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ETHICAL  ANALYSIS. 
which  especially  belong  to  the  professions  connected  with  the 
cure  of  disease  and  with  the  preservation  of  the  public  health. 
How  far  we  are  individually  or  in  a  collective  capacity  sus- 
taining the  position  thus  claimed,  is  a  legitimate  subject  for 
ethical  analysis  ;  and  without  assuming  any  censorship  over  my 
fellows,  I  propose  to  the  tyro  a  few  questions  bearing  on  this 
general  enquiry. 
1st.  Has  a  druggist  or  apothecary,  who  makes  profession  of 
being  a  practical  pharmaceutist,  and  offers  his  services  to  the 
public  as  such,  a  moral  right  to  neglect  the  opportunities  of 
scientific  and  practical  improvement  within  his  reach? 
2d.  Has  a  pharmaceutist,  who  has  discovered  an  improvement 
in  pharmacy,  calculated  to  affect  the  health  and  consequent  wel- 
fare of  the  community  and  the  advancement  of  the  science  or 
art  of  pharmacy,  a  moral  right  to  keep  it  a  secret  for  his  own 
private  advantage  ? 
3d.  Has  a  pharmaceutist,  who  receives  a  lad  into  his  shop  as 
an  eleve  or  apprentice,  a  right  to  neglect  his  thorough  education 
in  the  practice  of  the  art,  and  as  far  as  in  his  power  in  the 
sciences  pertaining  to  it  ? 
4th.  Is  it  morally  right  for  a  pharmaceutist,  who  has  the  con- 
fidence of  the  poor  and  ignorant  of  his  neighborhood,  to  take 
indiscriminately  their  hard  earnings  in  exchange  for  the  costly 
and  often  worse  than  useless  medicines,  which,  through  the  public 
press,  are  plausibly  and  insidiously  recommended  to  them  ?  Does 
not  such  an  one  participate  in  the  moral  obloquy  which  among 
enlightened  and  conscientious  people  attaches  to  the  charlatan 
and  quack  ? 
5th.  How  far  is  it  the  duty  of  the  pharmaceutist,  in  the  sale 
of  stimulant  and  narcotic  agents,  to  interfere  for  the  prevention 
of  their  intemperate  use  ? 
6th.  What  are  the  true  ethical  limitations  to  the  rule  of  trade, 
"  to  buy  cheap  and  sell  dear  ;"  and  how  far  are  pharmaceutists 
justifiable  in  following  this  maxim  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of 
the  peculiar  and  highly  important  articles  of  their  commerce? 
7th.  To  what  extent  is  competition  allowable  in  conducting 
the  drug  business,  and  what  are  the  duties  of  pharmaceutists  to 
each  other  and  to  the  public  in  regulating  and  modifying  the 
retail  prices  of  medicines  ? 
From  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association — 1857. 
