THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 53 



is as worthless as a spent match. Every advertisment should be an 

 educator. Facts are more convincing than exclamation points ; and 

 the deafest man on earth can heed an ad. printed in twelve-line pica 

 just as well as when it is set in twelve-inch block letters. 



ABOVE ALL MAKE YOUR STORE ATTRACTIVE TO THE 

 END THAT PEOPLE WILL PASS OTHER STORES TO 

 C< )ME TO YOURS. 



BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY IN PHARMACY 



SCHOOLS. 



C. W. Ballard, A. M. 



Botany and pharmacognosy are generally regarded by the phar- 

 macy student as being highly impractical and to be disposed of 

 as quickly and easily as possible. In fact many have informed me 

 that they merely tried to acquire enough knowledge to pass college 

 and board examinations. In their anxiety to attain this end they fre- 

 quently underestimate the amount needed even for this purpose and 

 then try to blame results upon the examination, overlooking the fact 

 that they are themselves to blame. Speaking from personal experi- 

 ence, I will admit that these subjects are not always directly applied 

 in the retail pharmacy, but for that matter, much of the subject mat- 

 ter of chemistry and even theoretical pharmacy itself is not of direct 

 use in making money. However the' subjects of the first year in a 

 school of pharmacy are intended as a ground-work for the second 

 year's work and are of need in teaching materia medica and even 

 chemistry and pharmacy. The man overlooks the fact that these are 

 foundation subjects. We are not teaching him botany and microscopy 

 in the short time at our disposal with the idea of making a botanist 

 or drug expert of him. The student, who is in most cases not qual- 

 ified to judge, thinks that they are useless studies and should, there- 

 fore, be discontinued. W T e might as well say that pharmacology, 

 theoretical anatomy and histology should be dropped from the medical 

 school curriculum because the average physician makes comparatively 

 little use of them. 



The man reasons that he does not have to apply botany in selling 

 the ordinary articles in a pharmacy. Does he apply chemical analy- 

 sis, organic and inorganic chemistry in a similar case? The mystery 

 is, why does he single out botany and pharmacognosy as examples of 

 useless studies. I think the answer will be found in the antipathy 

 with which a man attacks them. He starts with a prejudice against 

 them and their dufficulty is enhanced by this prejudice. From class 



