428 
Teaching  of  Phaniiacognosy. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pliarm. 
(  September,  1911. 
for  all  concerned  we  are  approaching  a  condition  when  it  is 
possible  for  student  and  teacher  to  work  together,  each  receiving 
an  inspiration  from  the  other  and  each  contributing  to  the  suinmum 
bonuin  of  knowledge.  I  have  in  a  previous  paper  indicated  what  I 
consider  to  be  the  principal  object  in  the  study  of  Pharmacognosy 
as  it  relates  to  the  training  of  the  pharmacist.  I  said  then  that  in 
view  of  the  problems  that  confront  us  and  that  are  constantly 
arising,  the  aim  first  should  be  the  attainment  of  a  knowledge  of 
the  characters  of  drugs  rather  than  a  general  knowledge  of  them. 
The  object  of  a  course  in  Pharmacognosy  is  I  take  it  not  that  a 
student  shall  examine  so  many  drugs,  but  that  he  will  be  able  to 
use  his  eyes  so  that  he  can  determine  whether  a  drug  corresponds 
to  a  description,  as  that  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  whether  the  specimen 
is  all  of  one  kind,  the  quality  of  it,  and  similar  practical  questions 
when  he  is  in  business.  We  all  know  that  a  student  usually  ex- 
amines but  a  small  sample  of  the  drug.  His  specimen  may  differ 
from  that  of  his  comrades  in  certain  particulars,  as  in  the  case  of 
Rhamnus  Purshiana  and  this  is  confusing.  But  let  him  examine, 
say  5  or  lo  pounds  of  this  drug,  and  the  characteristics  will  be  so 
impressed  upon  him  that  he  will  be  able  to  recognize  even  the 
fragments  of  it. 
While  at  college  a  student  can  not  possibly  study  thoroughly 
all  of  the  drugs  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  and  National  Formulary. 
I  am  beginning  to  be  more  and  more  impressed  with  the  foreign 
method  of  teaching,  in  which  the  study  is  limited  to  a  number  of 
important  drugs,  or  to  such  drugs  as  those  the  study  of  which  has 
a  didactic  value  and  in  the  case  of  which  the  work  is  required  to 
be  well  done.  Let  the  students  spend  3  or  4  hours  upon  each  of 
the  22  important  official  drugs  *  and  he  will  not  only  know  these 
well,  but  he  will  find  it  comparatively  easy  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
other  drugs  under  circumstances  that  will  not  make  him  confuse 
so  many  of  them.  I  have  in  preceding  years,  because  of  the  lack 
of  time  at  my  disposal  considered  from  6  to  10  drugs  in  the  course 
*  The  following  are  the  drugs  that  I  include  in  the  list  of  the  22  most 
important  drugs  of  the  Pharmacopoeia :  Acacia,  Aconitum,  Belladonnae 
Folia,  Cantharis,  Capsicum,  Cinchona,  Cinchona  Rubra.  Digitalis,  Ergota, 
Gentiana,  Ipecacuanha,  Jalapa,  Lycopodium,  Nux  Vomica,  Oputm,  Podo- 
phylkim,  Quassia,  Rhamnus  Purshiana,  Rheum,  Senna,  Sinapis  Nigra, 
Stropfianthus.  Zingiber.  Of  course  there  arc  a  few  other  drugs  that  might 
be  considered  equally  as  important  as  some  of  these  by  some  teachers. 
