Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
Dec,  1921. 
Changes  in  Pharmacy  Laws. 
841 
it  unprofitable  for  retail  pharmacists  to  make  very  many  products. 
Some  have  caused  the  elimination  of  a  great  deal  of  the  present 
medicinal  armamentarium  of  physicians  from  the  pharmacists'  sphere 
of  work  in  the  store.  The  result  is  a  gradual,  serious  and  permanent 
curtailment  in  pharmaceutical  operations  and  consequent  loss  of  op- 
portunity to  gain  practical  experience  therein  in  a  retail  pharmacy. 
Comparing  the  conditions  which  confront  the  person  taking  up 
pharmacy  with  what  they  were  when  the  present  four  years'  practical 
experience  requirement  was  established,  the  enforcement  of  this  long 
term  now  is  also  inconsistent.  At  that  time,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  thereafter,  the  young  man  entering  the  service  of  a  pharmacist 
was  not  required  to  have  any  definite  preliminary  education.  He  be- 
gan his  experience  by  sweeping  the  store,  washing  windows,  soda 
glasses,  bottles  and  utensils  used  by  others  in  compounding.  He  ran 
the  errands,  charged  the  soda  water  and  mixed  syrups  for  the  foun- 
tain, also  waited  on  soda  water  customers,  none  of  which  service  is 
of  a  pharmaceutical  character,  unless  it  be  learning  to  clean  the  uten- 
sils properly. 
A  year  of  such  work  and  he  was  allowed  to  fold  seidlitz  pow- 
ders, help  roll  compound  cathartic  pills,  grind  and  powder  some 
drugs  (pharmaceutical  work  but  seldom  done  in  the  pharmacy  any 
more),  and  bottle  some  commonly  used  household  remedies.  The  pro- 
prietor began  to  teach  him  some  titles  and  direct  his  studies,  if  the 
former  had  time  and  was  sufficiently  interested.  The  first  two  years  of 
service  afforded  very  little  opportunity  to  gain  experience  in  com- 
pounding, or  to  perform  any  real  pharmaceutical  work.  This  part 
of  the  experience  was  gained  during  the  last  two  years  of  appren- 
ticeship. 
Under  these  conditions  the  fathers  were  right  in  demanding  a 
long  term  of  service  that  before  its  termination  might  provide 
ample  time  in  which  to  acquire  a  proper  practical  experience  in  all 
work  pertaining  to  the  business,  and  making  it  pre-requisite  to 
registration. 
But  we  live  in  a  different  day.  Those  entering  pharmacy  are 
high  school  boys  or  girls.  Some  are  high  school  graduates '  and 
all  must  be  very  soon.  The  college  of  pharmacy  is  the  best  place 
in  which  to  get  practical  experience  in  performing  pharmaceutical 
operations.  The  menial  work  of  the  store  is  being  done  more  or 
less  by  persons  who  do  not  aspire  to  become  registered  pharmacists, 
