132 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
X      March,  1905. 
recent  number  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  (December  3,  1904, 
page  820),  is  rather  more  direct  and  more  specific: 
Mr.  Joseph  Colman,  a  member  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  says : 
"  The  first  thing  that  struck  me  about  American  Pharmacy  is  that, 
for  the  most  part,  if  I  may  use  the  paradox,  it  is  not  pharmacy  at 
all,  as  Europeans  understand  the  word.  In  America  the  drug-store 
is  a  place  where  hats  are  cleaned,  where  cigars,  and  candy,  and  cut- 
lery, and  the  inevitable  soda  fountain,  combine  to  reduce  to  a  mini- 
mum the  attention  bestowed  on  drugs.  There  are  in  New  York, 
Chicago  and  other  large  cities  a  few  pharmacies  of  the  English  type, 
but  even  there  the  candy  and  the  soda-water  are  not  wanting. 
"  I  think  the  difference  between  American  and  British  pharmacy 
is  to  be  found  in  this  fact :  Pharmacy  has  developed  here  as  an 
outgrowth  from  the  medical  profession — the  old  apothecaries  were 
both  doctors  and  druggists.  But  on  the  other  side  the  history  is 
altogether  different.  Pharmacy  has  grown — and,  up  to  now,  not 
grown  to  any  lofty  height — out  of  the  general  store — out  of  the 
grocery,  if  you  like.  There  is,  however,  plenty  of  hope  for  the 
future,  and  that  hope  lies  in  the  gradual  awakening  to  the  truth  on 
which  British  leaders  of  pharmacy  have  always  insisted — that  in 
scientific  education,  if  anywhere,  lies  the  foundation  for  pharmaceu- 
tical progress." 
A  Frenchman,  Jules  Huret,  editor  of  Figaro,  Paris,  says:  "For 
the  European  traveling  in  America  nothing  is  more  surprising  than 
the  shops  of  the  apothecaries.  They  call  themselves  druggists, 
chemists,  pharmaceutical  chemists,  or,  when  of  German  origin, 
Apotheker.  The  ordinary  apothecary  shop  is  a  veritable  bazaar. 
Over  the  door  we  may  find,  in  modest  letters,  the  word  *  Drugs,' 
while  extending  out  over  the  sidewalk  is  a  large  sign,  with  immense 
letters,  announcing  '  Ice-Cream  Soda,'  the  favorite  beverage  of  the 
native  American.  In  addition  to  this  leading  article  we  find  the 
tobacco  counter,  and,  adjoining  that,  confectionery,  paper,  brushes, 
combs,  sponges,  toilet  articles  and  perfumery.  We  may  also  find  razors, 
artists'  materials,  playing  cards,  sporting  goods  and,  everywhere, 
the  public  telephone  at  five  and  ten  cents  a  call.  In  addition  to 
these  commodities  we  can  in  many  cases  secure  carriages,  express 
wagons,  moving  vans,  messengers,  servants,  stamps,  and  even  money 
orders,  by  mail  or  express. 
<f  The  American  drug  store  frequently  contains  a  circulating 
