Am'iJayr'i9?8rm'  )  Brief  of  Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange. 
333 
listed  personnel,  all  the  drafted  men  in  the  Army  who  have  had  phar- 
maceutical training?  Was  it  to  secure  professional  services  on  the 
basis  of  a  non-commissioned  rank,  or  was  it  to  side-track  the  move- 
ment to  have  established  a  commissioned  pharmaceutical  corps  in 
the  Army,  or  both? 
We  believe  that  the  vast  majority  of  physicians  in  the  Army 
would  prefer  to  have  at  their  command,  in  practice,  the  same  spe- 
cialized highly  trained  pharmaceutical  service  they  had  in  civil  life 
before  they  entered  the  Army,  and  with  professional  rank,  and  that 
this  is  the  attitude,  also,  of  the  great  body  of  physicians  of  the  whole 
country  is  shown  by  the  following  editorial  from  the  Journal  of  the 
American  Medical  Association: 
"  Physicians,  dentists  and  veterinarians  are  officially  recognized  by  the 
government  as  men  of  special  training,  whose  technical  knowledge  can  be  of 
use  to  the  nation  in  time  of  war.  Provision  is  made  so  that  men  in  these 
three  professions  can  be  enrolled  as  commissioned  officers  and  their  skill  thus 
most  efficiently  used  by  the  Army.  The  pharmacist,  however — as  a  pharma- 
cist— is  utterly  ignored.  If  he  enlists  he  does  so  as  a  private.  So  far  as  offi- 
cial recognition  of  it  is  conceived,  the  science  and  art  of  pharmacy  might  not 
exist  in  the  Army.  To-day,  as  never  before,  victory  in  war  goes  to  the  nation 
that  most  effectively  conserves  the  health  of  its  fighting  men.  The  physician 
is  now  of  such  military  importance  that  the  medical  profession  will  be  called 
on  to  make  no  inconsiderable  sacrifices.  It  will  materially  lighten  the  ardu- 
ous duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  physician  to  have  in  the  Army  trained 
pharmacists  who  will  be  able  to  give  intelligent  cooperation.  But  it  is  im- 
posing too  great  a  strain  on  the  patriotism  of  those  whose  special  knowledge 
is  obviously  a  large  asset  to  the  Army  to  expect  them  to  enlist  as  privates 
without  any  recognition  of  their  importance,  first,  because  it  is  but  simple 
justice  to  the  pharmacists  themselves,  secondly  because  the  usefulness  of  the 
medical  corps  will  be  greatly  augmented  and  lastly,  and  most  important,  be- 
cause the  efficiency  of  the  Army  demands  it." 
The  value  of  trained  pharmaceutical  service  is  universally  recog- 
nized in  civil  life.  Every  one  of  the  forty-eight  states  of  the  Union 
has  a  State  Pharmacy  Law  operated  under  a  State  Board  of  Phar- 
macy, and  in  each  of  these  states,  the  raison  d'etre  for  the  enact- 
ment of  such  a  law  has  been  the  protection  of  the  public  against  the. 
dangers  of  incompetency  or  worse  in  the  preparation,  compounding 
and  dispensing  of  drugs,  particularly  poisons ;  it  is  required  in  every 
state  that  those  who  wish  to  practice  pharmacy  must  show  their 
knowledge  of  drugs  and  poisons  and  demonstrate  their  competency- 
to  prepare,  compound  and  dispense  the  same. 
Shall  the  men  who  are  now  serving  this  country  in  its  hour  of 
