860 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 20, 1872.- 
advise no one to attempt tlie manufacture of this article in 
the shop, or they will most certainly regret it, supposing the 
shop to contain anything that will spoil, as marble slabs, 
brass scales, etc. To a practical pharmacist, a laboratory book 
will be found most useful; in it should be recorded the date 
and quantity of each preparation made, and if desired, the 
cost for which it could be produced. From my experience 
in the manufacture of these preparations, I find that I can 
save on some 30 per cent., on others 50, and on a few, 
even a larger per centage of the cost as compared with 
the prices of wholesale houses, besides being perfectly satisfied 
that they are correct in every respect, and exactly what they 
are represented to be. 
I have endeavoured to show that the absence of a regular 
laboratory with its costly appliances need not be a hindrance 
to the acquirement of a knowledge of practical pharmacy, 
or an excuse for the absence of such. If the pharmacist has 
but a moderate amount of room, a few well-selected pieces 
of by no means costly apparatus, a fair amount of skill and 
common sense, combined with a reasonably patient tempera¬ 
ment, he may hope to go a good way beyond what I have 
stated, with pleasure to himself and profit to his business. 
Liverpool, April 1st, 1872. T. H. Hustwicic. 
The Sunday Duties of Chemists’ Assistants.— 
To what Extent are they Expedient? 
Sir,—I shall esteem it a favour if you will allow the following 
lines a place in the next issue of the Pharmaceutical J our- 
nal. As they pertain to a subject affecting the majority of 
assistants throughout the country, their insertion may induce 
others more able than myself to advocate its claims. 
To attempt to prove that provision need not be made to 
meet the requirements of the public at all times in cases of 
emergency would at once betray a sad unconsciousness of 
one’s duty, but to endeavour to modify the present system, 
and secure to assistants those privileges which it is right 
they should enjoy is quite another thing. 
The subject at once resolves itself into one or two questions. 
1st. Do the requirements of the public render attendance 
necessary at every dispensing establishment on Sundays? 
and if not— 
2nd. Cannot some plan be adopted whereby such require¬ 
ments may be met without unnecessary confinement ? 
The consideration of the first question immediately suggests 
another. Within a radius of a mile of where I am living, 
there are no less than twenty dispensing establishments, at 
each of which (if I mistake not) attendance is given during 
the whole of the Sunday. I ask is this expedient ? Can it 
be reasonably urged that the probable cases of emergency 
demand it ? and if not, is it not due to assistants upon whom 
so many duties are incumbent that every possible concession 
should be made ? I believe that the admission of the majority 
of employers, and the testimony of assistants generally, 
would show that (as a rule) attendance at one establishment 
in ten would be quite sufficient to meet every requirement 
which the just claims of emergency may have upon us; and 
my own experience differs very widely from that of others 
if more than 25 per cent, (and here I think I am far above 
the mark) of the business usually transacted on the Sunday 
can consistently be called “cases of necessity.” How often 
does it happen that, after remaining in the whole of the day, 
the actual requirements have amounted to an ounce of de- 
lectables and a bottle of soda-water, or they may occasionally 
extend to a sedative mixture some elderly customer is in the 
habit of taking every night, and a repetition from a well- 
known prescription dispensed regularly about twice a week ? 
That such is often the case will be confirmed I am persuaded 
by hundreds of assistants who, like myself, continually en¬ 
dure the unwholesome confinement that an unnecessary 
custom imposes upon them. Without adverting to the ! 
Sunday cases of “ abominable Sunday traffic” carried on under 1 
the false pretext of the claims of emergency (where the con¬ 
tents of the till on a Sunday might represent an average day’s 
business), it must be admitted that the present “staying-in” 
system is to a very great extent unnecessary, and deserves 
the serious consideration of all interested in the pharmacists’ 
welfare, affecting as it does both employers and employed. 
In dealing with the second question, however, greater con¬ 
siderations are involved, and one is reminded that it is far 
easier to speak of existing evils than to provide a practicable 
remedy for them. Difficulties will doubtless arise, but I am 
loth to believe they are insurmountable; and if there is just 
cause for an appeal against the present unnecessary confine¬ 
ment, surely it behoves those by whom such claims are 
respected to espouse that cause, and by personal effort en¬ 
deavour to bring about that reformation which is so sadly 
needed, and which would be attended with so many privileges- 
But can it be done ? and if so, how ? for after all the whole- 
matter hinges upon this question. I believe that in America 
it is done, and upon a principle that might be adopted at 
home. I have been given to understand that provision is made 
according to the requirements of the neighbourhood. For 
instance, in a town in which there are, say twenty establish¬ 
ments, attendance is given at perhaps two during the whole 
of the day, each taking duty in succession ; thus, instead of 
remaining in every Sunday it is only necessary about once in- 
two months, and I would humbly suggest the advisability of 
endeavouring to establish a similar plan. Of course no uni¬ 
form method could possibly be adopted, a great deal being 
dependent upon the position and requirements of the 
neighbourhood. 
It is not difficult to anticipate many objections that would 
be made, but I fail to see any that can consistently be urged ; 
aud since the law requires a standard qualification from every 
proprietor, it can be no w*rong to the public, if, in cases of 
emergency, they are referred to the registered chemist upon 
whom the duty then falls. 
Much has been done lately towards promoting a more- 
fraternal feeling amongst employers. Let this be not in 
word only but in deed, and the greatest obstacle is removed. 
A discerning public would not fail to recognize the justice of 
our claim. A little forethought would lead to the purchase 
of known requirements on Saturday, and thus the benefit 
be shared by all whom it would affect. 
To cherish feelings of self-pity or to endeavour to sow seeds 
of dissatisfaction amongst fellow-assistants, are, of all things, 
most blameworthy, but by rational means to contend for a 
concession of privileges that might be so easily granted, de¬ 
serves the hearty co-operation of all to whom the pharmacists’ 
welfare is dear. Nemo. 
G. C .—A beam of common light consists of undulation 
of the luminiferous ether; these undulations, or wave motions, 
taking place in all conceivable directions transverse to the 
line of advance, or the path of the ray. Certain substances, 
as Iceland spar, only allow of the propagation of these wave 
motions in two directions, and that in paths lying separate- 
A beam of common light entering such a substance is bifur¬ 
cated or doubly refracted, and leaves it as two beams, the 
undulations of the one being at right angles to the other. In 
your Nichol prism, provision is made that one only of 
these shall pass out, the other being shunted off by total re¬ 
flection. Such a beam as that which passes through the 
prism is a beam of plane polarized light, and its plane of 
vibration is the plane of primitive polarization. A little re¬ 
flection will show that it can only pass through a second 
Nichol, when its planes of vibrations are in accordance with 
that of the prism. But the beam of plane polarized light is 
also capable of being doubly refracted. If a plate of selenite 
or other doubl y refractive substance be interposed in its path, 
having its axis inclined 45° to the plane of primitive 
polarization, it will be split into two smaller beams, the 
planes of which will be at right angles to each other, and 
inclined at an angle to the plane of primitive polarization- 
If you fix your eye upon two such vibrating planes, you will 
see that a second prism would resolve or analyse these into 
two beams,—the one vibrating at right angles to the original 
plane, the other in that plane; the one passing through the 
analyser, the other being stopped by it. It is not possible to 
go into details here. If you desire to pursue the subject, you 
will find Dr. Pereira’s lectures, delivered before the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society, published in the first series of this- 
Journal, Vols. II. and III., and Sir John Herschel’s Lectures 
on Light (Good Words for 1865, reprinted in his “ Familiar 
Lectures,”) of service. The phenomena can be easily under¬ 
stood if you be familiar with the working of the doctrines of 
the resolution of forces. 
Communications, Letters, etc., have been received from 
Mr. Scholefield, Messrs. Kay Brothers, Mr. Chipperfield, 
Messrs. Thorne Brothers, Mr. J. R. Jackson, Mr. W. H. B. 
Hamilton, Mr. Rayson; Mr. W. Wilkinson, Mr. S. B. Hol- 
gate, W. F. C., J. F.F., “Dominus Salus Mea,” “A Student.” 
In consequence of want of space the answers to several 
communications are deferred. 
