THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
FEBRUARY,  1905. 
A  BRIEF  CONSIDERATION  OF  A  FEW  FACTS  DETER- 
MINING THE  RELATIONSHIP  BETWEEN  THE  SCIENCE 
AND  ART  OF  PHARMACY  AND  THE  SCIENCE  AND 
ART  OF  MEDICINE. 
Misce  et  fiatit  capsulas  numeros  quatuor  et  viginti. 
Sign  a. — One  every  two  hours  for  four  or  five  doses,  then  one  every  four 
hours,  constitutes  an  "instrument"  which  is  exponent  of  many  facts  asso- 
ciated with  life  and  the  profoundest  interests  of  human  existence. 
The  prescription  is  designated  "an  instrument"  because  of  its 
legal  significance,  for  it  is  a  "  writing  acknowledging  or  certifying 
to  a  claim,  or  recording  the  terms  of  a  contract,  deed  or  grant," 
and  by  common  consent  presupposes  a  right,  by  reason  of  the  pos- 
session of  qualification,  to  formulate  and  to  have  compounded  and 
administered,  without  harm,  according  to  obtaining  conditions. 
It  is  evidence,  and  should  be  proof,  of  the  possession  of  a  reason- 
able degree  of  mastery  of  those  sciences  and  their  art,  common  in 
large  measure  to  the  professions  of  pharmacy  and  medicine,  and  is 
the  common  ground  upon  which  we  meet,  under  conditions  of  a 
naturally  founded  relationship. 
Our  respective  professions  are  effects  of  antecedent  causes,  and  in 
a  wider  signification  the  evolution  of  humanity.  They  are  facts  of 
being,  and  in  importance  occupy  the  highest  place. 
For  the  discharge  of  the  responsible  functions  attaching  the  pro- 
fessions of  pharmacy  and  medicine,  a  degree  of  scholarly  skill  and 
attainment  is  requisite,  which  is,  unfortunately,  too  commonly  found 
By  Hknry  Bkatks,  Jr.,  M.D. 
R  Aconitise  Cryst.  Merck  .  .  . 
Resinae  Phosphori ,  4  per  cent 
Calcii  Phosphatis  
Gr.  1-20. 
Gr.  v. 
Gr.  xlviii. 
(5i) 
