Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May.  1894. 
Pharmacy  as  a  Profession. 
229 
in  proportion  as  he  has  developed  the  professional  side,  he  suffers  less 
from  these  difficulties  ? 
In  other  words,  if  he  has  become  known  as  a  skilful  and  able 
pharmaceutical  chemist  himself,  who  has  kept  up  with  recent  pro- 
gress in  chemistry  and  pharmacy,  he  will  suffer  notably  less  from 
such  drawbacks  than  if  he  had  staked  all  his  success  on  attracting 
attention  to  his  store  by  advertising  novelties. 
Another  of  the  drawbacks  to  the  proper  recognition  of  pharmacy 
as  a  profession  is  the  comparison  so  often  drawn  between  it  and  the 
related  profession  of  medicine,  and  drawn,  I  need  hardly  say,  inmost 
cases  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  former.  It  is  not  alone  drawn  by 
the  doctor,  who  from  the  time  he  leaves  the  Medical  College  calmly 
draws  a  line  between  himself  and  the  "  laity,"  as  he  calls  the  rest  of 
the  world.  This  superiority  of  the  medical  profession  is  too  often 
conceded  as  a  matter  of  course  by  the  pharmacist,  who  feels  the 
necessity  of  gaining  the  good-will  of  the  medical  profession  living 
in  his  neighborhood  as  a  question  of  business.  Is  it  any  wonder 
then  that  the  public  take  him  at  his  own  estimate,  and  grow  accus- 
tomed to  give  a  respect  to  the  one  profession  that  they  deny  to  the 
other?  This  difference  in  valuation  is  only  encouraged  when  the 
pharmacist  proceeds  to  demonstrate  his  belief  in  it  by  taking  up 
medical  studies, even  after  years  of  practical  business  life  and  adding 
the  medical  degree  to  that  of  Graduate  in  Pharmacy.  I  do  not 
wish  to  be  misunderstood  here.  Many  young  men  enter  upon  the 
study  of  pharmacy,  and  pursue  it  diligently  with  the  full  intention 
from  the  beginning  of  following  it  by  studies  in  medicine.  For  such 
a  plan,  I  have  nothing  but  commendation.  I  have  repeatedly  heard 
medical  men,  who  had  pursued  this  plan,  acknowledge  the  invalu- 
able aid  that  the  thorough  grounding  in  a  knowledge  of  drugs  and 
medicines  and  their  preparation  acquired  in  a  College  of  Pharmacy 
gave  them  in  the  after  practice  of  medicine.  But  cannot  the  graduate 
in  pharmacy,  who  has  had  no  such  plan  of  study,  who  has  only 
started  out  to  acquire  a  pharmaceutical  education,  feel  that  he  has  a 
worthy  profession  before  him,  if  he  will  but  strive  to  make  himself 
worthy  of  it  ?  He  has  had  an  insight  during  his  college  years  into 
the  methods  of  work  in  chemistry,  both  analytical  and  synthetical, 
in  operative  pharmacy,  the  field  of  which  is  becoming  wider  every 
day,  in  microscopical  study  of  plant  tissue  and  drug  structure.  Is 
there  then  nothing  that  promises  results  for  him  in  all  this,  results 
that  will  bring  him  both  pecuniary  reward  and  reputation  ? 
