AFebrua^i905m"}    Relation  of  Pharmacists  and  Physicians.  73 
A  word  as  to  pharmacy  as  a  specialty  of  medicine.  A  superficial 
thought  suggests  such  a  possibility,  but  serious  contemplation  nega- 
tives the  idea,  because  comprehension  of  the  vast  field  embodied 
discovers  what  necessarily  must  be  a  separate,  distinct  and  important 
science  and  art. 
It  can  only  be  possessed  by  those  who  devote  their  entire  life  and 
talents  toward  securing  a  pure  materia  medic  a  t  and  possessing  the 
ability  to  properly  prepare  and  compound  the  same  for  accurate 
administration.  This  qualification  can  in  no  sense  constitute  a 
specialty  of  medicine.  It  is  essentially,  naturally  and  inherently  an 
indispensable  auxiliary  to  medicine — a  substantial  means  to  an  end, 
as  needful  to  the  success  of  the  art  of  treating  disease  as  is  the 
rudder  to  the  proper  and  certain  navigation  of  the  ship.  One  can- 
not exist  without  the  other.  Alone  either  is  comparatively  useless, 
and  the  ultimate  and  practical  outcome  of  both  renders  each  equally 
important  and  an  indisputable  necessity. 
MR.  M.  I.  WILBERT 
said :  In  reference  to  the  relations  between  physicians  and  pharma- 
cists, there  are  but  two  points  on  which  I  should  like  to  add  some- 
thing further. 
The  assertion  made  by  me  that  the  pharmacy  of  the  future  might 
be  developed  as  a  specialty  of  medicine,  etc.,  no  doubt  constitutes  a 
misuse  of  the  word  specialty,  as  we  naturally  think  of  it  in  connec- 
tion with  the  practice  of  medicine  at  the  present  time.  If,  however, 
we  consider  pharmacy,  as  we  should  and  must,  as  a  part,  or  a  de- 
partment, of  the  science  of  medicine,  we  may  with  propriety  refer  to 
it  as  a  specialty  of  that  science,  dealing  particularly  with  the  collection, 
preparation  and  preservation  of  the  materials  used  in  the  study,  pre- 
vention and  cure  of  disease. 
The  manufacture  and  sale  of  nostrums  is  undoubtedly  the  most 
general,  but  nevertheless  the  most  deplorable,  practice  of  the 
present-day  pharmacy  in  America.  It  is  also  the  one  feature  which? 
more  than  any  other,  will  serve  to  bring  about  a  radical  change  in 
the  practices,  position  and  condition  of  the  pharmacist  of  the  near 
future.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  said  that  many  of  us  have 
failed  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  medical  discoveries  and  the  result- 
ing change  in  ideas  and  medical  practices  of  later  years,  and  there- 
ore  have  failed  to  realize  that  ideas  and  practices  which  were  con- 
