AmSeJP0tur"i92iarm^     Half  Century  of  Amer.  Pharmacy.  639 
A  HALF  CENTURY  OF  AMERICAN  PHARMACY  * 
(Address  of  Prof.  H.  V.  Amy,  Columbia  University,  at  the  Jubi- 
lee Celebration  of  the  Ontario  College  of  Pharmacy.) 
It  is  a  great  honor  and  privilege  to  bring  to  the  Ontario  Col- 
lege of  Pharmacy  upon  this  memorable  occasion  the  greetings  of 
the  pharmacists  on  the  other  side  of  the  Great  Lakes.  The  name 
"Canadian"  has  taken  on  new  meaning  to  us  living  under  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  since  your  brave  sons  fought  on  Vimy  Ridge  and  red- 
dened even  the  poppies  on  Flanders  fields.  With  naught  but  the 
St.  Lawrence,  the  Lakes  and  a  few  thousand  miles  of  imaginary  line 
separating  us,  our  countries,  peaceful  neighbors  for  over  a  cen- 
tury, became  comrades  in  arms  for  eighteen  of  the  War's  fifty-one 
tragically  glorious  months ;  so  soon,  alas !  forgotten  in  certain  quar- 
ters. 
To  refer  to  the  occasion  we  celebrate,  it  is  a  great  thing  for 
an  organization  to  have  weathered  the  changes  and  chances  of  half 
a  century.  It  is  a  matter  worthy  of  the  most  cordial  congratulations 
that  this  organization  has  attained  the  vigorous  fifties  with  so  fine  a 
record  of  achievement.  May  the  coming  fifty  years  of  the  On- 
tario College  of  Pharmacy  be  of  even  greater  success  than  the  half 
century  just  drawing  to  a  close. 
We  pharmacists  in  '"pie  States"  have  been  celebrating  to  quite 
an  extent  during  the  past  year.  Just  one  year  ago  the  oldest  State 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  that  of  New  Jersey,  celebrated  its  semi- 
centennial, while  this  very  week,  the  oldest  College  of  Pharmacy  in 
America,  that  in  Philadelphia,  is  holding  its  one  hundredth  grad- 
uating exercises. 
Since  1920-21  has  been  a  year  of  celebrations,  it  is  well  to 
pause  a  few  moments  to  look  back  over  fifty  years  with  the  hope  of 
gaining  from  the  past  lessons  for  the  future.  Pharmacy  has  been 
far  from  quiet  during  this  half  century.  Let  us  see  whether  its 
activities  have  been  for  good  or  evil. 
Let  us  imagine  ourselves  back  in  1871  when  the  Ontario  Col- 
lege of  Pharmacy  was  organized.  My  childhood  memories  of  the 
seventies  hover  around  a  fine  old  town  at  the  other  end  of  the  coun- 
try from  whence  I  come,  New  Orleans;  washed  by  the  Father  of 
*From  Canadian  Pharmaceutical  Jour.,  July,  1921. 
