74  Advantage  of  Preliminary  Examination.        {^^  YeT^m^' 
A  reference  to  the  numerous  articles  extant,  and  to  the  public 
utterances  of  the  most  observant  minds  of  earlier  pharmacy,  indicate 
one  general  view  of  this  subject,  and  this  view,  that  the  shop  tuition 
and  practice  was  the  one  vital  principle  underlying  all  true  foundation 
of  pharmaceutical  knowledge,  and  that,  without  this,  no  apprentice  to 
pharmacy  could  be  prepared  for  the  higher  attainments  in  scientific 
knowledge,  that  this  training  should  preferably  precede,  or  be  coincident 
with  collegiate  courses,  and  that  the  two  should  be  so  fitted  and  adapted 
as  to  secure  the  best  results  to  the  student. 
If  we  turn  a  look  of  inquiry  into  the  existing  condition  of  phar- 
macy of  this  country,  and  compare  it  with  that  of  twenty  years  since, 
we  will  observe  a  marked  decline ;  its  morale  is  not  what  it  then  was, 
its  personnel  has  undergone  most  distinctive  change,  and  that  essential 
esp7^it  du  corps  which  should  characterize  a  body  of  scientific  men  is 
totally  lacking.  The  value  and  usefulness  of  its  offices  are  still  recog- 
nized, but  its  representatives  fail  to  command  that  public  respect  and 
confidence  accorded  to  those  of  former  years.  Instead  of  the  mer- 
chandizing features  of  the  business  being  auxilliary  to  the  scientific 
art,  the  latter  is  only  an  appendage  to  the  former,  and  if  the  mere 
insignia  of  the  occupation  be  taken  away  there  would  be  scarcely 
features  enough  left  to  recognize  pharmacy.  A  groundling  and  mer- 
cenary spirit  has  absorbed  the  ethical  sentiment,  and  pharmacy  seems 
to  be  threatened  with  disintegration.  If  asked  to  trace  these  results  to 
a  cause,  we  should  ascribe  them  to  an  occupation  vastly  over-crowded. 
An  occupation  no  longer  remunerative  as  a  distinct  vocation,  it  has 
become  naturally  subservient  to  the  arts  of  trade,  as  evidenced  by  the 
inroads  of  manufacturers,  the  adoption  of  nostrums  and  quackery,  the 
piracies  of  commerce.  That  a  spirit  of  rivalry  in  the  collegiate  insti- 
tutions has  had  much  to  do  with  augmenting  the  ranks  of  pharmacy, 
we  think  none  will  deny.  The  temptation  has  been  great  to  open  wide 
doors  to  the  clamoring  throngs  seeking  admission  to  educational 
methods,  which  promise  a  comparatively  quick  and  easy  accomplish- 
ment of  a  work,  the  work  of  a  life  otherwise  tedious  and  difficult ! 
The  statistics  of  the  census  show  a  ratio  of  one  apothecary  to  every 
written  by  him  on  a  pharmaceutical  subject  a  few  months  before  his  death;  the  paper 
concludes  with  the  following  earnest  advice  (italics  our  own) :  "  Let  our  Colleges  then 
be  kept  open  to  all,  let  their  instructions  be  popularized  and  made  as  comprehensive  as 
possible,  and  while  we  seek  gradually  to  raise  the  standard  of  graduation,  let  us  vot 
choke  the  entrance  to  the  schools  by  restrictions  calculated  to  exclude  those  who  most  need 
their  tn^^rttc^iom."— Editor  Am.  Jour.  Phar. 
