1014 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[June 21, 187 
They want information : how shall they obtain it ? There 
are but two ways,—by study and by experiment. Of all 
the works relating to our business, none can compare with 
the ‘U. S. Dispensatory’ for such a variety of informa¬ 
tion, reliable, compact, and appropriate to the wants of 
the student. The employer who values his own interests 
and cares for the advantages which he will derive from 
the proper education of his young men, will seek to give 
them opportunities for study as well as direct the proper 
objects of such study. 
Perhaps no better method of explaining the subject 
could be adopted than to sketch an outline of study; and 
this the writer, with some misgivings as to his own judg¬ 
ment, will do. 
Presuming the student has a copy of the last edition of 
the ‘ U. S. Dispensatory,’ the references to pages which 
follow will be understood as referring to the thirteenth 
edition of that work. The student should, however, pos¬ 
sess a copy of the new edition of the ‘ U. S. Pharmaco¬ 
poeia,’ issued this year, as there have been quite a number 
of changes in the formulae of some of the preparations, 
and he should always make that book his guide when pre¬ 
paring any of the officinal formulae. 
The first portion of the ‘ U. S. Dispensatory ’ is devoted 
to materia medica; and here will be found the descrip¬ 
tion, botanical characters, commercial history and varie¬ 
ties, properties, and medicinal uses and doses of the drugs 
with which he is surrounded. The second portion of the 
work has a most excellent introductory, covering the main 
points of pharmaceutical manipulation (pp. 909-947), and 
which should receive the careful study of every young 
student of pharmacy. The preparations of the pharma¬ 
copoeias of the United States and Great Britain are de¬ 
tailed, and followed by explanations of the process, and 
the properties, medicinal uses, and doses of the finished 
preparation. 
Many of the less used drugs and preparations will be 
found in the third portion of the £ Dispensatory,’ but these 
may be left out of consideration for the present. 
The student should read, and, under the supervision and 
with the assistance of his employer or an older clerk, en¬ 
deavour to carry into practice some of the instructions on 
pages 909-947, beginning with weights and measures, and 
making himself master of each portion as he proceeds. 
Do not be in too much haste to pass to the next subject 
or process. If it is worth knowing or doing, let it be un¬ 
derstood or done well. In connection with the processes 
and instruction on the pages alluded to, their practical 
application can be daily made in the various requirements 
of business, but it must not be done by the young student 
unless under the immediate oversight of his superior. 
Many of the operations can be done on a small scale as 
experiments, and no opportunity should be lost to make a 
practical application of the hints you obtain by reading. 
Beside the manipulations of pharmacy, the young stu¬ 
dent should systematically peruse the first portion of the 
£ Dispensatory,’ and make himself familiar with materia 
medica. The better plan is to take up a class of drugs 
and study them in their resemblances, as also in their 
peculiar traits. For instance, they may be grouped as 
gums, gum-resins, resins, oleo-resins, balsams, fixed oils, 
volatile-oils, leaves, barks, roots, seeds, or fruit. Crude 
chemicals, mineral acids, and the various chemicals which 
are purchased, should be classified under the metallic base 
or alkali which is present. Make a list of the articles 
you see about the store under some such arrangement as 
this, and when the opportunity offers read up the subject 
and note the main points in a blank-book kept for that 
purpose. Nothing will so surely help to fix it in the 
mind as making a written memorandum for reference,— 
and the writer urges this point particularly. I have 
before me a little book with an alphabetical index, under 
which I can find almost every article which is used in 
medicine and is mentioned in the ‘ Dispensatory,’ giving 
the officinal name, the principal synonym, the ordinary 
name, its medicinal properties and doses, and yet the 
book will readily go in the pocket. It is the work of one 
of the best pharmacists in New England, who, after suc¬ 
cessfully conducting business for several years, thought it 
an honour worth seeking to graduate in a college of 
pharmacy. 
The second hint is, to assist study by experiments te 
prove the truth of the statements and formulas read. 
Whether it be chemical, pharmaceutical, or botanical, 
there are almost invariably some simple and inexpensive 
tests or experiments which can be easily used to affirm 
the reliability or correctness of the information received. 
Attfield’s ‘ Chemistry ’ has been highly recommended as a 
text-book, and the experiments which are detailed in it 
are peculiarly adapted to the wants of the student in 
pharmacy. The apparatus required is but little ; a ma¬ 
jority of the reagents are in every drug-store ; it needs- 
only a little time, now and then, and the will , to do the 
work. The time thus redeemed from other less useful 
occupation, or which is in many instances wasted, will 
repay amply both the student and the employer. 
The writer has alluded to but three books as subjects of 
study, as he knows from personal observation that too 
many of the drug-stores in our land have a much smaller 
collection of books relating to the business than they 
should possess ; and this is one reason why many young 
men make less progress than they should, while employers 
in many cases actually progress backward, at least so far 
as scientific knowledge is concerned. In these days, it is 
not only economy in the management of business which 
insures success, but it requires brains to know the business 
and acquire the respect and confidence of those who 
patronize you. To keep up with the advances which are 
being constantly made in our business, we must neces¬ 
sarily read those periodicals which will inform us on those 
subjects. The employer who neglects to provide his store 
with these does himself an injury ; and if he or his as¬ 
sistants think they are too busy to read them, they neg¬ 
lect a duty to themselves and their patrons. 
Systematic study, accompanied by experiments, should 
be a part of the daily experience of every student in phar¬ 
macy, and attendance upon the lectures of a college of 
pharmacy when it is possible. 
CLASSIFICATION OF THE ABSORPTION BANDS 
OF CHLOROPHYLL.* 
BY M. J. CHAUTARD. 
The author divides the various absorption bands of the 
spectrum of chlorophyll at present known into three dis¬ 
tinct classes. 
The first consists simply of the band in the middle of 
the red, comprised between the B and C Fraunhofer lines, 
which he calls the “specific band.” 
In the second category he includes all the other absorp¬ 
tion bands, however numerous, noticed in the spectra of 
neutral, acid, or alkaline solutions of recent or old chloro.- 
phyll. These he designates “ supernumerary bands.” The 
most remarkable is that which results from the breaking 
up of the “specific” band of the red under the influence 
of alkalies. As to the bands recognized in the other 
colours, they are liable to modification by so many dif¬ 
ferent causes that he considers their study would not lead 
to uniform results. 
Finally, a third and new category will include what he 
calls “ accidental ” bands, or those not having the perma¬ 
nent character of the former, and produced under special 
conditions. There is here again a breaking up of the “ spe¬ 
cific ” band of the red, due in this case, not to an alkali, 
but an acid. Whilst in the former case the “ supernu¬ 
merary ” band occurs by the side of the orange, near to G., 
in this latter case the band occurs in the least refrangible 
portion, at the commencement of the red, about A. 
The author mentions the following points as the most 
* ‘Comptes Rendus.’ vol. lxxvi. p. 1273. 
