THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
STANDARDS  IN  PHARMACEUTICAL  EDUCATION.1 
By  Henry  Kraembr. 
If  we  consider  the  present  awakening  in  pharmacy,  it  may  seem 
to  some  that  we  are  making  very  rapid  strides,  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  progress  of  pharmaceutical  education  in  this  country 
has  been  comparatively  slow.  The  history  of  pharmacy  in  this 
country  may  be  divided  into  three  periods  :  (i)  The  pioneer  period 
during  the  sixteenth  century,  when  there  were  no  physicians,  and 
the  general  storekeeper  who  sold  dry  goods,  groceries,  books  and 
paints,  also  sold  medicines  and  prescribed  them;  (2)  the  colonial 
period  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  when  edu- 
cated physicians  from  abroad  emigrated  to  the  colonies  and  prescribed 
as  well  as  dispensed  medicines ;  (3)  the  college  period,  or  the  period 
of  organization  and  development,  during  the  nineteenth  century, 
when  pharmacy  became  a  distinct  profession  and  business,  and  col- 
leges of  pharmacy  were  established,  these  numbering  nearly  100  at 
the  present  time.  We  are  now  entering,  after  nearly  a  century, 
upon  the  fourth  period,  namely,  that  of  standards  in  education,  and 
we  are  endeavoring  to  fix  the  position  of  pharmacy  among  the  other 
professions. 
The  problem  of  pharmaceutical  education  involves  two  phases, 
namely  (1)  that  of  the  natural  ability  and  preliminary  qualifications 
of  the  applicants  for  entrance  to  the  colleges  and  schools  of  phar- 
macy, and  (2)  that  of  the  character  and  kind  of  instruction  that 
shall  be  given  by  a  recognized  teaching  institution  in  pharmacy. 
1  Read  before  the  Philadelphia  Branch  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association,  February  5,  1907. 
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