FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF REGISTRATION IN PHARMACY FOR THE YEAR 1900. BOSTON: WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. REPORT. BOSTON, MASS., Oct. 1, 1900. To His Excellency W. MURRAY CRANE, Governor. SIR-In accordance with custom and as provided by statute, we present our fifteenth annual report for the year ending Oct. 1, 1900, showing "the condition of pharmacy in the State," and more particularly our labors in connection therewith. That pharmacists have seriously suffered from unjust taxation and cut-rate competition cannot be denied; it is not our province to discuss or enlarge upon these problems. We have strong hopes that relief is near at hand, and that the government will soon readjust the stamp tax, placing the burden where it can be more equitably borne and where protection is afforded, and that a fair remuneration may be given those who toil in a profession requiring special skill and having to do with the agents of life and death. Looking backward through the years since the organization of the Board, we perceive advancement has been made in the professional standing and in the qualifications of pharmacists, largely due to the excellent opportunities afforded within our own State for pharmaceutical instruction, and to the maintenance of a standard to which all must attain before being legally qualified to engage in the business or profession. We would emphasize the need of a proper preliminary education for all persons entering the business and desiring or intending to become pharmacists. Every young man or woman should seize the opportunity so generously afforded by our public school system for a high school education. Instances not a few have come to our observation where persons who have omitted so to do have toiled through a period of years only to find the coveted prize raised still higher, and more basic knowledge required. Latin prescriptions cannot be translated without a knowledge of the language, neither can chemical problems be solved without mathematical knowledge. PRACTICAL OR LABORATORY WORK. It has long been our desire, in connection with our examinations, to test the skill of candidates in compounding prescriptions, and ascertain their fitness by laboratory work. Owing to the expense involved, we have not felt justified in beginning same when comparison was made with our receipts. The evident intent of the law when first enacted was that the educational department of our work should be self-supporting, the fees paid meeting the expenses, necessitating the examination of a larger number each day than was consistent or proper. The appropriation withheld during the early months of the last session of the Legislature, and afterward granted, will enable us to properly equip and furnish the rooms, and soon candidates will be required to demonstrate their fitness by practical work performed in the presence of one or more members of the Board. PHARMACY LAWS. The American Pharmaceutical Association has had under consideration since 1869 the drafting of a general form of pharmacy law. Committees have been appointed to consult with boards of pharmacy and pharmaceutical associations in the United States. and Canada. Their reports and drafts have been printed, widely circulated and discussed at the annual meetings of the association, until, at their last session, a "Model Law" was submitted by Prof. J. H. Beal of Scio, O., who frankly stated that he presented a workable draft, conservative in tone, embodying certain general principles and constructed as nearly as possible of tried and tested material, selected from statutes now in force, whose provisions have stood the test of experience and produced beneficial results in practice. This final draft was accepted by the association. Among its important provisions are: First. It shall be unlawful for any person not licensed as a pharmacist, within the meaning of the act, to own, conduct or manage any pharmacy, drug or chemical store, apothecary shop or other place of business for the retailing, compounding or dispensing of any drugs, chemicals or poisons, or for the compounding of physicians' prescriptions, or to keep exposed for sale at retail any drugs, chemicals or poisons, except as specially provided; which special provisions are for aids or assistants to registered pharmacists, for the non-interference with any legally registered practitioner of medicine or dentistry in compounding their own prescriptions or supplying their patients, or with the exclusively wholesale business of any dealer registered as a pharmacist or keeping in his employ at least one person so registered, or with the sale of non-poisonous domestic remedies, patent or proprietary preparations containing poisonous ingredients, or the sale of poisonous substances sold exclusively for use in the arts or for insecticides, if sold in unbroken packages labelled "Poison," and having the names of at least two readily obtainable antidotes. Further provision is made for villages of not more than five hundred inhabitants, whereby the Board of Pharmacy may grant permits to persons to conduct a store or sell such drugs and medicines as in their judgment may be required. The laws of this State are nearly in accord with the above. The amendment to the law enacted at the last session of the Legislature prohibits persons not registered as pharmacists from selling or dispensing or keeping or exposing for sale at retail drugs, medicines or chemicals. Second. Certain requirements as to age and experience are established, which must be verified under oath before applicants can appear for examination before a board. When certificates are granted, they are for a limited period. In this particular the laws of our State are defective. Since the enactment of the original pharmacy law, in 1885, to Oct. 1, 1900, 3,953 certificates have been issued. To our best knowledge, about 2,500 of these certificates are in use. Our agent is constantly finding certificates displayed, the persons owning the same either being deceased or having retired or forsaken the business, leaving behind their certificates, which are sometimes used by unscrupulous persons for illegal pur |