104     Drug  Business  in  Australia^  India  and  U.  8.     {'^"^  Feb-^ils^*''"'" 
THE  DRUG  BUSINESS  IN  AUSTRALIA,  INDIA  AND 
THE  UNITED  STATES.^ 
•  Read  befoi-e  the  Alumni  Association,  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
In  a  comparison  of  the  pharmacy  of  America  (U.  S.),  Australia  and  India, 
we  have  three  countries  widely  separated  and  each  dependent  on  its  situation 
and  customs  in  the  developement  of  its  drug  trade,  and  uninfluenced  by  any 
other  country,  with  the  exception  probably  of  Australia,  which  naturally  pat- 
terns after  England,  her  people  being  thoroughly  English  as  far  as  the  profession 
of  chemistry  is  concerned,  though  outside  of  this,  they  more  nearly  resemble 
Americans  in  their  business  enterprise.  America  by  her  early  independence 
and  hostility  to  England,  her  admixture  of  pharmacists  from  all  countries,  is 
distinctly  responsible  for  the  progress  made  in  the  profession  in  this  country, 
the  best  evidence  of  which  is  in  the  revised  edition  of  the  British  Pharmacopoeia 
which  inclines  to  that  of  the  L'nited  States  in  formulas  as  well  as  classification. 
India  necessarily  uses  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  her  druggists  being  of  that 
nationality  as  well  as  ninety-nine  onehundreths  of  her  white  population. 
But  the  condition  under  which  business  is  done  in  India,  the  customs  of  the 
country  and  the  climate,  necessitate  a  different  state  of  affairs  in  many  cases. 
The  most  important  item  is,  of  course,  proficiency,  and  which  of  the  three 
countries  can  claim  the  palm  ?  The  United  States  has  Colleges  of  Pharmacy  in 
several  cities,  and  her  Examining  Boards  in  some  States  to  regulate  the  trade  and 
restrict  it  to  competent  persons;  and  Australia  is  likewise  provided,  while  many 
of  her  druggists  serve  their  time  and  obtain  their  certificate  in  England.  In 
India  a  majority  of  the  druggists  are  members  of  the  British  Pharmaceutical 
Society,  and  it  is  not  to  be  gainsaid  that  the  examination  is  very  rigid,  and 
many  rejections  are  made  both  in  the  minor  aad  major  years.  But  India  has 
no  pharmaceutical  laws  and  allows  anyone  to  engage  in  the  drug  business  ; 
hence  there  are  many  incompetent  persons  so  engaged,  who  depend  wholly 
on  their  clerks  in  the  conduct  of  their  business.  We  have  such  here,  but  the 
number  is  small,  fortunately,  and  legislation  will  shortly  prevent  it  entirely. 
The  apprentice  in  the  United  States,  serves  on  an  average  three  years,  while 
the  Australian  is  required  to  pay  a  premium  and  serve  five  years.  There  is  no 
apprenticeship  in  India  worth  speaking  of,  owing  to  the  conditions  which 
govern  society.  Does  a  five  years  apprenticeship  turn  out  a  better  man  than 
that  of  three  years  ?  I  think  not,  except  in  one  case,  and  that  is  the  slow- 
plodding  fellow  who  is  slow  to  learn,  means  to  learn,  and  once  he  has  mastered 
a  subject  retains  it.  But  the  average  apprentice  is  as  competent  at  the  end  of 
three  years  to  do  the  practical  work  of  a  drug  store  as  the  five-year  lad,  and  at 
the  end  of  his  fourth  year  is  infinitely  superior  to  the  latter,  owing  to  the 
greater  scope  of  work  he  attends  to,  while  the  apprentice  still  lingers  at  defined 
limits.  The  Australian  certainly  has  no  advantage  in  his  longer  apprentice- 
ship. After  the  apprenticeship  or  during  its  latter  years,  the  theoretical  branch 
of  pliarmacy  impresses  itself  on  the  student  and  owing  to  our  superior  advan- 
tages in  collegiate  education  and  more  stringent  registry  laws,  the  home  druggist 
excels  his  Australian  cousin  on  the  average.  There  has  been  but  one  pharma- 
ceutical school  in  Australia  for  many  years  and  the  attendance  but  slight. 
1  See  also  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1887,  p.  103. 
