Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
August,  1907.  J 
William  Beatty  Thompson. 
3S3 
The  varied  attainments  in  practical,  scientific,  and  technical  educa- 
cation,  which  are  required  to  qualify  the  apothecary  for  all  the 
diversified  demands  which  are  involved  in  his  professional  and 
moral  responsibility,  place  him  in  the  front  rank  of  all  his  compeers 
in  scientific  pursuit,  medicine  not  even  excepted.  The  pharmacist 
is  the  mentor  of  the  physician,  and  whatever  may  be  the  spirit  of 
benevolence  and  humane  purpose  involved  in  the  application  of 
medical  offices  to  human  suffering,  the  apothecary  precedes  his  pro- 
fessional ally  in  providing  and  properly  preparing  the  very  agents 
which  fulfil  that  benevolent  design. 
"  It  is  possible  only  to  present  types  as  ideals,  at  some  risk  it  is 
feared — unintentional  of  course — of  making  ungenerous  discrimina- 
tion by  omission  of  others  equally  worthy  of  recognition.  Those 
of  us  who  can  recall  will  remember  with  what  grave  decorum  and 
innate  commanding  dignity  such  honored  predecessors  here  in 
Philadelphia  as  William  Biddle,  Daniel  B.  Smith,  William  Hodgson, 
Joseph  C.  Turnpenny,  Henry  M.  Zollickhoffer,  Thomas  J.  Husband, 
Charles  Ellis,  and  Dillwyn  Parrish  presided  over  their  respective 
establishments.  What  a  satisfactory  assurance  of  well-reposed  con- 
fidence their  presence  gave  to  every  confiding  patron,  imparted 
by  gentle,  calm  demeanor,  and  undisturbed  poise  of  habit  !  Each 
countenance  bore  an  impressive  equanimity  and  even  disposition 
that  stamped  its  placidity.  The  genial  attributes  of  cultivated  dis- 
position never  weakened  the  force  of  character  or  the  firmness  ot 
decision.  Each  preserved  through  the  walks  of  a  venerated  age  an 
undeviating  self-control  which  ever  and  always  underlies  exalted 
character,  and  finally,  should  these  allusions,  perhaps  too  feebly 
expressed,  prove  an  inspiration,  and  serve  as  impetus  to  emulate, 
these  lines  may  not  have  been  written  without  useful  purpose." 
William  B.  Thompson  was  very  much  opposed  to  the  practice  ot 
some  Western  colleges  turning  out  pharmacists  without  the  shop 
experience.  In  an  article  which  appeared  in  the  Amer.  Druggist 
and  Phar.  Record,  November  9,  1893,  he  says  after  referring  to  a 
resolution  passed  by  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  in 
1 87 1,  "  That  colleges  of  pharmacy  should  be  controlled  by  pharma- 
cists," and  that  "  a  practical  experience  "  in  the  store  should  be  a  sine 
qua  non  among  the  requirements  for  graduation,  "that  as  reasonably 
might  it  be  expected  that  an  artisan  could  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
his  trade  by  studying  models  of  tools,  and  simply  inspecting  the 
material  of  which  he  should  construct  his  work." 
