The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-31
SISTER IcNATIUS' SKILL IN DRUGS
She Is The First Woman In Illinois to
Register as Pharmacist.

She Is The First Woman In Illinois to
Register as Pharmacist.
From the Chicago Chronicle
Sister Ignatius of the Mercy hospital
was the first woman in the state of Hi
nois to receive diploma from the state
board of pharmacy granting the right
to practice. Since the day she received
the formal permit, as well as for some
time previous. the Well-known sister
has been in charge of the drug store of
the large hospital at the corner of Cal
umet avenue and Twenty sixth street
More than Is years ago the sister UNI
dertook the management of the hospi-
taiS drug department She had entered
the department five or six years previ-
ously as an assistant, and picked up
her knowledge of drugs and their uses
by experience in handling them and by
absorbing all of the knowledge Of her
superiors in the store. The sister says
that before she entered the store her
woman's curiosity led her to inquire
specifically into all of the remedies
when attending the sick as a nurse.
From this interest grew her expert
ness, which in four or five years placed
her at the head of the Important dlvi-
sion of the hospital.
At that time the drug store was oper-
ated partially as a public institution,
and so successfully did the sister run it
that the druggists of the surrounding
streets began To feel the effects of her
business ability In gradually dimin-
ishing of their own trade. So these
merchants began looking around for a
way to stop the loss of their trade.
They hadn't been searching very long
before they found out that the sister
had no license as q pharmacist, never
having taken the state examination
This, they thought, would be very
effective weapon with which to fight
Sister lgnatus. They straightway
complained To the state board of phar-
macy and the sister was notified that
the store If continued would have to
employ a pharmacist who held per-
nit or else the sister herself would have
to qualify by passing successful eX-
animation. The matter was Investigate
ed and the hospital concluded that it
would be expensive to employ a regis
tered druggist in addition To its regular
force, and Sister lgnatius determined to
at once undergo examination, She had
no time for preparation, and was not
at all familiar with even the general
CHARACTER of the questions asked at
these examinations Nevertheless. the
sister passed one of the best eNamina-
lions OF any who had presented them
selves to the board. She came back to
Chicago and the drug store at the
Mercy neither closed nor passed into
the care of anyone else.
SISTER 1gnatluS does not appear To he
more than 40 years of age. but she has
been a sister for almost that length of
time. Her family name was Penney,
and Ireland is her native country.
When "A years of age she came To this
country. Very shortly afterward she
entered St Navier's academy. which
was then at Madison street and Wa
bash avenue. The institution was then
often referred TO as st. Mary's. This
was some years previous to the great
fire, in which the academy building
was, of course destroyed. After the
fire the academy was rebuilt in its pres
ent location at Wabash avenue and
Twenty ninth streets. The sister is now
completing her thirty-eighth year in
the sisterhood. and she is one of the
best known and most highly esteemed
members of the order in Chicago.