(318  Editorial  Department.  {AmD?£yi8$.arm* 
PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATIONS. 
The  Michigan  Pharmaceutical  Association  held  its  fourth  annual  meeting 
at  Grand  Rapids,  October  12-14.  Besides  the  usual  addresses  and  reports,  a 
number  of  valuable  papers  were  read  at  this  meeting,  one  of  which  is  pub- 
lished in  our  present  number.  The  Association  now  numbers  nearly  800 
members.  The  next  meeting  will  be  held  at  Petoskey,  July  12th  1887. 
Frank  J.  Wurzburg,  of  Grand  Rapids,  was  elected  president,  and  S.  E.  Park- 
hill,  of  Owosso,  secretary,  for  the  ensuing  year. 
The  South  Dakota  Pharmaceutical  Association  was  organized  at  Mitchell, 
October  20th,  and  is  intended  to  embrace  the  druggists  and  pharmacists  south 
of  the  46th  parallel.  D.  S.  White,  of  Flandreau,  was  elected  president ;  W.  S. 
Branch,  of  Parker,  secretary,  and  L.  T.  Downing,  of  Sioux  Falls,  treasurer. 
The  first  annual  meeting  will  be  held  in  Sioux  Falls  on  Tuesday  following 
the  first  Monday  in  September,  1887. 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
Education  and  Examination. — In  former  volumes  of  this  journal  the  edu- 
cational requirements  of  different  European  countries,  for  enabling  one 
to  legally  practice  pharmacy,  have  been  repeatedly  explained.  These 
requirements  may  be  briefly  summarized  to  be  for  the  different  countries 
of  continental  Europe  as  follows :  Before  entering  upon  his  apprenticeship 
the  young  man  must  have  pursued  his  studies  in  the  various  general 
branches,  in  some  of  the  classical  languages  and  in  the  elements  of  natural 
sciences  in  certain  institutions,  and  must  have  reached  a  certain  grade 
which  is  fixed  by  law.  After  having  served  for  several  years  as  an  appren- 
tice under  the  instruction  of  a  pharmacist,  and  passed  an  examination  as 
assistant,  he  is  required  to  spend  about  two  years  or  more  at  a  university 
or  school  of  pharmacy,  and  is  then  admitted  to  an  examination  before  a 
Commission  or  Board,  which  examination  must  be  passed  creditably 
before  the  candidate  is  permitted  to  take  charge  of  a  pharmacy  or  carry  on 
the  business  on  his  own  account. 
In  Great  Britain  the  legal  requirements  are  entirely  different.  There  is 
no  educational  proof  necessary,  either  before  becoming  an  apprentice,  or  be- 
fore becoming  a  proprietor.  The  ordeals  to  be  passed  are  examinations,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  in  addition  to  practical  experience  in  the  store,  before 
the  final  examination  is  undertaken.  That  these  series  of  examinations 
cannot  fulfill  the  objects  of  education,  has  been  observed  in  Great  Britain 
years  ago ;  but  the  difficulty  now  encountered  is  to  secure  the  passage  of 
proper  amendments  to  the  present  laws. 
The  pharmacy  laws,  which  have  been  passed  in  the  United  States  during 
the  past  seventeen  years,  are  even  less  efficient  than  those  of  Great  Britain, 
