Aro"ciober,Pi^m*}      Status  of  American  Pharmacy,.  471 
laries,  made  and  contributed  to  our  useful  dispensatories,  chemis- 
tries and  treatises  on  pharmacy,  making  the  high  professional 
standard,  bequeathing  it  as  a  legacy  for  those  who  take  their  places 
to-day.  Delightful  indeed  is  this  duty  to  recall  the  pioneer  service 
performed  by  that  patient  industrious  body  who  builded  so  wisely 
and  made  possible  our  partnership  and  succession  to  the  inheritance 
manifest  in  this  interesting  assemblage. 
Do  we  inquire  who  were  these  noble  men?  Glance  over  the 
pages  of  our  own  history,  or  gaze  upon  the  walls  of  this  assembly 
hall  and  see  some  of  the  worthies  looking  upon  us  in  mute  picture 
and  perhaps  in  spirit  communion. 
Education  marks  every  stage  of  progress  in  the  advancement  of 
all  science,  and  it  will  not  seem  strange,  therefore,  that  early  in  the 
history  of  this  Association  the  wisdom  of  the  pioneers  was  directed 
towards  a  higher  education,  proper  instruction  and  careful  mould- 
ing of  the  learners  or  the  apprentices.  Many  young  men  of  that 
day  became  apprentices  to  the  drug  business  only  by  the  English 
custom,  the  process  of  legal  indenture,  and  the  writer  enjoys  the 
memory  of  an  apprenticeship  of  this  character  for  six  years  and 
seventeen  days  ;  and  whilst  the  continuance  of  this  plan  is  almost 
obsolete — it  cannot  be  properly  a  part  of  this  paper  to  discuss  the 
question — the  fact  is  introduced  only  to  locate  this  landmark  of  the 
times  of  fifty  years  ago  and  to  recall  the  fact  that  as  early  in  our 
history  as  1854  an  address  was  promulgated  by  this  Association 
giving  expression  to  the  importance  of  adopting  some  measure 
by  which  the  then  present  and  future  apothecaries  of  this 
widely  extended  country  may  be  improved  in  their  educational 
standing. 
Prior  to  and  since  the  organization  of  this  Association,  there 
existed  and  have  been  established  colleges  of  pharmacy  that  have 
largely  through  their  delegations  or  representatives  to  the  annual 
meetings  contributed  to  the  progress  of  the  science,  and  as  a  signifi- 
cant witness,  thirty-one  colleges  of  pharmacy  and  twenty-three 
departments  of  pharmacy  in  colleges  and  universities  have  been 
founded  as  noted  here  consecutively  and  in  the  order  of  their  found, 
ing,  and  our  table  of  landmarks  would  be  incomplete  without 
emphasizing  the  value  of  their  work  in  the  line  of  educational 
pharmaceutical  progress.  Let  it  be  noted  also  with  much  interest 
that  the  initial  meeting  of  this  Association,  called  the  National 
