Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ! 
August,  1S94.  j 
Editorial. 
EDITORIAL. 
ONE  SUGGESTION  FOR  RELIEF. 
In  these  days,  when  every  week  brings  us  some  suggestion  for  the  relief  of 
the  pharmacist,  it  is  appropriate  to  inquire  if  these  propositions  have  any 
real  value,  and  if  so,  whether  anything  can  be  done  to  put  them  into  practice.  It 
must  be  confessed  that  many  of  them  lack  the  one  thing  needful,  namely,  the 
power  to  apply  them  ;  this  is  especially  the  case  with  all  of  those  which  pro- 
pose legal  enactments  as  a  means  by  which  to  attain  the  desired  object. 
During  the  months  of  May  and  June  there  were  numerous  meetings  of 
State  Pharmaceutical  Associations,  At  these  gatherings  suggestions  were 
made  without  number  ;  each  member  appeared  to  have  his  favorite  scheme  for 
relief;  some  of  these  views  were  presented  in  the  form  of  carefully  prepared 
papers  ;  others  were  forced  on  the  members  in  the  heated  discussions  which 
followed  the  reading  of  these  papers  ;  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  all  were  for- 
gotten during  the  time  given  to  "social  features,"  which  supplemented  the 
weightier  proceedings. 
The  members  in  the  Missouri,  and  Pennsylvania  Associations  found  relief 
in  written  contributions  bearing  on  this  subject,  while  the  members  in  the 
New  York  and  a  number  of  other  associations  vented  their  opinions  without 
much  apparent  preliminary  thought ;  these  latter  were  in  some  cases  none  the 
less  valuable  for  their  spontaneity,  as  instanced  by  the  remarks  of  one  member 
in  the  New  York  Association,  who  advanced  the  idea  that  too  many  laws  breed 
anarchy,  and  every  new  law  creates  a  new  anarchist.  These  remarks  were  not 
made  in  reference  to  laws  for  the  so-called  relief,  but  are  they  not  applicable 
to  many  of  the  laws  which  have  for  their  object  the  regulation  of  the  drug 
business  ? 
The  above  remarks  may  appear  to  be  chiefly  negative,  and  yet  among  all 
the  suggestions,  most  of  them  from  practical  pharmacists,  we  should  extract 
something  of  lasting  value. 
Possibly  we  have  a  plan  presented  in  a  paper  before  the  Pennsylvania 
Association,  and  published  in  the  July  number  of  this  journal,  page  330,  that 
may  with  profit  be  adopted.  This  contribution,  by  John  F.  Patton,  referred  to 
the  National  Formulary,  and  gave  a  brief  history  of  this  publication.  The 
history  furnishes  valuable  and  interesting  reading,  but  the  remarks  which 
follow  are  especially  worthy  of  consideration.  For  instance,  he  says:  "My 
experience  and  observation,  in  a  limited  way,  lead  me  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  average  physician  is  unfamiliar  with  this  work  (The  National  Formulary), 
and  to  a  certain  extent  also,  that  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia. 
"  This  may  account  in  a  measure  for  his  readiness  to  prescribe  any  new  remedy 
offered,  and  his  ready  acceptance  of  the  extravagant  statements  made  in  their 
praise  we  must  attribute  to  human  credulity."  With  this  preliminary  quotation 
we  may  pass  rapidly  on  to  the  suggestion,  although  every  statement  of  the 
author  would  bear  repetition.  "  If  the  physician  accepts  the  aid  of  the  manu- 
facturer in  his  practice,  he  would  not  refuse  the  efforts  of  the  local  pharmacist 
in  that  direction  were  they  offered." 
u  Let  us  prove  ourselves  such  competent  pharmacists  that  there  will  be  no 
question  in  the  mind  of  any  of  our  physicians  as  to  our  ability  to  prepare  any 
remedy  to  meet  any  special  case.    We  can  best  make  our  doctor  patron  ac- 
