AFebrXvPi905ra'}      Need  of  a  Profession  of  Pharmacy.  65 
ent  state  of  the  art,  science  or  business  of  pharmacy  does  not 
come  up  to  their  ideal  of  a  profession,  but  who  also  believe  that 
there  is  a  need  of  such  a  profession,  which,  if  not  supplied  by  the 
pharmacists  now  existing,  will  ultimately  be  developed  as  a  distinct 
specialty  of  the  science  of  medicine,  under  the  direct  supervision  of 
medical  practitioners  themselves. 
Among  physicians,  particularly  such  as  appreciate  the  necessity 
of  an  ethical  development  of  their  own  profession,  there  is  abso- 
lutely no  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  desirability  and  the  need 
of  a  profession  of  pharmacy,  providing  the  members  of  that  pro- 
fession be  imbued  with  high  ideals  and  would  be  willing  to  sub- 
ject themselves  to  restrictions  similar  to  those  that  restrain  and 
guide  the  present-day  medical  men  of  the  better  class. 
That  the  present  conditions  in  the  business  or  art  of  pharmacy 
are  not,  in  any  way,  compatible  with  professional  ideas  is  evident 
from  even  a  cursory  perusal  of  the  reading  pages  of  medical  jour- 
nals. Any  pharmacist  who  will  read  the  editorial  on  '«  The  Degra- 
dation of  the  Drug  Store  "  in  American  Medicine}  or  the  more  re- 
cently published  article  on  "  Ethical  Pharmacy,"  by  Dr.  A.  L. 
Benedict,  in  the  same  journal,3  must  admit  that  the  conditions  as 
depicted  in  these  articles  actually  do  exist,  and  that  they  can  in  no 
way  be  brought  in  harmony  with  the  necessary  ideals  of  a  profession. 
The  assertion  made  by  one  writer  that  even  good  druggists  make 
careless  and  unnecessary  mistakes,  and  the  nature  of  these  mistakes, 
as  enumerated  by  the  same  writer,4  are  in  every  way  to  be  deplored. 
Accidents  of  this  kind  are,  perhaps,  to  be  condoned,  however,  on 
the  plea  that  the  prescriptions  were  not  sufficiently  legible  or  ex- 
plicit. This  same  excuse  cannot  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  fre- 
quently made  and  ofttimes  repeated  accusation  of  deliberate  and 
malicious  substitution. 
This  accusation  has  been  and  is  being  made  so  frequently  that 
it  has  attracted  the  attention  of  all  classes  of  medical  as  well  as 
lay  journals.  The  New  York  Times,  in  an  editorial  recently 
quoted  by  American  Medicine?  suggests  that  radical  measures  are 
needed  to  redeem  the  drug  business  from  the  low  estate  into  which 
it  has  fallen,  and  adds  that  unless  druggists  themselves  awaken  to 
the  necessity  of  exposing  unprincipled  and  dishonest  members  of 
their  calling,  they  will  be  attacked  from  the  outside  in  sledgeham- 
mer fashion. 
