76  Advantage  of  Preliminary  Examination.  {^^'^^h^imb^^^' 
yet  too  limited  in  means  to  bestow  a  liberal  education,  the  sons  must 
be  at  labor  at  an  early  age  for  self-sustenance,  thus  trenching,  through 
necessity,  upon  those  precious  years  of  tutelage,  and  finally  launching 
them  into  some  pursuit  (it  may  be  pharmacy)  for  which  they  are  in 
no  manner  qualified. 
Does  the  literature  of  the  pharmaceutical  profession  of  this  country 
give  any  evidence  of  the  value  of  its  scientific  education  ?  We  think 
not ;  there  is  an  apparent  absence  of  effort,  and  no  especially  important 
contributions  emanate  from  American  authors,  in  the  line  of  valuable 
research  and  discovery,  a  fact  of  significance  to  those  prone  to  boast  of 
improved  methods  and  enlarged  opportunities.^  Take  the  higher  type 
of  our  own  periodicals,  take  our  own  offspring,  the  "  American  Journal 
of  Pharmacy,''  and  from  what  source  does  it  derive  its  best  material  ? 
Most  certainly  from  the  close  and  thorough  students  of  that  grand  old 
Empire,  Germany,  comes  an  everflowing  flood  of  light  and  know- 
ledge ;  "  an  empire  upon  whose  educational  system  (pharmacy  included) 
all  others,  with  some  modifications,  are  formed;  an  empire  which  has 
for  generations  been  rearing  up  a  complete  system  of  education  for  all 
classes,  which  whilst  it  lays  foundation  broad  and  deep  in  general 
culture,  directs  at  the  same  time  mental  research  into  the  channels  of 
art  and  science,  and  fosters  this  with  a  wisely  guiding  and  directing 
hand." 
The  present  condition  of  pharmacy  in  England  and  America  are 
somewhat  similar;  the  same  determining  causes  exist  there  as  here, 
with  the  same  general  result.  Complaint  loud  and  persistent  has 
awakened  our  transatlantic  brethren  to  a  realizing  sense  of  a  profession 
imperilled,  and  they  have  instituted  as  prerequisites  to  pharmacy,  indi- 
vidual capacity,  educational  fitness,  preliminary  training,  and  are  seek- 
ing parliamentary  enactment  to  protect  the  commercial  features  of  the 
business. 
If  we  take  a  view  of  pharmacy  of  Continental  Europe,  we  find  a 
wholly  different  condition  prevailing,  a  high  educational  requisite  pre- 
scribed by  law,  in  some  countries  a  governmental  supervision  and  con- 
trol, territorial  limitation  to  business,  legal  sanction  and  license,  each 
and  every  one  of  which  exactions  aims  to  secure,  and  it  unquestionably 
1  We  are  not  disposed  to  overrate  the  importance  of  contributions  to  pharmaceutical 
knowledge  from  American  authors;  yet  it  is  but  proper  to  state  that  such  papers 
receive  due  attention  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  are,  as  a  [rule,  regarded  as 
possessing  practical— if  not  scientific— value.— Editor  Am.  Jour.  Phar. 
