134 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



"Greater care in selecting apprentices.'' 

 "Increased compensation to encourage 

 better trained young men to enter phar- 

 macy." "A training that will enable the 

 pharmacist to do the testing of milk, of 

 water, of wall paper, of urine, etc, and 

 displace the analytic chemist." 



The ideal concerning education differs 

 greatly. It ranges from the sentiment 

 that "experience in an ordinary store is 

 the one essential with possibly the ad- 

 dition of the little surface polish a college 

 of pharmacy can give, " to the demand 

 that the "apprentice must be a high 

 school graduate and pass examination in 

 the rudiments of history, natural history, 

 philosophy, geology, algebra, geometry, 

 chemistry, anatomy, Latin and German, 

 before entering a store or attending a 

 college. 



A necessary drug course is variously 

 considered to include "teaching in 

 theoretical pharmacy, botany and chem- 

 istry, and a thorough training in practi- 

 cal botany, pharmacy, chemistry and 

 microscopy with a good knowledge of 

 hygiene, anatomy and physiology, and a 

 proficient training in the analysis of drugs, 

 food, water and urine and in the detec- 

 tion of poisons." 



By some the college is deemed to pos- 

 sess the one advantage of fitting the 

 young man to "pass the State Board 

 examinations without undergoing the 

 drudgery of the store." Others conclude 

 that " colleges have raised the standard 

 of attainments of clerks so high that they 

 demand and secure much higher com- 

 pensation than formerly and so deplete 

 the proprietor's profits that the clerk is 

 often better off financially than his em- 

 ployer. 



The testimony of the great majority is 

 that' 'pharmacy as an investment has long 

 since passed its prime, holds its present 

 votaries only by compulsion and warns 

 off all new comers." Three only think 



their calling is as it should be, " the "'^ 

 grandest calling one can engage in, de- 

 manding the highest grade of character, 

 furnishing unlimited opportunity for the 

 acquisition of knowledge, the enrichment 

 and expansion of the mind and supply- 

 ing all the recompense, mental, moral 

 and financial, one has a just right to ex- 

 pect." 



One of these cheerful optimistic broth- 

 ers reminds us: 



" 'Tis hard work, but grit makes the man, 

 The lack of it the chump. 

 To be successful, boys, 

 Hang on and hump." 



Thinking it might be of some interest 

 and give something to think about, I re- 

 quested the successful contestants to 

 state briefly v/hether they were members 

 of the American Pharmaceutical Associ- 

 ation, of a State association or any local 

 association, if graduates in pharmacy 

 and if they had enjoyed the advantage of 

 any special training. 



Eight of the nine, successful proprie- 

 tors, replied as follows: Two are members 

 of the American Pharmaceutical Associ- 

 ation, three will join this year, three are 

 not. Four are members of their State 

 association and four are not. Three are 

 members of local associations, five are 

 not. Three are graduates of American 

 Colleges of pharmacy, two had pharma- 

 cy training at Gottingen, Germany, one 

 is a doctor of medicine, one is a graduate 

 in analytical chemistry and one has had 

 home training and taken the Institute of 

 Pharmacy reading course. 



Eleven of the fourteen clerks replied 

 as follows : 



One hopes to join the Association at 

 this meeting, ten no. Three are mem- 

 bers of State associations, eight are not. 

 One is a member of a local organization, 

 ten are not. Seven are graduates of 

 American colleges of pharmacy, two are 

 about to graduate, one is a graduate of a 



