66  Need  of  a  Profession  of  Pharmacy.  ^febrlZ'^iw™' 
There  is  one,  recently  published,  article  on  this  particular  subject 
that  should  receive  more  than  passing  notice.  This  is  the  paper  on 
"  The  Relation  of  the  Physician  to  Proprietary  Remedies — How 
may  substitution  be  avoided  and  the  desired  remedy  obtained 
without  unduly  advertising  the  manufacturer  ? "  by  Dr.  William 
J.  Robinson,  of  New  York,  read  at  the  meeting  of  The  American 
Medical  Association,  at  Atlantic  City.6 
In  this  paper  Dr.  Robinson  unequivocally  asserts  that  substitu- 
tion is  extensively  practised,  and,  as  a  possible  remedy,  unhesitat- 
ingly recommends  that  physicians  choose  what  he  considers  the 
lesser  evil,  by  prescribing  for  original  packages  of  galenical  prepa- 
rations ;  despite  the  fact  that  they  are  running  the  risk  of  having 
these  preparations  used  indefinitely,  as  household  remedies,  by  the 
patient  and  his  friends. 
While  pharmacists  will,  no  doubt,  feel  that  there  is  much  in  this 
paper  by  Dr.  Robinson  from  which  they  might  reasonably  differ, 
there  is  also  much,  more  than  appears  on  the  surface,  that  must 
necessarily  reflect  discredit  on  the  present-day  practice  of  phar- 
macy. Is  it,  for  instance,  not  true  that  the  dozens,  scores  and  even 
hundreds  of  questionable  proprietary  preparations  on  the  market  at 
the  present  time  are  made  and  sold  by  so-called  reputable  pharma- 
cists, or  people  who  pose  as  pharmacists  ?  And  even  further,  is  it 
not  true  that  the  composition  of  many  of  these  preparations  is  kept 
secret,  and  that,  in  connection  with  many  of  these  secret,  or  semi- 
secret,  preparations  claims  and  statements  are  made  that  are  mis- 
leading, if  not  positively  untrue  ?  And  still  further,  it  may  be 
asked,  how  much  of  this  direct  or  implied  deception  have  pharma- 
cists honestly  striven  to  correct,  knowing  all  the  while,  as  they 
should  know,  that  the  preservation  of  the  health,  happiness,  and 
even  the  lives  of  human  beings,  was  at  stake. 
If  we  consider  carefully  the  several  lines  of  thought  suggested 
here,  we  will  probably  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  after  all,  phar- 
macists are,  as  a  whole,  less  sinned  against  than  sinning,  in  this 
matter  of  proprietary  preparations.  The  question  itself  is  a  vital 
one,  however,  and  must  be  disposed  of  at  an  early  date  in  a  satis- 
factory manner,  for,  as  a  writer  in  a  medical  journal  asserts,7 
"Secrecy  in  medicinal  preparations  is  dangerous  to  patients,  de- 
structive of  science  and  promotive  oc  fraud  and  avarice."  For  the 
correction  of  this  really  heinous  abuse  there  is  but  one  rational 
remedy  :  the  development  of  a  truly  ethical  profession  of  pharmacy. 
