THE PROFESSION OF PHARMACY. .V),^ 



student al a Universit)- College or approxed institution of >iniilar 

 rank, or to a practising pharmacist. in this the assumption is 

 made that the suggested reforms have been accomphshed and 

 the examinations conducted in two stages. Indeed, the subjects 

 necessary for qualification readily lend themselves to such a 

 division. In the first examination the fundamentals of 

 Chemistry, both Inorganic and Organic, Physics, and Botany 

 would be taken, and in the second the applied portions of the 

 subject, including Materia Medica, Pharmacy and Dispensing, 

 Toxicology, etc. 



If a student elected to attend a University College, he 

 should be able to complete the courses and present himself for 

 the first examination at the end of his first }'ear, and this course 

 of action should not only be alloAved, but encouraged. In fact, 

 it would not be a disadvantage entirely if this year at college 

 were allowed to rank as equivalent to the ordinary first two 

 years' indentures of a pharmacy. 



In the examination given at the end of this period, special 

 stress should be laid upon proficiency in practical work in every 

 branch, since courses in this form now an integral portion of 

 the instruction given. Should it be impossible for this course 

 to be pursued, it is o])en to the student to apprentice himself 

 to a practising pharmacist in the ordinary way. In order to 

 prepare himself, however, for the qualifying tests, he is com- 

 pelled to seek the aid of his employer or other private tutor, or 

 of evening class instruction in public institutions. Of the latter 

 there are few which ofTer special courses for this work, prob- 

 ably owing to the fact that the number of candidates at any 

 one time is. comparatively speaking, small. On the other hand, 

 it should be remembered that the call for good apprentices has 

 always existed in this country, and has never yet been fully 

 met. Importation still continues, in spite of the fact that in 

 England the demand exceeds the supply, and this has greatly 

 increased since the outbreak of the war last August, owing to 

 the calls made for service in the cause of the sick and wounded. 

 It is, however, a matter of experience that the provision of 

 special facilities soon brings its own reward. On the one hand 

 the classes grow both in (juantity and quality, and on the other 

 hand the presence in the pharmacies of apprentices eager to 

 qualify soon creates an atmosphere in which the imqualified 

 intruder finds no place. The present system of crowding all 

 the subjects into one test is a serious deterrent, owing to the 

 fact that the number is too great, and would be even for the 

 college student, assuming a high ef^ciency throughout, and also 

 for the fact that the average apprentice finds it almost an im- 

 possibility to keep all the subjects going at the same time at 

 concert pitch; and so long as this lasts, a lovvcr standard of 



