.PHARMj      Future  of  Pharmacy  in  Germany.  321 
July  1,  18'i 
both  countries,  are  obviously  many  and  important.  The  objections 
to  such  a  change  few  and  insignificant.* 
THE  PROBLEMS  AND  FUTURE  OF  PHARMACY  IN  GERMANY, 
By  Fred.  Hoffmann,  Ph.  D. 
It  appears  to  be  of  interest  and  utility  to  take  notice  of  the  prob- 
lems which  are  now  being  discussed  in  Germany,  where  pharmacy 
has  been,  for  over  two  centuries,  the  main  cultivator  of  natural  sciences,, 
and  as  such,  and  as  a  branch  of  the  healing  art,  has  attained  a  position 
not  reached  in  any  other  country,  and  where  not  only  its  sphere  and 
import,  but  even  its  very  existence  seems  to  be  at  stake.  Though 
the  political,  social  and  industrial  conditions  of  Germany  and  the 
other  European  countries  differ  in  many  respects  from  those  of  North 
America,  it  will  be  found  that  the  aims  and  interests  of  pharmacy,, 
and  its  relations  to  other  trades,  are  the  same  everywhere  ;  and  for 
this  reason,  the  crisis  into  which  pharmacy  has  entered  in  Germany^ 
merits  a  wider  attention.  With  the  radical  changes  of  popular  views,, 
in  consequence  of  general  intellectual  advancement  and  the  popular- 
ization of  all  branches  of  physical  and  sanitary  sciences  and  of 
rational  medicine,  the  former  state  and  practice  of  medicine,  and  also 
of  pharmacy,  have  undergone  considerable  changes  in  Germany  anci 
in  Central  Europe.  Although  difficult  to  comprehend  outside  of  Ger- 
many, the  most  important  necessary  consequence  has  been  the  removal 
of  all  restrictions  formerly  placed,  on  the  part  of  the  State,  upon  the 
practice  of  medicine  and  hygiene,  in  Germany  as  well  as  in  Switzer- 
land. Medicine,  in  consequence  of  its  extent  and  its  unlimited  sphere 
of  application,  has  separated  into  several  parts,  which  in  study  as 
well  as  in  practice,  have  more  or  less  become  specialties,  while  some 
branches  have  become  the  common  property  of  all  well  educated,  and 
have  occasionally  been  successfully  practised  also  by  others  than  physi- 
cians. Notwithstanding  these  innovations,  modern  medicine  pro- 
gresses ;  "with  the  higher  aim  that  its  object  is  not  so  much  the  cure,  as; 
rather  the  prevention  of  disease."  (Virchow.)  As  another  conse- 
quence of  these  tendencies  the  fact  was  lately  stated,  that  "modern 
medicine  has  ceased  to  resort  to  and  find  its  centre  of  gravity  in  the 
*  Dr.  Thomas  will  be  glad  to  collect  suggestions  from  those  interested,  as  to 
the  best  and  most  direct  steps  to  betaken  to  secure  the  desired  result.  His 
address  is  108  N.  Twelfth  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
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