The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-07-22

s
Es 81
nm I ical IS l,,t,rs, a M
nrnfesainnaI mo tars ~ 10 tam
perance leagues are hated ana despiscd
beyond measure by tbeI trade.
In recent Years enemies have arisen
from uneA pected quarters. 4. s. the a-st5
place, the groMt Is ST the q, modern depart
ment store with ia cut prices On pat bat.
ent mediclnes is constantly reducing
the side line business sc the druggist.
To the profession this might appear
as an advantage. but nevertheless Ii
works great hardship ia store. that
have been planned on the old scale..
The patent medicine man "a an eve
sore to every druggist. n the first
place, he induces people to buy ais
original packages, thus crowdinr out
the more lucrative prescription trade.
and, secondly, he encourages the de-
partment stores by selling to them at
cut prices. The growth Of huge phar-
maceuticall Laboratories has also worked
inestimable hardship. Two decades ago
the apothecary bought the crude drug.
crushed. distilled and prepared It all in
his little laboratory back az the nre-
| scription counter. Today the finished
product is furnished in linllid form hv
the manufactures, and all the premium
on pharmaceutical knowledge il taken
away. s.#s
But the enemy feared most of ali ia
the physician. 53. sz#sl .s,.s.ss F.
Those doctors are, really the most
|insolently domineering people conceive
able,' remarked my friend. the drug
clerk. '.They ask, or rather demand.
every privilege, and we dare not object.
! You see. the influence Of most family
physicians is SO great that a mere re-
mark will suffice to send their natients
to drug store miles awav. A great
many practitioners 90 so faras tn exact
regular monthly commissions from the
preferred druggist. and often thev ali.
sorb the bulk of the profits. Thouoh
the drug journals are always fighting
this practice. It is growing from wear to
year-even among supposedly respec-
table physicians. E .:s =. - '>'9.,,
Still worse are the physicians who
do not prescribe at all. The improve
ments in the manufacture of tablet
triturates, you know, have enabled the
physician to carry the stock of small
drug store in his hand satchel. so that
allopaths, as well as the homeopath tbs,
may diagnose and dispense directly at
the bedside of the patient, while the
druggist has the privilege of furnish
ing the free lunch telephone.
Just then an old woman entered the
store. Her little girl, she said, had red
spots all over her face, and couldn't the
druggist give her something against
that? After few cross queries the
clerk disappeared behind the holy OF
holies and returned presently with a
bottle which he wrapped up carefully,
and for which. last but not least, he
collected ~ cents. = ~
That was clear case of counter
prescribing-the converse to physicians
dispensing. The druggist had no med
ical certificate which entitled him to
diagnose and prescribe for illness, and
so he had surely cheated some practi-
toner out of a dollar bill. Both coun-
ter prescribing and satchel dispensing
are a source of constant irritation be-
tween the two professions, and at
tempts at more stringent legislation in
either direction are2perennial.
From the druggists point of view, a
real square fellow among physicians
will write lots of prescriptions, and will
write them in such away that the drug
gist realizes the greatest possible profit.
:s:ss ~ =
few drops eaeh q neture Of en anr
mon mo- and asatoetida Three bottles Of
druggist dS Charged r three times IS cents
and now recommends that doctor as a
particularly able physician. what
would the patient say II he heard that
ne would have been Just as well OH had
he bought a nickelS worth OF aSafOetida