276 
PHAKMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
fore. You "will have more rivalry to contend with, and, if you would hold your 
place before the world, you must not waste these times of study. Shall we re¬ 
gret all this ? If the public demanded higher attainments, and there were no 
means of gaining the necessary knowledge, I should regret it, but not whilst the 
abundant advantages which this Society offers are before you. I rather rejoice 
that the required standard is higher, and that the public join with us in re¬ 
quiring competent attainment in those to whose care the health and life of their 
fellow-creatnres are frequently committed. I join with Dr. Attfield in thinking 
highly of the advantages you possess in having passed through an apprenticeship, 
and having thus laid the foundation well, in what some would call the drudgery 
of the business. Depend upon it, this part of your education is as valuable as 
any other. However others may speak slightingly of dusting the shop and attend¬ 
ing to the routine of daily duties, I believe the teaching to be indispensable. It 
forms the character, it gives habits of order, of attention to business, and of perse¬ 
verance, which lay the foundation of future success. You gain that insight into 
the tastes of your customers, and that tact and sound judgment which you will 
hardly get without. If you wish to get on in the world, the knowledge gained, 
not in the study, but behind the counter, will be of priceless value. Believe no 
one who tells you to despise it. Science is full of glittering visions, which are 
apt to lead astray unless corrected by practical knowledge of the world, and 
you will be in danger of trusting some showy project, which will be broken to 
pieces when it comes in contact with the time of actual trial. It will be like a 
house built upon the sand, fair and v/ise in everything but the foundation, where 
the very massiveness and grandeur of the ornaments only serve to render more 
complete the ruin. But if you take care to lay the foundation well, you may 
- build scientific knowledge upon it with the greatest possible advantage. And 
one of the advantages will be this, you will be able to enter upon any opening 
for superior profit which may present itself. You may not all your lives be at¬ 
tached to the counter or follow the retail trade,—opportunities of advancement, 
in many ways, may come before you, and, then the turning-point in your lives 
may be, whether you are or are not capable of entering into the open door. 
Some of us never had the advantages which are offered to you, or our course 
might have been more prosperous and our success more abundant. And, let me 
say, whilst you are seeking to profit by the instruction provided, you are help¬ 
ing materially to solve the questions which often trouble us. For instance, you 
wish, no doubt, that your character as chemists should give you a higher posi¬ 
tion in society and raise you in public estimation above mere traders. Show' 
yourselves men of education and sound knowledge, and you will be likely to at¬ 
tain it; there will be that silent growth of respect in the public mind which will 
bring it to you more surely than any legislative enactment can do. You feel 
that you ought to be better remunerated, that the heavy responsibility which 
rests upon your position ought not to have its present scanty reward. Deter¬ 
mine to shew yourselves competent and able men, and this will be more likely to 
bring you this remuneration than anything else. 
Some of you have received prizes to-night, and I am glad to hear that you 
have so well deserved them. Keep and look upon them with pleasure. But do 
not cease to learn. Be students still. Knowledge will rust and pass away, 
unless it is fed by more acquirements, and the power of learning will gather 
strength by constant use. In the name of the Council I wish you success ; our 
hopes rest upon you. Some who have laboured for this Society have passed 
away and others are passing, but our hope is in you. The founders of this 
Society did not seek to benefit themselves, but those who should come after 
them, to raise in the next generation, a class of able men throughout the country, 
and, if this is not accomplished, all wm have done will be in vain,—the Society 
will pass uselessly away; like a meteor, it will have glittered with temporary 
