The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-21
BY MARY MARSHALL.

to be a bit original in her choice OF
vocation and take up a line of work
which is only beginning TO be followed
by women, there are few professions
which offer more varied and remunera-
tive occupation than that of laboratory
work. No doubt the term Laboratory
work. suggests to you an unpleasant
and somewhat unfeminne mental pic
ture of deadly acids and rank smelling
gases. test tubes, distilling torts and
dssecting instruments. Perhaps, too,
you think that a woman. to succeed in
laboratory work must be a sort of in
teIlectual prodigy like Nine. Curie-and
you shake your head and decide that
such work is not at all the sort that
your daughter is fitted for.
1t is this very impression that has
kept down the number of young women
that have taken up laboratory work and
that consequently makes it at present
one in which well-trained women arc at
premium. AS matter of fact more
young women are fitted for it than peo-
pie generally think. for every girl whose
grandmother and Ereatgrandmother
eagerly stepped her herb tea, brewed her
favorite spring tonic. or made her own
particular kind OF poultices inherts
knack for laboratory work that is worth
looking into.
BY far the largest number of women
laboratory workers now are pharma
cists of one sort or another. or women
who have begun their knowledge of
laboratory work with the study of things
pharma ceutical. You would be surprised.
If you have not kept pace with the
history of up-to-date pharmaceutics. to
know how many women are doing work
of this kind.
In spite of the example Of the pro-
gressve-minded Jane LorinS. who sue
cessfuIly ran an apothecary shop in Bos
ton as early as the beginning of the
nineteenth century. very few women
sought admittance into professional phar
macy until the middle of that century.
After that date women began to be ad-
mitted occasionally TO the schools of
pharmacy in the country. In the New
York City College of Pharmacy-one of
the first to admit women to its classes
there are twelve women out of total
registration of go. 4 small proportion.
to be sure. but. judging from the good
work these dozen are doing and the en-
thusiasm they feel for their chosen pro-
fession. there will soon be a considerably
larger proportion of women students
there and in other schools of pharmacy.
Suppose. Their that your daughter
| chooses with your consent. to prepare
| herself for laboratory work and to go
about it by taking the regular pharma-
ceutical course. she may so ahead with
. her preparations much the same her
| brother would. Tn" various schools OF
! pharmacy in the country-and there are
/ from one TO a half dozen in each of the
/ various States to choose from-Give as .
usual thing a two years course. fitting
| their graduates for the licensing exam
| iration prescribed by the State boards Of
pharmacy Admittapcc TO these various
| schools varies according to the State law
! for licensing pharmacists.
| For instance. in the ma jority Of States
there is no specified regulation in regard
/ to education before admittance to the
school Of pharmacy. but in others. such.
I for instaDce as California and Colorado.
! completion of the grammar school course
! or its equivalent is required. while in
! still others. of which New York, Ohio
. and New Mexico are examples, one year
| in high school or its equivalent is re-
quired of the candidate for pharmacy
| license before he-or she. in this case
| takes up his or her professional training.
The first thing to do is TO make up your
mind what school would he most con-
venient or otherwise desirable, and then
make clear to yourself what require
ments in the way of previous education
are demanded of its students.
If You do not know the names OF the
| nearest schools of pharmacy OF If you
! wish any other information as to the
request for information sent to the State
board Of pharmacy at the capital of the
State will bring II.
The cost of tuition In the various
schools differs greatly. In ono of the
large city colleges it is SEQ year for
two years but this is somewhat above
! the average. In the larger schools there
are a few scholarships covering the cost
Of tuition. which your daughter might,
no herself worthy n hold
II is not difficult. usually, for students
| in pharmaceutical schools to find part
time employment while they are study
!, ing Especially In the cities druggists
are eager to employ these students as
maritime clerks often at remuneration
sufficient to cover the expenses of the
! course of study.
the pharma ceutical schools the ordinary
layman or laywoman gets rather haZy
idea about what the student really
studies But students and professors
alike tell us that the various high
sounding "olosies" and ''-ognacies'
really cover vast deal Of practical
knowledge and information that would
serve as a general education for any
young woman. whether she continued In
her chosen course after graduation or
not.
You might think that the prospects for
the woman pharmacist after her two
years of study were over would be OF
monotonous sort. but there is. as mat
ter of fact. as much variety here as in
almost any other profession. The sec
rotary of one of the schools that prides
itself on the goodly number Of women
students on its rolls made this point per-
fectly clear:
at would be safe to say" he said.
| chat no two young women graduates
| from this school are engaged in exactly
the same line OF work. There are as
many kinds of work to be done by a
woman who has had the training OF a
pharmacist as there are days in the
year. The scope OF the chemists train
Ing is as broad as life itself and there
Is no more danger of getting into rut
just because you are a pharmacist than
there Is in any other profession"
To back up this statement the secre-
tary drew attention to the fact that one
i young woman graduate had recently
been employed as analyzing chemist In
a large manufacturing drug house with
/, a year-round salary OF $50 week. An.
other young woman Is putting up pre-.
scriptions in a large department store
with a salary Of $50 week. Another Il
employed as pharmacist In the dispen.
sary Of a hospital, where the salary il
SIS q week and board and lodging. Stil
another graduate-daushter of a million
aire South American planter-has re-
TURNED to her fathers plantation. where
she IL going to put her lately acquired
knowledge Of chemistry to work to helI
improve the fertility OF the soil.