Am  jour.  Pharm. )       Constructive  Public  Service  in  Pharmacy.  547 
August,  1921.     )  •* 
progress  and  endeavor.  It  has  its  roots  in  the  misty  ages  of  the 
Orient  and  among  the  races  of  mankind  contributing  to  its  improve- 
ment were  the  Babylonfans,  Egyptians,  Greeks,  Romans  and 
Arabians. 
Differing  in  detail  as  to  its  practical  application,  the  landmarks 
are  shared  by  its  practitioners  in  all  lands  and  under  various  designa- 
tions. Every  civilized  country  has  its  pharmacopoeia,  the  vade  mecum 
of  the  pharmacist,  and  largely  the  result  of  his  labors  and  re- 
searches. The  United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  now  undergoing  its 
tenth  decennial  revision,  is  the  second  oldest  of  these  national  au- 
thorities (the  Codex  Medicamentarius  of  France  being  the  oldest),, 
and  in  its  technical  details  is  a  monument  to  American  Pharmacy, 
which  has  largely  been  entrusted  with  its  preparation. 
Pharmaceutical  education  was  inaugurated  in  America  by  the 
apothecaries  of  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love  when  they  founded  the 
Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  one  hundred  years  ago.  Since 
that  time  it  has  undergone  many  improvements  and  changes,  as 
have  all  other  fields  of  education,  but  its  progress  has  been  retarded 
largely  because  of  the  lack  of  supporting  legislation  in  many  of  our 
States.  After  many  years  of  waiting  we  may  say  with  confidence 
that  pharmacy  is  now  on  the  verge  of  a  great  advance  in  this  respect 
and  that  in  the  next  ten  years  more  progress  will  be  made  than  has 
taken  place  in  the  last  half  century. 
There  has  been  no  lack  of  appreciation  of  what  has  been  needed, 
but  there  have  been  certain  forces  to  combat  and  prejudices  to  over- 
come and  much  preparatory  work  to  be  done.  In  this  connection, 
credit  must  be  given  to  the  constructive  efforts  of  the  American  Con- 
ference of  Pharmaceutical  Faculties,  composed  of  representatives  of 
over  forty  leading  colleges  of  pharmacy  of  the  United  States,  which 
has  labored  unceasingly  for  twenty  years  for  the  adoption  of  higher 
standards  and  the  elimination  of  schools  operated  for  profit  alone 
and  not  for  service  to  the  community. 
There  has  been  no  failure  on  the  part  of  the  colleges,  meanwhile, 
to  educate  the  students  to  properly  qualify  under  the  State  registra- 
tion laws.  The  shortcomings  have  been  in  not  recognizing  the  neces- 
sity of  a  broader  cultural  education  to  accompany  the  scientific  and 
technical  training.  The  pharmacist  of  a  decade  hence  will  be  on  a 
par  as  regards  his  preliminary  education  and  cultural  training,  with 
the  members  of  other  learned  professions  and  insensibly  and  auto- 
