AFebrOuaryP?9a05m'}      Need  of  a  Profession  of  Pharmacy.  69 
liam  Osier,  of  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  Baltimore,  who  says  :  "  What 
you  say  about  the  hospital  pharmacist  is  very  true.  I  have  long 
felt  that  we  have  not  done  our  duty  here,  as,  perhaps,  we  might,  in 
stimulating  this  important  branch  of  our  Work. 
"  I  feel  that  the  department  of  pharmacy  in  our  large  hospitals 
should  be  made  co-ordinate  with  the  other  important  divisions  that 
the  teaching  of  medical  students  practical  pharmacy  should  be  part 
of  the  work,  and  that  all  possible  opportunity  should  be  given  the 
men  in  charge  to  keep  themselves  abreast  with  the  most  advanced 
work  in  their  specialty. 
"Would  it  not  be  a  good  thing  for  the  hospital  apothecaries  to 
organize  a  special  society  in  which  their  work  could  be  codified  and 
brought  before  the  profession  ? 
"  It  might  be  well  to  get  a  list  of  the  pharmacists  at  the  different 
large  hospitals  throughout  the  country,  and  then  send  them  a 
circular  urging  the  formation  of  such  a  society  or  club." 
Without  going  into  a  detailed  discussion  as  to  my  own  ideas  on 
the  feasibility  of  these  suggestions  I  would  say  that  other  medical 
men  have  heartily  endorsed  the  sentiments  here  voiced  by  Dr.  Osier, 
and  practically  agree  that  able  and  properly  trained  hospital  phar- 
macists should,  and  would,  be  important  and  valuable  factors  in  the 
development  of  the  science  of  medicine.  Further  than  this,  a  really 
able  body  of  hospital  pharmacists  should  and  would  have  a  benefi- 
cent influence  on  the  evolution  and  development  of  a  profession  of 
pharmacy  the  members  of  which  would  be  imbued  with  high  ideals 
and  would  in  turn  be  duly  appreciated  for  their  worth  and  attain- 
ments. In  summing  up,  then,  I  would  say  that  the  suggestions  as 
here  outlined  would  necessarily  include  : 
(1)  A  somewhat  radical  change  in  our  present  standards  of  phar- 
maceutical education. 
(2)  The  introduction  of  hospital  pharmacists  with  professional 
ideals  and  scientific  attainments. 
(3)  The  ultimate  complete  separation  of  the  trade  in  drugs,  nos- 
trums, soft  drinks  and  tobacco  from  pharmacy  and  the  ultimate 
establishment  of  pharmacy  on  a  high  professional  plane. 
In  conclusion,  I  would  say  that  while  these  ideals  may  appear  to 
you  impracticable,  I  believe  their  achievement  is  not  impossible, 
and,  further  than  this,  is  absolutely  necessary  to  rescue  the  practice 
of  pharmacy,  and  with  it  every  department  of  medicine,  from  the 
