324  Future  of  Pharmacy  in  Germany.      { AMjui°y T,  mA4 M' 
serve  to  elucidate  more  fully  their  views  of  these  vital  questions  and 
their  bearings  upon  the  future  of  pharmacy  in  Germany. 
Prof.  Hlasiwetz,  formerly  an  apothecary,  now  Professor  of  the 
Imperial  Polytechnic  School  of  Vienna,  in  a  recent  lecture  on 
Modern  Pharmacy,"*  said  ih  substance  : 
"  Until  recently,  chemistry  had  its  ablest  and  most  useful  represen- 
tatives among  the  pharmacists,  and  for  a  long  time  this  profession 
has  pre-eminently  supplied  the  chairs  of  chemistry  of  the  universities 
with  professors  to  whom  we  owe  the  vast  amount  of  labor  and  dis- 
coveries which  were  necessary  to  bring  practical  and  theoretical 
chemistry  to  its  present  scope  and  position.  But  this  has  greatly 
changed  by  degrees,  the  consequent  rapid  progress  has  called  forth  a 
chemical  industry  of  the  most  varied  description  and  extent,  which, 
in  its  rapid  strides  has  substituted  the  methods  of  manufacturing  on  a 
large  and  commercial  scale  for  those  on  a  small  scale  in  the  labora- 
tory of  the  pharmacist.  This  change  in  the  scope  and  drift  of  phar- 
macy has  deprived  the  pharmacist  of  one  of  the  principal  objects 
and  profits  of  his  legitimate  business,  and  since  the  fact  has  become 
fully  established  that  he  cannot  enter  into  competition  with  the  manu- 
facturer, neither  in  regard  to  quality  or  price,  there  is  nothing  left 
to  his  share  than  to  dispose  and  retail  the  products  of  the  former. 
Not  only  the  whole  series  of  medicinal  chemicals  and  alkaloids  are 
now  supplied  by  the  manufacturer  cheaper  and,  as  regards  the  latter 
substances,  better,  but  also  those  pharmaceutical  preparations  which 
belong  pre-eminently  to  the  province  of  the  pharmacist ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, fluid  extracts,  tinctures,  syrups,  ointments,  plasters,  etc. 
"  Since  the  inauguration  of  this  sweeping  change  dates  the  decline 
of  the  so-called  pharmaceutical  chemistry,  and  all  that  the  pharma- 
cist yet  applies  is  a  moderate  degree  of  analytical  skill  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  identity  and  quality  of  the  preparations  as  supplied 
by  the  manufacturer.  And  even  this  limited  sphere  of  proficiency  is 
encroached  upon  by  the  manufacturers  by  offering  on  the  labels  of 
their  preparations  brief  instruction  for  ready  tests,  and  by  supplying 
pure  and  ready-made  reagents,  so  that  the  tests  may  be  made  by  any 
skilled  and  informed  person. 
"  Our  schools  and  universities  still  furnish  a  sound  pharmaceutical 
education  and  a  stock  of  chemical  knowledge  ;  but  the  truth  is  that 
*  Pharraac.  Zeitung,  No.  8,  1874. 
