Columbia University College of Pharmacy - Apothekan Yearbook (New York, NY)

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1829 to 1938 A HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE H It is a propensity or college graduates to reflect in later years the glory or their alma mater. The class of 38 has much of which to be proud, for its college has always fostered all that is honorable , ethical and best in the profession of pharmacy. And so, it is with pride that we present to you your personal record of the history of a noble insNViLion. H The history of the College of Pharmacy may be diyided for purposes of clarity into three periods— one of stress, ono of security, and one of established success. We who have both witnessed and contributed to the latter period, cannot possibly hope to thoroughly appreciate the conditions preceding the establishment of the College un- less we momentarily shut our eyes to the present and let the power of our imagination open them to the past. |[ In 1829 New York City was made up or a heterogeneous population whose views are expressed by the New York Mirror of the period as follows: No subjects engage public attention more at the present time than the diffusion of knowledge and the instruction of the young. Such an atmosphere could not help but arouse some of the members of the then stagnant pharmaceutical profession. It seems that the com- plexities of the profession were such that preliminary training was necessary for its prac- tice. In March of that year, therefore. John Keese, a graduate of the already established Philadelphia College ol Pharmacy and a member or the firm of Lawrence. Keese and Company, suggested that a College of Pharmacy be founded in New York. Acting upon his suggestion, a committee of thirty pharmacists met in the then famous meeting house, the Shakespeare Hotel, and drew up a constitution. The College, as stated, was established for the purpose of cultivating, improving, and making known a knowledge of pharmacy, its collateral branches of science, and the best mode of preparing medicines and of giving instruction in the same by public lectures. Ij After numerous retarding technicalities, the College officially opened its doors in 1829, lectures being given at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. John lorrey was selected as lecturer of Chemistry and Physics. Dr. J. Smith Rogers as lecturer of Materia Medica. The courses extended over a period of three months, the fee for which was three dollars. Chemistry was the most popular subject, for many amazing demon- strations were shown. • Water was actually decomposed, metals were burned, and hydrogen and oxygen were made to explode when brought in contact with a spark ' The mysteries of electricity were explained, too, and Leyden jars and galvanic batteries were experimented upon. |[ For the next 25 years, the trustees of the College had to struggle continually for the very existence of the institution. Funds were meagre and so the College was shifted about from place to place, classes being held in the New Dispensary, the basement of the City Half and in rented rooms over Lockwood s bookstore at 285 Broadway. The years 1855-60 were especially critical; bondholders demanded repayment of capital, and the College was faced with dissolution. Only by great economy and sacrifice did it manage to pay off its debts and continue to exist. U The period of security, 1870 to 1906. saw the College housed .in the remodeled Grace Chapel on Twenty-third Street. However, the available facilities soon became inade-

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COLLEGE

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quate lor the rapidly growing student body, and so in 1S02 the trustees purchased three lots al Sixty-eighth Street and Broadway, the site of the present school. Built on the style of Italian Renaissance architecture, and having accommodations for 1 .000 students, the building was considered I he finest of its kind. When in ioo.| the College was asked to become a part of Columbia University, the trustees accepted the honor, and thus the ( ollege became a unit of a great educational institution. ff The College has been indeed fortunate by having had on its faculty men of such world-wide renown as Ferdinand Mayer, famous because of his alkaloidal reagent. Dr. John Maisch, distinguished for his research in Organic Materia Medica, Dr. Charles Chandler, Dr. Charles Rice. Dr. E. R. Squibb and Dr. H. H. Rusby. With such lec- turers the College rapidly gained a reputation as the leading institution oi its Kind. U During all the years of its existence the school has stood for the advancement of pharmacy by agitating for Federal drug inspection laws, for a standard Pharmacopoeia, for a State Board of Pharmacy, and for legislation requiring an examination of the fitness I persons desiring to practice pharmacy. Starting with a course three months in length, the College has steadily increased the time of study to two. three and finally to four years leading to the degree of B.S. in Pharmacy. This latter advance is especially import- ant in that it marks a new era for the profession. Under the capable guidance of Dean Charles W. Ballard, pharmacy students are now receiving a more approximate semblance of a college education than ever before, a fact which will go far in impressing the layman with the dignity of the profession. If The class of 38 is proud to aflix its names to the list of 8,000 graduates of the Columbia College of Pharmacy. We salute our alma mater!