Am.  Tour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  19 18. 
Bolshevism  in  Pharmacy. 
837 
ough,  and  the  student  is  receptive  and  interested,  we  shall  have  con- 
tributed to  the  community  an  individual  who  will  be  a  credit  to  his 
work  and  to  his  college  and  who  will  be  a  safe  and  ethical  dispenser 
of  extemporaneous  medicines,  whether  they  constitute  five  or  fifty 
per  cent,  of  his  gross  sales. 
A  certain  number  of  the  members  of  any  group  of  young  men 
and  women  have  a  natural  aptitude  and  a  greater  liking  for  scientific 
work  than  for  general  drug  store  work.  These  should  be  given  the 
necessary  post  graduate  instruction  to  enable  them  to  become  the 
neighborhood  analysts  and  bacteriologists,  to  act  as  clinical  advisers 
to  the  physicians  of  their  communities,  and  should  be  trained  to  be 
helpful  even  along  the  broader  lines  of  sanitation  and  hygiene,  so  as 
to  give  aid  to  local  health  officers  when  needed.  The  preliminary 
education  required  for  the  best  results  should  be  a  minimum  of  four 
years  of  high  school  work.  This  requirement  should  be  enacted  into 
the  State  laws,  as  has  recently  been  done  in  the  State  of  Illinois. 
Any  college  of  pharmacy  with  the  proper  equipment  and  in- 
structional staff  should  be  able  to,  and  should  have  the  right  to  teach 
both  of  such  classes  of  pharmacists  in  such  numbers  as  present  them- 
selves with  properly  accredited  entrance  credentials.  That  phar- 
macy is  gradually  separating  into  two  distinct  classes  no  one  will 
deny.  That  it  has  been  predicted  for  years,  everybody  knows.  That 
it  can  be  brought  about  over  night  by  resolution,  agreement  or  law,  is 
impossible.  Such  views  savor  of  Bolshevism,  a  specious,  plausible, 
irresponsible  type  of  propaganda  which  has  been  worrying  states- 
men for  several  years,  but  has  not  previously  appeared  in  educa- 
tional discussions. 
To  accomplish  these  changes  needs  more  than  the  fiat  of  any  in- 
dividual or  group  of  individuals.  We  cannot  effect  reform  by  reso- 
lution any  more  than  we  can  decide  scientific  questions  by  a  majority 
vote.  Diplomas,  degrees  and  certificates  are  but  "scraps  of  paper" 
unless  upheld  by  legislative  enactment.  Reformers  frequently  for- 
get that  laws  are  primarily  for  the  protection  of  the  public  and  not 
for  the  development  of  theories  which  are  impossible  to  put  into 
practice. 
It  is  in  the  matter  of  legislation  that  we  find  our  greatest  stum- 
bling block  to  rapid  progress.  Our  prerequisite  legislation  is  too 
recent  and  not  widespread  enough  as  yet,  to  make  such  radical 
changes  as  would  be  necessary  to  effect  an  immediate  sharp  separa- 
tion between  drug  merchandisers  and  professional  pharmacists,  de- 
