AmAP°rUi[;i9Srm'}        Ethical  Pharmaceutical  Practice.  161 
pharmacy,  and  the  percentage  of  failures  has  been  much  smaller 
than  with  these.  A  business  started  in  the  midst  of  successful  and 
long  established  competitors,  with  such  competitors  ever  present, 
that  can,  in  its  fourteenth  year,  if  it  does  no  more,  comfortably 
maintain  a  firm  of  four  members  and  pay  holding  salaries  to  a  corps 
of  twenty  employees ;  that  closely  approaches  50,000  as  the  num- 
ber of  prescriptions  filled,  annually,  may  be  thought  to  pay  in  dollars 
and  cents.  The  character  of  this  business  is  such  as  to  lead  cus- 
tomers to  think  that  you  must  and  do  charge  more,  and  they  are 
willing  to  pay  good  prices ;  they  are  not  attracted  to  such  pharma- 
cies by  low  prices.  This  money  recompense,  while  necessary  and 
desirable,  is  really  incidental  and  not  peculiar  either  to  ethical  con- 
duct, or  the  reverse ;  some  make  the  conventional  pay,  some  do 
not ;  some  will  succeed  along  restricted  lines,  some  will  not.  Many 
quack  doctors  make  money — many  qualified  ethical  physicians  fail 
to  make  a  living.  Money  making  and  money  saving  is  something 
peculiar  to  itself  and  invariably  follows  no  profession,  no  business. 
It  is  an  individual  characteristic,  the  dimensions  of  which  are  poorly 
understood,  even  by  its  owner ;  certainly,  it  should  not,  must  not, 
influence  our  ethics. 
Unquestionably  the  greater  recompense  comes  through  increased 
self-respect,  through  greater  pride  in  our  vocation,  more  interest  in 
our  daily  work  and  through  the  consciousness  of  having  done  "  our 
little  best "  for  humanity,  for  ourselves  and  those  who  are  to  follow. 
Peculiarly  grateful  is  the  recompense  that  comes  from  the  com- 
munity and  our  patrons.  It  is  fortunate  when  you  can  do  the  best 
in  the  best  way  and  for  the  best  reasons — such  wins  its  own  com- 
pensation, while  relief  from  many  trifling  annoyances,  the  absence 
of  distracting,  petty  demands,  leaves  one  with  more  to  think  of  that 
is  pleasantly  uplifting. 
The  most  pronounced  and  most  unusual  recompense  that  comes 
to  us  through  this  practice  is  the  very  encouraging  and  stimulating 
recognition  it  wins  from  the  medical  profession  and  the  good  feeling 
it  therein  engenders.  It  is  really  worth  the  while,  with  excuses 
unnecessary  and  apologies  out  of  place,  self-respecting — you  com- 
mand respect — realizing  that  to  him,  only,  cometh  "  that  peace  of 
mind  which  passeth  all  understan  ung;"  to  him,  only,  who  follows 
the  broadest,  the  best  and  most  effective  of  ethical  laws;  who  does 
unto  others  even  as  he  would  have  them  do  unto  him. 
