196  Training  of  Pharmaceutical  Chemists.    {^™'  March! Y920'. 
ceives  systematic  instruction  in  respect  to  the  preparation  of  drugs 
for  administration. 
Many  drugs  act  in  a  potent  manner  on  the  functions  of  the  body. 
If  they  are  given  in  too  large  dose  they  behave  as  poisons  and  may 
lead  to  death.  Their  use  depends  upon  their  administration  in 
exact  quantity.  The  training  of  the  pharmacist  is  designed  to 
make  him  precise  in  his  measurements  and  trustworthy  in  his  use 
of  drugs.  The  reliability  of  the  pharmacist  is  dependent  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  on  his  ready  knowledge  of  the  appearance  and  char- 
acters of  drugs  and  their  preparations.  This  knowledge  guaran- 
tees the  accuracy  of  his  dispensing  practice. 
The  restriction  of  the  retail  sale  of  drugs  to  these  trained  persons 
has  for  its  aim  the  preservation  of  the  public  against  errors  in  the 
purchase  of  drugs.  The  nature  of  drugs  is  such  that  the  purchaser 
must  be  protected  as  far  as  possible  from  mistake  in  respect  to  the 
article  that  has  been  bought.  Caveat  emptor  has  no  application 
to  the  purchase  of  medicines.  The  qualities  of  drugs  are  in  many 
instances  laid  down  in  a  pharmacopoeia  operative  in  the  particular 
country.  The  pharmacist  endeavors  to  ascertain  that  the  drugs 
he  sells  are  of  the  necessary  purity.  Persons  who  buy  drugs  from 
those  who  are  not  registered  pharmacists,  do  so  at  their  own  risk. 
They  make  no  use  of  those  safeguards  which  have  been  laid  down 
for  their  protection.  They  must  abide  by  the  consequences  of  their 
act.  When  the  purchase  is  made  from  a  registered  pharmacist, 
the  buyer  has  a  right  to  receive  an  article  of  the  nature  that  he  de- 
mands. The  pharmacist  is  bound  to  use  reasonable  care  in  obtain- 
ing drugs  and  in  dispensing  them.  On  him  rests  the  responsibility 
of  making  sure  that  he  uses  pure  drugs  and  that  these  are  measured 
in  an  accurate  manner.  In  return  the  public  owes  to  him  the  duty 
of  seeing  that  his  trade  is  not  invaded  by  untrained  persons  with 
no  specific  knowledge  of  drugs  and  their  use. 
Accidents  will  happen.  There  are  no  means  by  which  they  can 
be  completely  abolished  as  long  as  powerful  poisons  are  used  as 
drugs.  They  will  be  less  frequent  when  the  dispenser  is  aware  of 
the  accumulated  experience  of  the  ages  in  the  methods  of  guarding 
against  them.  They  will  be  diminished  in  number  with  increased 
knowledge  of  the  behavior  of  particular  drugs  under  different  cir- 
cumstances. In  this  case,  knowledge  may  mean  power  to  avert 
the  consequences  of  an  error  that  has  been  already  made. 
