532 
The  p  and  the  P. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
1        Oct.,  1884. 
The  Science  of  Chemistry,  as  well  as  the  Art  of  Pharmacy,  furnishes 
such  results.  For  the  appreciation  of  their  value  and  significance  a  defi- 
nite mental  operation  is  required,  not  only  with  reference  to  a  given  case 
for  immediate  consideration,  but  that  operation  is  but  the  continuance  of 
previous  mental  labor,  a  weighing  of  the  matter  as  it  were  in  the  scales 
of  experience. 
It  is  not  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  the  labors  of  either  the  chemist 
or  the  pharmacist  will  be  correctly  valued  by  the  mass.  The  laborers  in 
the  abstract  mathematical  sciences,  astronomy,  physics,  and  those  of  simi- 
lar nature,  are  isolated  from  the  world  ;  and  the  great  public,  while  perhaps 
viewing  their  labors  as  but  little  better  than  air-castle  building,  still  recog- 
nizes the  fact  that  such  matters  are  without  the  scope  of  their  comprehen- 
sion, do  not  "like  fools  rush  in,"  and  laborers  in  these  fields  never  are 
obliged  to  combat  what  Tyndall  very  tersely  designates  "  the  confidence  of 
half  knowledge." 
The  boundary  line  between  the  workers  and  the  "  outside  barbarians  " 
is  sharp  and  distinctly  marked,  and  there  is  little  or  no  trespassing. 
In  the  case  of  pharmacy  it  is  unfortunately  very  indistinct,  and  probably 
more  evil  results  flow  in  our  profession  from  "half  knowledge"  than  m 
any  other  except  that  of  the  practice  of  medicine.  It  is  this  very  half 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  incipient  pharmacists  and  doctors,  as  well  as 
among  the  masses,  that  leads  to  the  general  idea,  that  the  "druggist  is  half 
a  doctor,"  and  that  the  doctor  is  an  adept  in  pharmacy. 
No  sooner  does  the  future  pharmacist  succeed  in  making  a  saleable  batch 
of  paregoric  than  he  feels  himself  qualified  to  prescribe  for  any  one 
well  enough  to  drag  themselves  to  the  drug  store  for  cheap  (9)  treat- 
ment, and,  if  naturally  of  a  vivid  imagination,  feels  called  upon  to  contri- 
bute of  his  experience  to  the  columns  of  a  journal.  "Old  heads  "know 
that  new  facts  are  scarce,  and  that  a  column  of  nonpareil  in  an  ordinary 
journal  means  a  vast  amount  of  previous  work,  much  interlining,  and 
many  important  corrections ;  possibly,  also,  a  wish  by  the  writer  after  post- 
ing that  he  had  waited  till  he  was  a  little  more  certain  of  his  results. 
Bunsen  has  said,  "It  is  only  the  inexperienced  analyst  that  never  doubts 
his  own  work,"  and  J.  Lawrence  Smith's  recent  protest  against  infinites- 
imal weighings  is  but  its  reiteration  in  another  form.  The  managers  of 
the  various  journals  well  know  that  original  contributions  from  experi- 
enced workers  are  far  from  easy  to  obtain,  even  when  paid  for  afc  the  usual 
rates.  Were  it  not  for  the  reputation  gained  by  the  publication  of  an  origi- 
nal investigation,  containing  points  of  immediate  interest  to  the  profes- 
sion, or  in  some  instances  a  desire  to  benefit  the  world,  very  few  would 
take  the  trouble  to  arrange  matter  distributed  through  many  pages  of 
"notes"  in  a  form  suitable  for  publication.  It  is  one  thing  to  write  an 
effusion  like  the  present  article,  and  quite  another  to  put  in  shape  one  com- 
posed of  facts  and  their  relations.  But  editors  must  have  "copy,"  and  to 
them  an  intelligent  case  of  cacoethes  scribendi  is  a  God-send. 
Xow,  I  do  not  wish  to  be  misconstrued.  I  do  not  in  the  least  disparage 
the  value  of  the  "  students'  "  column,  but  I  do  protest  against  tne  publica- 
tion of  some  answers  to  "queries"  that  I  have  seen  in  the  journals;  in 
