^'^^;Sxv^'\PharmaceiLtical  Colleges  and  Associations.  267 
modes  of  preparing  medicines  and  compounds,  and  of  giving  instruction  in  the 
same  by  public  lectures,  and  the  code  of  ethics  subsequently  adopted  by  the 
College,  opens  with  the  following  preamble  : 
"  The  pharmaceutical  profession  being  one  which  demands  knowledge,  skill 
and  integrity  on  the  part  of  those  engaged  in  it,  and  being  associated  with  the 
medical  profession  in  the  responsible  duties  of  preserving  public  health  and 
dispensing  the  useful  though  often  dangerous  agents  adapted  to  the  cure  of  dis- 
ease, its  members  should  be  united  on  some  general  principles  to  be  observed, 
in  their  several  relations  to  each  other  and  to  the  medical  profession  and  to 
the  public.  The  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  being  a  permanent  incor- 
porated institution,  embracing  among  its  members  a  large  number  of  respect- 
able and  welheducated  apothecaries,  has  erected  a  standard  of  scientific 
attainments,  which  there  is  a  growing  disposition  on  the  part  of  candidates 
for  the  profession  to  reach,  and  being  desirous  that,  in  relation  to  professional 
conduct  and  probity,  there  should  be  a  corresponding  disposition  to  advance, 
its  members  have  agreed  upon  the  following  principles  for  the  "government  of 
their  conduct." 
Most  excellent  recommendations  follow  for  the  guidance  of  the  members  of 
the  College,  and  the  principles  which  are  to  be  disseminated  are  most  clearly 
expounded.  The  7th  clause  of  the  Code  raises  aloft  the  banner  of  "  purity  and 
honesty"  in  the  pharmaceutical  products  as  follows:  "As  the  apothecary 
should  be  able  to  distinguish  between  good  and  bad  drugs,  in  most  cases,  and 
as  the  substitution  of  weak  or  inert  drug  for  an  active  one  may,  negatively,  be 
productive  of  serious  consequences,  we  hold  that  the  sale  of  impure  drugs  or 
medicines,  from  motives  of  competition  or  desire  of  gain,  when  pure  articles  of 
the  same  may  be  obtained,  is  highly  culpable,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
honest  apothecary  or  druggist  to  expose  all  such  fraudulent  acts  as  may  come 
to  his  knowledge.  But  in  reference  to  those  drugs  which  cannot  be  obtained  in 
a  state  of  purity,  we  should,  as  occasion  offers,  keep  physicians  informed  of 
their  quality,  that  they  may  be  governed  accordingly." 
This  College,  even  at  the  beginning  of  its  career,  regarded  it  a  crime  to 
acquire  knowledge  with  the  intention  of  using  it  to  feed  the  monster  avarice  at 
the  expense  of  the  health  and  lives  of  the  sick  and  suffering  ;  and  as  technical 
knowledge  of  a  high  order  is  necessary  to  detect  adulterations,  and  as  the  pub- 
lic generally  are  unable  to  recognize  frauds  and  substitutions,  there  is  usually 
no  protection  and  nothing  to  stand  between  danger  and  safety,  disease  and 
health,  villany  and  integrity,  but  the  high  character  of  the  pharmacist,  and 
what  a  priceless  jewel  this  is. 
The  Stoic  was  not  wrong  ; 
There  is  no  evil  to  the  virtuous  brave, 
For  in  the  battle's  rift,  or  on  the  wave, 
Worshipped  or  scorned,  alone  or  mid  the  throng, 
He  is  himself— a  man  :  not  life's  nor  fortune's  slave. 
It  will  thus  be  seen,  Graduates,  that,  in  avowing  to-night  allegiance  to  your 
Alma  Mater,  you  have  assumed  no  light  responsibility  ;  for  although  you  are 
not  members  of  the  College,  you  are  Graduates,  and  in  accepting  her  Diploma 
you  become  her  children,  and  her  honor  is  henceforth  in  your  hands.  We  can- 
not believe  that  one  of  you  who  has  toiled  faithfully  during  these  long  years  to 
