THE  AMEEICAH" 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
FEBRUARY,  191 9 
EDITORIAL. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  RESEARCH. 
The  discussions  now  being  carried  on  in  various  circles  as  to 
the  necessity  for  endowed  pharmaceutic  research,  exhibit  a  rather 
belated  awakening  of  our  people  to  the  importance  of  pharmacy  to 
mankind.  It  is  but  a  tardy  realization  of  the  absolute  necessity  for 
a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  medicines  supplied  in  the  mani- 
fold services  rendered  by  pharmacists. 
The  need  for  knowledge  of  remedial  agents  is  not  new.  It  has 
existed  from  the  very  entrance  of  sin  in  the  world  and  the  con- 
sequent ailments  of  mind  and  body.  The  information  pertaining 
to  drugs  now  at  our  command,  is  quite  extensive  and,  if  the  sum 
of  human  knowledge  was  to  be  gauged  by  the  volumes  that  have 
been  published  on  this  branch,  it  would  be  a  veritable  mountain. 
This  accumulation  is  the  result  of  the  studies  and  researches  of 
many  generations.  Piecemeal  has  been  the  construction  of  this 
monument  commemorating  alike  the  labors  of  the  Galenists,  the 
Paracelsians,  the  newer  disciples  of  synthetic  "  coal-tar  medication  " 
and  the  advocates  of  biologic  therapy. 
The  savants  of  all  times  and  of  all  nations  have  added  their 
investigations  and  discoveries.  The  followers  of  Hippocrates,  the 
studious  monks  and  the  delving  alchemists  in  their  early  endeavors 
pried  from  nature  many  secrets  that  are  daily  applied  in  medicine 
and  pharmacy.  The  modern  development  of  medicine,  surgery  and 
chemistry  and  the  studies  in  bacteriology  with  the  aid  of  research 
laboratories  with  ample  equipment,  have  further  evolved  truths  of 
inestimable  value. 
The  student  of  the  history  of  pharmacy  is  aware  of  the  fact 
that  pharmacists  have  contributed  no  small  share  of  the  volume  of 
