692 
A  Dream  of  the  Future 
( Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
\       Oct.,  1921. 
never  condemned  the  "keeping  open  shop,"  but  I  do  want  to  see 
it  made  possible  for  the  pharmacist  to  make  a  living  by  pharmacy  in 
that  open  shop,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  and  by  virtue  of  his  qualifica- 
tion, and  not  be  forced  to  rely  upon  activities  which  do  not  call  for  a 
qualification  at  all.  Shall  we  be  content  in  the  future  merely  to  keep 
open  shop  and  continue  to  carry  on  a  purely  commercial  pharmacy, 
or  shall  we  not  combine  in  demanding  an  adequate  remuneration  for 
services  dependent  upon  technical  knowledge  and  competent  skill 
and  warranted  by  virtue  of  qualification?  For  those  who  have  the 
necessary  education,  aptitude,  and  desire,  should  we  not  endeavor  to 
carve  out  a  more  distinctly  professional  career?  The  scope  of  such  a 
career  could  include  the  work  of  clinical  pharmacists  or  clinical 
analysts,  on  the  lines  suggested  for  the  Health  Centres,  of  research 
workers  in  the  large  wholesale  firms,  and  of  teachers  in  the  approved 
schools  of  pharmacy. 
TWO   CLASSES  IN  PHARMACY. 
The  question  of  the  differentiation  of  pharmacy  into  two  classes 
has  for  several  years  exercised  my  mind.  I  fully  admit  that,  and 
that  the  subject  bristles  with  difficulties  and  the  magnitude  of  the 
task  is  obvious  even  upon  superficial  consideration. 
To  begin  with,  there  is  the  difficulty  of  drawing  a  clear  line  be- 
tween what  is  commercial  pharmacy  and  what  is  clinical  or  profes- 
sional. There  is  the  training  and  examination  essential  for  the  one 
and  unnecessary  for  the  others.  Then  there  arises  the  point  as  to 
where  the  differentiation  as  far  as  qualification  is  concerned  should 
take  place.  In  other  words,  where  shall  the  differentiation  between 
the  business  of  a  chemist  and  druggist  and  the  profession  of  pharm- 
acy come  in? 
On  the  Continent  the  division  is  made  between  those  who  can 
only  sell  drugs  and  certain  poisons,  and  those  who  can  be  entrusted 
with  the  dispensing  of  medicines  and  physicians'  prescriptions — with 
the  addition  in  some  cases  of  clinical  analysis.  In  this  country  such  an 
arrangement  would  not,  I  consider,  at  the  present  time  be  practical 
politics.  The  vested  interests  in  dispensing  are  far  too  great,  and, 
moreover  the  training  required,  and  the  standard  of  the  examina- 
tion demanded  to  qualify  as  a  chemist  and  druggist,  is  probably  suf- 
ficient for  the  duties  he  is  called  upon  to  perform  at  the  present 
time.   But  there  is  the  Major  examination  which  could  be  extended 
