12 



cision is not required, though there should be a fair degree of 

 accuracy, but of these samples many were evidently "made 

 by guess." The pharmacist who has learned to work with 

 measuring flask and burette, with hydrometer and chemical 

 balance, will never guess at a thing, but where measurements 

 are demanded he will make them with care, and in general* 

 where there are two ways of doing a thing, he will instinctively 

 choose the right one, and such work may be depended upon. 

 Pharmacopoeial terms, and pharmaceutical terms generally, he 

 will use correctly, and he will deem it of more importance to 

 be right than to be rapid in his work. If young men knew how 

 highly this habit of accuracy, which is really but another name 

 for truthfulness, was valued, they would cultivate it more, 

 prompted by self-interest, if by no higher motive. 



And next, science is painstaking. Real truth being sought, 

 the surest way by which it may be discovered is followed, and 

 not the easiest. The work in hand is well considered, and from 

 all points of view ; difficulties are recognized and not put out of 

 sight ; methods are weighed and the best selected, and after 

 this deliberate preparation the real work begins. That " haste 

 makes waste " no man recognizes more clearly than the scien- 

 tist, and in the hope of accomplishing much he is willing, not 

 to risk much, but to do much. He does not turn aside from the 

 main road in the hope of luckily discovering some short cut, 

 but is content with slow steps and short stages if so it be that 

 he is advancing. He does not expect great results from small 

 expenditures, but knows that time, energy, painstaking care 

 must be bestowed upon work which is to be valuable and lasting. 

 This is the scientific method, and from it we may learn a lesson. 

 The big oak grows from the little acc.rn, but the acorn repre- 

 sents the fruitage of a preceding oak which had its beginnings 

 in the distant ages of the past. Great results may succeed 

 small events, though they have not been caused by them 

 Good work goes into honest goods, and if we are to accomplish 

 much we must do much. 



But this painstaking labor is repugnant to most men. They 

 are unwilling to labor, and must have quick results. They have 

 need, perhaps, to study some subject, and they skim the mere 

 cream of it. They are ignorant, and ask for information, and 

 before the explanation is given they have ceased to listen. 

 Their attention is not concentrated upon the matter under con- 



