Varieties. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(       June,  1877. 
separated  medicine  and  pharmacy  as  independent  correlative  brandies,  the  latter 
was  the  leading  and  most  successful  cultivator  of  chemistry,  and  attained  at  that 
time,  and  especially  at  the  close  of  the  last  and  the  first  half  of  the  present  century, 
in  continental  Europe,  its  culmination.  It  supplied  from  among  its  ranks  the  newly 
created  chairs  both  of  chemistry  and  of  pharmacy,  and  frequently  of  botany  also, 
at  the  universities  and  special  schools  for  medicine,  pharmacy,  agriculture  and 
kindred  arts;  the  increasing  branches  of  chemical  industry  and  manufacrure,  too, 
were  largely  and  successfully  occupied  and  cultivated  by  pharmacists.  Pharmacy 
emancipated  itself  more  and  more,  in  the  civilized  countries,  from  co-education  with 
and  subordination  to  medicine;  special  schools,  or  at  the  universities,  special  chairs, 
for  instruction  in  pharmaceutical  chemistry  and  pharmacognosy,  were  established ; 
and  both  the  standard  of  qualification  and  the  practice  of  pharmacy,  like  that  of 
medicine,  were  restricted  and  controlled  by  the  State.  Since  the  middle  of  the  pre- 
sent century,  by  the  rapid  strides  in  the  progress  and  application  of  the  physical  sci- 
ences, particularly  of  chemistry  in  its  various  relations,  the  position  of  pharmacy  has 
somewhat  changed.  Chemistry  has  risen  to  a  commanding  station  among  the  phy- 
sical sciences,  and  in  the  industry  and  wealth  of  nations;  its  application  in  the  man- 
ufacture and  supply  of  all  chemical  products  cheaply  on  a  commercial  scale,  has 
largely  deprived  the  pharmacist  of  one  of  the  original  and  most  important  and 
instructive  objects  of  his  pursuit — the  preparation  of  medicinal  chemicals  and  many 
of  the  pharmaceutical  products.1  On  the  other  hand,  pharmacy  is  losing  scope  by 
the  decrease  in  the  use  of  medicines,  in  consequence  of  the  general  increase  of  hygi- 
enic knowledge,  and  the  progress  of  medical  science.  The  former  preeminently 
professional  character  of  pharmacy  has,  in  consequence,  gradually  given  way  to  a 
more  mercantile  and  trade  aspect.  But,  notwithstanding  the  diminution  of  its 
resources  and  of  its  former  scope  of  application,  the  requisite  standard  of  profi- 
ciency is,  as  yet,  everywhere  maintained  ;  and,  in  countries  of  a  growing  civiliza- 
tion, pharmaceutical  education  is  continually  and  correspondingly  raised.  Most 
countries,  therefore,  at  present,  either  have  special  schools  for  the  higher  education 
of  pharmacists,  or  else  afford  instruction  in  the  pharmaceutical  branches  at  universi- 
ties, or  medical  or  technical  institutions. 
In  the  amount  of  the  preparatory  education  required,  the  high  standard  of  scien- 
tific and  practical  qualification,  and  the  restrictions  enforced  by  law  and  controlled 
by  the  government,  Germany  ranks  highest.  The  candidate  for  apprenticeship 
must  have  attained  maturity  for  the  second  class  (Ober-Secunda)  of  the  gymnasium, 
or  must  have  passed  through  a  realschool.  The  apprenticeship  must  last  three 
years,  during  which  time  the  pupil's  progress,  and  the  obligatory  instruction  by  his 
master,  are  controlled  by  annual  examinations  by  a  delegate  of  the  district  govern- 
ment. At  the  close  of  the  apprenticeship,  and  after  successfully  passing  an  exami- 
nation before  a  board,  also  appointed  by  the  district  government,  the  candidate  has 
to  complete  his  practical  experience  by  serving  for  three  years  more  as  clerk;  and 
he  is  then  entitled  to  enter  upon  the  obligatory  course  of  university  study  at  any 
one  of  the  twenty  German  universities.  He  is  free  to  attend  such  lectures  as  he 
may  choose;  and,  at  the  close  of  each  lecture  term,  he  may  select  another  univer- 
iSee,  also,  Problems  and  Future  of  Pharmacy,  "Am.  Journ.  Pharm  ,"  July,  1874,  p.  321. 
