Albany College of Pharmacy - Alembic Yearbook (Albany, NY)

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Zke Albany College of Pharmacy A Prief When Union University was chartered in 1873, the Board of Governors was given the ‘'Power to establish such departments of science and learning in or in connection with said University as they deemed proper.” It was this action that made possible the founding of the Albany College of Pharmacy eight years later. In 1881 there were but twelve Colleges of Pharmacy in the United States and but one (Columbia) in New York State. It was not necessary to attend a college to become a pharmacist or to operate a pharmacy and only a relatively small num- ber of those who wished to enter the profession had thought it desirable to obtain a formal education in order to practice. But even then, there were those who could visualize a future when such education would not only be useful but so necessary that it would be required by law. Earlier attempts to form a College of Pharmacy in Albany had failed, because of lack of interest and because there was no responsible agency or group to under- take the task. But on June 21, 1881, alter much preliminary study and effort by Mr. Archibald McClure, Dr. Willis G. Tucker, Dr. Jacob S. Mosher, Mr. Gustavus Michaelis, Mr. John W. Russell and other prominent citizens of Albany, the Board of Governors of Union University created a Department of Pharmacy of the Uni- versity to be known as the Albany College of Pharmacy. Dr. Mosher was elected President of the Faculty, Mr. Russell became the first President of the Board of Trustees. Faculty appointments were Dr. Mosher, Pro- fessor of Botany and Materia Medica; Dr. Tucker, Professor of Chemistry; and Mr. Michaelis, Professor of Pharmacy. Professor Michaelis was later to achieve fame as the discoverer of a new and inexpensive process for the manufacture of chloroform. In addition to President Russell, Archibald McClure, Louis Sautter, Alfred Huested, and other leading citizens of Albany made up the first Board of Trustees. The first class of students was admitted on October 3, 1881, to begin a two- year course, consisting of five hours per week with a scholastic year of 21 weeks. All classes were held in the evening at the Albany Medical College, then located on Eagle Street. The Medical College which was originally founded in 1838 had become a part of Union University in 1873, and offered a three-year course leading to the Degree of Doctor of Medicine. Many students who completed the phar- macy course were to be admitted to the course in Medicine with advanced standing. Courses of study at the new College of Pharmacy included “lectures, abun- dantly illustrated, upon Botany. Materia Medica, Pharmacy and Chemistry, together with practical laboratory exercises.” There were no entrance requirements except the payment of a three-dollar matriculation fee, the purchase of a lecture ticket at thirty dollars and a laboratory fee of fifteen dollars. In order to be graduated, it was necessary to have completed satisfactorily the prescribed courses of study and to have completed four full years of apprenticeship under an approved preceptor. In addition an acceptable thesis on some subject pertinent to pharmacy was re- quired before the candidate could be awarded the degree of Ph.G. Graduate in Pharmacy). The Board of Trustees apparently was unwilling to leave the matter of judging the fitness of candidates for the degree entirely to the Faculty. A committee of the Board administered oral examinations to each candidate “to ascertain the prac- tical rather than the theoretical fitness of the student for his future work.” The first Commencement was held in the amphitheatre of the Medical Col- lege on the evening of February 28. 1882. Degrees were conferred on three candi- dates, who had been admitted to the second year class the previous October, by Dr. Eliphalet Nott Potter, Chancellor of Union University. The graduating class consisted of Albert R. Griffith of Oil City, Pennsylvania, Gustave Kreutzer of New York City and John Spencer Phillips of Fonda. New York. The commencement address was delivered by Dr. David Murray, Secretary of the Regents of the Uni- versity of the State of New' York. Prizes were awarded to Gustave Kreutzer and Albert Griffith for the best examinations and the best thesis respectively. It is interesting to note that the Commencement programs during each of the « 18 »

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Mosse, and V. Manory; the band hired by T. Studdcrs and A. Dulin; favors arranged for by Lois Jewell and A1 Collins, publicity handled by A. Kronman and Ellen Doocey took charge of the decorations. The dance ended at 1 A.M., but the festivities didn’t. The hot dog roast at Thacher Park continued on into the wee. hours of the morning. What with basketball scandals, vice and panty raids the main topic of the day, who would think we too would be a victim of this epidemic. Yes, the Biochemistry scandal with Dean O’Brien judge and jury, Dr. Little prosecuting attorney, one- half the class as plaintiff and the other half as defendants. Those were the tense hours, the outcome was a retrial in the form of a new qui . There was no official statement as the press was not admitted. Guess the case was dismissed on in- sufficient evidence or possibly a plea of insanity. The Junior year took its toll of ’53’ers. We lost E. Doocey, Irv. Losee, Irwin B. Sallus, “Skip” Shangraw, Lou Snearly, Phil Tucker, and Ed Wind. We lost Ellie Sager when she married Walt Williams and they moved to California. Ellie, by the way, is now mixing formulas at home and is expected back at A.C.P. next year. And so we rounded the turn into the home stretch. Our elation at being Seniors was sobered by the loss of Jerry Carter during the summer. His death was deeply felt by the whole class. So it was soberly that we greeted our new' members, Gene Baldwin, “Vic” Falcone, “Sandy” Nogee and “Al” Bergman. Ray Greco and Shirley added a member to their family, also, Deborah Greco. Debby was the cause of much cigar smoking that week (at her old man’s expense). As the sadness of Jerry’s death wore off, we were shocked again by the loss of Karl Wilhelm, another grand guy. Karl was the victim of an auto accident while returning to school from his home. The day of the funeral Senior classes were cancelled and many of his fellow students went to Poughkeepsie for the services. The organizations were well represented with ’53’ers. F. Steed was Newman Club president; the A.Pit.A. officers were all seniors; and the Newspaper Staff, under Al Kronman’s editorship, were mainly seniors. The complement of professors was increased by Dr. Baum, Mr. Rinaldo DeNuzzio, Mr. Albert White, and Mr. Low'ell Binkley. We rounded out the year with a day at Winthrop-Stearns, and a two-day trip to Pearl River and the Lederle Laboratories. I am sure for most of us no class history need have been written as we all carry memories that could not possibly be expressed with pen and paper. But for those years to come when we sit down old and gray and start to reminisce—the names, incidences, social events we are attempting to recall will fill our college days of 1949-1953. « 17 »

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subsequent years have followed, almost to the letter, the format of that first exer- cise, except for the addition of the Valedictory address in 1883 and thereafter. In 1883, there were ten graduates including Frank J. Smith Sr. and Louis Sautter Jr. who were destined for long and active pharmaceutical careers in the Citv of Albany. Two of the class, however, did not receive diplomas because they had not completed their four years of apprenticeship. It was during the year of 1883 that Dr. Mosher died, and Dr. Willis Gaylord Tucker was appointed President and Dean of the Faculty. Dr. Alfred B. Huested was appointed Professor of Botany and Materia Medica. Both of these appointees were to render long and honorable service to the College for a period of thirty- five years until their retirement in 1918. The catalogue of the College that year stated that either a college diploma or a license from an examining board would soon be a legal necessity for those engaged in the practice of pharmacy in this state. One year later such a law was passed and the college enrollment began to increase steadily. By the year of 1899 there were 323 graduates on the alumni roll and the number of Colleges of Pharmacy had increased to fifty-one. It was during the year of 1899 that the profession of pharmacy suffered a severe blow to its onward progress. The Board of Regents of the State of New York wished to place the Ph.G. degree on the same plane as any other degree pro- tected by the Regents and to require the same preliminary education as the student of medicine, together with a four-year college course. Pharmacy objected to this program as too severe for its needs at the time and because no other state had a similar program. By the time this program was adopted in 1937, thirty-eight years later, medicine and the other professions had left pharmacy far behind in scholastic requirements. Thus pharmacy was dealt a blow from which it has never fully recovered. During the intervening years, however, slow but steady progress was made and educational requirements gradually increased but not without serious opposition by those who were determined that the business interests of pharmacy should prevail. In 1905, New York was the first state to require that all candidates for license to practice pharmacy “shall be graduates of a College of Pharmacy registered by the Board of Regents, and which requires not less than 12 Regent’s counts or their equivalent as a condition for entrance.” This was the equivalent of one year of High School preparation. In 1918, the requirement was extended to two years of High School, in 1923 to three years and in 1925 to four years. In 1927 three years of College preparation became a minimum; in 1937 this was extended to four years. Thus in a period of less than fifty years, reejuirements for licensure in- creased from an uncontrolled two years of College without previous secondary edu- cation to a full four-year High School course followed by four years of College. It is interesting to note that practically every step of the advance was initiated by the colleges themselves in spite of heavy opposition from nearly all other branches of the profession. As the educational qualifications gradually increased, the curriculum became more and more diversified and intensified. In 1890, a six-hour per week Pharmacy Laboratory Course was added for a period of ten weeks each year. The Medical College did not have a suitable laboratory so one was equipped in a loft on Beaver Street and three years later was moved to the loft of the Van Heusen-Charles Build- ing on Broadway. A course in Microscopy was added in 1895 and recitations in all courses were added to the lecture hours. In 1903, pharmaceutical mathematics and physics were recognized as separate courses and in 1908 Latin and Physiology were added to the program. By this time the course had been lengthened from its beginning in 1881 when each year consisted of five hours a week for 21 weeks to twenty-seven weeks of 22 hours each. In 1910 a course in Jurisprudence and Com- mercial Pharmacy was added to the program and in 1918 the course in chemistry was divided into essentially the same divisions as now' prevail, Inorganic, Organic and Analytical. Additional space to provide the necessary rooms for the added classes was made possible in 1915 when the college moved to 43 Eagle Street across from the Medical College. This was rented space and was to serve as a temporary home until the erection of the new' building in 1927. The lengthening of the Course required many additions to the Faculty, many of whom were to give lengthy service to the College. Professor Theodore J. Brad- ley, who was later to found the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, was appointed Lecturer in Pharmacy in 1896 and remained with the College until called to his « 19 »