JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
DECEMBER,  1918 
EDITORIAL. 
PROFESSIONALISM  AND  PHARISAISM. 
In  the  light  of  recent  events,  the  query  is  propounded  what  is 
professional  pharmacy  ?  Accepting  the  meaning  as  laid  down  in  the 
accepted  dictionaries : — Pharmacy  "  is  the  art  or  practice  of  prepar- 
ing, preserving  and  compounding  medicines,  and  of  dispensing  them 
according  to  the  formulae  or  prescriptions  of  medical  practitioners." 
These  authorities  commonly  elucidate  further  by  stating  "  the  oc- 
cupation of  a  druggist"  or  "the  occupation  of  an  apothecary  or 
pharmaceutical  chemist."  Thus  the  lexicographers  support  the 
synonymous  use  of  the  words  pharmacist,  apothecary  and  druggist. 
Profession  is  defined  in  the  Century  Dictionary  as  "  The  calling 
or  occupation  which  one  professes  to  understand  and  to  follow : 
vocation,  specifically  a  vocation  in  which  a  professed  knowledge  of 
some  department  of  science  or  learning  is  used  hy  its  practical  ap- 
plication to  the  affairs  of  others,  either  in  advising,  guiding  or  teach- 
ing them,  or  in  serving  their  interests  or  welfare  in  the  practice  of 
the  art  founded  upon  it."  This  standard  work  further  explains : 
"  The  word  implies  professed  attainments  in  special  knowledge  as 
distinguished  from  mere  skill,  a  practical  dealing  with  affairs,  as 
distinguished  from  mere  study  or  investigation,  and  an  application 
of  such  knowledge  to  uses  for  others  as  a  vocation,  as  distinguished 
from  its  pursuit  for  one's  own  purposes." 
The  acceptance  of  these  definitions  would  justify  the  opinion 
that  the  practical  application,  as  a  vocation,  of  the  special  knowledge 
of  the  art  of  preparing,  preserving,  compounding  and  dispensing,  con- 
stitutes professional  pharmacy.  A  contingent  of  extremists,  how- 
ever, would  set  aside  the  authority  of  the  lexicographers  and  adopt 
a  definition  for  professional  pharmacy  that  would  eliminate  many 
