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least, be familiar with the art of compounding.

3. The ideal pharmacist must strictly adhere to the orders of the physician as given in the prescription, and not make any corrections of his own without previously consulting the physician. Many a time the latter is perfectly justified by the peculiar circumstances at the bedside of the patient in employing unusual methods, which may seem to the pharmacist who is not at the bedside and unfamiliar with the situation, queer and erroneous. Nor is it permitted to add anything to the prescription, no matter how seemingly indifferent or trival, without the permission of the writer of the order.

4. The next requirement is the employment in the compounding of prescriptions of drugs and chemicals of the highest quality only, of absolute purity and coming up to the highest standard of efficiency. This is absolutely essential, otherwise the physician is unable to correctly interpret the effects of the drugs upon the symptoms of the disease. The results thus obtained are liable to be contrary to expectations, and the success of the physician is thereby endangered. Nothing should ever be employed that bears the slightest doubt of possible deterioration, contamination, or harmfulness.

5. The ideal pharmacist should be supplied with all the necessary paraphernalia so necessary and so helpful in the performance of his prescription work, for without proper tools, good work is hard to perform. He should be in possession of correct scales, exacts weights, modern utensils, proper apparatus and other instruments of pharmacy.

6. The physician prefers to see the ideal drug store, a place where only drugs and chemicals are dispensed, and prescriptions filled, and not a combination. candy-stationery place, hardware store, cigar store, department store, or a combination of a hundred and more sales departments. This arrangement seems to be entirely incompatible with the true. spirit of pharmacy. Why don't we meet such combinations in the offices of physicians, clergymen, architects, jurists or other prefessional people? Isn't the practice of pharmacy or the compounding of prescriptions just as important as its prescribing? It seems peculiar, that in this, our present era of specializa

tion when every trade, profession, manufacturing concern, business organization, etc., is endeavoring to concentrate its energy upon some specialty in order to become as efficient as possible in its undertaking, with the result of personal benefit and the benefit of the public at large, the drug trade has taken a step backward.

Instead of creating special stores where only prescriptions would be compounded by men expert in this branch of pharmacy, while other stores, perhaps would be devoted solely to the sale of articles usually dispensed by druggists, the contrary seems to be the fact. Drug stores have originated like enormous skyscrapers, real babylons, which are indeed only department stores, and not pharmacies. It is true they have prescription departments, but let me assure you, gentlemen; for my part I'd rather see my prescription filled by the honest, earnest and conscientious owner of the small drug store at the corner of my street, than by the well overworked and badly under paid clerk of the prescription department of such combination department-drug store. Nor should it be tolerated, as the law does now, to permit prescriptions to be compounded in stores owned by persons having no professional education, not pharmacists, and therefore having no interest in the practice of pharmacy, other than the making of money from it. Such pharmacists cannot be admitted into the ideal class no matter how ideal and brilliant may be their appearance, how expensive their fixtures, how enormous their stocks.

7. The pharmacist of the ideal class. must keep his place as neat and clean as possible and pay particular attention to the prescription counter, drug bottles and utensils employed in the compounding of prescriptions. He must keep them free from dust, dirt and bacterial contamination. Everything in the store should present a pleasant and cheerful appearance and at any time be open to inspection by any physician.

8. The drug store must never be used as a lounging place, assembly room, laundry agency, theatre ticket exchange, express and post office, etc. There should be an air of responsibility and seriousness of purpose, and an evidence of cheerful service and readiness to help connected with it, and not of hilarity and dissoluteness.

The ideal pharmacist must refrain from anything which is not strictly in accordance with the ethics of the profession. He must abstain from personal advice, never indulge in counter-prescribing, never dispense substances prohibited by law, always be on the alert when dispensing poisons, narcotics, alcoholics, etc. He should never criticize or otherwise attempt to harm the physician in the eyes of the patient, but on the contrary protect the reputation of the doctor from undue criticism whenever the opportunity presents itself. This is not infrequently done by the physician for the pharmacist. He should also refrain from recommending another physician if the patient is still under the care of the one.

10. The ideal pharmacist must bear in mind, first and foremost the interest of the public, of the patient, next, that of the doctor, and last of all, his own, for otherwise the true purpose of pharmacy might be overshadowed by his personal

ambition and selfishness.

From the above statement you may easily conclude, that the demands from the pharmacists to become ideal are after all not so exorbitant; they are quite accessible and surmountable to every drug store in our community. All it needs is a little effort on your part, a little zealousness, a little sacrifice and a better understanding of the situation. Why should not the pharmacists of our great country enjoy the confidence, respect, the admiration, the professional standing, and even the special privileges as accorded to them by some governments as do your professional brethren abroad? During my travels in Europe it was my great privilege to note the high standing and the profound esteem in which the pharmacists are held by the public and the medical men. And all for one reason! They stick strictly to the practice of pharmacy, devote their entire attention to this great subject, make it their only business, their only life work, entrust their ideals to it, and keep steering clear of everything else that might possibly contaminate it.

I hope the time is not far off when the pharmacists of this great community will all be members of the ideal class! This will be brought about by you and your associations. Conferences of this kind help a great deal not only toward a better understanding between pharmacist and physician, but they also remind you of

your deficiencies, create a desire for your own betterment, and for the elevation of the trade to the height of a profession. They impart a new impulse, a fresh stimulus to each individual for his own betterment and elevation. The medical profession, let me assure you is glad to affiliate with you and to help you in your efforts to bring about a co-operation between the two professions, for it will serve one grand purpose: the improvement of our standards of education, our professional ethics, our mutual relations, and thereby our mutual happiness.

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Letters are being sent out for the dollar donation, and the Trustees hope to meet with a generous response from the druggists and drug clerks of the United States. We are now looking for some big donations as Christmas gifts. There are druggists who could give from one to twenty thousand dollars, and in this way have a monument and be remembered longer than any other.

New York is the first to make a concentrated effort to furnish funds for the Home. They commenced a campaign in January and every town and city in the state will be canvassed; in addition to this the New York City and Brooklyn druggists will give a fair for the credit of the Home. Mr. Thomas Lamb of Brooklyn, N. Y., one of the best workers in the country, has been appointed Chairman of the Fair Committee, and will push matters at once. matters at once. The moving pictures of the Home will be displayed each day. It is also proposed to ship three car loads of the mineral spring water to the fair from the Home, as it will be put on the market, and this will be a good chance

to introduce it. There will be a meeting of the Board of Trustees in January, when committees will be appointed and general business transacted.

A systematic canvass will be commenced in January, to every druggist and drug clerk in the United States. The wholesale drug trade and manufacturers are responding with generous donations. If druggists will only send their donations now, it will save the expense of writing, and if anyone will send in what they can, the Home will be paid for and a fund to take care of it.

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HENRY B. FLOYD, Secretary.

The December meeting of the Washington Branch of the A. Ph. A. was held in the library of the new Institute for Industrial Research. The first paper presented was on the subject "Conservation in relation to Pharmaceutical Chemistry" by Mr. H. C. Fuller.

He described clearly and forcibly existing conditions in medical and pharmaceutical chemistry, noting the persistency with which the manufacturer pursues the "Almighty Dollar." The "hit or miss" plan of mixing medicines, forming some new concoction to which is attached a highsounding, valueless (and generally meaningless) name, with the hope that it will stay mixed and catch the fancy of the consumer, was lamented. Inadequate research work, insufficient therapeutic testing, incomplete analysis, and utter disregard for the well-established laws of chemistry, are bringing and have brought into the market each year thousands of valueless preparations which burden the shelves of the retailer. Yet he has to carry all of these because some smooth-tongue and gifted detail man has gotten one or two physicians in his neighborhood to write an occasional prescription for such mixtures.

The immense inroad made by a certain foreign firm manufacturing pharmaceuticals was commented upon, and the key of its success against American competition was attributed to the vast research work conducted by it. Not one of their preparations, it appears, is allowed to enter the market until its stability, therapeutic activity and exact chemical content has been definitely ascertained by most exhaustive experimentation.

The amount of research work done by American houses was compared with that of foreign and found to be all but nil.

A remedy was suggested for the prevention of fakes and other evils, in having the American Pharmaceutical Association establish an extensive chemical laboratory where the pharmaceutical products offered could be analyzed for their chemical contents and their therapeutic values ascertained. Reports of each analysis would be forwarded to its members and every man in the business soon would know to an absolute certainty what each preparation he is selling is, and what it can be expected to do.

Such a laboratory would immediately expose fakes and eventually, when its findings would come to have the faith of the entire public, fake preparations would no longer be marketable. Pharmaceutical manufacturers would exercise great care before presenting new preparations and the claims of value for such products. The retail druggist would profit because his shelves would contain only valuable and marketable matter.

Mr. Fuller presented specimens of a number of preparations recently analyzed, by the institute, and showed to what extent the public is fooled by well-written advertisements. A four-ounce bottle of diluted lactated pepsin, sold for a dollar, commanded much comment, for under a copyrighted name it was sold as a brightener of the eyes and a beautifier.

Wrinkle-removers, sold for the same price, proved to be nothing more than pieces of inexpensive court plaster. Diabetic and other foods for which fabulous and mythical claims have been made, and for which enormous prices have been asked, proved to be nothing but cheap, roasted grains. Hair-removers, costing $1.50 per box, amounted to about five cents worth of rosin and balsam mixed. The alkaloidal claims for cod-liver oil also came in for criticism. In the discussion which followed, Dr. George W. Hoover stated that the Bureau of Chemistry has much unpublished information concerning these fakes, and if, as contemplated, a bulletin giving this information. is published, much of general interest will come out and there will be some genuine surprises. There has been a decided improvement in the character of pharmaceutical products since the passage of the pure food act, and another decade will

bring forth even greater improvements, is his belief.

The question of declaring various drugs, upon which Mr. Fuller touched, was discussed, and in addition to the content declaration, it was suggested that the effect upon the system be outlined. Cocaine legislation, now so much discussed, furnished food for much controversy, the opinion of those present as to the ultimate effect of the legislation now proposed and recently enacted being about equally divided.

The wasteful methods employed by our manufacturers was shown by example. Certain refuse thrown out now by chocolate manfacturers is worth $100 to $150 per ton, and lanoline, much finer than that now imported, can be made from the waste thrown out by woolen manufacturers.

Mr. Wilbert at this point called attento the German Pharmacists Association, which has been doing work of the character outlined by Mr. Fuller (its laboratories being located in the Berlin College of Pharmacy) and whose findings have been going to its members as bulletins.

COMMERCIAL ALCOHOL IN GERMANY.

This subject was presented by Dr. Rodney H. True, who outlined conditions which have led to the extensive alcohol industry in Germany. It appears that this industry is a part of a great economic undertaking commenced by Frederick the Great and which has had hearty government support ever since. It was clearly shown that as an individual industry it was a failure, but as a part of an economic farming arrangement it had not been a failure.

Potatoes are much grown in the eastern or sandy provinces of Germany in land which would be called poor here. Crops are rotated in the order of potato, grain and grass. The potato uses but little of the ash content of the soil and is deeply planted. While smaller than the American, it is higher in starch content and contains less water. The yield, with the deep planting noted, is about three times the average American crop, and it leaves the land in excellent shape for the grain to follow. In fact, the grain output has been doubled by this means.

Much of the potatoes are sent to the western provinces and to the cities, the major portion, however, going to the still. The mash left over is used to feed the stock.

Altogether this economic arrangement has been wonderfully developed, and, while no profit is obtained directly from the alcohol, it enters into this great plan as an inseparable and unreplacable cog.

The plans for disposing of the alcohol, the societies for its protection, and the peculiar conditions incident to this industry were all minutely and interestingly described.

The American attempt to commercialize alcohol, while by no means a success, to date has shown enough to warrant a continuation of the experiments already made.

The effect of tax levies and the qualities of the potatoes came in for much good-natured comment and well placed witticisms.

A. PH. A. BUILDING.

The question of the location of the permanent home for the American Pharmaceutical Association was then brought to the attention of the branch. The proposed locations were discussed and much comment was made of any attempt to locate the home out of Washington. Mr. Wilbert spoke very feelingly and strongly in favor of its being located in Washington, where it would be free from the influences of politics and near the national legislative body of the country. It seems to be the logical situation for such a home as is proposed.

The following motion was then proposed, seconded and carried:

WHEREAS, it is proposed to provide a permanent headquarters or home for the American Pharmaceutical Association, and

WHEREAS, efforts have been and are now being made to secure the location of widely separated cities, and this permanent headquarters in several

WHEREAS, the American Pharmaceutical Association is incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia and is now operating under the general provisions of this incorporation,

Now, therefore, we, members of the City of Washington Branch of the American Pharmaceutical Association, would respectfully remind the officers and the council of the present organization that there are many and weighty reasons for locating the permanent home of the American Pharmaceutical Association in the City of Washington.

The Secretary was also directed to bring this matter to the attention of the council.

The William Proctor memorial was also considered and it was urged that it should be in the form of a statue, and that if the American Pharmaceutical Association built here, the proper place for the statue would be in front of the home. "Twould be better in our front yard than in the back yard of some government building," quoted Mr. Hilton, for he knows as all Washingtonians do that memorial statues of all but national heroes are placed in obscure parks and "lost" forever.

There are a dozen such statues in Washington, of which no one ever hears and few have ever seen; all are in a state of neglect.

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Farewell Dinner to Hugh Craig.

Some forty New York pharmacists gave a testimonial dinner to Hugh Craig, at Mouquin's restaurant on the evening of December 26th, on the eve of his departure for Chicago to take up the duties of editor of The Journal of the National Association of Retail Druggists. The affair was entirely informal. The guests were seated at a U. shaped table in a private dining room and were entertained during the dinner with music, through the courtesy of Brune R. Dauscha, F. J. Budelman and J. L. Lascoff, the latter of whom contributed a novelty in the way of entertainment by the loan of a Victrola with a number of very fine records. Mr. Budelman led the chorus of a number of popular songs for which parodies had been provided.

During the dinner the chairman of the committee, Caswell A. Mayo, read notes of regret from a number of pharmacists who were unable to be present, each of whom took occasion to pay a tribute to the value of the services which had been rendered by Dr. Craig to the cause of pharmacy both as a journalist and an association worker. Communications were read from George M. Beringer, of Camden, N. J., president of the American Pharmaceutical Association; Thomas E. Potts, of Chicago, secretary of the National Association of Retail Druggists; William Muench, of Syracuse; Dr. A. B. Huested, of Albany; Frank Richardson, of Cambridge; Arthur Wardle, of Hudson; T. S. Armstrong, of Plainfield, N. J.;

Edward Sher, E. H. Gane, Dr. H. H. Rusby, Dr. George C. Diekman, Dr. H. C. Lovis, C. H. Tompkins, Dr. William Frankhauser, and Dr. George A. Fergu

son.

At the conclusion of the dinner Mr. Mayo presented the guest with a miniature loving cup and Dr. William C. Anderson presented him with a handsome watch and fob on behalf of the hosts. In acknowledging the compliments conveyed by the dinner and the watch and fob, Mr. Craig took occasion to set forth his views as to the lines along which the Journal of the N. A. R. D. should be conducted and to state his own position on the matter of ethics and the practice of pharmacy.

Below are given excerpts from a few of the communications received:

HARRY J. SCHNELL, Manager of The Druggists' Circular: This testimonial dinner given to Mr. Craig by the pharmacists of Greater New York in recognition of his labors in behalf of pharmacy is a well deserved tribute. I feel as though I am perhaps better qualified to speak of Mr. Craig's work in behalf of pharmacy and with a more intimate knowledge of it than anyone in attendance at this dinner, for his work for pharmacy began when he joined the staff of The Druggists' Circular in January, 1906. From that day to this I have been in intimate touch with Mr. Craig's work, discussing it with him on almost every business day from January 1906, to the present time. Perhaps it will interest you to know something about the way Mr. Craig entered the journalistic field. Along about the Christmas of 1905 The Druggists' Circular received a communication from a drug clerk out in the wilds of New Jersey in which he supplied some formulas in response to requests published in the Circular. Incidentally he said that as he was working twenty hours a day he had little time for writing, but was taking advantage of his "day off" to drop us a line. He explained that his "day off" consisted of the hours from six o'clock that evening to eight the next morning. It occurred to most of us in the office that a clerk who possessed so much information as this one's letter showed that he possessed and was so fond of laying this information before his fellow workers in written form that he was willing to take time from his "day off" to write it out

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