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THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [February 17,1872. 
Hours op Closing. 
Sir,—Tlie thanks of all chemists and druggists are due to 
Mr. Giles, for his able and exhaustive paper on “Hours of 
Closing.” In offering a few criticisms on some of his state¬ 
ments, I must say that fifteen years’ experience in a style of 
business probably very similar to his own leads me to endorse 
his views generally. There is no doubt but that we invite 
the greater part of this most wearisome drudgery, and no¬ 
thing but a general determination on the part of principals 
to refuse submission to it will ever remedy the evil. In my 
own experience I have seen the hours of business curtailed, 
with the most satisfactory results to all concerned, and my 
impression is that efficient young men will more than ever 
shun situations where “it is all work and no play.” I may, 
perhaps, be allowed to say that I have often wandered about 
between the hours of 10 and 11 p.m., after heavy day and 
evening duty, delivering parcels, returning to my “home” 
(sic) literally exhausted. Let masters sanction intentionally 
a few convenient omissions in attending to late orders, or 
kindly but firmly state to the superior servants of establish¬ 
ments that late work is most undesirable, and I venture to 
say that not a single customer null be offended, and a greater 
spirit of loyalty will be evoked among the employes. 
Now one word as to the number of hours we ought to 
work. Surely Mr. Giles does not seriously suggest twelve 
hours per day, with turns at extra and Sunday duty to boot! 
If this be an improvement, what is our present condition ? 
If this be the goal, Heaven save us from it! Ten hours a 
day, inclusive of time for meals, with turns at evening and 
Sunday duty is surely long enough to endure the mental 
strain which a constant attention to minutiae entails. Mr. 
Giles is quite correct in saying “ that no doubt we all of us, 
as masters, have worked for longer periods ” (than twelve 
hours); but assistants are to be excused if they decline to be¬ 
lieve that masters, as a rule, do anything like the number of 
hours of work that he specifies. Moreover, masters, as a 
rule, may; assistants must. My own recollection of masters, 
as a class,—certainly of those whose successors we should like 
to be,—is of men comfortable in life, taking their long daily 
walks, or actively sharing in local public business. The first 
half of the day so spent, makes attention to business in the 
afternoon and evening rather an agreeable change than, 
otherwise. Such being the case, assistants may surely be ex¬ 
cused if, after twelve or fourteen hours’ toil, in the course of 
“ treatment as members of the family,” they are permitted 
either to lounge in the dispensary amid uncongenial sur¬ 
roundings, or to sally forth on the cold, comfortless, unwel¬ 
coming thoroughfares, or (shall I say it ?) to sit down to digest 
Attfield, Hoyle, or Bentley,—they do grumble, and say, as 
probably the majority of those who deign to read these lines 
have said, “we wish we had never seen the business.” That 
better times, better pay and shorter hours, are ahead, I 
firmly believe, if only we avoid Mr. Siebold’s fallacies, and 
patiently cultivate the abilities which alone will improve our 
condition. An Assistant. 
Sir,—As the subject of Sunday closing has been lately re¬ 
ferred to in connection with that of the early closing movement, 
I, as an advocate for moral persuasion in preference to more 
stringent measures, recommend the circulation of a handbill 
similar to that enclosed, which has had the effect of consider¬ 
ably reducing the amount of Sunday labour in my own busi¬ 
ness, and without in_any way giving offence to customers. 
George Nind. 
Wandsworth , S.W., Jamiary 29th, 1872. 
“ Persons requiring medicine on Sundays are respectfully 
requested to restrict their purchases, as far as possible, to 
what is absolutely, required ; for while the dispensers of me¬ 
dicines feel it their duty to supply the public on that day 
whenever illness occurs, yet the necessity of recreation and 
rest to themselves, and a desire to attend public worship, 
induces them to appeal to the kind consideration of those 
who may not have viewed the subject in that light.” 
Sir,—Having read with deep interest the letters by our 
provincial friends on this subject, I now write on behalf of the 
London assistants. 
Much indignation has been expressed at the words of an 
opposer of early closing; but happily, proprietors, as a rule, 
advocate it.. What a bright contrast to Mr. Stead’s address 
do we find in one delivered in November last by the President 
of the Bristol Pharmaceutical Association ! (Pharm. Journ. 
3rd Ser. Yol. I. p. 432.) What is said there on the subject 
will convince the assistant that he has some of the greatest 
representatives of the trade to advocate his cause in a truly 
noble and philanthropic manner. 
In one letter the assistants of London are called on to make 
an effort. But London chemists are, as a rule, more tardy 
than the provincials. On laying the case before a West-End 
pharmaceutist, and giving him, among other examples, Bris¬ 
tol, he shrugged his shoulders, and replied, “ Ah, they can do 
it there, because they are fortunate in having several in¬ 
fluential chemists who take the lead.” But, I ask, has not 
London plenty of such men? Certainly, and willing ones, 
too; the only desideratum is unanimity. One chemist, whom 
I “ almost persuaded,” excused himself from closing half an 
hour earlier on the plea that, if he closed earlier, G—, round 
the corner, would get his best customers, who were not in the 
habit of going to his shop until after 9 p.m. Such are the 
difficulties of London canvassing; but if a few of the leading 
chemists would come forward, like Mr. Stables, there would 
be little difficulty. The library at Bloomsbury Square would 
be better attended on Tuesday and Friday evenings, if assis¬ 
tants could get away before 9 p.m. on what is termed their 
“evening off.” At present, they get out only in time for 
such recreations as a theatre or music hall can give. 
Associate. 
'Pharmaceutical Examination. —We have received a com¬ 
munication from a “ Minor Associate and Candidate for the 
Major” in reference to Mr. Agnew’s letter (ante, p. 638), in 
which an opinion is expressed that the increase in the number 
of subjects for examination advocated by that gentleman is 
not desirable, but rather a thorough acquaintance with those 
at present included in the Regulations of the Board of Exa¬ 
miners. An objection, also, is expressed to the suggested 
annual inspection of the herbs, roots, etc., in English phar¬ 
macies. 
James Harding. —The figures in Royle are correct, accord¬ 
ing to the old notation. The difficulty arises from your 
having taken the equivalent of anhydrous citric acid instead 
of crystallized, as will be evident upon reading the descrip¬ 
tion given. The equivalent of crystallized citric acid is 210. 
Your other question we have placed in the Notes and Queries’ 
column. 
The Preliminary Examination. —We have received a letter 
from “ An Assistant,” in which he urges the number of hours 
during which he is engaged in business as an obstacle to his 
preparation for [he Preliminary examination. But if our 
correspondent be correct in stating that he has received a 
“ fair middle-class education,” we are at a loss to conceive 
any difficulty that would interfere with his passing that ex- 
aminatiop, or any reason why he would require further pre¬ 
paration for it. 
M. P. S. PL. —Neither of the articles you mention is in¬ 
cluded in the schedule of substances referred to in the restric¬ 
tions provided by clause 17 of the Pharmacy Act. 
“A Medical Dispenser.” —Business capacity does not, to 
our knowledge, form the subject of any public examination, 
except as it is indirectly indicated by the candidate’s other 
acquirements. We differ from our correspondent’s opinion 
that a pharmacist who possesses a thorough scientific ac¬ 
quaintance with his calling, is therefore likely to find it a less 
lucrative one. 
J. 3. Pearson. —The Natural System. 
“Inquirer.” —See Watts’s £ Dictionary of Chemistrv/ 
vol. ii. p. 661. 
H. PL. (Dartmouth.)—The following form for arsenical soap 
is taken from Cooley’s ‘ Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts’:—• 
Carb. potash, 12 oz.; white arsenic, white soap and air-slaked 
lime, of each, 4 oz.; powdered camphor, f oz.; made into a 
paste with a sufficiency of water. 
“ St. ICilda.” —Messrs. Evans, Lescher and Evans, Lon¬ 
don ; Messrs. Southall and Dymond, Birmingham; Mr. L. 
Siebold, Manchester. 
“ Chemicus.” —See Watts’s ‘ Dictionary of Chemistry,’ vol. 
iv. p. 256. 
Communications, Letters, etc., have been received from 
Mr. A. H. Mason, Mr. Butterworth, Mr. Newbury, Mr. 
Gostling, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Harding, York Chemists’ Asso¬ 
ciation, A. P. S. 
