162  Elegant  Pharmacy.  {"^SUSST 
the  art  of  choosing,  preserving,  preparing,  combining,  disguising  and 
dispensing  these  remedies  rests  with  the  pharmaceutist.  He  it  is  the 
physician  holds  responsible  for  the  quality  and  efficacy  of  his  remedial 
agents  ;  and  surely  with  such  a  responsibility  there  should  exist  some 
bond  of  fellowship  between  them.  What  physician  is  not  pleased  to 
find  the  result  of  the  administration  of  medicine  to  have  been  suc- 
cessful, and  hear  from  the  lips  of  his  now  convalescing  patient  such 
words  as  these  :  "  Oh,  doctor,  I  am  so  much  better,  and  your  medi- 
cine was  so  easy  to  take,  so  agreeable."  To  whom  is  he  indebted 
for  this  compliment  (powerful  in  a  pecuniary  as  well  as  professional 
point  of  view)  ?  To  him  who,  by  his  skilful  manipulation,  had  so  dis- 
guised the  perhaps  nauseous  properties  of  the  drug  he  had  ordered 
that  they  were  not  tasted,  and  at  the  same  time  preserved  the  active 
properties,  so  that  they  had  successfully  performed  their  functions  in 
the  suffering  system. 
Though  great  advances  had  been  made,  in  the  past  decade  of  years, 
in  the  art  of  dispensing,  a  vast  field  for  improvement  is  still  open  to 
the  students  and  practitioners  of  the  art.  Many,  very  many  of  the 
active  remedial  agents  in  daily  use  by  physicians  are  nauseous  and 
disagreeable  to  the  taste,  and  [many  patients  shudder  at  the  thought 
of  the  doctor's  visit  (not  the  doctor),  because  they  fear  the  disagreea- 
ble dose  it  may  be  necessary  for  him  to  order  them. 
To  lessen  the  number  of  these  bugbears  of  the  sick  and  ailing  is 
the  work  of  the  pharmacist ;  to  hide  and  disguise  these  disagreeable 
tastes  and  odors,  and  yet  preserve  the  power  and  efficiency  of  the 
remedy,  is  what  I  call  elegant  'pharmacy. 
Cannot  a  great  deal  be  done  to  further  this  cause  by  a  greater  unity 
of  action  on  the  part  of  those  interested  in  it  ?  I  think  so.  I  would 
suggest  also  the  abnegation  of  secret  formulas.  What  is  advantageous 
for  one  should  be  for  all,  especially  with  regard  to  such  things  as 
remedies  for  suffering  humanity.  Improvements  should  be  for  the 
universal  benefit,  not  for  the  mere  financial  advantage  of  the  improver. 
A  more  liberal  policy  towards  one  another  will  go  far  to  aid  in  the 
advancement  of  the  science  of  pharmacy,  and  bring  about  a  much 
more  healthy  and  active  condition  of  the  art.  With  a  correct  knowl- 
edge of  chemistry,  botany  and  materia  medica,  we  should  couple  ele- 
gant pharmacy,  so  that  our  compounds  will  rival,  if  not  excel,  homoe- 
opathy in  their  simplicity,  beauty  and  adaptability.  Medicus. 
Newark,  N.  J.,  March  8,  1872. 
