^54 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE". 
proficiency in it must be due to your prirate instructor and 
your own industry and good sense in employing the oppor- 
tunities afforded you at home. There is much that can only 
be learned in a long experience, and it is for this, 
among other reasons, that the diploma of this college re- 
quires a probation of four years from its possessor. Not- 
withstanding, therefore, your merit as pharmaceutists will 
depend in great measure on your proficiency in the three 
first noticed departments, your professional standing in the 
community, and your pecuniary interest, will be very much 
promoted by not neglecting the last. 
In the remarks that have been made, 1 have endeavored 
to present a fair view of the profession of Pharmacy, of its 
aims, its responsibilities, its usefulness. In this country ^ 
however, but small progress has been made in its cultiva- 
tion, in a scientific point of view, compared with its condition 
on the continent of Europe. The reform amongst the 
apothecaries of Germany dates but two years earlier than 
our first movements, and now they are unrivalled even on 
their own continent. The cause of this is their superior 
educational advantages, but more especially it is to be 
attributed to the all-powerful influence of government, 
which, in the matter of medicine, assumes the whole control. 
The student is compelled to a long course of study and 
practice before he is eligible for examination, and after suc- 
cess in passing the ordeal and in possession of his diploma? 
he has no power to commence business until he has 
authority from government, or buys out, with its consent, 
an already existing establishment. The German apothe- 
cary is, therefore, an officer of the government; his duties 
are clearly defined ; he has no competition,, because the 
prices of his medicines are fixed by authority, and a certain 
district of population is assigned to his pharmacy, which is 
always sufficient to yield a handsome income. With these 
advantages guaranteed to them, it is not surprising that the 
German pharmaceutists have time and disposition for those 
