388 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
apothecaries  ;  3d,  of  the  answers  to  these  circulars,  tabulated  for 
reference  ;  4th,  of  the  report  on  quack  medicines,  specially  re- 
ferred last  year ;  5th,  of  a  report  on  the  expediency  of  endeavor- 
ing to  obtain  congressional  action  in  reference  to  the  mode  of 
appointing  drug  inspectors ;  and  6th,  the  report  of  G.  L.  Simmons, 
of  California,  on  the  condition  of  apprenticeship  in  that  state. 
On  motion  of  C.  B.  Guthrie,  the  "  address  "  was  adopted  by 
the  Association,  directed  to  be  printed  in  the  proceedings,  and 
the  Executive  Committee  were  instructed  to  print  such  a  number 
of  copies,  in  a  separate  form,  as  in  their  judgment  were  neces- 
sary for  general  distribution. 
ADDRESS 
To  the  Pharmaceutists  of  the  United  States. 
The  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  deeply  impressed  with  the  im- 
portance of  adopting  some  measure  by  which  the  present  and  future  apotheca- 
ries of  this  country  may  be  improved  in  educational  standing,  viewed  in  reference 
to  the  practice  of  their  profession,  have  determined  to  address  their  brethren 
everywhere  in  our  widely  extended  country,  believing  that  some  good  results 
may  arise  from  the  hints  they  will  suggest. 
By  an  inquiry  extended  to  all  sections  of  the  Union,  it  has  been  ascertained 
that  a  vital  defect  exists  in  the  very  budding  process  of  pharmaceutical  educa- 
tion— the  apprenticeship.  In  all  the  pharmaceutical  institutions  of  Europe, 
where  degrees  are  granted  to  apothecaries,  the  preliminary  service  in  the  shop 
is  a  sine  qua  non  to  admission  to  the  examinations,  it  being  generally  four 
years,  and  in  many  of  them  the  attendance  on  lectures  follows  this  term  of  prac- 
tical initiation  into  the  duties  of  the  shop  and  laboratory.  In  England,  where 
as  yet  no  degree-granting  institution  exists  among  pharmaceutists,  the  appren- 
ticeship system  is  carried  out  by  indenture  as  in  ordinary  usage,  so  important 
is  this  preliminary  training  conceived  to  be  to  the  education  of  a  pharmaceutical 
chemist.  In  many  stores  in  the  Atlantic  cities  north  of  Virginia,  and  more 
especially  in  Philadelphia,  a  system  of  apprenticing  exists,  yet  it  rarely  happens 
that  a  lad  is  legally  indentured  ;  the  idea  of  such  an  instrument  being  exceed- 
ingly repulsive  to  most  boys  who  aim  at  the  apothecary  business.  In  lieu  of  a 
legal  indenture  a  feeling  of  honor-bound  obligation  should  exist,  equally  binding 
on  the  part  of  apprentice  and  employer,  capable  of  retaining  the  connection  until 
the  obligation  is  cancelled  by  termination  of  service  and  completion  of  education. 
For  want  of  this  tie  between  learners  and  employers,  our  country  has  been 
deluged  with  incompetent  drug  clerks,  whose  claim  to  the  important  position 
they  hold  or  apply  for  is  based  on  a  year  or  two's  service  in  the  shop,  perhaps 
under  circumstances  illy  calculated  to  increase  their  knowledge.  These  clerks 
in  turn  become  principals,  and  have  the  direction  of  others — alas  !  for  the  pro- 
geny that  some  of  them  bring  forth,  as  ignorance  multiplied  by  ignorance  will 
produce  neither  knowledge  nor  skill. 
When  we  investigate  the  causes  of  this  state  of  things,  itjwill  be  found  to  arise 
primarily  in  the  want  of  a  correct  feeling  of  the  dignity  and  responsibility  of  the 
calling  of  the  apothecary  as  a  branch  of  the  medical  profession.  The  larger 
number  of  those  who  deal  in  drugs  and  medicines  do  it  solely  to  make  money  ; 
they  aim  at  making  the  most  out  of  the  least  outlay  of  capital  or  trouble  ;  to  sell 
medicines  is  their  vocation;  and  he  is  the  best  clerk  who  can  sell  the  most,  under 
whatever  circumstances  it  is  effected.    To  avoid  the  necessity  of  gaining  the 
