430 
Teaching  of  Plianiiacognosy. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\  S("i)teml)cr,  1911. 
find  Poke  Leaves  in  a  sample  of  Belladonna  Leaves  that  otherwise 
would  have  been  pronounced  of  good  quality.  While  we  require 
students  to  make  a  permanent  collection  of  the  specimens  of  crude 
drugs  which  are  furnished  them  for  study,  I  feel  that  the  time  is 
at  hand  when  we  should  require  them  to  make  a  permanent  col- 
lection of  microscopic  slides,  illustrating  these  22  important  official 
drugs.  As  the  compound  microscope  can  be  had  at  such  a  reason- 
able figure  at  the  present  time  I  think  that  every  thing  should  be 
done  to  encourage  students  to  invest  in  this  piece  of  apparatus,  as 
it  is  indispensable  not  only  in  detecting  adulteration,  but  also  in 
determining  and  establishing  confidence  in  reliable  jobbing  houses. 
EXAMINATIONS. 
After  the  student  has  taken  up  the  practical  studies  of  vegetable 
drugs  and  has  concentrated  his  attention  on  the  most  important  of 
those  that  are  official  the  question  is  What  tests  shall  be  applied  to 
determine  his  qualifications  to  be  a  safe  pharmacist  ?  Of  course,  the 
professor  has  the  advantage  of  seeing  the  student  day  after  day, 
and  if  he  has  been  faithful  in  attendance  and  has  conscientiously 
carried  on  the  work,  the  teacher  must  know  his  general  ability  after 
the  entire  course  of  instruction.  Usually,  however,  an  examination 
is  given  for  the  purpose  of  testing  a  candidate's  knowledge  of  the 
subject.  But  what  is  the  test  of  knowledge?  What  is  the  nature 
of  the  questions  that  are  to  be  asked  to  test  the  candidate's  knowl- 
edge in  this  particular  branch?  We  have  all  been  familiar  during 
our  college  days  with  men  who  failed  in  examinations  and  who 
really  knew  more  about  the  subject  than  some  of  those  who'  passed 
the  examinations.  The  secret  of  the  latter  in  passing  an  examina- 
tion very  often  consists  really  in  concealing  from  the  examiner 
what  they  do  not  know.  If  this  is  done  discreetly  and  the  student 
can  impress  upon  the  examiner  what  he  does  know  he  will  probably 
pass  the  examination.  There  are  some  examinations  where  this 
can  be  rather  easily  done  and  this  is  particularly  true  of  examina- 
tions in  Materia  Medica  as  conducted  in  most  Colleges  of  Phar- 
macy and  by  Boards  of  Pharmacy. 
In  these  examinations  the  memory  test  is  largely  relied  upon. 
So  much  hinges  upon  giving  the  "  Natural  Orders,"  "  Habitats," 
etc.  The  student  preparing  for  these  examinations  usually  uses 
some  book  in  which  in  a  series  of  parallel  columns  are  given  one 
or  two  words  covering  the  information  that  is  expected  of  him 
