August 12, 1922] 



NA TURE 



a parasitic disease, perhaps more destructive of health 

 and efficiency than either cholera or malaria. It was 

 necessary that the provision made for such villages 

 should be primitive in character, and the " pit latrine " 

 was the most satisfactory in most circumstances. 

 Such latrines obviate the need for any conservancy 

 staff and they greatly diminish surface contamination 

 of the ground, and thereby reduce the possibility of 

 spreading hookworm disease. Man}' of these simple 

 arrangements have been in existence for hundreds 

 of years in countries like Persia, Arabia, and Meso- 

 potamia, and have given rise to no nuisance, but are 

 in all respects satisfactory. 



A few only of the subjects discussed at this Congress 

 have been mentioned. The educational value of 

 such meetings stands high. The Congresses of the 

 Royal Sanitary Institute are unique in that they 

 focus the views and wisdom of every profession and 

 calling bearing on public health whether legal or 

 medical, engineering or architectural, women workers 

 voluntary or officials, medical officers of health 

 or sanitary inspectors, veterinary and medical in- 

 spectors, representatives of sanitary authorities, and 

 the workers in voluntary organisations. Out of ex- 

 change of outlooks from these various angles public 

 health progress is secured. 



Pharmaceutical Education and Research. 



A T the British Pharmaceutical Conference, held 

 -**■ at Nottingham on July 24-27, the President, 

 Prof. H. G. Greenish, delivered an address on " Phar- 

 macognosy and the Pharmaceutical Curriculum." 

 Pharmacognosy, he said, was a field of knowledge 

 that the pharmacist was peculiarly fitted to cultivate, 

 but he would not be able to do so satisfactorily unless 

 he had received a sound preliminary education and 

 had been subsequently trained in chemistry, botany, 

 physics, and elementary zoology. The entrance ex- 

 amination to pharmacy should, he thought, be raised 

 to the level of matriculation, and the training in the 

 sciences upon which pharmacognosy is based should 

 follow and not precede the practical training in the 

 pharmacy which is necessary before the student can 

 present himself for the Qualifying Examination. 

 Dealing with the course of instruction in botany, 

 this, he thought, should be adapted to the object 

 the student had in view, special attention being paid 

 to anatomy, morphology, physiology, and systematic 

 botany. 



The training in pharmacognosy should be of a 

 more general and more practical nature than was 

 at present often the case, and should include the 

 determination of diagnostic characters by means of 

 the lens or the microscope or by qualitative chemical 

 tests as might be requisite. In this respect a detailed 

 syllabus was a disadvantage, as it restricted the 

 freedom of thought and the development of a spirit 

 of inquiry which was essential to true progress. In 

 the advanced course of instruction and in the major 

 examination more stress should be laid upon the 

 identification of powdered drugs, the analvsis of 

 mixed powders, and the assay of drugs by chemical 

 methods. Opportunity for post-graduate work was 

 very necessary and every possible inducement should 

 be offered to the student to undertake it. The 

 Universities of Manchester and Glasgow had made 

 arrangements for pharmaceutical subjects to form 

 part of the examination for the degree of Bachelor 

 of Science, and if the University of London could 

 be induced to make a similar arrangement a consider- 

 able step forward would be made. 



The student who had attended advanced courses 

 of instruction in the selected subjects would then be 



NO. 2754, VOL. I lOj 



in a position to take the degree of B.Sc. From this 

 he could proceed without difficulty to the degree of 

 doctor of philosophy, the requirement of the Uni- 

 versity of London being broadly two further academic 

 years of study, including the presentation of a thesis 

 on an approved subject. The work for the thesis 

 could be carried out in an institution such as the 

 research laboratories of the Pharmaceutical Society 

 under teachers recognised by the University. The 

 field of pharmacognosy is so wide, and the problems 

 that await solution are so diversified in their nature, 

 that no difficulty would be encountered in selecting 

 subjects suited to the varied abilities of the students. 

 Great assistance would be rendered in this work by 

 the establishment of an experimental station similar 

 to the Pharmaceutical Experimental Station of the 

 University of Wisconsin at which the material ne- 

 cessary for investigation could be grown and experi- 

 ments carried out. Possibly such a station could be 

 established in connexion with one of the agricultural 

 colleges. 



The determination of the Pharmaceutical Society 

 to foster its scientific work more in the future than 

 it has done in the immediate past was one of the 

 most hopeful signs for the future of pharmacy, and 

 the society, by developing the work which pharmacists 

 were specially trained to do, would go far to estab- 

 lishing its position as a learned society. The president 

 concluded by saying that there might be obstacles to 

 be surmounted, misunderstandings to dispel, and 

 prejudices to be overcome, but the spirit of the pioneers 

 of scientific pharmacy existed to-day and, though 

 latent, was strong. The society should set its educa- 

 tional policy in the direction indicated by the wisdom 

 of its founders and foster the love of the calling 

 which distinguished its early years. So alone would 

 pharmacy ensure for itself the appreciation of a nation. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



London. — Dr. George Senter, principal and head 

 of the department of chemistry, Birkbeck College, 

 has been selected by the University of London 

 Graduates' Association as candidate for the vacancy 

 in the representation of science graduates on the 

 Senate of the University, caused by the election of 

 Dr. Walmsley to the chairmanship of convocation. 

 Dr. Senter was formerly a member of the Senate, 

 and has for many years taken an active part in 

 University affairs. 



Dr. Walter Ritchie, assistant lecturer in biology 

 in the University College, Aberystwyth, has been 

 appointed assistant lecturer in biology at the Tech- 

 nical College, Bradford, in succession to Mr. L. 

 P. W. Renouf, who resigned his appointment on his 

 election to the professorship of zoology in the Uni- 

 versity of Cork. 



In accordance with the terms of the will of the 

 late Sir Archibald Dawnay, the Royal Institute of 

 British Architects has awarded, for the first time, 

 two scholarships, each of 50/. per annum for two 

 years, to Mr. E. U. Channon, Architectural Associa- 

 tion, and Mr. D. J. A. Ross, Robert Gordon's Tech- 

 nical College, Aberdeen : and one scholarship of 25/. 

 per annum, for two years, to Mr. C. S. White, \i. hi- 

 tectural Association. The scholarships are intended 

 to foster the advanced study of construction and the 

 improvement generally of constructional methods and 

 materials and their influence on design. 



