Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY _MARCH, 1907._ STANDARDS IN PHARMACEUTICAL EDUCATION.[1] BY HENRY KRAEMER. If we consider the present awakening in pharmacy, it may seem to some that we are making very rapid strides, but as a matter of fact the progress of pharmaceutical education in this country has been comparatively slow. The history of pharmacy in this country may be divided into three periods: (1) The pioneer period during the sixteenth century, when there were no physicians, and the general storekeeper who sold dry goods, groceries, books and paints, also sold medicines and prescribed them; (2) the colonial period during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when educated physicians from abroad emigrated to the colonies and prescribed as well as dispensed medicines; (3) the college period, or the period of organization and development, during the nineteenth century, when pharmacy became a distinct profession and business, and colleges of pharmacy were established, these numbering nearly 100 at the present time. We are now entering, after nearly a century, upon the fourth period, namely, that of standards in education, and we are endeavoring to fix the position of pharmacy among the other professions. The problem of pharmaceutical education involves two phases, namely (1) that of the natural ability and preliminary qualifications of the applicants for entrance to the colleges and schools of pharmacy, and (2) that of the character and kind of instruction that shall be given by a recognized teaching institution in pharmacy. Not only are these two classes of standards being considered by the teaching bodies themselves, but also by the boards of pharmacy, and with the enactment of laws in various States it will now be possible for more or less concerted action to be taken throughout the United States. PRELIMINARY REQUIREMENTS. Our system of popular education is the boast of our country, and well may it be, for it has been making steady advances during all the years of our national existence. At the present time the facilities for instruction and the opportunities for obtaining a good general education are so ample that it seems hardly credible that any one who is desirous of obtaining an education should fail in the attempt.