70 



C. U. C. p. ALUMNI JOURNAL 



Commercial science is justly classified with 

 the other practical sciences, such as those that 

 are combined in a course of pharmaci^ It is 

 much the same as the different phases of en- 

 gineering, and back of all this, as greater 

 support to the "wall of necessity" are the actual 

 needs of the students, even high school gradu- 

 ates, which may be easily ascertained by 

 requiring them to write a commercial letter, 

 such as an application for a position or a re- 

 quest for credit. Scientific farming may have 

 improved the quality of grain, but the mills 

 must still grind the grist that is brought to 

 them. 



It has occurred to me that I may more 

 successfully present to you my ideas regard- 

 ing the details of a course in commercial phar- 

 macy, by reading to you, as far as time will 

 allow, from the manuscript of a treatise on 

 the subject that I have had under preparation 

 for a number of years, but which I have not 

 hastened to finish and pulilisb. because of my 

 numerous enemies. "Oh, that mine enemy 

 would write a book." And if I may be per- 

 mitted to do so, I will give extracts and ex- 

 amples from the actual course I have been 

 giving, with more or less changes, during the 

 last fourteen years. 



It will please and greatly assist me, if as 

 many as are interested will bear with me 

 patiently during the remainder of my address 

 and, having heard what I have read and said, 

 will be good enough to write me their honest 

 convictions as to whether or not they believe 

 such a treatise as outlined would be helpful to 

 students of pharmacy, or if - such a book, 

 slightly or even greatly modified, would meet 

 the needs of the time. For such criticism, I 

 will be truly and greatly obliged. 



From the proposed treatise I read as follows : 



COMMERCIAL PHARMACY 



Introductory Description 



Commercial Pharmacy, as contemplated by 

 this treatise, includes all those doings, peculiar 

 to the business life of the pharmacist, which 

 are not usually regarded as scientific or tech- 

 nical and which have not been generally taught 

 in colleges of pharmacy nor fully discussed 

 in pharmaceutical text-books and other books 

 relating to pharmacy. It has much to do with 

 such practical and oftentimes intricate subjects 



as were formerly taught apprentices by their 

 preceptors. It includes knowledge of general 

 business principles, facility in business prac- 

 tices and familiarity with business forms; all 

 of which are desirable and becoming accom- 

 plishments that will greatly assist their pos- 

 sessor in acquiring creditable pharmaceutical 

 and business standing. They are qualifications 

 such as all classes of tradesmen might use to 

 advantage and are not peculiar to the drug 

 business, but are such as are absolutely neces- 

 sary to make one competent to properlj- con- 

 duct a retail pharmacy, maintain necessar\' 

 credit and win financial success. 



Leading credit men connected with the 

 wholesale drug trade have freely announced 

 the belief that the business education of phar- 

 macists needs to be advanced and that a lack 

 of commercial training is often the cause of 

 many of them failing to meet their obligations, 

 which means that, while they may be well 

 trained in the scientific and technical phases 

 of their profession, they are not, as a class, 

 successful in a business sense ; that is, do not 

 accumulate money, a conclusion that is em- 

 phatically endorsed by pharmaceutical journals, 

 leading writers and successful pharmacists. 

 This defect in the preparation of pharmacists 

 for business has been found, upon further in- 

 vestigation, to be so pronounced, that the 

 National Wholesale Druggists' Association has 

 thought it wise to urge its members to exer- 

 cise almost a paternal supervision over retail 

 druggists who deal with them, regarding their 

 purchases, their investments and their book- 

 keeping, which, although, no doubt, warranted, 

 is, nevertheless, very humiliating to those of 

 us who are ambitious regarding our calling. 



Justice cannot be done the profession of 

 pharmacy unless we accept the truth that, 

 while the practice of the profession may, for 

 purposes of profit, be dependent upon good 

 commercial practices, pharmacy is not, itself, 

 dependent upon them. The science and art of 

 pharmacy might be quite successfully and 

 most creditably practised without the slightest 

 reference to trade considerations, just as the 

 science and art of surgery may be practised 

 without the slightest consideration as to bow 

 much is done or how much it pays. Let it be 

 understood, then, that trade — what is known 

 as barter and sale — is not an essential part of 

 the profession of pharmacy, but is merely in- 



