S16 
Modern  Pharmaceutical  Study. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1      June,  1882. 
The  ''Minor  Examination  "  [Cor  registration  as  "Cliemist  and  Druggist" 
under  tlie  Pliarmacy  Act,  1868].  Candidates  for  tliis  examination  must 
have  passed  the  "  First  or  Preliminary  Examination,"  and  have  attained 
the  full  age  of  twenty-one  years.  Each  candidate  must  produce  a  certified 
declaration  that  for  three  years  he  has  been  registered  and  employed  as  an 
apprentice.  The  examination  embraces  :  reading  and  translating  of  pre- 
scriptions and  general  knowledge  of  Posology,  Practical  Dispensing,  Phar- 
macy, Materia  Medica,  Botany  and  Chemistry. 
The  3Iajor  Examination^  ^  [for  registration  as  "  Pharmaceutical  Chem- 
ist," under  the  Pharmacy  Act,  18")2].  Candidates  for  this  examination 
must  have  passed  the  "Minor"  at  least  three  months  previously.  This 
"Major"  comprises  Materia  Medica,  Botany  and  Chemistry  [also  Qualita- 
tive Analysis]. 
In  the  year  1879,  2,296  candidates  were  announced  ;  of  these  76  passed 
the  "  Major,"  331  the  "  Minor,"  and  753  the  "  First  or  Preliminary  Exami- 
nation;" nearly  one-half  of  the  candidates  were  thus  rejected. 
Great  Britain  has  now  a  great  number  of  pharmaceutical  schools ;  the 
most  important  of  these  is  still  "The  School  of  Pharmacy,"  17  Blooms- 
bury  Square,  London.  This  school  was  establislied  by  the  "Pharmaceu- 
tical Society  "  in  1841.  Since  1873,  however,  the  fees  have  been  advanced 
so  much  that  the  Society  has  ceased  to  have  any  pecuniary  interest  in 
the  school.  The  number  of  students  in  the  London  school  is  yet  ordina- 
rily only  thirty  to  forty,  and  thus  not  nearly  so  great  as  for  example  in 
the  "  Ecole  Superieure  de  Pharmacie  de  Paris"  (about  600),  or  in  the  large 
"  Colleges  of  Pharmacy"  in  the  United  States. 
In  "  Apothecaries'  Hall,"  in  London,  some  pharmaceutical  examinations 
are  also  held,  but  these  have  a  more  private  character,  and  do  not  have  the 
same  legal  power  as  those  which  are  supervised  by  the  great  Pharmaceu- 
tical Society. 
These  rules  are  not  all  directly  applicable  to  Ireland,  which  has  its  own 
laws.  In  1791  a  law  was  published  which  ordered  the  establishment  of 
an  "Apothecaries'  Hall"  in  Dublin,  and  pharmaceutical  examinations  were 
held  there  also.  This  is  now  changed  by  the  new  Pharmacy  Act  \^Ire- 
land],  1875,"  according  to  which  the  "  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Ireland" 
was  organized.  This  Society  is  constituted  quite  like  the  English  one,  and 
must  hold  all  pharmaceutical  examinations,  which  are  nearly  identical 
with  the  above-mentioned  in  England. 
The  weakest  point  in  English  pharmaceutical  education  is  doubtless  the 
"First  or  Preliminary  Examination,"  which  is  evidently  much  less  severe 
than  the  corresponding  one  in  other  European  countries. 
The  system  of  two  classes  of  pharmacists  must  in  my  opinion,  also  be 
regarded  as  not  quite  satisfactory.  I  believe  it  to  be  one  of  the  principal  reasons 
for  the  present  high  standing  of  German  pharmacy  tliat  there  all  pharma- 
cists are  obliged  to  pass  the  ' '  Major. "  It  is  true,  that  in  France  there  are  two 
classes  of  pharmacists  who  have  passed  the  "  Major,"  but  one  must  remem- 
ber that  the  difference  between  these  two  classes  consists  only  in  different 
requirements  at  the  preliminary  examination,  while  the  pharmaceutical 
examinations  are  the  same,  and  that  both  these  French  preliminary  exam- 
inations are  much  higher  than  the  English. 
