As™ptember,P 1909°' }  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  441 
Section  on  Pharmaceutical  Education  and  Legislation. 
The  address  of  the  Chairman,  Joseph  W.  England,  dealt  with 
the  important  problems  of  education  and  shorter  hours,  both  of 
which  it  is  rather  fortunate  are  being  gradually  solved.  Quoting 
from  the  report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the 
year  ending  June  30,  1908,  it  is  stated :  "  While  there  is  a  constant 
decrease  in  the  number  of  medical  and  dental  students,  there  is  a 
considerable  increase  in  students  of  pharmacy,  the  whole  number 
being  5567,  or  520  more  than  in  the  preceding  year,  and  larger  than 
it  has  ever  been  before.  It  is  probable  that  this  increase,  like  that 
in  law  and  dentistry  a  few  years  ago,  is  more  apparent  than  real, 
so  far  as  the  number  of  persons  entering  the  profession  of  pharmacy 
is  concerned.  Instead  of  young  men  depending  entirely  upon  shop 
experience  for  their  knowledge  of  pharmacy,  as  was  the  custom  very 
generally  not  many  years  ago,  it  is  probable  that  more  of  them  now 
enroll  themselves  in  schools  of  pharmacy,  where  they  expect  to 
receive  systematic  and  valuable  instruction  in  a  much  shorter  time 
than  when  behind  the  counter.  If  this  be  the  correct  explanation 
of  the  increased  number  of  students  in  pharmacy,  there  will  probably 
be  a  more  competent  addition  each  year  to  the  pharmaceutical  profes- 
sion, but  only  about  the  usual  quota  of  new  members.'' 
The  number  of  schools  of  pharmacy  in  1875  were  14;  in  1885, 
21;  in  1895,  39;  in  1905,  67;  and  in  1908,  75. 
The  number  of  students  in  1875  were  922  ;  in  1885,  1746;  in  1895, 
3859;  in  1905,  4944;  and  in  1908,  5567. 
The  number  of  graduates  in  1875  were  208;  in  1885,  39^ ;  *n 
1895,  1067;  in  1905,  1 5 18;  and  in  1908,  1529. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  out  of  the  75  schools  there  are  only 
9  that  have  less  than  25  students;  in  14  there  are  over  100  students, 
and  in  1  school  495  students.  The  general  average  is  nearly  75. 
One  State  (Ohio)  has  6  schools  with  a  total  number  of  289  students; 
another  State  (Pennsylvania)  has  4  schools  with  a  total  number  of 
958  students. 
The  75  schools  represent  35  States,  and  in  20  of  these  States  there 
is  more  than  1  school,  clearly  showing  the  need  of  merging  the 
smaller  and  weaker  equipped  pharmaceutical  schools  into  a  lesser 
number  of  well-equipped  and  strong  institutions. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  examinations,  at  the  best,  form  only 
an  imperfect  test  of  knowledge.    They  are  in  no  sense  a  substitute 
