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

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phrases, macerate with expression and percolate till exhausted. The so-called practical aspect of phar- macy was taught by Dr. Brown. Although the C.U.C.P. alumnus had never been called upon to make urethral suppositories, it was comlorting to know how to do so. Lucky thing, he learned Latin too! How else would he know what Tinctura or Syrupus meant? He recalls that third year of Pharmacy quite vividly. Before that the class had been content to mix ingredients and watch re- sults, but that year Prof. Carter had burst the bubble of fascination by asking why to everything. Not only did the class have to mix the ingredients, but they had to know the reason for the use of each one. The percolator became a familiar piece of equipment — and not for making coffee either! The lab procedures were broken on Friday mornings by the formal orations the students delivered on their chosen Pharma- ceutical topics. One person became so en- grossed in his speech that he continued raving for 20 minutes after the end of the period, before realizing that he was ad- dressing an empty room. Ah, those were the good old days! Mr. Blank ' s course, too, came back quite clearly. He used to say, Learn the law, and don ' t argue, but the love of a good argument was inherent in that class, and the instructor ' s patience was sorely tried on many occasions. The senior dispensing course was highly instructive. That phrase dentur in duplo took on a new significance and Dr. Brown had wondered how his class could make ten prescriptions, including pills and suppositories, in half the allotted time. Mr. Chavkin must have had his suspicions, but he never voiced them. These prescrip- tions were turned out with more dispatch than neatness or accuracy. By the end of that semester the fellows had a fine collec- tion of pills in their desks and ceased mak- ing them afresh. Yes, that senior year had really kept them busy. Professor Carter ' s Survey course had kept them on their toes. That file-card system system vras pretty good for learning the USP and NF, but it was those weekly quiz- zes that provided the stimulus for studying. On looking back over those Pharmacy courses, the pharmacist realizes that amid all that mass of philosophy and theory, there was still a wealth of pharmaceutical knowledge to be gained.

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PHAHMAEY DEPARTMENT As the well-trained pharmacist sells a bottle of aspirin over the counter, who can doubt that his mind will travel back over the years to his carefree freshman school days? Once again he is the eager student listening to Professor Wimmer orienting his pupils into the early history of Pharmacy. Although he has often wondered about it, Dr. Wimmer ' s words come ringing back to re-establish his faith, pharmacy IS a pro- fession. Of course this pharmacist imme- diately thinks of the many colorful per- sonalities that roam through the pages of his profession ' s history: Claudius Galenus of Pergamos, Avicenna, the child prodigy, Maimonides and his oriental counter-part, Pun Tsao. With a sigh, he recollects how this was his introduction to Pharmacy at C.U.C.P. But back to business; the bills must be added up, the charges totaled, etc. A smile crosses his face as he recalls Prof. Amster- dam ' s insistence that the calculations re- quired by a pharmacist during the course of a day ' s business cannot be adequately covered by a cash register and an adding machine; Oh no? he mutters. The recent graduate laughs as he thinks of the fiendish problems conjured by his former instructor of Pharmaceutical calculations. The little conversion slide rule on his prescription counter can tell him at a glance the weight of 19.213 minims of water. It was Prof. Carter who introduced him to those two literary classics, The USP and NF, which plagued him for four years. Although he seldom makes official preparations any- more, he still recalls those two famous 18

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UNIVERSITY COURSES The sole excuse for grouping the following courses together is the fact that each one helped to strengthen the link between the College of Pharmacy and the rest of Columbia University. One of the first battles encountered in this section was a course called Survey of Mathematics. Whether the instructor was Dr. Levi or Mr. Supnick didn ' t matter. Both assumed that their students had a firm groundwork in Arithmetic— their first mistake. Problem: if John earns 15? and Mary earns 10?, should they get married and file a joint income tax return? ' The chief difference between the English courses of Drs. de Groot and Harlan was that the latter was delivered with a Texas drawl. We were taught to never split our infinitives to use coreck speling punkchuashun and good english. We think our teachurs wud be proud of our presint ackomplishmints. The course in History was called C.C., but we were all wrong, it meant Contemporary Civilization. We couldn ' t imagine why, as it was neither contemporary nor civilized; nevertheless Dr. Luthin did his utmost to bring light and learning to the innermost recesses of our souls. Herr Ingenhuett tried to teach us German. While learning the language, we also learned to treat the sore throats that came with the course. Although we may have forgotten Physics, we ' ll never forget Farwell. He still haunts our dreams, pushing buttons, plotting curves, and making life generally miserable for his pet peeve— the Pharmacy group. One of the rewards for all of the aforementioned courses was the oppor- tunity to see and be a part of the University itself; if for no other reason than that, we are thankful for having had these classes. 20