THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
Vol.  93  May,  i92>  \  *       A'  No-  5 
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DYESTUFFS  AND  PHARMACY. 
The  relation  existing  between  dyestuffs  and  pharmacy  may  not 
be  any  more  apparent  to  our  legislators  at  Washington  than  the  rela- 
tion between  dyestuffs  and  explosives,  or  dyestuffs  and  chemistry,  but 
it  is  a  real  one,  nevertheless.  Our  State  and  National  pharmaceutical 
organizations,  which  are  planning  to  hold  meetings  during  the  next 
few  months,  should  take  cognizance  thereof  and  pass  suitable  reso- 
lutions insisting  upon  a  proper  protection  of  this  key  industry  up- 
building and  maintenance  of  which  is  so  vital  to  our  peace-time 
prosperity  and  our  war-time  success. 
We  must  not  permit  a  warped  and  limited  vision  on  the  part 
of  a  few  to  bring  about  a  condition  that  will  do  injustice  to  the 
many. 
The  processes  by  which  many  of  our  officially  recognized  and 
widely  used  synthetic  remedies  are  manufactured  need  not  be 
actually  carried  on  in  dyestuff  plants,  but  the  interdependence  in 
the  matter  of  raw  materials  and  intermediates  makes  it  impossible 
to  succeed  in  either  one  of  these  lines  of  work  without  the  other 
as  an  adjunct. 
Acetanilid,  antipyrin,  arsphenamine,  cinchophen,  phenacetin, 
phenol,  cresol  and  many  other  medicaments  and  antiseptics,  as  well 
as  some  actual  dyestuffs  themselves,  such  as  methylene  blue,  flavine 
and  scarlet  red,  are  dispensed  by  pharmacists  on  the  prescriptions 
of  physicians  for  the  prevention  or  cure  of  disease. 
The  maintenance  of  a  domestic  supply  of  these  drugs,  how- 
ever, is  of  minor  importance,  as  is  also  the  matter  of  cost.  What 
is  needed  is  the  encouragement  of  an  industry  which  is  helpful  to 
research  and  to  higher  scientific  education  as  well  as  in  the  produc- 
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