404  The  Physician  and  Pharmaceutist.  {Aaept.Di,'m2.W1' 
2.  It  would  not  be  in  accord  with  the  great  principle  of  division  of 
labor,  and  would,  therefore,  turn  out  to  be  an  unprofitable  business. 
3.  The  dispensing  of  medicines  by  the  physician  is  unpopular, 
especially  with  the  educated  classes ;  it  would  occupy  too  much  of 
his  time,  especially  if  he  is  extensively  consulted,  and  would  compel 
him  to  keep  a  large  stock  of  medicines  on  hand. 
Instead  of  bringing  the  two  professions  into  opposition,  it  would 
be  to  the  advantage  of  all  parties  concerned,  if  the  public  mind  could 
be  influenced  in  the  proper  manner.  The  public  have  to  learn  that 
they  will  always  do  best  to  give  themselves  entirely  up  to  the  skillful 
physician.  Well-educated  people  will  do  this  much  easier  than  uned- 
ucated ones,  and,  therefore,  physicians,  as  well  as  all  other  educated 
men,  should  advocate  education  and  progress. 
In  some  of  the  other  States  of  the  Union  a  great  movement  is  go- 
ing on,  intended  to  induce  the  State  Legislatures  to  adopt  rules  and 
regulations  regarding  the  keeping  of  drug-stores,  and  this  movement 
was  chiefly  set  on  foot  by  the  pharmacists  themselves.  They  very 
properly  see  that  their  own  interest  is  best  provided  for  by  proper 
regulations,  and  that  thereby  the  profession  is  elevated.  Such  regu- 
lations, provided  they  be  of  the  proper  kind,  and  be  enforced,  would 
guard  the  public  against  imposition  by  quacks — would  guard  the  phar- 
macist against  competition  by  impostors,  and  would  guard  the  physi- 
cian against  invasion  of  his  province  on  the  part  of  the  druggist. 
But,  until  we  have  such  rules  and  regulations,  let  the  physician  pro- 
tect the  regular  pharmacist  against  the  medicine  vender,  who  cannot 
be  conscientious,  because  he  has  no  heart  for  the  profession ;  and  let 
us,  meanwhile,  agitate  the  installment  of  a  good  law. 
The  physician  and  the  pharmacist  are  naturally  associated  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  their  sciences  and  the  welfare  cf  our  race  by 
the  application  of  their  attained  skill  to  the  suffering.  If  in  each  of 
those  sciences  great  achievements  have  been  accomplished  within  the 
last  century,  the  greater  achievement  was  accomplished  by  the  asso- 
ciation of  the  physiologist  and  the  chemist.  The  same  would  take 
place  in  practical  life,  if  physicians  and  pharmacists  would  divide  the 
labor  before  them — would  keep  their  provinces  separated,  and  at  the 
same  time  associate,  as  they  do  in  other  countries,  to  elevate  their 
respective  professions,  particularly  if  aided  by  appropriate  legislation. 
Both  professions  would  be  benefitted  by  it  as  well  as  the  public. — At- 
lanta  Med.  and  Surg.  Journ.,  May,  1872. 
