68 
Advantage  of  Preliminary  Examination. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm,. 
Feb.,  1885. 
and  the  habit  of  regarding  the  passing  of  the  examination  as  the  chief 
purpose  of  that  knowledge. 
Fourth.  The  difficulty  of  properly  estimating  the  true  value  of  what 
an  examinee  appears  to  know,  due  in  great  part  to  complete  ignorance 
of  his  previous  training,  and  therefore*doubt  as  to  whether  the  answers 
given  be  a  mere  effort  of  mental  retention,  or  the  expression  of  an 
understanding  that  has  really  grasped  the  subject. 
Fifth.  The  want  of  a  legitimate  relationship  between  pharmaceutical 
education  and  pharmaceutical  examination. 
So  important  has  this  subject  become  in  the  deliberations  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  and  so  imperative  seems  to  be  the  demand  from  the 
profession  at  large  for  some  radical  change  in  the  methods  of  receiving 
matriculants,  that,  by  a  resolution,  the  subject  was  committed  to  the 
Permanent  Committee  on  Instruction,  who  were  directed  to  submit  the 
question  to  the  members  of  the  College.  This  committee,  pursuing 
the  object  of  their  instructions,  addressed,  in  printed  form,  four  inter- 
rogatories, as  follows,  requesting  answer : 
First.  Do  you  favor  a  preliminary  examination  of  students  apply- 
ing for  matriculation  in  the  Junior  Class  of  the  College  ? 
Second.  AVhat  branches  of  English  education  should  be  included  in 
S'uch  examination? 
Third.  Should  any  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language  be  included? 
Fourth.  What  should  be  the  extent  or  limit  of  such  examination  ? 
The  replies  came  in  due  time,  and,  with  suggestive  views  on  the 
lateral  question,  formed  a  part — an  interesting  part — of  the  commit- 
tee's report.  A  compilation  of  the  answers  showed  that  the  majority 
were  decidedly  in  the  affirmative  upon  the  leading  question,  and  in 
some  cases  remarks  were  appended  giving  positive  favor  to  the  adop- 
tion of  some  such  form  of  preliminary  examination  as  would  not  only 
test  the  educational  acquirements,  but  the  practical  experience  as  well', 
of  the  applicant  in  advance  of  his  admission. 
How^ever  disproportionate  the  expressed  sentiment  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  may  be  upon  this  immediate  question,  there  is  a  striking  una- 
nimity of  favorable  opinion  in  the  more  open  and  extended  member- 
ship of  the  College.  The  Committee  on  Instruction  evidently  felt  the 
weight  of  this,  for  the  chairman,  ungenerously,  we  thought,  sought  to 
lessen  its  effect  by  alluding  to  those  favoring  the  plan  as  a  class  guilty 
of  lack  of  personal  interest  in  their  general  duties  to  the  College. 
Upon  the  acceptance  of  the  report  of  this  committee  it  was  further 
