AMi)e?!T;mfM'}  The  Need  of  Practical  Information,  etc.  533 
successful  percolation  ?  or  who  does  not  know  that  even  long  experi- 
rience  will  fail  to  impart  a  knowledge  of  how  to  spread  a  good  plas- 
ter, unless  in  possession  of  that  rare  qualification  sometimes  called  a 
"mechanical  turn?" 
Much  has  been  done  toward  simplifying  the  various  processes  con- 
ducted upon  a  large  scale,  and  I  apprehend  that  a  large  proportion  of 
the  manipulations  which  have  been  transferred  from  the  pharmacy  to 
the  manufactory  are  in  great  measure  due  to  this  fact,  and  such  is  the 
tendency  of  late  in  this  direction  that  an  entirely  new  branch  of  busi- 
ness has  grown  up,  that  of  the  manufacture  of  pharmaceutical  prepa- 
rations ;  and,  strange  to  say,  while  all  who  have  embarked  in  this 
branch  profess,  on  flaming  handbills  and  in  elaborate  letter-press  cir- 
culars, that  their  preparations  are,  in  all  cases,  of  officinal  or,  as 
they  sometimes  modestly  put  it,  of  standard  strength,  they  find  it 
necessary  to  caution  all  persons  "to  avoid  fraud,"  or  "  to  be  sure  of 
obtaining  reliable  articles,  please  specify  our  own  make."  A  caution 
so  generally  indulged  in  leads  one  naturally  to  suppose  that  they 
either  know  from  experience  the  necessity  of  it,  or  seek  to  inspire 
greater  confidence  in  themselves  by  implying  the  unworthiness  of  it 
in  others,  in  either  case  a  sad  comment  upon  their  professional 
honesty. 
There  is,  no  doubt,  a  tendency  to  multiply  intricate  and  complex 
combinations,  and  a  demand  for  such  preparations,  which  in  a  degree 
renders  it  necessary  that  some  means  should  be  aiforded  to  relieve 
those  engaged  in  what  might  be  called  legitimate  pharmacy.  There 
is  no  reason,  however,  why  pharmacy  should  be  diverted  from  its  pro- 
per channels,  or  degenerate  into  a  mere  vocation  for  the  vendition  of 
crude  drugs  and  unreliable  preparations. 
I  do  not  pretend  to  say  or  believe  that  this  tendency  is  the  natural 
or  necessary  result  of  either  teachers  of  pharmacy  or  pharmaceutical 
publications,  nor  do  I  wish  to  be  understood  as  denying  that  there 
may  be  and  are  a  great  many  questions  deeply  interesting  to  many  of 
the  readers  of  our  publications,  which  have  neither  directly  or  indi- 
rectly any  bearing  upon  pharmacy.  It  is  far  from  my  intention  to 
find  fault  with  what  is,  but  rather  with  what  is  not,  written. 
No  doubt  there  are  a  great  many  persons  who  would  take  a  deep 
interest  in  the  question  of  whether  the  poisonous  properties  of  Rhus 
toxicodendron  were  due  to  an  acid  or  an  alkali,  or  manifest  great  in- 
terest in  an  elaborate  recital  of  experiments  on  the  action  of  sunlight 
