Am Mayy'i905arm' }     Pharmaceutical  Degrees  in  America.  221 
pharmaceutical  schools  should  not  display  the  evidence  of  their 
superior  interest  in  their  calling. 
Of  the  present  status  of  Pharmaceutical  Degrees  little  need  be 
said  in  addition  to  what  has  already  been  pointed  out  by  Prof.  J.  T. 
McGill  in  his  paper  on  "  What  Degrees  should  be  conferred  by 
Schools  of  Pharmacy,"  read  before  the  section  on  Education  and 
Legislation  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  at  Kansas 
City,  in  1904. 
Of  the  origin  of  the  several  titles  it  may  be  said  that  Graduate 
in  Pharmacy  was  undoubtedly  suggested  by  the  title  "  Pharmacien  " 
conferred  by  the  French  schools  of  pharmacy.  This  will  appear  all 
the  more  probable  when  we  remember  the  close  relations  that  ex- 
isted between  the  founders  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy 
and  the  products  and  writings  of  the  French  pharmacists  of  their 
time.  The  title  Pharmaceutical  Chemist  is  generally  used  in  Eng- 
land and  is  awarded  by  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  on  all  that 
successfully  pass  the  major  examinations.  Master  of  Pharmacy  has 
been  used  for  many  years  in  several  of  the  larger  countries  of  Europe, 
particularly  in  Russia  and  in  Austria,  and  its  more  recent  use  in  this 
country  was  probably  suggested  by  the  communications  of  Professor 
Dragendorff  on  the  subject  of  pharmaceutical  titles.  The  titles 
Bachelor  and  Doctor  are  generally  considered  to  be  of  academic 
origin,  and  for  academic  use,  and  for  this  reason  there  has  been 
much  and  varied  opposition  to  their  use  in  purely  technical  schools. 
The  rather  promiscuous  use  of  the  title  Doctor,  by  colleges  of 
pharmacy,  is  particularly  to  be  deplored,  and  despite  what  Professor 
Remington,  and  more  recently,  Professor  Hynson,  have  had  to  say 
in  favor  of  conferring  the  degree  of  Doctor  on  graduates  of  colleges 
of  pharmacy,  there  appears  to  be  a  peculiar  unfitness  about  this 
particular  title  that  makes  its  use  for  graduates  in  pharmacy  espe- 
cially undesirable. 
The  objectionable  features  connected  with  the  title  Phar.  D.  are 
more  particularly  evidenced  if  we  review  the  dictionary  definitions 
for  the  use  of  the  word  Doctor.  Lexicographers  tell  us  that  a 
doctor  is  a  teacher,  an  instructor,  a  learned  man,  a  person  endowed 
by  a  university  with  a  diploma  certifying  to  his  proficiency  in  the 
sciences  or  recognizing  his  position  as  a  teacher.  The  evident 
derivation  of  the  word,  in  this  connection  at  least,  is  such  that  it  can 
hardly  be  made  applicable  to  the  acquirements  and  practices  of  the 
retail  pharmacist. 
