PHARMACEUTICAL ETHICS. 
141 
than the inspired direction, “ he that ruleth -with diligence.”* One point I am 
compelled to notice, that ethics concern the assistant quite as much as they do the 
i master. I have no intention of adding to the already hard position of the former 
' by harsh remarks, but I say deliberately that neither our current literature, nor 
j the general tone of sentiment expressed in private, bears sufficient trace of the 
recognition that a code of ethics extends beyond the master. Let the assistant 
feel that he has a part to play, just as difficult and just as important as his em¬ 
ployer ; that on his side he must exercise consideration and adopt the high tone 
of feeling which characterizes the English gentleman, and he will do more to 
render pharmacy endurable, and to promote its social welfare, than whole reams 
I of essays written on the subject. It is painful to recollect that those identical 
assistants who complain the most bitterly about long hours, close confinement, 
and other ills incident to pharmacy, are sometimes, when once in business on 
their own account, the very men to perpetuate and to extend the evil, and prac¬ 
tically to rivet another link to that chain with which we are darkly bound. 
Solely for this reason, I have had no faith in the efforts that have been made 
occasionally with regard to early closing. The ethics have been invariably on 
one side. Once the king of animals was asked his opinion on a work of art. The 
I painting represented a man smiling and self-confident, who, with the most per¬ 
fect equanimity, was slaying the noble beast. 
“ Wait till I paint,” said the lion. 
As matters stand, masters are to shut up, and assistants to improve their 
minds. I have never seen my way out of this question (nor has any one else) ; 
yet I believe that in an establishment where there are two or more assistants, 
if they would calmly set to work to see how far earlier hours could be adopted 
without injuring existing business; if, in so doing, they on their part would 
carefully weigh the master’s interest, and be as ethical towards him as they wish 
him to be towards them ; and if, instead of calling him hard names and making 
excited speeches at a London tavern, they would bear in mind that he is quite 
as much interested as they; I guarantee that he would be found a willing 
listener, and there would then be the first and only fair chance of which I know,, 
of both being set at liberty at more rational hours than they are at present. 
Before leaving the shop altogether, may I press upon your consideration the 
desirability of calling it “ a Pharmacy.” The word is English, not fanciful; it 
is used in the same sense throughout France and Belgium, is highly expressive,, 
and is on all grounds to be recommended. 
Section II. 
SOCIAL ETHICS. 
The behaviour of the Pharmaceutist with regard to those in the same line of 
business as himself. 
Strictly under this head is a special duty in connection with the choice of an ap¬ 
prentice, and I must again give you Mr. Brady’s views. “ The recent tendency 
amongst all professional bodies to look more closely to the school education of those 
^ It is constantly overlooked that both master and man are overruled by an exacting 
public, and the public by an equally exacting master—the habits and customs of society. 
Young men, while resisting the orders and regulations of their employers, are apt to over¬ 
look the circumstance, that the regulations have been deliberately and carefully framed to 
meet the exigencies of business long before they sold their labour for a salaiy ; hen ce the an¬ 
tagonism between master and man, and the shipwreck of sound morality. 
Young men complain of the little time the business affords for reading : “ where there is a 
will there is a way let them employ that little time in reading wholesome stand a rd works 
of religion, morality, and science, and the standard of ethics would soon be raised above petty 
considerations arising out of the details of business .—'Note contributed by 3Ir. Dconie. 
