Am.  .Jour.  Pharm.  1 
June  1,  1874.  J 
Pharmacy  Laws  in  the  U.  S. 
271 
All  laws  with  regard  to  pharmacy,  thus  far  enacted,  are  but  con- 
temptible compromises  with  free  trade  secured  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  As  soon  as  a  State  establishes  pharmacy,  regu- 
lating it,  etc.,  it  also  establishes  a  standard  of  qualification,  and  the 
diploma  by  a  European  university  is  no  evidence  of  professional  qual- 
ification at  all,  and  cannot  be  admitted  as  such,  as  compared  with  our 
standard. 
In  the  year  1830,  the  College  of  Pharmacy  of  the  City  of  New 
York  prosecuted  several  dealers  in  drugs,  because  they  did  not  con- 
form to  the  laws  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  that  State  ;  they  had 
to  close  their  business,  but  appealed  this  case  of  interference  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  which  Court  declared  these 
laws  contrary  to  free  trade  ;  and  the  College  of  Pharmacy  of  New 
York  had  to  pay  an  amount  of  damages,  in  consequence  of  which  it 
came  very  near  dying  of  anaemia.* 
There  are  certain  branches  in  the  Government  from  which  politics 
must  be  and  ought  to  be  excluded— they  are  the  educational,  finan- 
cial and  sanitary  systems  of  a  State — and  since  the  effectiveness  of 
such  laws  depends  upon  those  who  may  be  called  upon  to  carry  them 
out,  and  since  their  appointment  rests  with  a  political  officer  here,  he 
is,  as  a  matter  of  course,  more  influenced  by  party  considerations 
than  by  the  professional  fitness  of  the  aspirants. 
But  pharmacy  must  be  either  a  profession  or  it  must  be  a  trade  ; 
if  the  former,  then  it  forms  an  integral  part  of  the  sanitary  system 
of  the  State.  As  a  profession,  it  occupies  a  position  distinct  from 
any  other  business,  free  trade,  free  country  and  all  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.    If  the  State  regulates  pharmacy,  it  must,  of  neces- 
*  The  above  reference  to  the  College  of  Pharmacy  of  the  City  of  New  York 
is  erroneous.  This  College  was  not  incorporated  in  the  year  1830  ;  its  first 
charter  was  dated  April  25th,  1831.  The  first  law  relating  to  the  practice  of 
pharmacy  in  that  city  was  passed  March  11th,  1839;  it  could  not  be  enforced, 
because  the  institution,  for  whose  benefit  the  fines  were  to  be  collected,  was 
incorrectly  named  in  the  law,  and  for  that  reason  was  unwilling  to  prosecute  ; 
the  New  York  College  of  Pharmacy  had  merely  to  register  the  apothecaries, 
free  of  charge,  received  no  pecuniary  benefit  from  this  law,  and  could  not 
prosecute  under  it;  it  could  not,  therefore,  be  liable  for  damages,  even  if  the 
closing  of  several  stores  and  the  asserted  legal  decision  had  taken  place,  of 
which  circumstances  we  have  never  been  informed.  The  pecuniary  troubles  of 
the  College  arose  from  an  entirely  different  cause,  the  lawsuit  finally  being  de- 
cided in  favor  of  the  College  of  Pharmacy  of  the  City  of  Neiv  York. — Editor 
Am.  Journ.  Pharm. 
