AmjJu°iy?i906fraJ*}      Function  of  the  True  Pharmacist.  327 
town  ?" — or  up-town,  as  the  case  may  be.  Now  if  I  can  have  a  list  of 
members  of  the  local  branch  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Associa- 
tion, and  so-and-so's  name  appears  there,  I  can  be  reasonably  sure  that 
prescription  and  patient  will  be  safe  in  his  hands ;  that,  for  example, 
when  I  prescribe  infusion  of  digitalis  he  will  not  thwart  my  purpose 
by  dispensing  a  dilution  of  a  fluidextract  bought  from  some  wholesaler, 
but  will  give  a  real  infusion  made  from  the  best  leaf  obtainable  ; 
that  when  I  prescribe  an  imported  crystalline  strontium  bromide, 
he  will  neither  fraudulently  dispense  an  impure  domestic  salt  which 
will  make  my  patient  vomit,  nor  stupidly  substitute  fluidounces  of 
an  imported  solution  for  the  solid  ounces  ordered  of  imported  salt. 
I  am  citing  only  a  few  of  many  such  instances  that  have  actually 
happened  when  my  prescriptions  have  been  taken  to  patent-medicine 
and  perfumery  stores  masquerading  as  pharmacies ;  and  you  will 
admit  that  these  instances  justify  me  in  the  direction  to  take  such  a 
prescription  to  some  definite  drug  store  where  I  know  scientific 
pharmacy  is  practised.  I  prefer  that  this  should  be  near  the 
patient's  home  if  possible,  but  sometimes  I  do  not  know  any  such 
pharmacy  in  the  desired  neighborhood.  Now  the  list  of  your  members 
will  help  me  in  this  very  much,  I  think,  as  it  will  be,  so  to  speak, 
an  "  Index  of  Dependable  Druggists." 
Do  you  realize,  gentlemen,  how  much  the  progress  of  practical 
therapeutics  lies  in  your  hands  ?  If,  because  of  an  impure  or  im- 
perfect preparation,  a  drug  that  I  have  chosen  after  considerable 
thought  as  the  one  best  adapted  to  the  particular  conditions  of  a 
special  case,  fails  to  give  relief,  not  only  the  individual  patient  suffers, 
but  also  my  professional  judgment  is  misled  as  to  the  practical  effect 
of  the  remedy;  and  every  other  patient  that  comes  under  my 
care  is  to  that  extent  deprived  of  a  possible  agency  of  relief. 
I  am  misled  also  as  a  teacher  and  as  an  author.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  when  such  disappointments  happen  in  cases  in  which 
I  am  reasonably  sure  of  my  ground,  I  say,  "  Well,  here's  another 
prescription ;  take  it  to  so-and-so."  I  don't  say  that  the  first 
druggist  is  at  fault;  I  don't  know  that.  But  I  determine  to  give  my 
patient  and  my  science  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  rather  than  abandon 
what  seems  to  be  the  best  line  of  treatment.  In  chronic  cases  we 
can  often  thus  protect  ourselves.  But  how  about  acute  cases,  or 
how  about  sudden  emergencies  in  chronic  cases  of  heart  disease,  in 
which  the  effect  of  musk,  for  instance,  may,  as  I  have  repeatedly 
