May 4, 1872.] 
8S3 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
scientific attainments, and social position, he appears 
to shadow forth theJPharmacist of the future for Great 
Britain. It appeared to me, in the first place, that 
the sound education required of the candidate for 
apprenticeship was very important; while at school 
he can only rise from class to class by undergoing 
an examination, and it is only after he has passed 
through four classes that he can obtain the 
certificate without which he is not received as 
an apprentice. In the next place, during his 
three years’ apprenticeship—and three years is 
ample time for apprenticeship—he is allowed two 
hours a day for study, and his employer is required 
by the Apotliekerordnung to assist him in his 
studies, by providing him with books and instruc¬ 
tion. The employer is reminded that there are 
duties as well as rights, trouble as well as profit, in 
the proper education of the apprentice. Whilst on 
this subject I will read some very pertinent re¬ 
marks from the Prussian Pharmacy Laws, which 
merit careful attention by those who take appren¬ 
tices. 
“ All apothecaries may take apprentices, but as 
they sometimes study their own advantage more 
than they do that of the apprentice or the public, the 
following has been made binding:—They must only 
take such apprentices as have by nature good parts, 
and as are sufficiently prepared by education and 
good moral training. In order that apprentices may 
not be taken from school too soon, it is enjoined that 
they do not leave before the age of Id; and as the 
knowledge of the Latin language is indispensable for 
properly understanding prescriptions, no apprentice 
shall be taken until he can translate easy passages 
from a Latin author. The decisions shall not be 
left to the masters themselves, but it shall be their 
duty to let the intended apprentice be examined by 
the Government Medical Officer. The master has 
further to see that the intended apprentice writes 
fluently and distinctly ; this is particularly necessary 
to prevent mistakes occurring and the patient being 
misled by illegible writing. 
“It is the duty of the master to provide proper 
books for the apprentice. It has occurred that 
apothecaries in many places have had other 
business than that of an apothecary to attend to, 
and that sometimes they have no assistant, but 
only three or four apprentices instead, and they prefer 
to take the roughest and most ignorant of boys, and 
also those that are too young, because they could 
make use of them for the rough work in their other 
businesses; and as the practice has led to an increase 
in the number of mere mechanical chemists’ assistants, 
it is hereby ordered that an apothecary be allowed 
to take only as many apprentices as he lias qualified 
assistants. If the business be so inconsiderable that 
one person only be employed, then no apprentice can 
be taken unless it be impossible to procure an as¬ 
sistant, or that the master be sufficiently skilful to 
take the place of assistant. 
“ To prevent the increase of badly trained assist¬ 
ants, it is ordered that for the future no master shall 
give his apprentice a certificate until the said 
apprentice has been examined by the Government 
medical officer in the presence of his master. The 
examination shall refer to such subjects as he has a 
right to expect from so young a man. He shall be 
particularly examined as to his practical knowledge 
of pharmacy and handiness in doing ordinary work, 
as practical knowledge is of more importance than 
mere theory in an apothecary. Should it be found 
that he is not yet a capable assistant, it is the duty 
of the Government medical officer to inform hint 
that lie cannot yet leave his ap prenticeship, but must 
remain until he has fully qualifi ed himself. Should 
it, however, appear that the master is more in fault 
than the apprentice and that he has neglected him or 
shown his own incapacity to instruct him in the 
business of an apothecary, that master shall be for¬ 
bidden to take another apprentice.” 
Then again, the Minor examination is a qualification 
for an assistant only; he cannot conduct the business 
in the absence of the principal, neither can he pur¬ 
chase a business for himself. Our Minor, less 
thorough in its character, and less crucial, is a 
qualification for business as a chemist and druggist. 
But those who believe that pharmacy is progressive 
must arrive at the conclusion that an alteration here 
is only a question of time. After the Minor, three 
years must be spent in the practical details of phar¬ 
macy, and then the assistant goes to the university. 
Here lectures with practical work occupy his time, 
and after two severe examinations he procures his 
diploma, a qualification which enables him to con¬ 
duct a pharmacy. 
It will be noticed that in the examinations both of 
North Germany and Austria a knowledge of those 
political laws which govern the practice of phar¬ 
macy is required of the student; and in practice 
he does understand the letter and spirit of those 
laws. In this country when questions arise imme¬ 
diately affecting the interests of pharmacists, it is 
not until the danger is at our door that the body at 
large can be made to understand them. Our posi¬ 
tion, as defined by the several Pharmacy Acts and 
Poison Regulations, is so imperfectly understood, 
that our strength, as a body, is weakened, and our 
influence diminished. In the old Apotliekerordnung, 
it was imperative that every pharmacy should have 
a laboratory attached to it; this brought into exis¬ 
tence small apparatus suitable to the requirements of 
a pharmacist desirous of making the preparations of 
the pharmacopoeia for his own establishment, a 
want much felt in this country where our pharma¬ 
ceutical engineers cannot be made to understand 
that an ordinary room may suffice for a very effi¬ 
cient laboratory, where an acre of ground is not 
available. 
I hold it to be the bounden duty of every one that 
takes an apprentice to teach him, or cause him to be 
taught, to make every preparation in the British 
pharmacopoeia, and this may be done at a very 
moderate outlay. He should also be taught the 
history of most of the substances which consti¬ 
tute our materia medica, as well as how to recognize 
them. 
In every city and town in North and South Ger¬ 
many, and also in Austria, the number of pharmacies 
is limited by Government regulation; it averages 
one pharmacy to about 10,000 inhabitants, and unless 
the population very much increases, no addition is 
made to the number. When there exists an apparent 
necessity, an addition can take place by Government 
concession. The pharmacists having this privilege 
are obliged to charge all drugs, and dispense medicines 
according to the price in the Arzneitaxe. . This, 
name may convey to the British pharmacist an 
erroneous impression as to its use; it is not a tax, 
but a medicine price-list. To give you an idea as to 
its working, I will take this prescription: 
