^FebrXy!?™"}     The  Pharmacist  and  the  Physician.  6 1 
crimination  or  recrimination  will  not,  and  cannot,  of  itself  bring 
other  than  discredit  to  all  concerned. 
It  will  be  much  more  in  keeping  with  a  genuine  desire  for  prog- 
ress, therefore,  if  we  as  pharmacists,  recognizing  the  shortcomings 
of  physicians,  also  recognize  our  own,  and  honestly  strive  to  correct 
existing  abuses  by  the  gradual  elimination  of  objectionable  practices. 
In  the  following  pages  I  have  tried  to  outline  what  I  consider  the 
underlying  causes  of  many  of  the  present  differences  of  opinion,  and 
also  to  indicate  the  position  that  I  believe  pharmacy  will  hold  in 
the  future.  In  addition  to  this  I  have  attempted  to  indicate  how 
we  as  individuals  can,  now  and  in  the  near  future,  contribute  very 
materially  to  bring  about  a  better  understanding  between  pharma- 
cists and  physicians,  and  incidentally  contribute  no  little  to  a  better 
knowledge  of  drugs  and  medicines  on  the  part  of  future  graduates 
in  medicine. 
The  retail  pharmacist  of  to-day  occupies  rather  an  anomalous 
position,  being,  or  attempting  to  be,  a  conglomerate  of  small  trades- 
man, artisan  and  member  of  a  liberal  profession.  In  this  varied 
calling  he  has  acquired  interests  which  are  at  least  partially,  if  not 
wholly,  antagonistic  to  each  other,  and  which  have  certainly  tended 
to  keep  him  within  distinctly  narrow  bounds.  As  a  professional 
man  he  has  not  developed  as  rapidly  as  was  confidently  asserted  he 
would  half  a  century  or  more  ago.  Among  the  reasons  for  this 
lack  of  development  may  be  mentioned,  that  as  a  whole  he  has 
become  too  numerous,  and  that  the  system  of  education  which  has 
been  provided  for  him  has  proven  itself  inadequate  to  develop  the 
principles  necessary  for  the  evolution  and  growth  of  a  professional 
spirit. 
It  should  be  mentioned,  however,  that  despite  the  meagre  train- 
ing of  the  earlier  apothecaries,  or  "pharmaceutists  "  as  they  were 
sometimes  called,  American  pharmacy  has  contributed  no  little  to 
the  sum  total  of  our  knowledge  of  drugs  and  medicines.  Such  men 
as  Procter,  Parrish  and  Bedford,  although  restricted  almost  entirely 
to  the  limited  educational  facilities  of  the  pharmaceutical  schools  of 
their  day,  have  accomplished  work  that  we  and  future  generations 
of  pharmacists  may  point  to  with  pride. 
It  has  been  frequently  predicted,  and  for  apparent  good  reasons, 
that  in  the  future  economic  arrangement  there  will  be  no  need  and 
no  place  for  the  retail  druggist  of  to-day  or  of  yesterday.    Be  that 
