io  Retail  Pharmacist  and  Pure  Drugs.    {^Jjj  SET"* 
progress  in  pharmacy  is  the  higher  efficiency  on  the  part  of  retail 
pharmacists  themselves.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  some  states 
a  newly  licensed  pharmacist  must  show  that  he  has  had  a  course 
of  instruction  in  a  recognized  college  of  pharmacy.  There  has  also 
been  a  marked  improvement  in  the  curriculum  of  the  colleges  of 
pharmacy,  so  that  the  graduate  has  been  pretty  broadly  trained 
and  is  usually  quite  competent  to  practice  his  profession.  Further- 
more, by  reason  of  the  increase  in  preliminary  educational  require- 
ments, men  and  women  are  coming  into  pharmacy  who  are  better 
trained  and  enabled  to  pursue  their  studies  and  take  up  their  re- 
sponsibilities with  credit  to  their  profession  and  satisfaction  to  the 
physician. 
Not  only  is  it  true  that  the  professional  requirements  are  being 
advanced,  but  even  the  attitude  of  the  wholesale  druggists  is  such 
to-day  as  to  convince  me  that  they  are  realizing  their  great  ob- 
ligations and  responsibilities  as  purveyors  of  drugs  and  medicines. 
Mr.  C.  Mahlon  Kline,7  in  an  account  of  the  recent  meeting  of  the 
National  Wholesale  Druggists'  Association,  says : 
The  wholesale  dealers  of  ten  years  ago  were  not,  nor  did  they  have  to 
be,  familiar  with  the  professional  side  of  pharmacy.  This  condition  is  not 
true  to-day.  The  wholesaler  has  been  compelled  to  assume  responsibilities 
as  to  the  quality  of  the  drugs  and  medicines  he  handles,  and  this  has  driven 
him  to  interest  himself  in  the  study  of  drug  substances ;  therefore,  discus- 
sions having  to  deal  with  problems,  standards,  scientific  methods  of  pro- 
duction or  handling,  are  now  heard  with  the  greatest  interest,  and  the  purely 
commercial  side  has  been  forced  to  recede  somewhat  from  its  former  pre- 
eminent position. 
We  know  that  there  is  a  growing  disposition  on  the  part  of 
manufacturing  houses  to  employ  competent  analysts  to  examine 
drugs  before  they  are  further  distributed  or  made  into  preparations. 
With  the  better  output  of  drugs  by  the  dealer  in  crude  drugs  and 
the  manufacturer,  and  the  enforcement  of  the  national  and  state 
laws,  the  labors  of  the  retail  pharmacist  are  considerably  light- 
ened, but  no  one  realizes  better  than  he  that  he  must  nevertheless 
be  alert  in  checking  the  findings  of  the  government  analysts  and 
manufacturing  houses  if  reliability  is  to  be  ensured  in  all  cases. 
Co-operation. — There  is  still  another  important  factor  contribut- 
ing to  the  ideal  practice  that  the  professional  pharmacist  ever 
7  Kline,  C.  M. :  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,   1912,  lxxxiv,  33. 
