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

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£ i H K £ o form, powder form, deliquescent, efflorescent and preparation . . . these descriptive par- ticulars had to be known in order to pass. Then there were introduced problems in isotonicity . . . always there are problems ! ! ! In the fall a young man ' s fancy turns to thoughts of the cambium layer . . . Yes sir, Frank James was back again. But this year we started off with our best foot forward — yes, footwork, a stroll through the trees, shrubs, corners, and crevices of Central Park. Here we were told how to spot differences in types of trees and leaves, and, of course our tour ended with a long epilogue on a strange specie called the Gingko Tree, Iging ko, n. Japan, ginko, gingko, from Chinese yin-hing, the silver apricot; yin, silver, and king, apricot. A genus of the Conijerae allied to the yews, native to Japan and China. A Japanese tree, Gingko biloba, cultivated for its orna- mental foliage: called also Maidenhair Tree ) Well anyway, you might smell of it. The Committee on Committees will meet in th ' Men ' s Lounge during the break. This was the course in Business Management given by Big Len. We were told the different aspects of buying and operating stores, and then we broke up into com- mittees and gave speeches relating to the retail pharmacists and pharmacy in general. This was the time to catch up on the crossword puzzle ftnd send notes to Gans from his mother. ' But in my youth, when I was young, ... ! ' To end a typical day. we all assembled with Professor Gaylord Hellerbach. Joe Zilch was always the outlaw in this Economics class — and when in doubt, debit Joe Zilch. Here we were taught how to become accountants and keep a set of books. This was done just to make sure that your accountant wasn ' t a goniff. ' As June approached, we were heading down the last trail, and many of us were to become that magical word, SENORES. Waal, Sonny, as the smoke cleared, I could see that there wuz only 98 of the original gang left. Angelo was knocked out by a chemical explosion, Rich, poor old Rich, by some adulterated medication. Very few of us have managed to get this far without a flesh wound or a little loss of hide. Yes sir, mister, them wuz the days when men were men and women loved them for it. Again this year we were down in Room 10, but this time under the tutelage of Doc Brown. This course in Dispensing climaxed our four years in Dispensing. ' Here, the wildest prescriptions were compounded from ' my old files ' . ' Don ' t forget each prescription has its own little peculiarity about it — they are given to you for a purpose . But after a few weeks, we ' d rustle over to the lab and knock out those Rx ' s, as if we had the file. This year we were introduced to two new hombres who came all the way from Ohio and California to bestow upon the seniors of CUCP their knowledge. Mike, the Cortisone Kid. a Westerner from way back, talked so western that we could not even understand him to take notes. What the heck is a rutt? To add insult ; , i

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endpoint on his first determination, but he was truly one of the great leaders of the West. Sam ' s unforgettable advice to some of us is still uncontestably the greatest. ' Why don ' t you just give up and open a dry goods store? ' Oh well, thank God we didn ' t have to . . . In September ' 53 we were still sitting tall in the saddle. However, some of the boys dropped along the wayside to start their lives anew. This was the year of danger and peril. Explosions and fires were not uncommon — in fact each able bodied man was assigned to the fire extinguishing squad. Terror lurked in every corner ... of the Chemistry lab. Before one went up to room 61 it was advisable to see Gaylord Hellerbach on insurance rates. Even in Chemistry lecture, as endless formulas and reactions were being scribbled on the board, men shook in terror, afraid of receiving a threatening note from the Grey Ramus or the Sundance Kid ... to band against these outlaws, Marshall Rubin asked for volunteers for the Vigilante Committee. Barn dances and town meetings were held with the sole function of banning these two desperados. But as the formulas got more confusing and the lectures turned into dribbles, the desperados left for different stompin ' grounds, along with Frank Berger, our dearly departed friend. Down on the ground floor of the ranch house, there was mystery behind a door marked 10. In there dwelt a man known as Slick Joe the Dude. One look from Joe and boys melted like Cocoa Butter. But as the prescriptions were being knocked out, this wrangler changed from a hard desperado to an all right hombre. Much of what we know today we owe to him. We learned everything from how Eskimos build igloos in Greenland, to how to apologize to a sawbones when calling him — hoping you ' re not bothering him when he has such a busy schedule. Everything in this lab had to do with technique. Practicals were given ad lib. Armed with USP and NF we were asked to compound concoctions with one hand on the telephone ready to call the doc to ask for permission to DTD or change an overdose or to tell him that you spotted an incompatibility and dispense the Rx correctly. The doctor was kept awfully busy. Overseers were constantly walking around ready with red pencil to spot wrong techniques and ask ' How many IT you make ' ... ' I made one suppository too many — what should I do with it? ' . . . The old prospector, Mortimorlie ' s uncle was reintroduced to us in Physiology. All with educated fingers were eligible for this course. Fingers could produce all sorts of stimuli; contraction and relaxation, tetanus, clonus. The death rate of frogs was enlarged 100 fold, in fact, they were being pithed so fast that an emergency was declared. Not having completely worn our fingers to the bone, Wee Willie was back for a return performance. This course was very stimulating, or so it was to Blackjack Lou Stone who had enough energy to bring Remington to school every day. Crystal

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I i to injury, he spoke in a whisper. ' I ' m sorry, sir, but we can t hear you in the back. ' ' That ' s all right, you ' ll get used to it ' . However, each and every one of us were sport- ing a beautiful set of Pharmacology notes. There was a heap of notes in this course. We did minor surgery on poor little rabbits. However, some of the technicians lost their patients. The patients were piled knee deep in the garbage can. Back in Ohio . . . The other Westerner who came to us across the Rockies was a Californian. Wran- glers, he is the only maverick who can say moiety with a Western accent, and when you say that, smile! I will never forget that after one hour in his course, my shootin ' hand was out of commission for a mighty long spell. Here we were taught by virtue of the fact (What fact? I dunno what fact! ) that we needed this material for the state boards among other things. Formulas, chemical names, and fatty livers were virtually thrown at us. ' What did he say? ' Back again in Room 61 we were running titrations like mad. Here we met Silent Abe, whose quiet gentlemanly manner will always be remembered by us. With our experience, all of us ladies and gentlemen could open assay offices in the new Territories. The day the first sample is given to you, you are four weeks behind in your work, but after using the correction factor on a few of the unknowns, we were up to date. Into room 45 we walked, only to be told by Belle Starr that we were full of bacteria. Herbie Zoster was the only student to get an A in that course. I was not surprised to learn that four of our microbe hunters were infected with Tsutsugamushi and were sent to Zinnser, Pony Express, for further bacteriological study. We was supposed to larn how to make ugly women look purty by making cos- metics for them. Waal, we never wound up making lipstick though, or any of the preparations classified as war paint, but maybe it was all for the best. However, in the products that we did make, we really had us a ball. The technique was really somp ' n to witness. Harlan, in the calculation of the amount of preservative to include in some of the products, found himself a real wild method. He would take a handful of Methyl Paraben, then discard it, and, looking at the few crystals that still adhered to his palm, he ' d scrape them into his preparation. To make law abiding pharmacists of ourselves, we took a course in law with Shotgun Sol. Laws, a Law, the Law — ' Explain in 10 words or less the basis of our national government. ' But after shivering through the course with mimeographed notes from the previous year, we knew our Jurisprudence. Waal, this finally ended up our fourth and last year at the CUCP ranch. The boys were all sort of sorry to leave the old homestead, but then we were all ready to go out and show what we knew . . . What ' s that, son? Where are the rest of the boys now? Why, you ' ll find them in any good Pharmacy in these United States. .