62  The  Pharmacist  and  the  Physician.  {^fe&iy.mt' 
as  it  may,  so  far  as  the  purely  commercial  interests  of  the  retail 
druggists  are  concerned,  there  can  be  no  question  regarding  the 
necessity  and  consequent  continuance  of  the  professional  pharmacist, 
With  the  constant  increase  of  specialization  in  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine, and  the  accompanying  realization  that  the  human  body  is  not 
a  machine  and  that  its  ills  cannot  well  be  treated  on  general  prin- 
ciples, there  must  be  an  accompanying  increase  in  appreciation  of 
the  competent  pharmacist,  who  is  willing  and  able  to  act  as  an  assist- 
ant or  adjunct  to  the  medical  practitioner.  While  it  is  true  that  the 
future  pharmacist  will  not  be  as  numerous  as  he  is  at  the  present 
time,  he  will  occupy  a  relatively  higher  position  in  the  social  scale, 
and  will  in  addition  be  in  a  position  to  accomplish  much  that  will 
make  him  honored  and  respected  at  home  and  abroad. 
For  us  as  pharmacists  it  would  appear  imperative,  then,  that  we 
bear  this  possible  development  along  professional  lines  in  mind,  and 
see  that  the  proper  material  is  available  when  the  expected  change 
is  brought  about.  The  proper  foundation  for  this  rational  develop- 
ment of  professional  pharmacy  can  be  laid  at  the  present  time,  and, 
in  addition  to  this,  we  may  aid  in  the  pharmaceutical  education  of 
future  physicians  if  we  can,  by  any  means  at  our  command,  improve 
the  present  status  of  hospital  pharmacy  in  the  United  States.  In 
the  education  of  future  generations  of  physicians,  hospital  training 
will  necessarily  play  a  most  important  part.  Even  at  the  present 
time  a  medical  education  that  does  not  include  at  least  some  hos- 
pital experience  is  considered  inadequate.  This  being  true,  it  be- 
comes evident  at  once  that  the  impressions  a  recent  graduate 
receives  during  his  hospital  experience — impressions  of  drugs  and 
druggists — must  be  lasting  ones,  and  ones  that  will  largely  control 
his  future  ideas  and  practices. 
How  wofully  deficient  and  unsatisfactory  the  drug  service  in  many 
of  our  hospitals  must  be,  becomes  evident  when  we  realize  that  in 
this  great  country,  with  hundreds  of  institutions  to  supply  them,  we 
have  had  but  one  solitary  instance  of  a  hospital  pharmacist  who  has 
become  widely  known  through  his  professional  and  scientific  work. 
I  refer  to  the  late  Charles  Rice,  of  Bellevue  Hospital,  New  York, 
who,  I  am  sorry  to  add,  was  himself  a  foreigner  by  birth  and  early 
training.  Compared  to  what  has  been  accomplished  by  the  pharm- 
acists of  European  hospitals,  particularly  by  those  of  France,  this  is 
indeed  a  poor  showing.    Much  of  this  deficiency  of  the  past,  how- 
