Article III. Immediately after the temporary organization of the Association the roll shall be called, when a committee on credentials shall be appointed from the members present, to whom the certificates of delegates shall be submitted, and who shall examine the claims of all other applicants for membership before they are submitted to the Association.

SECTION V.

This Constitution may be altered or amended by a vote of three-fourths of the members present at any regular meeting, and notice to alter or amend the same shall be given at least one sitting before a vote thereupon.

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CODE OF ETHICS OF THE AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION.

The American Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal As­soc­ia­tion, com­posed of Phar­ma­ceu­tists and Drug­gists through­out the Un­it­ed States, feeling a strong interest in the success and ad­vance­ment of their pro­fes­sion in its practical and scien­ti­fic rela­tions, and also impressed with the belief that no amount of know­ledge and skill will protect themselves and the public from the ill effects of an undue com­pe­ti­tion, and the temp­ta­tions to gain at the expense of quality, unless they are upheld by high moral obligations in the path of duty, have sub­scribed to the fol­low­ing Code of Ethics for the gov­ern­ment of their pro­fes­sion­al conduct.

ART. I. As the practice of pharmacy can only become uniform by an open and candid intercourse being kept up between apothecaries and druggists among themselves and each other, by the adoption of the National Pharmacopœia as a guide in the preparation of officinal medicines, by the discontinuance of secret formulæ and the practices arising from a quackish spirit, and by an encouragement of that esprit du corps which will prevent a resort to those disreputable practices arising out of an injurious and wicked competition;—Therefore, the members of this Association agree to uphold the use of the Pharmacopœia in their practice; to cultivate brotherly feeling among the members, and to discountenance quackery and dishonorable competition in their business.

ART. II. As labor should have its just reward, and as the skill, knowledge and responsibility required in the practice of pharmacy are great, the remuneration of the pharmaceutist’s services should be proportioned to these, rather than to the market value of preparations vended. The rate of charges will necessarily vary with geographical position, municipal location, and other circumstances of a permanent character, but a resort to intentional and unnecessary reduction in the rate of charges among apothecaries, with a view to gaining at the expense of their brethren, is strongly discountenanced by this Association as productive of evil results.

ART. III. The first duty of the apothecary, after duly preparing himself for his profession, being to procure good drugs and prepartions, (for without these his skill and knowledge are of small avail,) he frequently has to rely on the good faith of the druggists for their selection. {379} Those druggists whose knowledge, skill and integrity enable them to conduct their business faithfully, should be encouraged, rather than those who base their claims to patronage on the cheapness of their articles solely. When accidentally or otherwise, a deteriorated, or adulterated drug or medicine is sent to the apothecary, he should invariably return it to the druggist, with a statement of its defects. What is too frequently considered as a mere error of trade on the part of the druggist becomes a highly culpable act when countenanced by the apothecary; hence, when repetitions of such frauds occur, they should be exposed for the benefit of the profession. A careful but firm pursuit of this course would render well-disposed druggists more careful, and deter the fraudulently inclined from a resort to their disreputable practices.