160  Ethical  Pharmaceutical  Practice.  {AmAprii,*i905?rm' 
St.  Paul  wrote,  "  I  had  not  known  sin,  save  by  the  law,"  he  has  not 
said  we  may  escape  its  condemnation,  nor  has  he  promised  us 
recompense  for  its  non-observance. 
Undoubtedly,  ethical  pharmaceutical  practice  can  proceed  only 
through  a  knowledge  of  pharmaceutical  ethics,  and  a  more  perfect 
knowledge  of  these  can  be  best  obtained  by  gathering  and  discus- 
sing the  views  of  individuals.  I  trust  not  to  appear  cynical  when  I 
express  the  belief  that  it  is  to  a  desire  to  get  my  interpretation  ot 
these  laws  only,  that  I  owe  the  honor  and  pleasure  of  appearing 
before  you  this  evening  ;  believing  this,  I  must  ask  pardon  for  treat- 
ing the  subject  more  fundamentally  than  was  desired,  perhaps.  I 
have  taken  this  liberty  that  you  might  better  understand  "  the  faith 
that  is  within  me  "  and  appear  more  reasonable  when  I  say  of  the 
pharmacy  of  to-day : 
That  it  should  be  dignified  and  somewhat  office-like  in  appear- 
ance, with  ample  space  and  equipment  for  pharmaceutical  manipu- 
lations. 
That  in  the  arrangement  and  display  of  stock,  the  form  and 
character  of  advertising,  in  advertising  devices,  it  should  conform  to 
the  importance  and  seriousness  of  its  mission. 
That  supplying  medicines,  medical  and  surgical  accessories  should 
be  emphatically  paramount,  distinctly  evidenced,  and,  instead  of 
irrelevant  side  lines,  should  be  extensively  carried,  all  such  articles 
as  are  peculiar  to  sick-rooms,  hospitals,  physicians'  offices  and  their 
laboratories. 
That  competent  and  conscientious  care,  conformity  to  modern, 
intelligent,  and  accepted  practice,  should  rule  its  policy  and  conduct. 
That  in  it  no  attempt  or  desire  to  usurp  the  functions  of  the 
physician  should  be  found ;  no  specifics  prepared  or  supplied,  and, 
by  all  means,  no  article  of  medical  nature  sold,  upon  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  pharmacist  or  the  customer,  about  which  there  is  the 
slightest  secrecy  and  for  the  reliability  and  safeness  of  which  the 
pharmacist  could  not  vouch. 
This,  then,  is  ethical  pharmaceutical  practice,  without  great  revo- 
lution but  in  the  line  of  possible  and  healthy  evolution,  with  but 
little  sacrifice  and  at  small  loss. 
Its  recompense  !  What  is  its  recompense ;  what  in  dollars  and  cents  ? 
Will  it  pay?  will  be,  no  doubt,  asked.  Yes,  it  will  pay.  It  has  paid  in 
larger  proportion  to  the  amount  invested  than  has  the  conventional 
