Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
September,  1920.  | 
Editorial. 
6ii 
and  the  formulas  and  dosage  forms  for  the  accepted  medicines  that 
many  of  them  almost  entirely  neglect  these  for  the  proprietaries 
or  the  ready-made  "specialties"  of  the  manufacturing  houses  which 
frequently  are  but  other  forms  for  exhibiting  the  same  medicines. 
If  the  physicians  were  properly  educated  and  prescribed  the  official 
medicines  to  the  fullest  extent  possible,  doubtless  a  sufficient  number 
of  pharmacists  would  be  equipped  to  promptly  dispense  every  pre- 
scription calling  for  these. 
It  is  a  sad  commentary  upon  the  present  status  of  the  medical 
practices  that  we  must  admit  that  a  number  of  the  pharmacopoeial 
preparations,  standard  remedies,  are  so  completely  neglected  and 
ignored  by  the  medical  practitioners  that  some  of  the  druggists  ap- 
pear to  have  entirely  forgotten  that  the  titles  and  formulas  for  these 
are  in  the  U.  S.  P.  These  formulas,  no  matter  how  desirable  they 
may  be  from  a  therapeutic  standpoint,  are  becoming  obsolete  from 
non-use  and  sooner  or  later  must  be  deleted  from  the  Pharmaco- 
poeia and  possibly  even  from  the  National  Formulary.  The  existing 
condition  unquestionably  calls  for  corrective  measures  and  these  can 
be  effected  only  by  the  earnest  cooperation  of  the  exponents  of  the 
professional  practice  of  medicine  and  pharmacy. 
In  pointing  out  this  fundamental  error  in  the  medical  education 
of  the  time,  we  are  fully  aware  of  the  fact  that  Dr.  Eggleston  in  this 
communication  points  out,  in  a  courteous  yet  forceful  manner,  vital 
defects  in  the  education  and  practices  of  pharmacists.  It  is  not  our 
purpose  to  excuse  these  in  the  least,  neither  is  it  our  intent  to  mini- 
mize the  force  of  his  criticism,  but  rather  add  thereto.  It  is  deplor- 
able that  in  this  progressive  and  scientific  age  and  after  nearly  a 
century  of  systematic  efforts  in  behalf  of  pharmaceutical  education, 
such  episodes  can  be  recorded.  It  is  almost  inconceivable  that 
such  incidents  could  occur  in  the  large  cities  like  New  York  and 
Boston  and  be  reported  as  happening  in  the  "largest,"  "best  known" 
and  "best  equipped"  pharmacies  in  the  leading  American  metrop- 
olis. In  an  urban  community  or  in  a  back- wood's  district  one  might 
be  more  charitable  in  his  criticism.  From  the  view  point  that  we 
entertain  of  the  ideals  of  professional  pharmacy,  we  must  attribute 
the  experiences  described  by  Dr.  Eggleston  either  to  woeful  ignor- 
ance, professional  stupidity,  business  inaptitude  or  unsophisticated 
indolence  and  none  of  these  are  valid  excuses  or  excusable. 
The  official  troches  of  ammonium  chloride  require  no  special 
apparatus,  unusual  materials  or  exceptional  skill  for  their  prepara- 
