AmAp°rnr;S5arm*}  Educational  Development.  187- 
interests  of  pharmaceutical  education  lie  in  the  direction  of  building 
up  these  relations  between  the  preceptor  and  the  assistant,  and  every 
effort  should  be  made  on  the  part  of  the  college  to  foster  the  inter- 
est and  influence  of  such  a  preceptor.  Because  some  preceptors 
neglect  their  privilege  and  duties,  does  this  constitute  sufficient 
grounds  for  the  college  to  ignore  the  work  of  all  ?  When  the  point 
has  been  reached  (and  it  is  sincerely  hoped  that  such  a  misfortune 
will  never  occur),  when  an  able  preceptor's  work  is  counted  as  nothing, 
or  worse  than  useless,  then  may  we  look  for  the  decadence  of 
American  pharmacy. 
But  what  shall  be  said  of  the  druggist  who  never  gives  his  assistant 
the  slightest  training  ;  whose  business  is  limited  strictly  to  merchan- 
dising ;  who  gives  nothing,  yet  takes  all ;  whose  object  is  to  pay  his 
assistant  the  lowest  salary  and  exact  the  utmost  amount  of  labor 
possible  ?  A  moment's  time  spent  by  the  assistant  in  examining  a 
drug,  testing  a  chemical  or  making  a  preparation,  is  regarded  as  a 
serious  fault ;  kept  on  the  move  all  day  long,  deprived  of  sufficient 
time  to  even  digest  his  food  properly,  and  then  compelled  to  rush 
off  to  his  lectures  with  his  mind  and  body  in  a  condition  of  exhaus- 
tion, he  is  surely  an  object  to  excite  commiseration  and  arouse  indig- 
nation. The  trifling  pecuniary  consideration  which  drug  clerks 
usually  receive  is  always  admitted  to  be  offset  by  the  much  more 
important  factor  of  the  personal  training  of  the  preceptor,  and 
when  this  part  of  the  contract  is  shown  to  be  valueless,  is  it  any 
wonder  that  the  assistant  turns  to  the  college  and  demands  that  it 
shall  supply  the  knowledge  which  is  lacking  ?  If  the  preceptor  is 
unable  to  properly  train  his  assistant,  through  lack  of  knowledge  or 
press  of  business,  he  should  be  more  than  willing  to  furnish  him 
with  the  opportunity  to  qualify  himself  elsewhere. 
Philadelphia  has  long  been  noted  for  the  large  number  of  her 
well-educated  pharmacists.  It  was  here  that  the  first  educational 
institution  for  teaching  pharmacy  was  established  ;  necessarily,  the 
influence  of  this  school  w7as  at  first  local.  Gradually,  but  surely,  the 
desire  for  education  grew ;  the  little  knot  of  enthusiastic  devotees 
increased.  The  graduates  of  the  college  soon  became  proprietors 
of  drug  stores;  these,  realizing  the  great  benefits  that  they  had 
derived  from  their  college  education,  with  a  true  spirit  that  they 
were  engaged  in  a  liberal  profession,  were  glad  to  offer  to  their 
assistants  the  privileges  that  they  themselves  had  enjoyed,  and  in 
