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THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



over the prescriptions of their graduate, 

 and to save him from the results of the 

 ignorance in which they have leit him- 



In manufacturing medicinal prepara- 

 tions from crude materials, and in filling 

 prescriptions, there is demanded of the 

 pharmacist a degree of chemical knowl- 

 edge which is both very deep and exten- 

 sive. The ever increasing number of new 

 chemical compounds of complex struct- 

 ures and more complex relationship, 

 their unstable nature, and their tendency 

 toward vitiating or dangerous reactions 

 has necessitated a revolution in the ex- 

 tent and methods ox chemical instruction 

 in schools of pharmacy. 



A similar change has taken place in 

 the department of practical pharmacy, 

 wherein the student learns to apply the 

 theoretical information gained in the de- 

 partment of chemistry. Every student 

 realizes the tendency toward mental en- 

 grossment and so-called absent-minded- 

 ness. The pharmacy student, however; 

 must under no circumstances yield to 

 this tendency. In spite of any degree of 

 concentration of mind upon one subject, 

 his mind must be ever present to the 

 many trivial details which enter into his 

 work at the prescription counter, inter- 

 rupted as it is by numerous and frequent 

 calls in other directions. 



Finally, we are called upon to note 

 that the pharmacist is not infrequently 

 faced by the necessity of acting in an 

 emergency to save human life, and one 

 of the greatest perplexities which attends 

 the framers of the college curriculum is 

 to decide just how far it is appropriate 

 and practicable for them to go in prepar- 

 ing the student to meet these emergen- 

 cies. Nor must it be forgotten that in 

 this, as in other duties, there is required 

 of the pharmacist himself a rare degree 

 of tact and judgment in observing the 

 delicate requirements arising from his 

 relations to the medical practitioner, to 



the patient, and to the law. As to the 

 responsibility of the pharmacy school in 

 fitting its undergraduates to meet these 

 conditions, which are in the strictest 

 sense professional, and in certainly ascer- 

 taining, before awarding his diploma, 

 that he is so fitted, there is no difference 

 of opinion, even among the differing rep- 

 resentatives of the several classes of phar- 

 macy schools. The policy of the New 

 York College of Pharmacy has been 

 based upon the conviction that adequate 

 preparation in this direction cannot be 

 acquired in any short course — by which 

 is distinctly meant a course contracted as • 

 regards the space of time covered from 

 entrance to graduation — nor one which 

 does not include, as an integral part, a 

 practical experience in drug-store work. 

 The relations of the student to "ad- 

 vanced pharmacy" may be considered 

 after our description of means and meth- 

 ods which our college will be enabled to 

 employ under the ideal conditions which 

 we shall enjoy in our new quarters. 



The minimum requirements which are 

 deemed necessary by the College as quali- 

 fication for the safe and satisfactory per- 

 formance of the duties pertaining to the 

 ordinary pharmacy are two courses of in- 

 struction at this college and four years' 

 practical experience in a drug store, two 

 of which may be represented by the two 

 college years. The highest perfection is 

 attained in the grading of the college 

 courses. The drug store training mani- 

 festly cannot be so perfectly controlled 

 by the college. The temptation for the 

 proprietor to utilize to his own best in- 

 terests the services of a clerk, who usu- 

 ally bears him no closer relation than 

 that of an employe, is very great, and 

 such employment frequently tends from 

 rather than toward the educational stand- 

 ard. The system, moreover, to a certain 

 extent, permits of deception on the part of 

 the student. Freely admitting the techni- 



