of  easily  securing  a  physi- 
cian ;  while  in  the  cities  it  is  almost  equally  common  through  accidents,  and 
through  the  poverty  of  many  persons  who  cannot  consult  a  doctor,  and  yet  are  too- 
proud  to  apply  to  the  dispensaries.  From  one  reason  or  another,  it  is  known  that 
apothecaries  have  a  great  deal  of  '  practice,'  and  it  is  a  state  of  things  not  easily 
to  be  remedied.  Nevertheless,  we  believe  that  an  amicable  understanding  on  this 
vexed  subject  is  possible,  and  can  be  effected  in  any  given  locality  by  arrangement 
between  the  leading  persons  interested. 
"  Another  frequent  and  just  cause  of  complaint  by  the  physicians  is  that  drug- 
gists injure  the  community  by  selling  harmful  patent  medicines.  The  pharmacists 
in  England  have  themselves  taken  steps  in  this  matter.  At  one  of  their  recent 
conventions  the  importance  was  urged  of  fixing  some  legal  limit  to  the  wholesale 
poisoning  of  the  public  by  patent  medicines.  It  was  proposed  that,  even  if  it  be 
impossible  altogether  to  suppress  the  reaction  of  dishonest  quackery  upon  vulgar 
superstition,  the  venders  of  nostrums  be  compelled  to  divulge  the  composition  of 
their  wares,  and  prevented  from  publishing  mischievous  and  mendacious  advertise- 
ments concerning  them.  Among  the  examples  cited,  including  sundry  *  hair 
restorers,'  which,  in  direct  contradiction  of  their  advertised  pretensions,  contain 
poisonous  quantities  of  lead,  the  most  glaring  one  is  a  largely  certificated  '  Sure 
Cure  for  the  Opium  Habit,'  which  is  found,  on  analysis,  to  give  two  grains  of 
morphia  to  the  dose,  recommended  to  be  taken  thrice  a  day. 
"  It  is  scarcely  to  be  expected  that  American  apothecaries,  most  of  whom  derive 
a  large  part  of  their  income  from  the  sale  of  these  secret  nostrums,  will  join  in  this 
movement  at  once,  but  it  would  be  well  if  the  American  public  were  taught  that 
ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the  proprietary  medicines  that  flood  the  market  are  the 
products  of  uneducated  imposters,  and  are  either  wholly  inert  or  positively 
deleterious.  Some  steps  in  this  direction  have  already  been  taken  by  the  National 
Pharmaceutical  Association.  With  further  elevation  in  the  education  of  pharma- 
cists, most  of  them  will  acknowledge  the  utility  of  such  a  movement." 
