PHYSICIANS  AND  PHARMACEUTISTS  AND  THEIR  RELATIONS.  203 
he  has  learned  to  read  his  physician's  hand-writing  and  com- 
pound the  medicines  he  prescribes,  is  very  often  to  be  found 
at  such  a  store,  which  has  been  commenced  for  the  sake  of 
money-making.  Certainly  any  man  is  worth  a  just  reward 
for  his  labor  and  services,  but  we  oppose  the  notion  of  the 
vocation  of  a  physician  or  pharmaceutist  being  only  a  source  for 
making  money  as  fast  as  possible ;  and  as  much  as  we  denounce 
the  practising  of  medicine  by  an  apothecary,  just  as  much  we 
are  opposed  to  the  practice  of  pharmacy  by  a  physician.  We 
are  aware  of  the  fact  that  circumstances  may  compel  a  physician 
to  be  also  in  some  degree  an  apothecary,  and  act  as  such,  just 
as  an  apothecary  may,  in  cases  of  emergency,  be  called  upon  to 
prescribe  remedies  without  waiting  for  first  consulting  a  physi- 
cian. But  such  cases  will  be  of  rare  occurrence,  except  in  thinly 
populated  districts  and  in  seasons  of  epidemics. 
Physicians  and  pharmaceutists  do  not  always  regard  their 
mutual  and  reciprocal  interests.  But  one  of  the  grossest  mis- 
understandings of  these  interests  is  the  demand,  by  the  physician, 
of  a  per  centage  of  the  charges  for  medicines  of  his  prescrip- 
tion. We  cannot  say  how  far  such  a  demand  exists,  but  we  know 
that  it  does  exist.  It  is  but  very  seldom  that  this  can  be  found 
out ;  then  it  is  the  interest  of  both  the  physician  and  apothecary 
to  keep  it  secret,  and  the  necessity  of  this  secrecy  already  shows 
the  meanness  of  such  a  bargain.  If  a  physician  insists  on  a 
reward  of  this  kind  for  allowing  his  patients  to  get  their  medi- 
cines at  a  certain  place,  the  apothecary  may  perhaps  be  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  the  demand,  in  order  to  win  for  his  business 
the  confidence  of  the  public,  and  to  increase  the  number  of  his 
customers.  But  will  any  or  both  these  objects  be  really  gained  ? 
We  have  reason  to  express  our  doubt  as  an  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion. Evidently  the  pharmaceutist  wants  pay  for  his  labor  and 
for  the  medicine,  and  we  think,  in  most  cases,  he  will  charge  in 
conformity  with  the  value  of  the  ingredients  of  the  medicine  and 
the  amount  of  his  labor  ;  and  such  a  charge  we  call  reasonable 
and  moderate,  a  compensation  rightfully  belonging  to  his  skill 
and  his  devotion  to  the  profession.  Now,  he  either  has  to  charge 
a  corresponding  sum  more  for  the  medicine,  in  order  to  obtain 
what  is  due  to  him  after  paying  the  demanded  per  centage  to 
the  prescribing  physician,  and  then  he  over-charges  the  public, 
