Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ( 
August,  1920.  ) 
What  of  the  Day? 
563 
that  this  ointment  owes  its  value  as  a  heaUng  ointment  to  the  fact 
that  the  lard  vehicle  is  quickly  absorbed,  leaving  the  coating  of  zinc 
oxide  which  exerts  astringent  and  healing  effects.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  petrolatum  is  used,  the  surface  remains  moist,  and  the 
chafing  on  a  skin  surface  is  not  relieved.  The  present  official  oint- 
ment should  be  made  from  a  benzoinated  lard  of  high  quality,  prac- 
tically anhydrous,  and  if  so  prepared,  and  especially  if  preserved 
in  tubes,  it  will  keep  for  a  long  time  without  becoming  granular. 
{To  be  continued.) 
WHAT  OF  THE  DAY?    AND  WHAT  OF  THE  FUTURE 
IN  PHARMACY?* 
By  Henry  M.  Whelplky,  M.D.,  Ph.M. 
ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 
We  are  living  in  a  day  of  industrial,  economic  and  social  rela- 
tions, new  to  even  the  older  ones  in  the  present  generation.  The 
World  War  set  in  motion  waves  of  human  thought  which  are  diffi- 
cult to  measure  and  impossible  to  escape.  The  wage  earners  have 
raced  with  the  profiteers  in  an  effort  to  outdo  each  other  in  ex- 
travagance. The  demand  for  non-essentials  has  taxed  the  capacity 
of  production.  This  has  reduced  the  facilities  and  available  labor 
for  the  production  of  essentials  until  prices  have  reached  fabulous 
figures .  The  man  of  salary  has  been  caught  between  two  mill- 
stones and  is  now  a  pitiable  looking  individual  of  tattered  and  torn 
clothing  and  body. 
The  mind  of  man  has  a  black  reversion  to  selfishness  in  great 
contrast  with  the  humanitarian  spirit  of  pre-war  days. 
We  fought  for  a  larger  cycle  of  liberty  of  human  thought  and 
action.  We  are  now  fettered  and  burdened  in  a  way  and  to  an  ex- 
tent that  is  difficult  to  comprehend.  We  are  ready  to  admit  the 
possibility  of  the  incredible. 
Such  is  the  day  during  which  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  be- 
ing at  the  time  of  the  forty-second  annual  meeting  of  the  Missouri 
Pharmaceutical  Association. 
Will  our  successors  of  the  next  generation  look  back  on  us  with 
pity  or  with  an  expression  of  envy  of  "the  good  times  they  had  but 
knew  not?" 
*  Read  at  the  1920  meeting  of  the  Missouri  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
