AmA^gusM89a6rm,}       Should  Pharmacists  Prescribe?  431 
TO  WHAT  EXTENT  IS  A  PHARMACIST  JUSTIFIED  IN 
PRESCRIBING?1 
By  D.  J.  Thomas. 
The  pharmacy  and  medical  laws  would  seemingly  clearly  answer 
this  question.  These  legislative  acts  define  the  privileges  of  both 
pharmacist  and  physician,  and  draw  the  line  of  demarcation  that 
separates  the  two  professions.  They  fix  the  boundaries  of  jurisdic- 
tion, and  although  these  acts  are  not  drawn  to  suit  everyone,  they 
are  based  upon  justice  and  good  common  sense.  The  functions  of 
the  pharmacist  are  to  compound  and  dispense  physicians'  prescrip- 
tions, and  when  he  steps  outside  the  realm  of  his  vocation,  he 
transgresses  the  law  regulating  the  practice  of  medicine.  The 
medical  law  clearly  defines  the  privileges  of  the  physician,  and  in 
no  part  of  the  act  does  it  extend  to  pharmacists  the  right  to  pre- 
scribe. It  is  an  unwritten  law,  however,  that  under  certain  condi- 
tions pharmacists  may  exercise  the  functions  of  a  physician  very 
much  as  the  wise  old  grandmother  exercises  this  function  when  she 
says  that  "  catnip  tea  is  good  for  babies."  In  cases  of  emergency — 
pending  the  arrival  of  a  physician — a  pharmacist  may,  from  purely 
humane  or  philanthropic  motives,  prescribe  and  administer  to  the 
wants  of  a  sufferer,  and  his  rights  in  this  instance  may  never  be 
questioned.  He  sinks  his  identity  and  occupies  the  position  of  the 
good  Samaritan. 
Why  does  not  the  pharmacist  possess  the  right  to  prescribe  ? 
Simply  because  his  knowledge  of  the  physiological  action  of  drugs 
is  meagre  and  his  knowledge  to  diagnose  disease  is  equally  limited. 
His  study  and  research  is  not  along  the  same  lines  as  that  of  the 
physician.  He  knows  little  or  nothing  of  human  anatomy,  and 
very  little  more  concerning  the  action  of  medicines  upon  the  human 
system.  He  knows  that  acids  sear  and  mucilaginous  and  oleaginous 
drugs  mollify  ;  but  the  mysteries  of  diagnosis  place  a  barrier  between 
him  and  the  intelligent  exhibition  of  the  remedies  he  compounds 
with  so  much  care,  perfection  and  accuracy.  No  pharmacist  would 
trust  his  ability  to  such  degree  that  he  would  exercise  the  functions 
of  a  physician  to  undertake  the  treatment  of  his  own  child  afflicted 
with  scarlet  fever  or  any  other  serious  disease.    Why,  therefore, 
1  Read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
June  18,  1896. 
