322 
Instruction  in  Pharmacy. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1       July,  1913. 
"  Some  years  since,  for  instance,  when  a  practical  test  was  made 
at  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  National  Association  of  Boards  (of 
pharmacy)  it  was  found  that  the  members  in  attendance  graded 
the  same  set  of  replies  anywhere  from  6o  to  82  per  cent." 
Now  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  students  whose  papers 
were  being  passed  upon  were,  presumably,  at  least,  all  graduates 
of  "  reputable,  recognized  colleges  of  pharmacy,"  is  it  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  one  questions  why  should  these  things  be? 
When  great  minds  differ  so  widely,  how  is  the  humble  would-be 
student  going  to  arrive  at  a  safe  conclusion  in  selecting  a  school 
in  which  to  prepare  himself  for  his  life  work? 
If  one  would  like  to  form  some  definite  idea  as  to  how  far 
removed  from  the  ideal  are  the  colleges  of  pharmacy  of  to-day, 
and  how  widely  divergent  are  the  views  of  the  men  who  are  en- 
gaged in  conducting  these  schools,  let  him  take  up  the  volume  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  thirteenth  annual  meeting  of  the  American 
Conference  of  Pharmaceutical  Faculties,  an  organization  which 
carries  in  affiliation  35  schools  engaged  in  the  teaching  of  pharmacy. 
It  is  a  book  containing  92  pages  of  printed  matter,  each  page 
6  by  9  inches.  I  have  read  this  book  and  was  greatly  interested  in 
the  questions  discussed  and  the  remarks  of  those  who  did  the  dis- 
cussing, but  when  adjournment  was  reached,  so  far  as  I  was  able 
to  arrive  at  a  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter,  there  remained  35 
different  opinions  as  to  just  what  constitutes  a  good  average  college 
of  pharmacy. 
The  capacity  for  learning  as  it  exists  among  human  beings  has 
a  wide  range.  One  person,  as  is  frequently  noted,  can  absorb  as 
great  a  fund  of  information  in  one-half,  or  even  less,  time  than 
another  person  under  the  same  teaching.  A  mere  hint  ofttimes 
results  in  leading  a  thoughtful  person  into  wider  range  of  knowl- 
edge of  a  particular  study  than  would  ten  years  of  skillful  teaching 
upon  the  part  of  trained  instructors  impart  to  another  person,  less 
fitted  by  nature  to  assimilate  knowledge. 
For  these  reasons,  then,  the  query  "  Should  the  minimum 
pharmacy  course  extend  over  three  years  ?  "  is  not  capable  of  receiv- 
ing a  definite  reply.  The  course  necessary  in  pharmacy  is  extremely 
flexible  in  application  and  cannot  be  arbitrarily  fixed. 
John  Brown,  for  instance,  with  a  retentive  memory  and  capable 
of  giving  close  attention  to  his  studies,  with  an  open  mind  to  the 
lectures  during  class  hours,  might  be  able  to  obtain  such  knowledge 
