772 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 25, 1871. 
born with a youth, and that there is no royal road 
thereto ; on the contrary, that it requires much care, 
tuition, practice, and discrimination,—that not only 
the desire, but also the actual opportunity, of prac¬ 
tising and perfecting it are necessary. We go 
further than this, in thinking that, to make a tho¬ 
roughly good dispenser, it is necessary that he 
should have some opportunity of seeing, not only 
how dispensing is practised in different localities, 
but also the systems adopted at different establish¬ 
ments in the same locality; and here Mr. Halli- 
day’s caution to young mem not to commence business 
too soon comes in with good force. But even this 
is not all, for the mode of prescribing, and the reme¬ 
dies employed, are constantly varying; the formulae 
of prescriptions used a quarter of a century ago are 
nearty obsolete now, and so a similar change may 
follow in another quarter. Thus, he who was a 
pupil years ago, finds himself a pupil once more with 
regard to the material upon which he operates. 
It is not our intention to specify now these particular 
substances or forms of medicines ; sufficient has 
been stated to show the land of training a good dis¬ 
penser requires, and the material of which he should 
be made. However, it is not to be expected we can 
all be A 1 dispensers, neither is it needful that it 
should be so. But it is desirable that the time 
should come when all dispensing should be per¬ 
formed by those educated and trained for the pur¬ 
pose ; and whether the prescriptions in particular 
towns or districts be few or many, or not even one a 
week, taking an extreme case, it is still desirable 
that the one should be dispensed with as much care 
—for it may be a most important one—as though 
there were from ten to twenty per diem. This is 
only one part of the duties of a pharmaceutist, 
to this only at present do we desire to point our 
observations. 
We have reserved for the last that portion of 
our correspondent’s communication which is sur¬ 
rounded with the greatest amount of difficulty. 
Thus far we have sailed with him in still waters. 
The difficulty is this: how are our apprentices to 
learn the art and practice of dispensing in those 
places where there is none to be done, or rather 
where it is monopolized by the apothecary ? Well, 
we confess this is a very difficult question—ahnost a 
poser. Our correspondent offered two suggestions : 
one, that the Pharmaceutical Societ}^ should use its 
influence to alter the system of dispensing by apothe¬ 
caries, or, in other words, to obtain the dispensing 
in its entirety for the chemists. Now, without de¬ 
siring to throw one drop of cold water upon this sug¬ 
gestion, we think he can scarcely recognize the full 
difficulty of the task. We conceive that to accom¬ 
plish this the apothecary must be somewhat raised 
in his position, so as to be able to live without dis¬ 
pensing, and the public convenience also consulted; 
in some places, especially poor ones, the inhabitants 
with large families can hardly do without the apo¬ 
thecary and his annual, ofttimes small and some¬ 
times unpaid account. Our correspondent’s second 
suggestion is that the Manchester Chemists and 
Druggists’ Association should establish a dispensing 
counter where associates might obtain the required 
knowledge. We think such a course would not be 
necessary in London, as pupils attending Blooms¬ 
bury Square have already many advantages, and 
London is, per se, the very place where junior assist¬ 
ants of every standard may, if so disposed, find 
situations to suit them. Help, when required, 
should be given, and we tliink freely given, where 
it can be done advantageously and fairly. We 
are now entering upon more delicate ground still. 
The pharmaceutist who takes an apprentice 'should 
have within his reach the means of teaching him 
the business, not the preliminary education,—he 
should have gained that at school,—but the actual 
business. There are many things to be taught 
besides dispensing, and at a very small outlay. 
Upon a future occasion our attention may be turned 
in the direction of those other points, and not 
dispensing. Upon this but a few words more. 
We have, in Our experience, known small establish¬ 
ments where the dispensing formed but a minute 
portion of the business, and where the opportunities 
of acquiring practical dispensing knowledge were 
very limited. The following plan was adopted:— 
Pharmacopoeia pill-masses were dispensed, and the 
ingredients mixed in small quantities, as if from a 
prescription, divided, put up and directed in due 
course, though never sent out; imaginary mixtures 
and lotions after the same process; plasters were 
spread upon brown paper, and without shapes. 
When cold, the plaster was recovered, and worked 
over and over again, until the tyro could spread a 
good plaster, with a steady hand and straight eye, 
without a shape. An intelligent industrious youth 
with practical business habits, will make himself a 
good dispenser, but he must be content to become so 
by degrees. We prefer, as we believe many others 
do, a well-trained country youth, pliable and not 
wedded to preconceived ideas. Such a junior will, 
with perseverance and good guidance, make a first- 
rate assistant, not merely able to dispense, but also 
to attend to his employer’s interests in every depart¬ 
ment of the shop or pharmacy. 
PHARMACEUTICAL LEGISLATION IN AMERICA. 
In continuation of our resume of the Ontario 
Pharmacy Bill, we now 1 give the substance of the 
two clauses relating to the sale of poisons. In a sche¬ 
dule attached to the Act, these are divided into two 
classes. The first class is subject to j>recisely the 
same regulations as apply to the sale of poisons con¬ 
tained in part 1 of Schedule A of the English Phar¬ 
macy Act. This class includes hydrocyanic acid, 
