244 
A  DISCOURSE  ON  TITLES,  ETC. 
carried  on  in  these  institutions,  believing  it  to  be  of  .incalculable 
value  not  only  to  individuals  availing  themselves  of  them,  but 
through  them  to  the  whole  community,  yet  we  cannot  disguise 
the  fact  that  the  Diploma  is  very  far  from  giving  assurance  of 
any  real  superiority.  Most  young  Pharmacists  of  energy  and 
enterprise  appreciate  scientific  knowledge  so  highly  as  to  seek 
the  Colleges  and  to  obtain  a  Diploma,  and  yet  if  we  look  for 
those  in  our  several  communities  who  enjoy  the  largest  share  of 
patronage  both  from  physicians  and  the  public,  we  shall  find  a 
considerable  proportion  of  them  have  never  attended  upon  sys- 
tematic instruction  in  a  College.  The  young  graduate  in  Pharmacy 
struggling  into  business  thinks  it  very  hard  that  he  should  be 
outstripped  by  a  competitor  who  shows  no  diploma,  and  yet  he 
finds  sooner  or  later  that,  in  the  race  for  business,  he  wins  who 
is  the  best  business  man  and  applies  himself  with  the  most 
energy  and  ability  to  serve  the  public. 
On  the  subject  of  legal  protection  my  views  have  changed  with 
the  growth  of  experience ;  formerly  I  could  see  many  reasons 
for  legal  restrictions  protecting  the  professions  from  the  results 
of  competition,  and  bestowing  a  sort  of  bonus  upon  scientific 
acquirements.  Now  it  appears  to  me  that,  like  all  other  partial 
legislation,  this  restrains  rather  than  promotes  the  great  interests 
involved.  Let  us  extend  intelligence  among  the  masses,  and 
break  down  every  false  pretense  by  fair  and  equal  competition, 
trusting  to  the  good  sense  of  the  people  to  promote  and  conserve 
the  cause  of  education  and  of  the  public  health. 
Since,  then,  the  claim  the  educated  preparer  and  dispenser  of 
medicines  makes  to  the  title  of  a  professional  man  is  but  partially 
acknowledged  by  the  public,  and  since  in  our  time  and  country 
it  is  no  discredit  to  the  most  accomplished  man  of  science  that  he 
thrives  through  the  honest  pursuit  of  a  useful  trade,  I,  for  one, 
am  willing  to  abandon  any  such  pretensions  to  the  professional 
character  as  involve  the  use  of  a  title  of  distinction. 
A  name  or  title  to  designate  our  calling  is,  however,  a  desidera- 
tum ;  a  title  which  should  at  once  be  brief,  distinctive,  intelligible 
and  universal,  for,  strange  to  say,  though  the  craft  of  the  apo- 
thecary has  been  practiced  more  or  less,  in  connection  with  the 
science  and  art  of  medicine,  from  the  earliest  periods  of  which 
