392 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 16,1872. 
by Professor Attfield, which he read at the Conference 
meeting, and it is so well known that it scarcely needs 
reference, beyond that of pointing out some of the 
more important parts. There is much in the professor’s 
scheme that commends itself to my approval; indeed, 
I am not certain that on the whole it is not the best 
scheme for provincial education as yet suggested, em¬ 
bracing, as it does, some of Mr. Reynolds’s proposals. 
It stands thus :—1. To increase the fees of teachers of 
chemistry, materia medica, pharmacy, and botany; 2. 
To pay one half the salary of curator and lecture assist¬ 
ant ; 3. To distribute such duplicate specimens from the 
Society’s museum as might "be available ; 4. To make 
grants to libraries ; 5. To grant loans of materials for 
class teaching, with power for making them absolute 
grants. These are parts of the scheme of the 
Provincial Education Committee, adopted by the 
Council on November 2nd, 1870, but from the strin¬ 
gent regulations imposed on the local associa¬ 
tions they were virtually impracticable. "When 
the local committees applied for loans the in¬ 
dividual responsibility imposed by the regulations was 
so great that, as was the case with Nottingham, they 
declined to avail themselves of the offer. The part of 
Professor Attfield’s scheme differing materially from the 
others is the imperative attendance at lectures at some 
recognized school; this very desirable course would be 
found inoperative in practice, at least for many years.to 
come. Plow can the village or small town apprentice 
find time or means to accomplish it ? I cannot help 
thinking that Professor Redwood’s proposition would be 
an excellent one for immediate use, viz., that candidates 
should be required to state where , when and how their 
education had been conducted. This suggestion if carried 
out, would at once enable the examiners to see where cram 
would be likely to occur, and so regulate by varying 
their course of examination to test the efficiency of' the 
professed teachers of cram. I cannot leave this subject 
without adverting to the observations at the Conference 
of our friend Mr. Schweitzer; he thinks the aid given 
in money or books to provincial societies is so much 
money thrown away, whilst the establishment or main¬ 
tenance of a number of regular schools would be equally 
ineffective, and tend to cripple the parent Society ; that 
apprentices should have passed their Preliminary previ¬ 
ous to entering on the trade; that masters should not 
take apprentices unless they are able to instruct them, so 
that at the end of their term, with very little study, they 
may pass the Minor examination. Opr friend thinks 
that the Preliminary or classical examination is evidence 
of a youth’s fitness for entering the business ; that the 
Minor should only represent an assistant’s qualification, 
whilst the Major should be a necessary qualification for 
becoming a principal, and that no more suitable place 
for the attainment of these objects is to be found than 
Bloomsbury Square. If the Society, after paying their 
officers, should have any funds to spare, let them open the 
whole establishment gratuitously for a limited period 
to apprentices and assistants. Whilst I am ready to 
concur in many of the views enunciated by Mr. 
Schweitzer, I also think they may probably apply more 
forcibly to the future than the present, but our thoughts 
are for the present, and for some time to come. I have 
great faith in self-reliance; but a little help in time of 
need is like lightening the burden of a fallen horse, which 
he will carry well enough after he has risen. The pro¬ 
posals of Mr. Schacht seem to me as likely to be of very 
limited application, as none but the largest towns could 
get the necessary organizations. Mr. Reynolds’s plan 
seems necessary if Professor Attfield’s requirements were 
carried out, inasmuch as attendance at recognized schools 
could not be confined to London. I have dwelt so much 
on this subject that I am afraid you will consider me 
very prosy, but provincial education is of such vital im¬ 
portance just now that more than ordinary reference 
seemed to be required. My own ideas are simple ; and 
I think with Mr. Schweitzer that the days of 
the uneducated amongst us are numbered. An 
apprentice henceforth must be able to pass his Pre¬ 
liminary, or furnish evidence that he has passed one 
or other of the local university examinations. The 
master must not object to cod cede at least one hour 
each day for study; and to my mind the morning is by 
far the best part of the day for such a purpose, in the 
evening (where more than one apprentice or assistant is 
kept) an arrangement, when practicable, should be made 
so that each one might have alternate hours, say from 
seven, until closing time, being within call if required. 
Such an arrangement on Mr. Stoddart’s plan of syste¬ 
matic study would, I am sure, enable any young man 
with ordinary application to pass his Minor examination 
within two or three years, and do away with the neces¬ 
sity of' attendance at any recognized school, whilst half, 
or at most, a session at Bloomsbury Square afterwards 
would complete the “ Major,” and do away with much 
complexity that now surrounds the question. I would 
not discourage such an association as this, because I be¬ 
lieve them to be important auxiliaries ; but in small 
towns where no such co-operative aid can be obtained, I 
believe the means which I have indicated capable of ac¬ 
complishing the object; but the masters must not only 
allow the necessary time, but assist in procuring che¬ 
micals for experiments. I do not think the indiscriminate 
run of your chemicals and chemical apparatus without 
any charge or restraint the best course to adopt, but to 
purchase at cost price all the apparatus required by an 
apprentice or assistant, and an equitable return for all 
unbroken utensils at the end of the term. No principal 
could object to supply every facility for the improvement 
of those under his care. On the other hand, the engage¬ 
ment must be one of mutual interest, and the employe. 
must show by attention and care that he merits the pri¬ 
vileges conceded. I must here observe that in too many 
cases there is a spirit of estrangement betwixt the prin¬ 
cipal and assistant, which, in a rightly established con¬ 
cern, should not exist, if we properly realize the fact 
that our apprentices and assistants are to be the future 
masters; and as we impress them by our conduct, so 
will they probably act. It is important that our ex¬ 
ample should be worthy of imitation. Some of the 
large establishments in London are governed on equitable 
principles, whilst, on the other hand, others seem so ex¬ 
acting and selfish, with the coarsest living, the maximum 
of work and the minimum of domestic comfort, that it 
is no wonder that frequent changes occur, and those who 
submit to such treatment do so grudgingly, and only to 
obtain experience, without any of those pleasing remi¬ 
niscences that ought to subsist after leaving the service. 
We should all try, I think, to bear in mind the wise 
maxim “to do unto others as you would they should do 
unto you”; and whilst I am anxious to impress upon 
my brother principals the suaviter in modo treatment to 
those in their employ, I would none the less most 
urgently appeal to every apprentice and assistant 
to consider their responsibility, and endeavour by a 
proper regard for their principals’ interest to merit 
the confidence and kindness reposed. I recollect 
that Mr. Stoddart, at one of the Conference meetings, 
when he was presiding, saying that he on one occasion 
required a large parcel to be conveyed a short distance 
to the carrier, in the absence of the porter; when the 
assistant seemed to hesitate, he placed it on his own back 
and took it without a word, and the lesson was so salu¬ 
tary that he never had occasion for future complaint. It 
is true assistants should not be treated as menials, but 
occasions will arise when a little deviation shows a right 
feeling, that cannot be otherwise than thoroughly appre¬ 
ciated. Those of us who can look back to the last 
generation of chemists and druggists, know what a 
change has taken place, and how different things are 
now as compared with what they were. Our appren¬ 
ticeship was one of drudgery, and with few exceptions 
