45 2  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {^l^Sj^™* 
Reference  was  also  made  to  a  bill  which  had  been  presented  to  the  present 
Congress,  requiring  that  the  positions  of  apothecaries  in  the  Navy  be  declared 
vacant, unless  the  present  incumbent  held  a  diploma  from  a  College  of  Pharmacy 
or  a  certificate  of  examination  from  a  State  or  County  Board  of  Pharmacy,  and 
that  new  appointments  be  hereafter  made  only  from  those  who  have  graduated 
from  a  recognized  College  of  Pharmacy.  The  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Medicine 
and  Surgery  opposed  this  legislation,  because  it  would  summarily  dismiss  a 
large  number  of  apothecaries  who  are  entirely  competent  and  who  are  doing 
faithful  service,  and  because  the  present  laws  and  regulations  were  entirely 
adequate  ;  this  view  was  concurred  in  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
Secretary  Hogan  presented  a  lengthy  report  on  the  instruction  given  in  the 
forty-eight  colleges,  schools,  and  college  or  university  departments,  existing 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada;  several  of  these  have,  apparently,  "only  a 
nominal  existence. 
Professor  Simon,  in  answer  to  a  query,  read  a  paper  in  advocacy  of  extendi?ig 
the  college  course  in  pharmacy  to  three  years,  but  in  opposition  to  the  sugges- 
tion that  the  third  year's  course  be  devoted  to  physiology  and  therapeutics  ; 
there  is  ample  room,  and  also  necessity,  for  increasing  the  work  in  practical 
chemistry  and  other  branches  directly  pertaining  to  pharmacy  without 
encroaching  upon  the  field  properly  belonging  to  the  physician. 
A  paper  by  Prof.  Sayre  on  the  teaching  of  pharmacy  to  medical  students 
suggests  that  this  should  necessarily  be  limited  to  the  physical  properties  of 
preparations,  and  the  general  processes  for  making  them,  to  their  relative 
strength,  to  the  chemical  constitution  of  drugs  and  to  their  behavior  in  com- 
binations. Regarding  the  therapeutical  knowledge  desirable  for  the  pharma- 
cist, the  author  thinks  that  the  latter  may  advantageously  know  what  remedy 
is  applicable  in  certain  classes  of  disease,  but  the  physician  must  know  definitely 
by  practice  the  details  of  treatment  in  the  use  of  the  remedy. 
A  paper  o?i  the  Hospital  steward  in  the  U.  S.  Marine  Hospital  Service,  by 
L.  A.  Duckert,  deals  with  the  various  duties  of  this  officer,  which  comprise 
those  of  a  competent  pharmacist,  and  a  good  book-keeper,  and  require  some 
executive  ability  and  sufficient  knowledge  of  mechanics  to  superintend  repairs. 
The  course  to  be  pursued  for  admission  to  this  branch  of  service  is  likewise 
indicated  in  the  paper. 
Notes  on  Pharmaceutical  Education,  read  by  Prof.  E.  Kremers,  deal  mainly 
with  the  study  of  materia  medica.  This  term,  in  its  broadest  sense,  embraces 
now  several  distinct  branches  of  science  like  pharmacognosy,  pharmaco-chem- 
istry,  pharmaco-dynamics,  therapeutics  and  pharmaco-morphics  (or  pharmaco- 
poetics).  The  author  then  outlined  several  methods  for  teaching  pharmaceu- 
tical materia  medica,  and  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  the  salvation  of  the 
pharmacist  does  not  lie  in  making  all  microscopists  or  all  analytical  chemists, 
but  that  it  will  be  achieved  by  raising  all  to  the  highest  educational  standard 
prevalent  in  the  country,  and  by  allowing  the  individual  to  find  for  himself  the 
special  field  for  which  he  is  best  fitted. 
A  proposition  made  by  Mr:  Alpers,  of  Bayonne,  N.  J.,  that  all  applicants  for 
examination  by  the  Pharmacy  Boards  should  have  previously  graduated  from 
some  reputable  college  of  pharmacy,  created  a  great  deal  of  discussion,  mostly 
in  opposition.  Since  Mr.  Alpers  is  neither  a  teacher,  in  nor  a  member  of,  a 
college  of  pharmacy,  it   seems  evident  that  his  proposition  was  made  in 
