HELPING THE COUNCIL
If they were built that way, the members of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association might become discouraged at the apparent indifference of many members of the medical profession to their efforts. There are many physicians who, while figuratively patting the Council on the back, actually do nothing to aid its efforts. On the other hand, there are men in the profession who give the Council active support instead of merely passive appreciation. The letter that follows was written by such a man to a pharmaceutical concern:
I am receiving circular advertising from you concerning —— —— solution, and I am writing to suggest that until these products have been approved by the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association, you are wasting your postage on the practice. Aside from the fact that these products do not appeal to me personally, I feel that I am not in a position to judge the value of such products and I depend entirely on the large clinical opportunities of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association in addition to their laboratory facilities, in such matters as these. I may, therefore, with all due respect, suggest that ... it will pay you to eliminate my name from your mailing list.
The members of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry are working week in and week out without remuneration. Few appreciate how much these scientific men are doing for rational therapeutics; fewer still realize how much has been accomplished through their efforts, or how much more could be accomplished if every physician who at least believes in the work of the Council would give it his full support.—(Editorial from The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 6, 1920.)