THE PHARMACEUTIST AS A MERCHANT. 
655 
which the workman turns out a perfect cork stopper from the little square pieces fur¬ 
nished to him. The knife used for this purpose has necessarily to he very sharp, as well 
as being very thin; the blade is broad, and when the edge has become dull, it is quickly 
sharpened on a very fine-grained stone. The bench or tube at which the workman sits 
has a ledge round it to prevent the corks falling off. On the Continent,'a notch is made 
in the edge of the bench to place the back of the knife in, to prevent it from slipping. 
Thus the edge is uppermost, and the knife has to be guided slightly while the cork is 
pressed against the edge, and so dexterously turned and rounded to the required form. 
All the corks thus cut are thrown into a basket to be sorted, which is usually done by 
women and boys. 
The great importance of cork as a commercial article has been the cause of experi¬ 
ments being tried for its introduction into the Southern States of North America. It 
is, however, some years since the American Government tried this plan of naturalization, 
for which purpose large quantities of the acorns were imported from the South of Europe. 
More recently, we learn, from Sir J. W. Hooker’s last Report on the Royal Gardens, 
Kew, that steps are now being taken by the Colonial Government of South Australia 
to introduce the cork-tree, and a number of young plants have been raised at Kew ex¬ 
pressly for transmission to that colony. 
We sincerely hope that these efforts to establish a tree furnishing so useful a product 
as cork, in a colony where it would become a valuable addition to its commerce,—as well 
as adding to the supply, which, at the present increasing rate of consumption, is much 
to be desired,—may be crowned with success .—The Technologist . 
THE PHARMACEUTIST AS A MERCHANT. 
BY FEEDEEICK STEARNS. 
That which constitutes “ commercial education ” in relation to the pursuit of all usual 
forms of business, is capable of being applied to the Pharmaceutist, there being, how¬ 
ever, special points relating to each, and those, whatever they may be, it is presumed 
are the ones to be touched upon in any essay upoii commercial education in relation to 
the successful pursuit of the pharmaceutic art. 
Taking it for granted that the novice has acquired during his minority a fair share 
of the “ King’s English,” has even graduated at a school of pharmacy during his appren¬ 
ticeship, then the following remarks may be usefully applied:— 
Commercial education, or the knowledge of those methods of conducting business by 
means of which pecuniary success and an honourable position in community are obtained, 
is, of course, the fruit of experience only in the vast majority of instances. 
The social position of the Pharmaceutist, in our country at least, is fully equal to that 
of those following successfully other channels of trade. Its pursuit implies a cultivated 
mind and scientific tastes, and as we acknowledge no aristocracy but that of mind, the 
necessary qualification of professional skill in our art ennobles it. 
It is of primary importance that the beginner should enter upon the pursuit of 
pharmacy enthusiastic, earnest, and with unbounded ambition to succeed and excel; to 
be in love with it, and with a firm determination to let no trivial disappointments turn 
him from his course. 
I believe it true that the discouragements are greater to the beginner in pharmacy as 
a business, than in many other pursuits, because the demand for the products of our 
skill is limited in comparison with that for most great staples of trade which busy the 
business talents of the mass of our fellow-men; moreover, a community take to a new 
Pharmaceutist shyly and slowly, confiding in him only as they come to know him. 
Choose, then, pharmacy as a business in the profound conviction that you were born 
for it, and not take it up on trial to be thrown aside for some other. Are you hopeful ? 
So much the happier will you be, for anticipation of success is about equal to its reality. 
Don’t try and stand alone until you have reaped the benefit of an apprenticeship 
with some experienced and successful preceptor, during which you have enriched your 
mind by reading, study, and schooling in pharmacy, and acquired those business ways 
and habits which have led him, whose example you study, to success. This preliminary 
education is of such vital importance that the want of it can never be compensated by 
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