^"^^  March!Y92o:}    Training  of  Pharmaceutical  Chemists,  195 
if  the  present  generation  of  students  is  properly  taught  practical 
therapeutics,  the  chief  labor  of  the  Council  on  Pharmacy  and  Chem- 
istry will  be  an  accomplished  fact,  for  the  right  way  will  be  the 
easiest  way.  Let  us  first  make  good  physicians  and  from  these  may 
be  sifted  out  those  who  can  and  want  to  become  laboratory  pharma- 
cologists. 
THE  TRAINING  OF  PHARMACEUTICAL  CHEMISTS.* 
The  sale  of  drugs  and  poisons  is  limited  in  most  countries  to 
certain  persons.  These  persons  become  qualified  for  registration 
as  pharmacists  or  pharmaceutical  chemists  after  receiving  a  special 
training.  In  the  various  States  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia 
the  pharmaceutical  student  must  reach  a  minimal  standard  of 
general  education  which  is  laid  down  by  regulation.  The  student 
serves  as  an  apprentice  to  a  registered  pharmacist  for  a  number  of 
years,  whereby  a  knowledge  is  obtained  of  the  practice  of  the  pro- 
fession. The  student  has  sufficient  opportunity  of  gaining  acquain- 
tance with  his  duties  to  render  him  proficient  in  the  routine  work 
of  preparing  drugs  for  medicinal  use.  This  period  is  long  enough 
to  form  habits  of  accuracy  and  attention,  so  that  there  will  be  little 
fear  of  mistakes  occurring  in  the  prepared  medicines.  In  addi- 
tion, the  student  attends  courses  of  systematic  instruction  in  botany, 
chemistry  and  materia  medica  at  some  college  or  university  where 
these  subjects  are  taught  in  an  approved  manner.  The  student 
acquires  a  knowledge  of  the  various  parts  of  vegetable  substances 
and  of  the  characteristic  features  of  the  plants  from  which  the 
medicinal  substances  are  derived.  He  is  taught  the  chemistry  of 
the  principal  inorganic  and  organic  bodies,  the  outlines  of  qualita- 
tive analysis  and  the  methods  used  for  the  quantitative  esti- 
mation of  the  substances  used  as  drugs.  Above  all,  he  is  made 
familiar  with  the  appearance  of  drugs,  with  their  characters  and 
with  the  tests  to  which  they  respond.  Before  registration  the  stu- 
dent has  to  satisfy  examiners  that  he  has  attained  proficiency  in 
the  subjects  of  study.  At  the  termination  of  the  period  of  instruc- 
tion the  pharmacist  is  able  to  recognize  with  ease  the  nature  of  the 
drugs  with  which  he  deals.    In  some  States  the  student  also  re- 
*From  Med.  Jour,  of  Australia;  through  The  Australasian  Jour,  of  Pharm.^ 
Nov.  20,  1919. 
