Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
March,  1885.  j 
Editorials. 
157 
a  wise  foresight.  TJae  University  of  Michigan  was  the  first  institution  in 
this  country,  we  believe,  to  take  the  long  bold  stride  of  graduating  pharma- 
cists without  any  requirement  of  preliminary  educational  or  shop  train- 
ing." As  this  paragraph  may  meet  the  eye  of  pharmacists  not  acquainted 
with  the  requirements  of  preliminary  training  in  the  School  of  Pharmacy 
at  Ann  Arbor,  I  desire  to  state  that  its  entrance  standard  is  that  of  a  good 
high  school  education.  The  examination  covers— for  those  taking  the 
college  training  before  experience  in  the  shop— three  years'  schooling  in 
Latin  and  German,  algebra  through  quadratic  equations,  botany  and  ele- 
mentary physics,  beside  arithmetic  through  involution  and  evolution,  and 
the  correct  writing  of  English.  For  those  taking  the  college  course  c//^er 
apprenticeship  in  the  shop— the  examination  covers  one  years'  schooling  in 
Latin  or  German,  with  algebra,  arithmetic,  and  correct  English  writing. 
Under  the  stringency  of  these  examinations,  fully  two-thirds  of  the  admis- 
sions to  the  school  are  gained  by  diplomas  of  graduation  in  high  schools 
giving  preparation  for  academic  colleges.  This  is  "  the  step  in  the  methods 
of  rivalry"  taken  at  Ann  Arbor.  It  is,  in  truth,  a  "  long  and  bold  stride  " 
in  preliminary  examination  in  pharmacy  in  the  United  States. 
Regarding  the  non-requirement  of  apprenticeship  by  this  school— the 
cause  of  action  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  in  1871,  and 
the  chief  test  of  the  "  Convention  of  Teaching  Colleges  of  Pharmacy,"  the 
position  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  whether  it  be  right  or  whether  it 
be  wrong,  is  not  correctly  represented  by  Mr.  ThomjDSon.  It  is  that,  in 
this  country,  it  would  be  quite  as  useful  to  require  the  college  course  (pre- 
liminary examination  and  all)  before  the  apprenticeBhip ^  as  to  require  the 
apprenticeship  before  the  college  course.  The  diploma  of  this  school  is 
stated  to  give  evidence  of  college  training  only,  with  no  disparagement  of 
the  shop  training,  the  variable  value  of  which  is  to  be  expressed  by  the 
certificates  of  the  shop  itself. 
Mr.  Thompson  adds  a  reference  to  "  educating  scientific  experts,  drug 
assay  ers,  toxicologists,  etc. ;  presuming  such  to  have  been  a  bona  fide  inten- 
tion," he  asks,  "  would  the  country  find  need  of  so  man3^  men  to  fill  posi- 
tions only  casually  made  necessary?"  This  question,  asked  in  skepticism 
by  the  writer,  is  answered  in  good  faith  by  the  "Register  of  Residences 
and  Occupations  of  the  Alumni,"  published  annually  by  the  school  in 
question.  The  larger  proportion  of  the  graduates,  in  accord  with  the  con- 
trolling design  of  the  school,  are  engaged  in  dispensing  pharmacy,  where, 
in  spite  of  "the  groundling  and  mercenary,  spirit "  lamented  by  Mr. 
Thompson,  they  find  every  year  greater  demand  for  the  duties  of  "drug 
assay  ers,  etc."  With  our  requirements  for  entrance,  and  our  severe  and 
sifting  college  course,  holding  every  student  trom  six  to  eight  hours  a  day 
in  college  from  the  last  week  in  September  to  the  last  week  in  June,  during 
both  years,  the  numbers  of  our  graduates  are  not  "  so  many  men  "  as  to  be 
open  to  the  objection  of  "augmenting  the  ranks  of  pharmacy,"  but  by 
virtue  of  quality,  they  are  felt  as  a  distinct  force  in  pharmaceutical  practice. 
Albert  B.  Prescott,  Dean. 
University  of  Michigan,  School  of  Pharmacy, 
Ann  Arbor,  February  23,  1885. 
