AmA^gusM9w!m'}    Commercial  Training  in  Pharmacy.  363 
No  college  can  be  considered,  to-day,  worthy  of  the  name  which 
does  not  place  in  the  hands  of  its  students  the  mortar,  pestle  and 
spatula,  the  test-tube  and  the  burette,  and  the  microscope  and  cul- 
ture apparatus ;  and  it  must  not  be  admitted  for  a  moment  that  the 
laboratory  instruction,  while  useful  in  giving  a  student  polish  and 
finish,  fails  to  equip  him  with  knowledge  which  will  be  valuable  in 
his  future  life  as  a  bread  winner. 
But  the  writer  wishes  to  call  attention,  at  this  time,  to  a  branch 
of  education  which  has  been  in  the  past  sadly  neglected  ;  it  is  that 
of  commercial  training.  That  pharmacy  is  a  business  as  well  as  a 
profession  comes  home  strongly  to  that  student  who  is  so  unfortu- 
nate as  to  have  a  lop-sided  mind,  and  who  vainly  thinks  that  all  he 
has  to  do  to  reach  the  highest  success  is  to  study  books  and,  like 
the  closet  naturalist,  get  his  knowledge  of  life  from  studying  the 
works  of  others. 
What  an  awakening  comes  to  such  an  one  who,  after  winning 
gold  medals  and  prizes  galore  in  his  examinations,  finds  when  he 
gets  behind  the  counter  that  his  magnificent  memory  for  facts  will 
not  avail  him  as  much  as  he  thought,  when  he  comes  to  roll  pills, 
fold  powders  and  meets  the  perplexing  details  of  every-day  counter 
practice  !  And  it  is  this  phase  of  college  education  which  is  the 
great  stumbling  block  to  the  employers  who  are  successful,  prac- 
tical business  men.  One  frequently  hears  from  such  men  the  re- 
mark, "  Send  me  a  good  clerk,  I  don't  want  a  gold  medal  man." 
The  aim  in  every  good  college  of  pharmacy  should  be  to  neglect 
no  department  of  knowledge  which  might  make  its  graduates  suc- 
cessful pharmacists,  and  no  effort  should  be  spared  to  entirely  cover 
the  ground.  Impressed  with  these  convictions,  the  writer,  ten  years 
ago,  expressed  the  opinion  that  business  methods  should  be  taught 
in  our  colleges  of  pharmacy.  Gradually  this  thought  has  been 
working  its  way.  With  some  educators  the  idea  at  once  took  root ; 
others  again  approved,  but  deemed  the  time  inopportune  ;  others 
still  were  to  be  found  who  thought  it  outside  of  the  functions  of  a 
college  of  pharmacy  to  teach  business  methods.  Possibly  the 
greatest  number  to-day  are  willing  to  give  any  rational  plan  for 
accomplishing  the  object  a  fair  trial. 
Within  four  years  this  opportunity  has  been  taken  advantage  of 
by  the  writer  in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  and  fortu- 
nately, through  the  liberality  and  progressiveness  of  the  trustees 
