THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



127 



cal existence ot these imperfections, we 

 note that their effects have been greatly 

 overrated by the opponents of this sys- 

 tem. The employer after all cannot put 

 the student to tasks for which his pre- 

 vious instruction has not fitted him, so 

 that the college grade is in a rough way 

 maintained even in a drug store. As to 

 the non-professional tasks frequently as- 

 signed by employers to junior clerks, it 

 is to be said that their existence proves 

 their utility in the modern pharmacy. 

 However much we may deplore their 

 existence, we must not deny that familiar- 

 ity with them enlarges the student's 

 equipment to engage successfully in the 

 business. 



This combination of the position of 

 employee with that of student presents 

 also advantages of a positive character 

 which far outweigh all possible disadvant- 

 ages. The close association of the pro- 

 fessional and the commercial in the life 

 of the pharmacist gives rise to tempta- 

 tions both peculiar and strong. For the 

 student to meet such temptations, and to 

 scruntinize and criticize the manner in 

 which they are met by associates, while 

 still under the powerful influence of the 

 alma mater, is to provide an important 

 safeguard for his whole future career. 



It is designed that the work of the 

 junior college year shall impart to the 

 student a sufficient knowledge of funda- 

 mental facts and principles to prepare him 

 for the practical work of the senior year, 

 familiarize him with the implements of 

 his craft, and train his eye and hand for 

 the close observations and delicate manip- 

 ulations which are to come. 



This work covers the sciences of phys- 

 ics, chemistry, botany and physiology, 

 and the arts of microscopy and elemen- 

 tary pharmacy. In each science it is 

 aimed to secure teachers so perfectly 

 familiar with the subject that they can 

 orsake altogether the common highways 



of instruction and adapt their subjects to 

 the practical needs of this class of stu- 

 dents. The result is a series of instruc- 

 tion courses which, from the standpoint 

 of pure educational science, are unique 

 at least in this country, and are worthy of 

 inspection by students of pedagogy. In 

 the interes's of economy, the pursuit, as 

 an end, of the science of the several sub- 

 jects is eliminated, and such science is 

 followed only because, and in so far as, 

 it is a necessary foundation for practice. 

 At the same time it is apparent that with- 

 in certain limits, as regards the ground 

 covered, the successful application to 

 practice, of the principles of a science 

 constitutes the crucial test of their pos- 

 session. 



Instruction in physics is limited to 

 twelve lectures and to subjects "of a 

 practical nature, and those necessary to 

 the education of an intelligent pharma- 

 cist." Instruction relates to the states 

 and properties of matter, the principles 

 of heat, light and electricity, and to the 

 instruments used in examining and deter- 

 mining the former and in estimating and 

 applying the latter. No special labora- 

 tory course in physics is found necessary, 

 the requisite instruction being incorpo- 

 rated into the laboratory course in chem- 

 istry. Prof. Arthur H. Elliott, Ph.D., 

 F.C.S., is in charge of this department, 

 as of the department of general chemistry, 

 and is a director of the chemical labora- 

 tory. Prof. Elliott's system of teaching 

 inorganic chemistry to beginners is in 

 some important respects unique. No 

 didactic teaching is employed. The class 

 is divided into sections, and each student 

 receives instruction at his own perfectly 

 equipped laboratory table, under the eye 

 of two floor-walking instructors as well 

 as of the professor, who upon the rostrum, 

 performs each experiment simultaneously 

 with the students, with an exactly simi- 

 lar set of apparatus, and upon substances 



