Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1894. 
Pharmacy  as  a  P?-ofession. 
227 
SOME  THOUGHTS  ON  PHARMACY  AS  A  PROFESSION. 
VALEDICTORY  TO  THE  CLASS  OF  1 894,  PHILA.  COLLEGE  OF  PHARMACY. 
By  Saml.  P.  Sadtler,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry. 
The  ceremony,  which  we  have  but  just  now  witnessed,  may  mean 
but  little  to  the  careless  looker-on,  but  it  is  an  important  event,  at 
least  in  the  lives  of  the  183  young  students  who  have  participated 
in  it,  and  may  we  not  believe  that  it  has  some  importance  also  for 
the  profession  into  which  these  new  members  are  about  to  enter. 
It  is  estimated  that  there  are  at  present  some  40,000  druggists  in 
the  United  States.  Now,  if  we  had  an  army  of  40,000  trained  and 
experienced  veterans,  and  the  question  was  as  to  the  addition  of 
some  600  new  recruits  (supposing  that  to  be  the  number  of  grad- 
uates this  year  from  the  different  colleges  of  pharmacy),  we  would 
not  entertain  the  idea  for  a  moment  that  such  an  addition  could 
exert  any  notable  influence.  But  if  we  consider  the  responsibilities 
attaching  to  the  work  of  a  pharmacist,  its  close  relations  to  the 
practice  of  medicine,  and  the  fact  that  the  issues  of  life  and  death 
often  depend  upon  the  skill  and  accuracy  of  the  compounder  of 
medicines  as  well  as  upon  the  learning  and  judgment  of  the  physi- 
cian, and  then  reflect  that  of  these  40,000  druggist,  not  over  8,000 
at  most  have  had  the  education  of  a  school  of  pharmacy,  the  case 
presents  a  different  aspect.  We  must  then  look  upon  the  strength- 
ening of  this  educated  element  among  the  druggists  by  some  600 
new  recruits,  freshly  drilled  in  the  most  recent  advances  of  science 
and  the  results  of  the  best  methods  of  manipulation,  carefully 
gathered  for  them  by  able  and  experienced  instructors,  as  a  very 
important  matter.  It  is  the  sending  out  of  new  leaven  which 
shall  work  through  the  whole  body  of  practising  pharmacists, 
strengthening  what  is  good  in  it,  and  exerting  influences  that  may 
in  time  be  powerful  and  far-reaching. 
The  recurrence  of  this  annual  event,  the  commencement  of  full 
professional  activity  for  the  large  body  of  young  men  now  before 
us,  we  believe  this  has  some  importance  for  the  profession  into 
which  they  are  about  to  enter.  At  the  same  time  it  gives  us  an 
opportunity  to  pause  for  a  few  minutes  and  look  at  the  condition  of 
the  profession  of  pharmacy,  to  consider  some  of  the  drawbacks  to 
its  prosperity  existing  at  present,  and  to  consider  suggestions  for 
its  improvement. 
