THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 81 



until we are able to accurately weigh and accurately measure and 

 make accurate analyses. The pharmacist is taught to do these things. 

 Berthelot, one of the most famous French chemists, speaking of what 

 he understands by the scientific method states that it is at present, and 

 in fact always has been, the fundamental, if not the only source of 

 both the moral and material progress of human society. 



No one can over-estimate the value to the community, to the coun- 

 try, in sending out nearly ioo well-trained pharmacists every year. 

 Think what that means to the physician. The physician, after he has 

 made up his mind what is the matter with the patient, writes on a little 

 slip of paper the medicine he thinks that patient needs, perhaps to save 

 his life. That prescription may include substances so powerful that a 

 proper dose is not more 'than i /150th part of a grain and it is the 

 duty of the pharmacist not only to secure at the outset, the materials 

 that the physician is likely to call for, but to see that they are abso- 

 lutely .pure and up to standard. In putting up the prescription no mis- 

 take must be made, no wrong bottle taken from the shelf, and no mis- 

 take made in the quantity ; that means a terrible responsibility. The 

 education that a young pharmacist gets in a College of Pharmacy 

 qualifies him for this responsibility and delicate duty and the physician 

 relies upon it. I might say, without reflecting in any way upon the 

 medical profession that it is a great safe-guard to the people to have a 

 thoroughly educated and well-qualified pharmacist as a check on the 

 physician's prescription. Even the physician is liable to make mis- 

 takes. He often lives a very strenuous life, and when he has several 

 patients seriously ill he gets no sleep. Is it any wonder then, if he 

 sometimes thinks one thing and writes another? But there is me 

 trained pharmacist who knows what is the proper dose of everv drug 

 which he puts into a prescription. When he sees a powerful drug 

 mentioned, and a dose that is not the proper dose, he goes to the physi- 

 cian with the prescription and says "Please look at that and see if 1 

 understand it rightly." and the physician may look at the prescription 

 and exclaim: "My, I might have killed that man." 



The example that the well trained pharmacist sets before the public 

 is likelv to induce young men in other professions to recognize the 

 value of education, the value of science in their courses. I do not 

 think that I could possibly exaggerate the importance to the community 

 of the well-trained pharmacist. 



( To be continued. ) 



