Having once eliminated the unfit, the next highest duty of the colleges of pharmacy is to qualify their students for the work that they may be called upon to do. This may seem like a very trite saying to some of you, and yet I feel warranted in its utterance. We have reached a crisis in pharmaceutical history, and if the pharmacist is to continue a separate and independent existence it must be on the basis of his scientific attainments. The pharmacist has felt his hampered position for some time, but now that the Pure Food and Drugs Act has become effective, we are face to face with the issue. With the United States Pharmacopœia and the National Formulary as the legal standards he will now be held responsible for the identity and quality of the drugs which he sells. The question then is, will he assume this responsibility, and pronounce finally on the quality and efficiency of the drugs and medicines which he dispenses, or will he shift this responsibility whenever possible? If he adopts the latter course, then will he lose in importance and standing to that extent.
By the adoption of the Pure Food and Drugs Act both the responsibility and the obligation of the pharmacist are increased and added importance must attach to his position. He should take as much pride in his ability to pronounce upon the quality of an article guaranteed by the manufacturer, or in making a preparation which he himself guarantees, as he has heretofore taken in his ability to decide upon the compatibility, or to question the dosage, of a prescription. He must stand between the manufacturer and the physician as he has stood between the physician and the public. Too much care cannot be exercised in this direction, for the manufacturer’s guarantee may in some instances prove to be only a label.
To do work of this kind means that the pharmacist shall be a master of the Pharmacopœia, that he shall be able to identify any substance in the Pharmacopœia, carry out any of the tests, and makeany of the preparations in the Pharmacopœia and National Formulary, processes for which are given. The least, then, that the colleges of pharmacy can do is to prepare their students to employ the Pharmacopœia and the National Formulary as working guides.