AmAJp°rur;£term*}  Educational  Development.  189 
question  that  nothing  short  of  an  extension  of  the  courses  will 
answer  the  imperative  demands  of  the  hour;  for  the  student,  en- 
gaged in  a  drug  store  while  attending  college,  there  can  be  no 
other  alternative.  Our  medical  schools,  that  formerly  regarded 
courses  of  lectures  extending  over  two  years  sufficient,  now  require 
a  four  years'  course,  and  pharmacy  owes  it  to  herself  to  keep  pace 
with  medicine.  The  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  College  unanimously 
decided  to  extend  the  time  for  college  attendance  to  three  full 
courses,  extending  over  as  many  years,  and  this  requirement  will  go 
into  effect  with  the  beginning  of  the  course  in  October,  1895. 
This  extension  will  enable  the  student  not  only  to  become  more 
thoroughly  grounded  in  the  subjects  which  are  a  part  of  the  curri- 
culum, but  will  permit  of  the  extension  of  the  instruction  in  the 
direction  of  more  advanced  subjects,  as  well  as  those  eminently  prac- 
tical. This  action  of  the  Board  was  not  taken  hastily,  but  was  under 
serious  contemplation  for  a  number  of  years.  Another  step  which 
has  been  contemplated  for  a  still  longer  time,  and  which  will  also  go 
into  effect,  is  the  granting  of  the  degree  of  "  Doctor  in  Pharmacy  " 
to  all  who  successfully  complete  the  three  years'  course  and  pass 
the  final  examination. 
The  subject  of  granting  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Pharmacy  is  by 
no  means  a  new  suggestion  ;  it  is  true  that  the  proposition  was 
thoroughly  considered  twenty-two  years  ago  by  the  conference  of 
teaching  colleges.  The  Philadelphia  College,  at  this  conference, 
while  not  disapproving  of  granting  such  a  degree,  felt  that  the  time 
was  not  ripe,  and  the  instruction  then  given  did  not  justify  the 
change  then  proposed.  The  degree  of  Graduate  in  Pharmacy  was 
adopted  by  this  College  at  the  beginning  of  its  career,  when  oppo- 
sition to  the  establishment  of  the  institution  came  from  the  physi- 
cians of  Philadelphia  who  were  interested  in  the  work  of  the  medical 
schools.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  founders  of  the  College  of 
Pharmacy  acted  wisely  at  the  time,  but  since  then  the  term  "doctor" 
has  outgrown  the  limited  meaning  which  it  then  had,  and  has  come 
to  be  recognized  in  many  professions  as  the  proper  title  to  be 
bestowed  upon  a  graduate  of  any  professional  college. 
With  the  inauguration  of  the  course  extending  over  three  years, 
with  its  added  requirements  and  responsibilities,  and  the  system  of 
examinations  at  the  end  of  each  term,  it  is  believed  that  such  action 
is  thoroughly  justified.    Pharmacy  as  a  profession  has,  in  the  past, 
