As™ptemberfrm"}    British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  441 
converse  of  this  is  the  medical  practitioner  who  keeps  open  shop 
like  a  chemist,  and  to  whom  is  largely  due  the  difficulty  that  the 
uneducated  public  find  in  distinguishing  between  a  chemist's  and  a 
doctor's  shop.  It  might  be  possible,  perhaps,  for  representatives  of 
the  medical  profession  and  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  to  arrange  a 
Conference  to  make  mutual  provisions  for  counter  prescribing  by 
chemists  to  cease  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  keeping  open  shop  by 
doctors  on  the  other.  This  would  need  disciplinary  powers  for  both 
bodies  to  deal  with  offenders,  but  the  two  bodies  united  could  prob- 
ably, by  a  good  organization,  bring  sufficient  influence  to  bear  upon 
the  Government  to  pass  an  Act  authorizing  such  powers." 
In  considering  the  subject  of  portable  medicines  the  President  said : 
"  The  increase  in  the  rapidity  of  travelling  and  the  absence  of  an 
international  Pharmacopoeia  have  caused  a  demand  for  portable 
medicines,  which  has  been  increased  by  the  opening  up  of  new 
countries  where  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  medicine,  so  that  a  new 
industry  in  this  direction  has  been  developed,  in  which  English 
pharmacists,  with  characteristic  conservatism,  have  allowed  Ameri- 
cans to  take  the  lead.  The  great  advantage  in  the  saving  of  time 
by  the  use  of  portable  medicines  to  both  the  medical  practitioner 
and  the  patient — in  country  districts  where  there  is  no  chemist 
within  several  miles,  and  where  the  considerable  delay  in  the 
delivery  of  medicine,  by  reason  of  the  distance,  is  often  of  serious 
importance — is  almost  certain  to  lead  to  the  permanent  adoption 
of  such  time-  and  labor-saving  devices.  The  value  to  the  public 
of  portable  medicines  for  travelling  purposes  cannot  be  denied,  as 
well  as  to  the  Government,  since  in  military  and  naval  operations 
the  sudden  demands  made  upon  medical  stores  and  appliances 
necessitate  the  use  of  drugs  and  preparations  occupying  as  little 
space  as  possible,  in  a  form  as  concentrated  as  is  compatible  with 
safety,  and  not  readily  affected  by  the  vicissitudes  of  climate.  This 
form  of  medicine  has,  therefore,  become  a  feature  of  the  pharmacy 
of  to-day,  and  is  likely  to  develop  still  further.  It  has,  however,  the 
disadvantage  of  placing  in  the  hands  of  the  laity  powerful  remedies 
which  they  are  apt  to  use  without  proper  medical  advice,  and  with- 
out the  ability  to  judge  of  the  nature  of  the  disease  for  which  they 
employ  them." 
The  limitations  of  the  Pharmacopceia  were  summed  up  in  the 
following  words: 
