Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
Dec,  1921. 
Professional  Training. 
859 
anxiety  but  its  cause.  We  know  that  the  method  of  "science  before 
practice"  may  be  useful ;  that  it  is  always  of  value  we  cannot  pre- 
tend. 
SCIENCE  WITH  PRACTICE. 
The  arrangement  under  which  training  in  pure  science  goes 
hand-in-hand  with  practical  instruction  is  also  in  theory  sound. 
Here  we  hope  to  find  practice  illustrating  the  principles  on  which 
it  is  based,  and  science  at  the  same  time  illuminating  the  applica- 
tion of  these  principles  to  practice.  But  the  method  violates  an 
axiom  applicable  to  most  human  affairs ;  it  is  usually  best  to  do  one 
thing  at  a  time.  What  may  and,  at  times,  does  happen  is  that 
pupils  fresh  from  school  and  versed  in  the  art  of  hoodwinking  the 
enemies  of  education,  put  scientific  principles  acquired  by  rote  to 
immediate  use  as  mnemonics  of  manipulative  details  they  may  never 
have  carried  out.  Where  the  destiny  of  such  disciples  is  adminis- 
trative or  advisory,  it  needs  the  acid  test  of  professional  responsi- 
bility to  show  how  specious  an  academic  record  may  be.  This, 
however,  so  far  as  the  public  interest  is  concerned,  is  a  trifling  dis- 
advantage as  compared  with  the  moral  effect  of  running  practice 
and  science  in  double  harness,  upon  pupils  whose  interest  in  their 
proper  calling  is  so  intense  that  it  absorbs  most  of  their  attention. 
These,  in  the  examination  room,  at  times  fail  to  disentangle  theory 
from  practice;  academic  estimates  of  their  attainments  are  apt  to 
bear  the  relationship  to  reality  which  we  might  expect  if  ability  to 
"ride  to  hounds"  had  to  be  judged  by  a  horseman's  mastery  of  the 
"antics  of  the  circus." 
SCIENCE  AFTER  PRACTICE. 
The  arrangement  under  which  a  training  in  pure  science  fol- 
lows practical  pupilage  is  so  familiar  to  pharmacy  that  little  need 
be  said  of  it.  The  result  of  thorough  pupilage  in  gardencraft, 
where  my  acquaintance  with  its  effects  is  most  intimate,  is  to  make 
the  knowledge  imbibed  a  part  of  the  pupil's  individuality.  The 
comprehension  of  the  sciences  whose  principles  underlie  the  prac- 
tice of  the  calling  is  therefore  simple.  Formal  illustrations  of  the 
doctrines  a  teacher  imparts  are  hardly  needed ;  such  illustrations  are 
already  latent  in  the  intellectual  equipment  of  the  pupil.  On  occa- 
sions the  truths  stated  by  the  teacher  may  appear  to  diverge  from  the 
experience  acquired  by  the  pupil ;  difficulties  thus  created  can  be  sub- 
