^VptI*i,?87L"'}         Pharmacy  in  Ptmssia.  etc,  389 
PHARMACY  IN  PRUSSIA  AND  IN  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE. 
By  Fred.  Hoffmann,  Ph.  D. 
(Concluded  from  page  342  of  last  number.) 
Pharmacies  and  Pharmaceutists,  • 
Up  to  the  present  time  the  opening  of  a  new  officine  in  Germany  is 
dependent  upon  the  concession  of  the  government.  Until  the  begin- 
ing  of  the  present  century,  the  King,  afterwards  the  government, 
issued  a  grant  (privilegium)  which  was  permanent  for  the  place,  and 
could  be  ceded  or  sold  to  competent  apothecaries.  Latterly,  instead 
of  those  grants,  concessions  have  been  issued  which  are  permanent 
only  under  certain  restrictions  and  not  saleable  without  the  consent 
of  the  government.  Grants,  as  well  as  concessions,  have  always  been 
made  dependent  upon  actual  necessity  ;  hence,  the  number  of  officines 
in  Germany,  as  compared  with  those  countries  in  which  the  carrying 
on  of  every  business  is  based  upon  the  principle  of  free  trade,  is  very 
small  in  proportion  to  the  inhabitants.  Though  of  late  concessions 
have  been  granted  with  greater  liberality,  the  average  proportion  of 
officines  and  population  in  the  larger  cities  is  approximately  one  for 
7,000  to  10,000,  and  in  the  country  one  for  12,000  to  15,000  or 
more,  inhabitants. 
The  value  of  these  grants  and  concessions  has  for  this  reason  been 
high  from  the  beginning,  and  was  in  the  course  of  time  increased,  in 
consequence  of  the  increase  of  the  population,  wealth,  consumption 
and  value  of  real  estate  and  of  labor ;  and  now,  since  more  liberal 
ideas  are  prevailing  in  regard  to  industrial  and  economical  affairs, 
this  value  has  'perhaps  reached  its  maximum,  from  which  possibly  a 
reaction  may  take  place. 
The  officines  in  Germany  usually  confine  themselves  to  a  purely 
medicinal  business,  that  is  to  the  compounding  of  prescriptions  and  the 
sale  of  medicinal  articles  ;  with  the  exception  of  those  located  in 
very  small  places,  non-medicinal  articles  are  not,  or  only  to  a  very 
limited  extent,  kept.  Recently,  however,  the  sale  of  toilet  and  fancy 
articles  and  even  of  foreign  proprietary  articles  has  been  introduced, 
particularly  in  large  cities  and  in  places  located  in  the  thoroughfares 
of  travel  and  resort,  but  though  tolerated,  is  looked  upon  with  dis- 
favor by  the  government.  The  "  medicinal  tax"  is  uniform  and 
obligatory  for  the  entire  country,  is  altered  and  amended  annually, 
in  conformity  with  the  fluctuations  in  the  commercial  value  of  the 
articles ;  it  regulates  the  price  of  medicinal  articles  and  their  prepara-  ^ 
