342  Pharmacy  as  a  Legitimate  Science.     {Am'uay  mi.rm 
PHARMACY  AS  A  LEGITIMATE  SCIENCE  * 
By  Dean  Charles  H.  La  Wall, 
.Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  and  Science. 
Pharmacy  as  a  legitimate  and  very  important  science  should  as- 
sume its  rightful  place  in  public  esteem,  according  ko  Prof.  Charles 
II.  La  Wall,  Dean  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  which  is 
celebrating  its  one  hundredth  anniversary. 
The  pharmacist  must  be  educated  in  the  basic  sciences  of  botany, 
chemistry,  pharmacognosy,  physics  and  bacteriology,  and  this  phar- 
maceutical education,  begun  in  America  one  hundred  years  ago,  has, 
in  the  opinion  of  Prof.  La  Wall,  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a  class 
of  men  who  deserve  the  respect  and  appreciation  of  the  general 
public. 
"The  material  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  our  surround- 
ings since  the  founding  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Apothecaries 
in  1821,"  says  Prof.  LaWall,  "have  been  astounding.  Epoch-making 
discoveries  in  medicine  and  chemistry  have  followed  each  other  in 
rapid  succession.  New  sciences,  such/  as  that  of  bacteriology,  have 
arisen,  and  new  remedial1  agencies',  such  as  the  serums  and  vaccines, 
have  appeared,  requiring  highly  specialized  knowledge  on  the  part 
of  the  dispenser  as  well  as  of  the  physician. 
"I  think  it  will  be  admitted  without  question  that  it  is  just  as  im- 
portant to  know  how  to  fill  a  prescription  correctly  as  tol  know  how 
to  write  it  correctly.  Few  but  a  trained  pharmacist  or  a  physician 
know  how  frequently  the;  dispenser  has  the  issues  of  life  and  death 
in  his  hands  or  how  much  care  and  skill  are  required  in  order  to  give 
and  dispense  medicines  which  shall  be  efficacious  and  safe.  The 
making  of  even  the  simplest  preparation  demands  an  art  and  a  tech- 
nique acquired  only  by  study  and  practice. 
"It  is  necessary  for  the  pharmacist  to  know  the  Latin  name,  the 
English  name  and  the  synonym  or  popular  name  of  several  thousand 
drugs,  chemicals  and  medicines  offhand,  and  also  to  know  where  to 
immediately  turn  for  information  which  it  would  be  folly  to  try 
to  remember  concerning  these  things. 
"He  must  know  the  physical  properties,  such  as  appearance  and 
solubilities  of  hundreds  of  chemical  salts  and  to  be  able  to  apply  dis- 
tinguishing and  identifying  tests  to  substances  concerning  which 
there  is  doubt  of  their  identity.  He  must  know  the  doses  of  scores 
of  drugs  and  medicines  of  high  degree  of  potency  and  how  to  com- 
*Reprinted  from  The  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 
