476        Education  and  Legislation  in  Pharmacy.    { ArociS^Pimm' 
and  thoughtless  persons  are  to  be  found  in  all  pursuits,  including  the 
"  learned  professions."  Ignorant,  poorly  educated  or  thoughtless 
physicians  do  not  understand  and  appreciate  the  value  of  the  ser- 
vices of  competent  pharmacists.  The  services  of  ignorant  and 
incompetent  pharmacists  have  no  value. 
Highly  educated,  high-minded,  conscientious  physicians  who 
were  unconsciously  led  into  prescribing  ready-made  medicines  and 
proprietary  preparations  in  no  way  superior  to  the  drugs  and  prep- 
arations of  the  pharmacopoeia  have  had  their  attention  called  to 
the  pitfalls  and  uncertainties  of  such  a  practice  and  have  entered 
upon  a  vigorous  reform  movement  which  specifically  promises  and 
includes  the  employment  of  the  pharmacist's  services  to  a  greater 
extent  hereafter  than  ever  before. 
Shall  we  not  meet  these  physicians  more  than  half  way  ?  Shall 
we  be  caught  napping  ?  Shall  we  not  clean  house  and  welcome 
them?  If  they  find  that  the  ranks  of  pharmacy  are  recruited  from 
the  primary  schools  and  that  no  professional  education  is  required 
for  the  practice  of  pharmacy,  they  will  be  compelled  to  turn  from  us 
in  disgust  and  dismay.  They  will,  of  course,  inquire  what  the  cer- 
tificate of  registration  and  license  to  practice  pharmacy  is  worth — 
what  it  means,  what  protection  it  gives.  We  cannot  expect  them  to 
become  personally  acquainted  with  the  pharmacists  so  as  to  know 
of  their  own  observation  and  experience  whom  they  can  afford  to 
trust  and  then  to  compel  their  patients  to  patronize  no  others. 
It  will  do  us  no  good  to  tell  the  physicians  that  while  our  phar- 
macy laws  do  not  prescribe  any  education  they  do  prescribe  exami- 
nations. Examination  is  not  education  and  can  never  take  its  place. 
If  you  say  that  the  purpose  of  the  examination  is  to  discover  the 
education,  and  that  education  is  what  you  really  want,  the  rejoinder 
of  any  sane  man  must  be :  If  education  is  what  you  want  why  do 
you  not  say  so  in  a  direct  and  definite  way  ?  Why  do  you  beat 
around  the  bush  ?  Why  do  you  not  walk  in  at  the  front  door  instead 
of  trying  to  crawl  in  through  the  chimney  ?  If  you  honestly  want 
to  exclude  from  the  pharmaceutical  profession  all  men  who  do  not 
have  enough  education  to  make  that  profession  respectable  and 
respected,  why  do  you  persistently  oppose  even  such  a  palpably 
low  standard  of  preliminary  general  education  as  one  year's  high- 
school  work  ? 
Physicians  are  reasonable  when  they  say  that  high  school  gradu- 
