ISO  The  Doctor  and  the  Apothecary.  mf^ 
should  not  recommend  a  simple  remedy  for  a  cough,  when  the  person 
requesting  the  same  can  purchase  anywhere  a  remedy  for  which  he 
has  no  other  guarantee  than  an  advertised  list  of  wonderful  cures;  or 
it  is  equally  absurd  to  suppose  that  a  physician  is  in  duty  bound  tO' 
pi  escribe  only  such  remedies  as  he  may  know  or  even  suppose  to  be 
in  every  drug  store,  without  regarding  the  requirements  of  his  patient,. 
or  his  own  choice. 
But  this  question  of  relation  to  each  other  does  not  end  here,  but 
assumes  another  phase,  and  has  become  to  some  extent  involved  in 
the  issues  existing  in  the  medical  profession — differences  too  fre- 
quently only  of  opinion,  which  in  some  instances  have  no  better  foun- 
dation upon  which  to  build  than  the  hobby  of  some  one  remarkable 
only  for  having  a  hobby.  There  may  be  those  who  prefer  to  be  free 
to  act  out  their  part  upon  the  stage  of  life  free  from  the  restrictions 
or  supposed  technical  proprieties  of  organized  associations,  or  asso- 
ciated organization,  who  may  by  choice  prefer,  or  by  necessity  be 
compelled,  to  work  out  the  problem  of  life,  or  ascend  the  hill  of  fame, 
depending  exclusively  upon  their  merit  or  good  fortune.  There  may  . 
be  others  who  prefer  to  surround  themselves  by  such  influences  and 
conventionalities  as  they  may  deem  essential  or  politic  ;  or  deem  it 
of  more  importance  to  transmit  a  fame  acquired  by  others,  than  ac- 
quire fame  themselves.  What  have  apothecaries  to  do  with  these 
divisions,  that  they  should  array  themselves  on  the  side  of  one  and 
against  the  other  ?  Is  there  any  necessary  connection  between  the 
doctors  and  apothecaries,  that  will  justify  a  sympathy  on  the  part  of 
the  latter  with  any  preposterous  proposition,  or  absurd  abstraction, 
that  may  tend  to  concentrate  the  few  or  separate  the  many  of  the 
former  ?  I  know  that  various  attempts  have  been  made  to  create  an 
impression  that  Pharmacy  is  merely  a  collateral  branch  of,  or  depen- 
dent attachm.ent  to,  medical  science.  To  such  an  extent  has  this 
attempt  been  made  in  some  localities  that  medical  men  have  assumed 
to  prescribe  under  what  legislative  restrictions  Pharmacy  should  exist. 
This  attempt  has  not  been  made  by  medical  men  only  ;  pharmacists 
themselves,  in  some  instances,  have  taken  up  the  cudgel  and  battered 
away  in  defence  of  some  pet  theory  of  medicine,  thus  identifying 
themselves  with  this,  or  following  in  the  wake  of  that,  as  though  it 
were  a  proper  subject  of  investigation,  where  pharmacy  should  be 
located  or  to  what  subdivision  of  medicine  it  should  be  attached.  Is 
pharmacy  to  be  confined  to  one  or  more  beaten  paths  ?    Shall  it  be 
