AMjuJ]yM8H74RM'}    Future  of  Pharmacy  in  Germany.  327 
these  disappear  more  and  more  from  the  pharmacies,  inasmuch  as  the 
physician  carries  their  minimal  solutions  in  his  pocket  for  ready  ad- 
ministration by  subcutaneous  injection,  or  orders  them  in  tablets  or 
sugar  granules  as  supplied  by  the  manufacturer  or  confectioner  in 
lieu  of  the  pharmacist. 
"  Moreover,  the  rapid  progress  of  general  culture,  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  rational  principles  of  life  and  health  and  the  conditions 
of  their  maintenance,  of  the  sanitary  sciences  and  of  hygiene  and 
medicine,  exercise  a  considerable  influence  upon  the  decrease  of  the 
use  of  medicines,  for  it  cannot  be  denied  that  knowledge  and  culture 
counteract  the  principles  and  conditions  upon  which,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, the  prosperity  of  pharmacy  rests. 
"When  we  have  witnessed  such  changes  within  the  comparatively 
brief  space  of  forty  years,  who  has  the  assurance  to  predict  what,  or 
if  anything,  will  be  left  of  pharmacy  after  another  equally  progressive 
lapse  of  forty  years  ?" 
It  is  not  the  aim  of  this  essay  to  parallel  the  conditions  and  pros- 
pects of  American  pharmacy  with  those  just  described,  nor  to  deter- 
mine whether  and  how  soon  the  same  questions  may  come  up  here,  or 
whether  the  present  state  of  American  pharmacy  really  justifies  the 
exalted  views  of  the  future,  as  occasionally  expressed  in  valedictories 
and  similar  addresses.  In  its  trade  relation  it  has  practically  the 
advantage  over  German  pharmacy,  inasmuch  as  it  still  stands  upon 
the  basis  of  a  commercial  trade,  and  cannot  therefore  be  injured 
in  a  similar  manner  by  being  displaced  from  a  professional  basis^ 
secured  by  a  noble  career  of  usefulness  and  achievements  through 
more  than  two  centuries. 
As  a  natural  consequence  of  the  growth  and  extent  of  sciences,, 
and  the  increase  and  diffusion  of  learning  and  a  correcter  knowledge  of 
nature,  which  is  the  tendency  of  modern  times,  we  must  view  the  fact 
that  an  enhanced  general,  as  well  as  special,  education  is  becoming 
more  necessary  in  all  pursuits  and  gives  the  impulse  to  innovations 
and  reforms,  particularly  in  those  pursuits  which  are  based  upon  the 
knowledge  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and  upon  the  application  of  the 
principles  of  physical  and  sanitary  sciences,  and  that  this  agitation 
is  felt  in  medicine  and  pharmacy,  precisely  as  in  other  circles. 
After  the  first  abortive  legislative  attempt  in  several  States  of  our 
Union  in  demanding  directly,  and  without  previous  preparation,  a 
higher  qualification,  the  education  of  pharmacists,  and  in  consequence 
( 
