The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-08-30

ly, we do not. we live IN go-aneau age.
We live more, in one sense, In single |
week than our ancestors did in a year. All
IL hurry, turmoil and confusion. In the
greed for gain and the rush OF business, and
even, in the endeavor to keep up with the
progress of the times, we loose sight OF
those natural laws, upon the observance oil
which our health, primarily. depends The
system endures the strain for period and
then yields. Another wise provision has
been made for this same contingency. Our
Good Father foresaw this condition, and
caused to be produced certain ingredients
which, when properly compounded, would
repair the inroads made upon the system
by an infraction of natural laws. 1t is the
duty of the skilled physician there
should be none othcr--to examine the
symptoms of disease, and discover and pre-
scribe the necessary remedies.
Right hcIc is where one great difficulty
and danger comes in. We will not, as a
rule. observe the laws of nature, and sick
ness follows. When the country was
sparscly settled, physicians carried all OF
their drugs and medicines with them, and
when they gave prescription to patient
they knew what they were giving. They,
personally, bought and examined each and
every remedy they ordered to hc admin
istered to patient, and they knew what
result ought TO he produced thcrefrom, If
their diagnosis of the disease was correct.
Here, Mt once, was a confirmation and
check. If we understand the symptoms of
disease, they may be, to large extent, the
same in entirely different disorders. If the
medicine did not produce the desired result,
the conclusion followed, almost irrcsist-
ably, that a mistake was made in the nature
of the illness, and the discovery was made
in time to prevent disastrous results. We
are writing, Of course, as a non profess
sional man. and are simply stating the in
fcrcnccs we have drawn from desultory
reading, and casual conversations with
physicians of our acquaintance. 1t was
not often, it is true, that such mistakes
were made but all men-cv the most
eminent experienced and lcarned-arc
liable to errors in judgment, and IL was
fortunate that there was II means for, at
once preventing any danger resulting from
such unavoidable dangers. AS the coun-
try rapidly filled up with settlers, and large
towns, villages and cities sprang up, here
and there, physicians could no longer carry
around with them remedies for all classes
of sickness, but were compelled to rely
upon drug stores to compound their pre-
scriptions. The progress of medical
| science. too, was constantly bringing into
notice new remedial agents, and It was i'm
possible. even if desirable, for physician
to attempt to furnish these articles or their
various compounds to their patients
As natural result, drug stores sprung
up all over the land, owned, controlled and
managed, in the most part, by men who
knew no more about pharmacy than they
did about the assaying of gold. We have
here in Rutland, perhaps, some seven OIL
eight such institutions, and we venture the
remark that except in two OF three of them
a prescription, composed of three simpl,
ingredients, would, when returned to the
stances in which men and animals have
been destroyed by the mistake of IL pretend
Ell pharmaccutist. We say know, but
mean, of course, that we have the most
convincing evidence thereof. We have
written repeatedly of the great need of
skilled labor and scientific education for
our youth, but where is it needed more
than among the boys and young men who
are to enter our drug stores, compound
prescriptions, and finally manage and con-
troll the business themselves? We are glad
to see the druggists of Vermont moving in
the matter. Those among them-and there
are a number of them-who have due re-
gard for their reputation and character,
and for the life and health of their custom
ers who are, in the course of business.
placed at their mercy, feel deeply the res
possibility placed upon them, and the ne
cessity of allowing only competent persons
to compound medicines. The druggist and
pharmaceutist is the peer and equal of the
physician and requires an equal. although,
in some respects, a different education. 1t
is an absolute essential and should be re-
quired by law. We have written thus
much, by way of introduction, and shall
refer TO this subject in future articles, in
connection with the efforts made bv the
Vermont Pharmaceutical Association. We
had intended, at the present time, to refer
to their plan, the history of their efforts,
the work done in other states. ETC., but
having already exceeded the limits of an
ordinary newspaper article, we are COM
PEELED to defer it until another day.