Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
February,  1921.  J 
Pharmaceutical  Research. 
and  well  being."  However,  to  limit  the  pharmaceutical  research  to 
such  a  narrow  field  would  be  to  have  it  serve  only  the  selfish  end  of 
a  few. 
Many  of  the  problems  arising  in  pharmacy  are  of  a  chemical 
nature,  but  to  limit  pharmaceutical  research  to  chemical  problems 
would  be  a  very  narrow  construction.  Likewise,  it  is  important 
that  the  pharmacologic  action  of  synthetic  remedies  should  be  care- 
fully studied  and  their  therapeutic  value  accurately  defined,  but  to 
limit  the  field  of  pharmaceutical  research  to  such  pharmacological 
investigation,  as  was  at  one  time  proposed,  evidences  a  lack  of  con- 
ception of  true  pharmaceutical  research  and  its  proper  scope.  True, 
all  of  these  and  many  more  lines  of  scientific  investigation  are 
points  of  contact  and  co-operation  of  pharmacists  with  other  re- 
search workers.  Pharmaceutical  research  cannot,  however,  be  classi- 
fied with  medicine,  nor  with  chemistry  or  with  any  of  the  other  lines 
of  research  so  far  recognized.  Pharmacy  performs  a  distinct  duty  to 
the  public  and  should  be  accorded  recognition  as  a  distinct  vocation 
with  problems  of  national  interest  and  welfare  peculiar  to  its  field 
of  service.  All  of  the  propositions  for  pharmaceutical  research  that 
have  so  far  emanated  from  those  outside  of  pharmacy  have  only 
demonstrated  the  insufficiency  of  the  view,  and  a  failure  to  com- 
prehend the  extensive  fields  awaiting  organized  pharmaceutical  re- 
search. 
Pharmacists  must  themselves,  have  a  proper  conception  of  the 
present  and  a  broad  vision  of  the  future  possibilities.  The  salvation 
of  pharmacy  and  its  establishment  upon  a  solid  basis  as  a  profession 
founded  upon  scientific  studies  and  investigation,  rests  entirely 
upon  the  pharmacists  themselves.  The  investigations  of  the  past 
have  been  largely  carried  on  by  the  individual  workers  engaged  as 
teachers  in  the  schools  of  pharmacy,  or  as  experts  in  the  laboratories 
of  the  manufacturers,  and  by  a  few  retail  pharmacists.  There  has 
been  no  systematic  attempt  to  co-ordinate  pharmaceutic  research 
or  make  it  a  co-operative  division  of  a  national  comprehensive  re- 
search plan.  Pharmacy  has  been  like  an  ocean-going  steamer  with 
good  engines  and  a  compass,  but  no  navigator. 
We  must  now  realize  the  changed  condition  of  the  times  re- 
sulting partly  from  the  war  necessities,  and  partly  from  the  advanced 
position  assumed  by  those  who  have  been  placed  in  charge  of  the 
National  Research  Council.    This  organization  is  composed  of 
