352 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 11,1871. 
manner. I have often shown a young man the pro¬ 
per way of holding them, hut this you will see is not 
an examiner’s business, and ought to have been ex¬ 
plained by some kind soul long before. Or, perhaps, 
another may have a piece of elastic paper on the 
counter under one of the scale pans, and wonder 
that the balance rises first high then low without 
any change of weight in either scale. Again, one 
holds his measure so that requiring half an ounce, 
he gets either tlnee drachms or five, according as it 
Is tilted backwards or forwards. So in making pills, 
one man will triturate in a mortar with care and 
precision all the ingredients, putting in first those 
that require most care in division, whilst another 
will throw them all into a mortar together, just as 
they come, coarse and fine; whilst as an extreme 
case, I may mention that I have seen a man satisfy 
himself with cracking crystals of sulphate of copper 
hv means of a spatula until they were a little less 
than pins’ heads, and then mixing and dividing them 
into 12 pills, all on a slab. The same with mixtures : 
if all the articles are hurried into a bottle “ anyhow,” 
the result is often most unsatisfactory, some mix¬ 
tures having a totally different appearance if the 
order of mixing is transposed—to say nothing of 
powders that agglomerate. Then again, fractional 
parts of a grain puzzle some dispensers very much, 
but this will hardly be the case when the Prelimi¬ 
nary has had its full effect; and that it is necessary 
to understand fractions, the prescription below that 
was dispensed a few days back, shows plainly.* The 
instructor of apprentices is often to blame for the 
way in which his pupils dispense. This will show 
itself in their weighing out a white powder on a 
dirty prescription, instead of using a clean paper, or 
in tlieir using a two-draclim box to hold a dozen pills, 
or other manifestation of a niggardly economy that 
defeats itself, as more time is wasted in writing the 
label, for which there is not room, than would pay 
for a larger-sized box. Again, some are apparently 
taught to divide powders with a spatula, at which a 
few show considerable skill, but supposing the wrong 
quantity of any article be taken, what is to check 
the error, as they have not always an examiner over¬ 
looking them. A patient would probably be sur¬ 
prised, if one day he received a box of pills, and a 
few days afterwards one of powders from the same 
prescription, two powders for a dose, and yet this is 
an error that, unaccountably to me, I have so fre¬ 
quently noticed that I mention it; indeed, I have 
seen blue pill carefully rubbed to as near a powder 
as possible, and divided into papers, the prescription 
in the case being perfectly plain to read. 
The prescriptions in use for dispensing at Blooms¬ 
bury Square are of necessity comparatively simple 
and easily dispensed, so that a fairly good dispenser 
has no need to be nervous; but if he be, it is easy to 
judge between nervousness and incapacity. I have 
alluded to the translation of directions for use, in 
my remarks on reading prescriptions, but in addition 
to those, it is well to observe that a label should be 
in elegant English as well as being a correct trans¬ 
lation, as if it is so expressed that it can scarcely be 
understood it is but little better than if incorrect, as 
for example, “ two pills to be taken every four 
hours, three timesinstead of “ for three doses,” 
and so on. 
* Ext. belladonnse gr. g, ext. stramonii gr. i, ext. canna¬ 
bis ind. gr. $, ext. opii gr. ext. byoscyami gr. §, ext. aco- 
niti gr. ext. conii gr. j, P. gljcyrrh. q. s.: ft. pil. mitte vj. 
I have dwelt at some length on practical dis¬ 
pensing, on which, indeed, much more might be 
said, but it becomes the province of the teacher to 
give minute directions. These few general hints, 
however, may be useful to some; and in conclusion 
I would remark how essential are care and neatness, 
as some men scatter and throw about, in making 
pills and powders especially, almost as much as 
they use. 
Next comes Pharmacy. This refers to the know¬ 
ledge of what we term pharmaceutical preparations 
as distinct from chemical: firstly, as to ability to 
recognize them when seen and handled; secondly, as 
to knowledge of their composition and preparation. 
This latter knowledge can only be obtained practi¬ 
cally by ma kin g them or by study of the British 
Pharmacopoeia. It is most important that every 
pharmacist should know what he is using. If a 
customer comes in and asks him what compound 
rhubarb pill or compound tincture of cardamoms 
contains, or wants to know what confection of senna 
is made of, he ought to be able to give a correct 
answer. Likewise, if a surgeon asks how much ext. 
cannab. ind. is contained in a drachm of the tincture, 
it looks well not to have to consult the Pharmaco¬ 
poeia. He also should be able to recognize tinct. 
valer. and tinct. lupuli respectively, but for fear he 
might not succeed it would be well beforehand for 
him to put specimens of these and other prepara¬ 
tions, tinctures especially, into ounce bottles and 
get some one to number them, keeping a key to the 
numbers; and thus he "would exercise his nose—a 
most useful organ to a pharmacist—in detecting dif¬ 
ferences of odour, and his eyes in distinguishing 
shades of colour. It is well, however, that he should 
get good test samples, as bad ones would only serve 
to embarrass him. Squire’s ‘ Companion ’ is a use¬ 
ful book in describing the appearance of prepara¬ 
tions, and also in stating their strengths and doses. 
Materia Medica.—Here again study from the 
articles themselves is required. The directions in 
the regulations are so clear that I cannot add much. 
It is important to have a good work on materia 
medica. Pereira is expensive but excellent; Hoyle 
and also Garrod are cheaper and are very useful 
books. For the student in the country or in a small 
business, where preparations are procured from the 
wholesale druggist, it is necessary that the student 
should take further steps to acquire a better ac¬ 
quaintance with the articles of the materia medica 
than the contents of the shop afford him. This 
may be obtained wherever there is a museum or 
from one of the collections of materia medica spe¬ 
cimens that are to be purchased, with which many 
local societies are furnished, and they also give use¬ 
ful information in connection; but it is absolutely 
necessary that the student should, by some means, 
obtain access to specimens. 
Botany.—I have given my views more at length 
on the study of botany in the Pharmaceutical 
J ouenal ; but I would repeat, that it is far the best 
plan to commence with some elementary work, 
taking, at the same time, living plants themselves, 
common ones will do, and examining them in con¬ 
nection with your reading, getting the aid of a good 
pocket lens. Such a book as Oliver’s ‘ Elementary 
Botany ’ leads the way in a most instructive and in¬ 
teresting manner to some knowledge of the structure, 
external organs and physiology of plants; and then, 
when his interest is awakened, the student will turn 
