54 
Educational  Advancement. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharni. 
\   February,  1909. 
our  principal  cities  and  in  most  of  our  states.  It  is  necessary  now 
that  a  man  shall  have  a  pharmaceutical  education  leading  at  least 
to  a  degree  equivalent  to  a  three  years'  course,  and  in  some  cases  a 
four  years'  course,  before  he  is  allowed  to  practise. 
This  leads  me  to  say  that  the  profession  of  pharmacy  is  just  as 
important  and  just  as  honorable  as  any  other  learned  profession, 
and  it  is  highly  advisable,  therefore,  that  the  preliminary  training 
looking,  to  the  practice  of  pharmacy  be  as  thorough  and  as  complete 
as  that  of  any  other  profession.  This  means  that  the  man  who  in- 
tends to  become  a  pharmacist  should  first  have  the  primary  and 
secondary  instruction,  followed  by  the  usual  four  years''  college 
course.  It  is  too  early  yet  to  require  in  all  the  pharmaceutical 
colleges  that  those  who  enter  upon  their  studies  come  with  a  degree 
representing  that  amount  of  study  for  which  the  degree  of  A.B.  is 
conferred  in  colleges  of  average  efficiency.  Yet  I  think  I  may  be 
allowed  to  become  prophet  long  enough  to  say  that  it  is  surely  com- 
ing. Some  of  our  great  universities,  notably  Harvard,  have  intro- 
duced that  rule  in  regard  to  all  their  professional  schools.  At  Har- 
vard University  at  the  present  time  no  one  can  enter  a  professional 
school  to  study  for  a  degree  who  has  not  pursued  a  course  of  study 
entitling  him  to  the  ordinary  degree  of  A.B.  in  a  good  college  or  its 
equivalent  in  study.  At  first  when  this  plan  was  proposed  it  was 
met  with  the  objection  that  the  professional  schools  of  the  university 
would  diminish  in  number,  in  fact,  the  first  effect  of  the  enforcement 
of  this  rule  was  to  diminish  the  number  of  students,  but  this  loss  in 
numbers  was  only  temporary  and  has  been  followed  by  a  steady  gain 
which  has  placed  the  professional  schools  of  Harvard  University, 
in  so  far  as  professions  are  concerned,  on  a  higher  plane  than  they 
were  before  the  regulations  regarding  admission  were  adopted. 
The  profession  of  pharmacy  entails  a  degree  of  responsibility 
second  only  to  that  of  medicine,  and  perhaps  equal  thereto.  I  will 
not  discuss  here  whether  or  not  there  is  any  virtue  in  drugs.  \Ye 
may  assume  for  the  purpose  of  this  discussion  that  there  is  such 
merit.  It  follows  then  that  the  only  good  which  may  come  from 
drugs  must  come  from  the  fact  that  they  possess  the  properties  which 
are  accredited  to  them.  The  skill  of  preparation,  the  skill  of  com- 
pounding and  the  skill  of  dispensing  entail  the  responsibility  of 
producing  in  the  end  a  combination  having  the  properties  desired 
by  the  pharmacist  and  required  by  the  physician  for  the  benefit  of  his 
patient.    It  is,  of  course,  often  said  that  the  time  a  young  man 
