466  The  Duty  of  the  Pharmacist.        {A  october,Pimm' 
• 
fication  which  is  accepted  by  the  most  advanced  thinkers,  it  is  taken 
to  mean  any  practice  which  is  detrimental  to  the  community  at 
large,  or  which  conflicts  with  or  hampers  scientific  progress  in  either 
of  the  professions. 
In  a  classification  of  this  kind  there  may  be  mentioned  three 
forms  of  irregular  practice  which  directly  affect  the  health  of  the 
community,  and  which  are  to  be  deplored  by  all  members  of  the 
pharmaceutical  profession  who  have  a  true  understanding  of  the 
relation  which  they  bear  to  the  public  from  whom  they  derive  their 
privileges  and  powers. 
Counter.prescribing,  the  dispensing  of  drugs  used  for  improper 
purposes,  and  the  intentional  promoting  and  fostering  of  drug  habits 
are  not  so  common  at  the  present  time  as  they  were  before  the 
recently  established  era  of  association  work,  and  higher  educational 
facilities  and  ideals  produced  their  undeniable  influence,  but  they  are 
too  common  to  suit  the  trustworthy  and  law-abiding  members  of 
the  profession,  and  are  persisted  in  by  a  small  number  of  druggists, 
who  in  so  doing  cast  discredit  upon  all  their  brethren,  and  prevent 
the  establishment  of  mutually  helpful  relations  between  the  mem- 
bers of  the  professions  of  medicine  and  pharmacy. 
The  blame  for  counter-prescribing  may  be  placed  directly  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  public  itself ;  the  same  causes  leading  to  it  which 
have  contributed  to  the  abuse  of  the  free  dispensary,  chief  among 
which  is  the  desire  to  get  something  for  nothing. 
In  the  case  of  counter-prescribing,  there  is  a  limit  within  which 
the  dispensing  of  certain  simple  remedies  is  undoubtedly  justifiable. 
When  a  customer  enters  a  drug  store  and  asks  the  proprietor  or 
clerk  for  a  mild  purge  or  a  lotion  for  a  slight  sprain,  it  is  certainly 
within  the  province  of  the  pharmacist  to  dispense  such  an  article  as 
is  described — but  when  certain  symptoms  are  described  and  the 
druggist  is  asked  for  a  remedy  to  correct  or  cure  such  symptoms, 
it  is  unmistakably  wrong  for  him  to  assume  such  responsibility  even 
though  he  receives  no  compensation  for  his  advice. 
The  false  confidence  which  leads  some  druggists  into  the  errone- 
ous idea  that  they  are  qualified  to  prescribe  is  probably  due  to 
familiarity  with  the  methods  of  the  many  physicians  whose  prescrip- 
tions are  daily  compounded  and  closely  observed.  The  druggist 
becomes  imbued  with  the  idea  that,  because  Dr.  A.,  Dr.  B.,  and 
