400 
Legitimate  Pharmacy. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Phaim. 
\       Sept.  1875. 
LEGITIMATE  PHARMACY. 
Read  before  the  Neiv  Jersey  Pharmaceutical  Association,  in  ansnver  to  the  S^ery  : 
"  What  is  Legitimate  Pharmacy,  and  ho^  far  is  the  Sale  oj  Fancy 
Goods,  Liquors  and  Cigars  compatible  n.vith  it  f 
BY  H.  p.  REYNOLDS. 
A  practical  consideration  of  this  question,  fortunately,  does  not  ne 
cessitate  a  study  of  the  etymology  of  the  word  "  pharmacy,"  whereby 
we  might  be  left  in  doubt  if  it  were  not  as  properly  used  to  designate  a 
black  art  as  a  science,  yet  I  conceive  that  it  is  not,  after  all,  so  easy  to 
give  a  definition  satisfactory  to  a  high  professional  requirement,  and  at 
the  same  time  freely  rendering  the  popular  understanding. 
In  most  European  countries  the  art  is  exactly  defined  as  well  as  regu- 
lated by  law,  while  with  us  both  definition  and  regulation,  with  slight 
exceptions,  are  only  such  as  custom  prescribes. 
In  the  text  books,  pharmacy  is  said  to  be  the  art  of  collecting,  pre- 
paring and  dispensing  medicinal  substances — a  definition  objectionable, 
inasmuch  as,  under  its  terms,  the  making  and  vending  of  nostrums  is 
legitimate  pharmacy,  while  the  higher  law  embodied  in  the  code  of 
ethics  of  our  own  and  kindred  societies,  whose  chief  end  is  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  art,  emphatically  condemn  them. 
The  ideal  of  intelligent  and  progressive  pharmacists  then,  requires 
no  less  than  the  defining  of  legitimate  pharmacy  as  the  art  of  collect- 
mg,  preparing  and  dispensing  medicinal  substances  by  approved  scientific 
methods,  with  the  essential  purpose  of  alleviating  human  suffering  and 
of  promoting  human  comfort,  in  the  confidence  that  so  worthy  a  pursuit, 
worthily  conducted,  will  nDt  fail  of  a  suflftcient  reward.  In  a  calling  with 
this  dual  phase,  professional  as  well  as  mercantile,  that  man  is  out  of 
place  who  does  business  only  for  the  sake  of  making  money,  for  he 
cannot  grasp  its  higher  purpose  and  will  fail  of  its  highest  reward. 
It  may,  however,  be  said,  with  a  show  of  reason,  that  while  it  is 
well  to  get  up  a  lofty  standard,  in  practice  it  is  not  always  possible  to 
abide  by  it,  that  the  competitions  of  business  life,  the  impossibility  of 
gaining  a  livelihood  in  sparsely-settled  communities,  by  a  devotion  to  a 
pursuit  too-rigidly  restricted,  render  necessary  the  extension  of  the 
mercantile  features  ;  and  we  are  here  brought  squarely  up  to  a  consider- 
ation of  the  second  clause  of  our  query,  viz.,  how  far  is  the  sale  of 
fancy  goods,  liquors  and  cigars  compatible  with  legitimate  pharmacy 
Without  wishing  to  prescribe  or  even  suggest  regulations  for  the 
