216  Pharmaceutical  Degrees  in  America.  {AmMayfi905.arm' 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  acting  on  a  recommendation  from 
the  Professors  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  adopted  a  resolution  institut- 
ing the  degree  of  Master  of  Pharmacy,  to  be  conferred  by  the 
Board  of  Trustees  on  such  persons  exercising,  or  intending  to  exer- 
cise, the  profession  of  an  apothecary  as  are  or  shall  be  duly  qualified 
to  receive  the  same.  Provisions  were  also  made  for  instituting  a 
course  of  lectures  on  chemistry,  materia  medica  and  pharmacy  in 
the  University,  and  all  future  candidates  for  the  degree,  in  addition 
to  serving  three  years'  apprenticeship  with  a  respectable  apothecary 
or  a  master  of  pharmacy,  were  to  be  required  to  attend  at  least  two 
courses  of  lectures  in  the  new  school. 
At  the  ensuing  medical  commencement  in  April,  182 1,  sixteen 
gentlemen,  apothecaries,  the  majority  of  them  resident  in  the  then 
city  of  Philadelphia,  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Pharmacy. 
This  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Universitv  to 
improve  and  to  elevate  the  practice  of  pharmacy  aroused  the  enter- 
prising spirit  of  the  druggists  and  apothecaries  of  Philadelphia  and 
led  them  to  found  a  college  of  their  own,  "  for  the  two-fold  purpose 
of  providing  a  system  of  instruction  in  pharmacy,  and  subjecting 
themselves  to  regulations  in  their  business." 
One  of  the  most  frequently  quoted  objections  to  the  proposed 
course  on  pharmacy  in  the  University  was  the  fact  that  the  trustees 
and  professors  proposed  to  bestow  distinguishing  titles  on  the  grad- 
uates. So  deeply  was  this  objection  to  distinctive  titles  rooted  in 
the  minds  of  the  founders  of  the  new  school  of  pharmacy  that  they 
positively  refused  to  include  testimonials,  degrees  or  awards  in  the 
provisions  of  their  school.  It  was  not  until  some  years  after  Dr. 
George  B.  Wood  had  been  elected  to  fill  the  chair  of  chemistry  in 
the  college  that  any  concerted  attempt  was  made  to  introduce  some 
form  of  distinction  or  award  to  such  of  the  students  as  had  com- 
pleted the  prescribed  course  and  had  undergone  a  satisfactory 
examination. 
So  far  as  known,  this  subject  was  first  brought  to  the  attention  of 
the  College  in  an  address  to  the  members  of  the  Philadelphia  Col- 
lege of  Pharmacy,  by  Dr.  George  B.  Wood,  delivered  November  16 
1824.  In  the  course  of  this  address,  while  speaking  of  the  require- 
ments of  the  institution,  Dr.  Wood  said  :  "  In  all  great  seminaries 
of  learning  and  science  it  is  a  practice  sanctioned  by  the  experience 
of  centuries  to  reward  by  some  public  testimonial  of  approbation 
