October 7, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
293 
who lias become so insensate and indifferent that he 
cannot now and then in some respects he a youth 
again. When memory fails to carry back to that 
early period when the world, with all its joys, sor¬ 
rows and cares was practically unknown,—when the 
3 ’outhful mind revelled in the anticipations of a future 
career,—when the whole horizon of dawning hopes 
and fears was liglrted up with the day-dream of hap¬ 
piness and success,—I say, when a man shuts his 
memory to such reminiscences, I feel he is in one 
sense to be pitied. Standing where I now do, I feel 
irresistibly carried back a few years, and I would be 
untrue to myself as well as to you did I not sa} r so. 
I can conceive of no one, having lived for half a 
century, who has not during that period forged and 
encircled himself by a chain of association which he 
would be unfair to himself and to others were he de¬ 
liberately to break in pieces and cast aside, as if its 
component parts were only worthless material. I 
admit that throughout life’s journey, with all the 
mutation which is not only a close but an insepa¬ 
rable companion, such a chain could not long exist 
unbroken, without here and there giving evidence of 
a shattered link ; and it is while I now address you 
that such a ilood of remembrance comes strong upon 
me, reminding of a peculiarly bright link in such a 
chain of association, which, to speak for a moment 
paradoxically, is in one sense truly broken, but in 
another as certainly not destroyed. I feel that I 
cannot stand before such an assemblage, in the 
house and within the walls of the Pharmaceutical 
Society, without at the very outset of these few re¬ 
marks, adverting to him through whose noble disin¬ 
terestedness, untiring energy, and vast intellectual 
power our very Society, of which we are so justly 
proud, was founded, nourished and extended. Need 
I say, I refer to the late Jacob Bell? 
I feel that it is almost unnecessary for me to ask 
you to bear with me while in a single sentence or 
two I recall the time when, side by side with him 
who but a few years ago passed from among us, I 
followed my daily walk and occupation,—that period 
of my life on which I often love to dwell and linger, 
and which, while the heart throbs, will ever continue 
to be a bright-green and ever-to-be-remembered spot 
in my memory. It may be a story often told, and 
yet I cannot resist saying, especially to my young 
friends now present, that Jacob Bell was no ordinary 
man. With a mental capacity few possessed, a 
grasp of intellect rarely found, love for his neighbour 
which notliing could quench, a firmness of purpose 
at once irresistible, devoted to the herculean and 
apparently hopeless task of raising our profession, 
an amiability as conspicuous as it was untiring, in 
manner and conversation suited to grace any society, 
—Jacob Bell stood forward as the champion of all 
connected with pharmacy, and has thus earned for 
his memory, the unfailing and never-ending grati¬ 
tude of the pharmaceutical body. I offer no apology 
for thus referring to our departed friend, for, although 
the very facts I have named of his varied mental 
acquirements render it vain to expect that in the 
present generation we will ever see his equal; yet, as 
it is the testimony of those who Jknew him best, that 
many years were spent, and life itself at last sacri¬ 
ficed, in his longing desire to benefit those around 
him, I do sincerely hope that such a good example 
may not be entirely lost, and that, unlike the morning 
cloud or early dew, which so soon pass away, the re¬ 
sults of liis labours may long remain and ever be 
remembered. For myself, I can conscientiously ex¬ 
press the hope, that I may never live to see the day 
when the honoured and loved name of Jacob Bell 
will be otherwise than gratefully and affectionately 
remembered in such a meeting as the present. 
It has been affirmed that real knowledge is difficult 
to attain, and yet that, to many in the pursuit of it, 
the subject assumes three aspects or distinct phases. 
At the very outset the 3 'oung and eager student 
thinks all so eas 3 7 as almost to be within his grasp; 
or, at all events, at the very threshold of investiga¬ 
tion, the atmosphere appears so clear and bright that 
the path he has to travel can scarcely be mistaken, 
and to his mental vision easy and soon to be tra¬ 
versed. Soon, however, comes the next stage, when, 
having fairly grappled the first difficulty, he finds he 
knows comparatively nothing ; and with such a feel¬ 
ing, accompanied by a noble and determined effort 
to acquire the desired and necessary information to 
fit him for his future career, comes the third condi¬ 
tion or phase, that of perfect conception and rapid 
acquisition of the real knowledge sought for. 
Many who have prosecuted study and research 
will admit that, in many cases, there is considerable 
truth in this statement, while the description may be 
looked upon by others as fanciful and figurative; 
3 ~et it cannot be denied that in no profession is such 
a state of gradual advancement so apparent as in 
our own. To many the first step in chemistry and 
pharmacy seems simple and easy, and yet how ra¬ 
pidly comes the time when the peculiarities and 
depths of the sciences require our closest attention 
and study, before we can comprehend either their 
marvels, harmonies, or truths ! It is, indeed, correct 
when we say there is no royal road to knowledge, 
and we who are pharmacists form no exception to 
this unvarying rule. Let me then, in view of this 
fact, impress upon 3 r ou all the value of time. During 
no period of life is it more difficult to realize this than 
in vouth. I know that five minutes or half an hour 
spent in a light frivolous manner is thought nothing 
of by many a 3 r oung student. I know well that 
fatigue will often plead, and that powerfully, for rest 
and amusement; but I’go further, and say, relaxa¬ 
tion is not only useful, but a necesshy. What I ask 
for is not the abuse, but the use, of spare minutes 
and hours. As Martin Tupper has it,— 
If the mind is wearied by study, or the body woim with 
sickness, 
It is well to lie fallow for a while, in the vacancy of sheer 
amusement; 
But when thou prospercst in health, and thine intellect 
can soar untired, 
To seek uninstructive pleasure is to slumber on the couch 
of indolence.’' 
The real life of every pharmaceutist may be said 
to be divided into two stages or divisions. The first 
can be recognized as the period during which a 
3 ’oung man ought to learn and acquire a solid foun¬ 
dation on which to depend for his future success ; 
while the other may be said to embrace the more 
extended period during which he will be called upon 
to exercise or apply the information gained by study 
and application to the circumstances of his position, 
and thus turn to some useful account the study ot 
past 3 r ears. No young student ought, therefore, ever 
to forget— 
“ This above all, to thine own self be true, 
And it must follow, as night the day, 
Thou canst not then be iaise to any man.” 
