120  The  New  Building  of  the  College.     { Avai^Flmrm' 
the  view  of  securing  every  advantage  that  could  possibly  be  gained 
for  the  students  and  members  of  the  College,  that  one  of  the  Com- 
mittee has  toiled  so  persistently  and  with  such  telling  effect. 
Summer  and  winter,  late  and  early,  in  health  and  in  sickness,  he  has 
ever  had  in  mind  the  needs  of  his  beloved  Alma  Mater.  You  all 
know  to  whom  I  allude,  Mr.  Howard  B.  French,  the  Chairman  of 
the  Building  Committee ;  this  sketch  would  be  incomplete  without 
this  reference  to  the  value  of  his  devoted  labors  for  providing  suit- 
able accommodations  for  the  institution,  which  we  all  delight  to 
honor,  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
Before  concluding,  there  is  one  consideration  which  must  not  be 
overlooked,  and  which  has  an  important  bearing  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  pharmacy  in  this  country.  The  question  which  has 
undoubtedly  recurred  to  the  minds  of  many,  who  have  honored  us 
with  their  presence  this  evening,  is  :  "  Where  has  the  money  come 
from,  to  put  up  these  buildings?"  Let  us  begin  by  asking  another 
question  :  "  Who  receives  the  most  benefit  ultimately  from  phar- 
maceutical education?"  In  answering  the  latter  question,  the 
reply  to  the  former  will  be  developed.  To  the  latter  question  the 
answer  is  that  the  people  of  this  country  derive  the  utmost  benefit 
from  the  proper  education  of  the  pharmacist.  Pharmaceutical 
education  has  saved  thousands  of  lives ;  it  has  stayed  the  hand  of 
death  an  untold  number  of  times ;  it  has  not  only  stood  between  the 
physician  and  patient  and  guided  unerringly  the  hand  of  the  phar- 
macist to  safety,  but  it  has  been  the  effectual  bar  between  the 
pharmacist  and  his  poor  frail  self,  with  his  tendency  to  err  and  fail ; 
it  has  revealed  to  him  the  great  gulf  which  yawned  below  him,  into 
which  he  was  about  to  plunge  his  patient,  his  reputation,  aye,  him- 
self. 
The  great  educational  centres  of  our  country,  of  which  we  are  all 
so  justly  proud,  our  own  University,  Harvard,  Yale,  Johns  Hop- 
kins, Princeton,  Cornell,  and  lastly  the  University  of  Chicago,  are 
names  familiar  to  all.  Scarcely  an  issue  of  a  daily  newspaper  can 
be  scanned  without  seeing  a  notice  of  some  gift,  bequest  or  endow- 
ment to  them.  Thousands  of  dollars  are  yearly  pouring  into  the 
coffers  of  these  worthy  institutions.  These  have  for  their  object  the 
higher  education  of  the  talented  youth  of  our  land.  For  the  education 
of  the  classes,  who  have  not  the  means  to  spend  in  elaborate  training 
here  stands  our  splendid  system  of  public  schools,  and  an  education 
