A*october  Soa™'}  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  497 
general  knowledge  of  botany,  but  that  he  be  especially  grounded 
in  structural  botany,  including  external  morphology  and  internal 
morphology,  or  histology,  and  also  that  he  be  instructed  in  obtain- 
ing a  practical  or  working  knowledge  of  systematic  botany. 
2.  The  training  in  connection  with  the  use  of  the  microscope, 
including  the  application  of  reagents,  is  only  second  in  importance 
to  that  of  the  study  of  the  plant  material  itself,  because  it  is  a 
means  to  an  end.  For,  if  the  technique  is  not  well  understood,  the 
results  are  likely  to  be  misinterpreted  and  in  some  cases  more  harm 
than  good  done. 
3.  As  individual  collections  of  authentic  drug  specimens  are  not 
only  useful  to  the  student  for  purposes  of  study  during  his  college 
course,  but  also  for  purposes  of  comparison  subsequently,  it  is 
highly  desirable  that  each  student  be  encouraged  to  make  such 
collections.  In  connection  with  the  course  of  instruction  in  the 
Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  the  students  are  given  specimens 
of  all  of  the  official  drugs  and  some  of  the  important  non-official 
drugs,  and  they  are  expected  to  put  the  collection  in  a  permanent 
form,  and  are  rated  upon  the  care  taken  with  the'  specimens  and 
their  knowledge  of  them  and  ability  to  identify  them.  Some  years 
ago  one  of  the  students  suggested  the  use  of  type  trays,  such  as 
are  used  by  printers,  and  which  are  covered  with  glass,  for  keeping 
the  specimens,  and  this  method  of  keeping  them  has  become  rather 
popular,  for  the  reason  that  the  tray  with  its  compartments,  is 
compact,  inexpensive  and  attractive. 
4.  While  the  student  can  not  be  expected  to  become  familiar 
with  all  of  the  plants  that  yield  vegetable  drugs,  it  is  highly  essen- 
tial that  he  acquire  a  knowledge  of  as  many  of  the  living  medicinal 
plants  as  possible,  as  a  knowledge  of  the  habits  and  characters 
of  the  plants  from  which  drugs  are  derived  is  often  helpful  in 
judging  of  the  quality  and  characters  of  the  drugs  themselves, 
and  is  also  of  importance  in  the  collecting  of  authentic  material 
for  purposes  of  study  and  comparison.  A  botanic  garden  should 
be  connected  with  every  college  of  pharmacy,  and  botanic  excursions 
should  be  conducted  in  conjunction  with  the  course  of  instruction. 
5.  With  the  advances  in  preliminary  educational  requirements 
for  students  of  pharmacy,  the  most  serious  handicap  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  courses  in  pharmacognosy,  lies  in  the  shortness  of 
the  courses  in  the  schools  and  colleges  of  pharmacy.  The  time 
devoted  to  laboratory  instruction  in  pharmacognosy  is  by  no  means 
