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lised countries a fairly unanimous consensus of opinion on the 

 subjects necessary to the practice of the profession; but nii the 

 other hand, a wide diversity on the standards necessary for 

 proficiency. In the author's opinion, the latter are geueraUy 

 regulated by the means at hand which can be utilised for pre- 

 paration. Canada and the United States possess fully equipped 

 Colleges of Pharmacy, supported in most instances by the State, 

 and qualification can only be obtained by graduation from one 

 of these colleges. 



In England the Pharmaceutical Society sets aside much of 

 its building in Bloomsbury Square for the purposes of a training 

 college for students, who generally attend for two years,, but 

 attendance at this particular institution is not compulsory. The 

 result has been the growth in large numbers of other institutions, 

 which provide almost any kind of fare demanded by the would- 

 be minor or major candidate. There is no doubt that many 

 of these private schools fulfil a want, but, on the other hand, 

 even the mildest critic cannot escape from the feeling that the 

 majority of them are of the nature of cram schools, desirous 

 of obtaining passes for advertisement sake. In this connection 

 a comparison of the number of candidates passed by these insti- 

 tutions per annum with the total number of successes is 

 instructive. 



In A'lelbourne, Australia, there is a College of Pharmacy, 

 and at Svdnev the University has a department specially devoted 

 to this work. In South Africa we have colleges and technical 

 schools in each Province, but. as far as can be ascertained, only 

 the Natal and Transvaal Provinces attempt to provide specially 

 for this work. At Capetown no special facilities are granted 

 by any of the leading educational institutions, a .somewhat re- 

 markable fact, considering that the size of the town should 

 connote as large a number of candidates as could be found in 

 anv other portion of the Union. 



On the basis of the suggestions for reform made above, 

 it would be interesting to examine how far it is possible to make 

 use of the existing means for education, which are so amply 

 provided in every Province of the Union. Happih' there is in 

 the Transvaal and Cape Provinces more or less complete una- 

 nimity regarding the desirability of raising the standard of the 

 preliminary examination. Whether the Matriculation will be 

 eventually adopted officially is a moot ])oint, but if it were, 

 there can be little doubt of the beneficial eft'ect it would exert 

 on the future progress of pharmacy. Further, this examination 

 unlocks the entrance door of the various University Colleges 

 within the Union, a factor of some importance in the proposals 

 made later. Registration as an apprentice to the profession 

 follows, but according to the plan adopted by the student, he 

 should be allowed to register hiiuself in two wavs, either as a 



