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Pharmacy  as  a  Profession. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1894. 
The  profession  of  pharmacy  is  a  peculiar  one.  It  differs  in 
important  respects  from  the  so-called  learned  professions  of  law  and 
medicine,  not  in  requiring  less,  for  a  competent  pharmacist  must  be 
well  grounded  in  quite  a  range  of  the  sciences,  but  in  the  peculiar 
conditions  under  which  it  is  practiced.  It  is  considered  unprofes- 
sional for  the  lawyer  or  the  doctor  to  advertise,  but  the  pharmacist 
is  a  vender  as  well  as  a  professional  man,  and  is  expected  to  bring  his 
wares  to  the  notice  of  the  public.  And  just  here  arises  the  first  danger 
to  him  as  one  who  has  a  profession,  for  the  practice  of  which  he  has 
been  educated.  It  is  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  if  he  is  a  profes- 
sional man  he  must  be  content  to  rise  slowly  as  the  young  lawyer  or 
doctor  does,  to  enlarge  his  circle  of  patrons  gradually,  but  gaining 
their  respect  at  the  same  time  and  holding  it.  He  is  tempted  to 
look  at  the  purely  mercantile  side  of  his  position  and  to  stoop  to 
clap-trap  methods  of  drawing  attention  to  himself  and  his  store. 
This  is  said  to  show  American  "  push"  and  "  snap,"  but  certainly 
there  ought  to  be  some  other  outcome  than  that  from  the  years 
spent  in  acquiring  a  professional  education.  He  may  get  the 
name  of  a  "  hustler,"  as  it  is  termed,  but  does  it  not  appear  on 
closer  inspection,  that  such  a  reputation  is  gained  in  most  instances 
at  the  expense  of  professional  standing?  The  methods  of  rush  and 
push,  of  turmoil  and  struggle  have,  I  fear,  completely  taken  control 
of  most  of  the  mercantile  communities  in  our  American  cities  and 
large  towns,  but  would  it  not  be  better  for  the  educated  pharmacist 
to  aid  in  keeping  such  methods  out  of  pharmacy  and  by  avoiding 
catchy  efforts  to  attract  trade,  dignify  his  profession  and  his  own 
standing  in  the  community? 
Of  course,  it  will  be  said,  and  with  some  truth,  that  in  large 
cities  especially,  the  competition  is  so  great  that  the  newcomer  is 
obliged  to  push  himself  forward  in  order  to  get  a  foothold,  that  if  he 
does  not,  he  will  be  left  behind,  will  starve,  it  is  often  said.  But  a 
man  of  good  sense  can  soon  see  a  difference  between  proper  com- 
mendable enterprise  and  the  unprofessional  and  sensational  efforts 
to  push  oneself  into  notice,  of  which  I  have  just  spoken. 
Again,  the  invasion  of  the  apothecary's  field  by  the  patent  medi- 
cine man,  and  the  cultivation  and  solicitation  of  the  physician  directly 
by  the  manufacturing  druggist  are  drawbacks  which  the  pharmacist 
has  to  contend  with.  But  is  it  not  the  mercantile  rather  than  the 
professional  side  of  his  activity  that  suffers,  and  is  it  not  true  that, 
