/April 27, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
araratical 
■-♦- 
SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1S72. 
Communications for this Journal , and boohs for revieiv,etc., 
\should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
JS.IDGE, Secretary , 17, Bloomsbury Square , IV. C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London , W. Envelopes indorsed u Pharm. Jouru.” 
PHARMACY IN THE SHOP AND APPRENTICES. 
Two subjects have now for some time been dis¬ 
cussed side by side, in the columns of this Journal, 
both of them extremely important in them bearings 
on the future welfare of the pharmaceutical body, and 
also having a more intimate relation to each other 
than has yet, perhaps, been claimed. The recent dis¬ 
cussion on the apprenticeship question, having had 
its origin in the large proportion of candidates failing 
to pass the Preliminary Examination, turned rather 
upon the necessity of exacting an educational test 
from apprentices, previous to their being bound, than 
upon the best method of imparting to them a sound 
'technical education after they have entered the busi¬ 
ness. As regards the former point, it is gratifying to 
find a very general recognition of the principle that 
no one who has the welfare of pharmacy at heart 
.should receive an apprentice, on any terms, until 
he has satisfied the present very moderate require¬ 
ments of the Preliminary Examinations. 
But it must be evident that the exclusion of un¬ 
qualified candidates from among the apprentices is 
even of less importance than the adoption of adequate 
means of educating those who are accepted. It is, 
therefore, to be regretted that the subject broached 
Py the President of the Pharmaceutical Society, with 
the special object of pointing out how a more 
general preparation of galenicals by pharmacists 
would conduce to the education of their apprentices, 
lias been argued more particularly from the point of 
view whether it would pay, and as to the amount of 
immediate benefit that would result to the master. 
These are matters that will perhaps be decided 
upon variously, according to special circumstances, 
and they may well be left to individual judgment; 
but in the interests of those entering upon the busi¬ 
ness of Pharmacy, the home preparation of galenicals 
and chemicals is at the present time especially de¬ 
serving of further consideration from a different point 
of view by those who still take apprentices. 
It is true the changes that have occurred in our; 
•social relations during late years, especially in large 
.towns, have done away with much of the domesticity 
SGf> 
that formerly brought the master, as a teacher, more 
intimately in contact with his apprentice. More¬ 
over the enhanced facilities of communication, to¬ 
gether with the increased use of machinery, have 
enabled manufacturers to offer inducements to the 
pharmacist to buy many of his preparations ready 
made, and these, with a variety of other circum¬ 
stances, have tended much to develope an incli¬ 
nation to shift the burden of educational respon¬ 
sibility almost entirely upon schools of pharmacy 
and the apprentice’s own efforts. A recent cor¬ 
respondent speaks of the majority of provincial 
pharmacies, as being places where the “master’s 
“ time is fully occupied with the multitudinous affairs 
“of the shop;” and, while freely acknowledging that 
it is the master’s duty to see that the pupil receives 
a fair share of practical tuition, he is of opinion that 
“ this may be accomplished by a supply of experi- 
“ mental apparatus, and an allowance of extra time 
“ each week for the student’s use.” 
We fear that even this is far in advance of what, 
in very many cases, is acknowledged as the duty of 
employers towards their apprentices, or is at any rate 
practised in all cases. But even if the apprentice were 
always able to study for a term at a school of phar¬ 
macy, or if professors were— 
*•' Glad to turn itinerant 
To stroll and teach from town to town,” 
such a system would still leave a deficiency that 
could be supplied by no person so well as by the 
apprentice’s employer. Attendance at systematic 
courses of lectures and the study of scientific principles 
should certainly be regarded as necessities for the 
pharmacist of the future; but we believe the shop 
must ever be the chief school of practical pharmacy; 
if it be connected with a laboratory, so much the 
better. No amount of book or lecture knowledge, 
although supplemented by experiment, will supply 
that experience which is to be gained in the habitual 
preparation of the pharmacopoeia! compounds; and 
it is evident from the testimoiy of several of our cor¬ 
respondents that such preparations can frequently be 
made at home with advantage, both in price and 
quality. 
But were it otherwise, and did it entail a cost 
upon the employer, the necessity appears equally 
plain for all who incur the responsibility of taking 
apprentices. It now is the clear duty of eveiy phar¬ 
macist to do all he can to raise the status of his 
calling, and in no way can the individual be so in- 
tluential in that direction as by turning out a well 
trained and thoroughly taught pupil. Of course, 
for a long time there will exist those who, untaught 
themselves, are unable to teach, and by whom 
apprentices will be taken to supply the places of 
mere shopmen and porters. But each year the 
proportion of qualified men will increase, and it 
will behove them to keep up the standard of edu- 
