Amoc°tU,ri92ilarm' }  A  Dream  of  the  Future  687 
experience  to  extract  lessons  for  the  present,  those  which  have  re- 
viewed the  pharmaceutical  problems  which  presented  themselves  for 
solution  at  the  time,  and  those  which  sought  to  peer  into  the  future 
and  visualize  things  that  might  be  or  ought  to  be. 
The  purely  science  side  has  been  so  ably  presented  by  my  im- 
mediate predecessor  that  I  feel  it  is  unnecessary  on  this  occasion 
to  develop  that  aspect  of  pharmacy.  As  to  what  has  gone  before,  I 
was  sorely  tempted  to  write  of  the  deeds  of  "our  fathers  of  old," 
but  finally  decided  that  it  might  be  more  profitable  perhaps  if  I 
endeavored  to  point  out  some  of  the  anomalies  which  exist  at  the 
present  time,  and  then  to  give  free  rein  to  my  thoughts  and  aspira- 
tions by  outlining  some  the  "possibilities  of  the  future." 
CONFINING  DISPENSING  TO  PHARMACISTS. 
There  are  several  precedents  for  so  doing;  there  was  the  ad- 
dress by  Dr.  Tocher  at  Newcastle,  in  1909,  on  "Should  the  Dispens- 
ing of  Medical  Prescriptions  Be  Exclusively  Confined  to  Pharma- 
cists?" in  which,  after  recognizing  that  it  had  been  a  practice  from 
time  immemorial  for  doctors  to  supply  physic  direct  to  patients,  he 
showed  that  the  total  transference  of  the  dispensing  of  prescriptions 
from  medical  men  to  pharmacists  would  be  accompanied  by  advan- 
tages to  the  medical  man,  the  pharmacist,  and  the  public.  As  a  re- 
sult of  this  address  a  Conference  was  arranged  with  the  British  Med- 
ical Association,  and  took  place  on  May  19,  19 10.  There  was  a 
long  discussion  upon  medical  dispensing,  prescribing  by  unqualified 
persons,  and  the  sale  of  secret  remedies,  and  it  wras  also  decided  to 
set  up  a  Joint  Standing  Committee,  consisting  of  representatives  of 
the  two  bodies. 
The  following  year,  however,  Air.  Lloyd  George  introduced  his 
National  Insurance  Bill.  It  is  interesting  to  recall  the  fact  that  the 
Conference,  through  its  executive,  took  immediate  steps  to  put  for- 
ward the  claims  of  pharmacy,  and  this  Joint  Committee  wherrit  met 
passed  the  following  resolution  among  others : 
That  the  principle  be  affirmed  that  the  dispensing  under  the  Gov- 
ernment scheme  be  done  through  the  channels  provided  by  the 
Pharmacy  Acts,  and  that  provision  be  made  in  the  National  Insur- 
ance Bill  itself  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  Chancellor's  expressed 
intention  that  this  work  should  be  done  by  pharmacists. 
The  annual  meeting  of  the  Conference  confirmed  these  resolu- 
tions of  the  Joint  Committee,  but  the  Council  of  the  British  Medical 
