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LEEDS chemists’ ASSOCIATION. 
Johnson’s definitions of a trader is one who exchanges goods for other goods, or for 
money. A professional man will then be one who exchanges, not goods, but technical 
skill or knowledge, for money. It is evident therefore, that our business partakes of the 
character of both, but is more a trade than a profession. In this respect wq differ 
much from each other, but all are essentially traders. 
This being so (and nothing to be ashamed of in it), I confess I prefer the homely de¬ 
signation of a shop to express the place where this trade is carried on to tire more pre¬ 
tentious title of a “ a pharmacy.” As a general rule, I think it is well to “ call a spade 
a spade.” Even a schoolmaster, I cannot think, consults his real respectability when he 
styles his school an Academy, a Seminary, or an Establishment for the Education of 
Young Gentlemen, or perhaps even a College. Why should we use a word which is 
much more Greek than English, and which may not be understood by a twentieth part 
of the persons who read it, rather than employ one which is plain, downright English, 
and known to every child where English is spoken; a word about the meaning of which 
no mistake can be made? “ A Pharmacy,” Mr. Ince says, is “English, not fanciful.” 
If it be English at all, the "word shop is much better English. I suppose, however, that 
he wdll grant that in this sense a pharmacy is a word only lately introduced into the 
English language. Beceause of its ambiguity, I would humbly suggest that it should 
speedily be put out of it. Let us retain the old word pharmacy, as the art of compound¬ 
ing medicines; but not make use of the very same word to express another idea, namely 
the place where medicines are sold. Such would be my verdict on what is rather a 
matter of taste than of principle. 
There is much truth in w'hat Mr. Ince and Mr. Brady say about the impropriety of 
taking apprentices who have received an imperfect school education ; and much to be 
admired in their high aim of providing that every candidate for apprenticeship should be 
■well acquainted with Virgil and Euclid. But in practice we are unfortunately obliged 
to come down from this high position. From my limited sources of observation I should 
conclude that while general intelligence has been making progress, and boys are generally 
receiving a much better education than they used to do, druggists’ apprentices are less 
educated than young men holding similar positions were thirty years ago. But what 
can masters do ? To insist upon much higher attainments than those now possessed 
would be to hinder themselves from having apprentices at all. We all know, too well, 
that w^e are but poorly remunerated for our responsible and laborious efforts to serve 
the public ; and can w'e wonder that those parents who can afford to give their sons a 
good classical and mathematical education should hesitate about placing them in a busi¬ 
ness yielding so little profit ? The advice once given to persons about to marry was—■ 
don’t. And if asked whether a well-educated youth should enter the business of a 
chemist I should almost be inclined to answer—don’t, for you can make your attain¬ 
ments go further in another direction, and if asked the same question respecting a boy 
whose education had been neglected and who did not evince any extraordinary aptitude 
for learning, I should decidedly answer—don’t, for you wull never understand your busi¬ 
ness and wuil alw'ays labour under disadvantages. Practically speaking, the druggist has 
to obtain the best apprentices he can get, for as Mr. Ince observes, necessity has no law. 
Besides a youth who is ignorant, and whose mind is undisciplined, is dangerous in a 
druggist’s shop,—dangerous to the customers and to his master, the latter having to bear 
all the responsibility of his errors. No master then, having regard to his owm interests 
and safety, would prefer an ignorant boy. 
Mr. luce’s section on Personal Ethics, in which he lovingly looks back upon his early 
classical studies, and recommends the cultivation of ancient literature to us all, is written 
in so enthusiastic a style, as to prove that our hard and matter-of-fact business does not 
necessarily deprive us of all aspirations after what is more ethereal and intellectual. It 
is a consolation to know, that the spirit of his recommendations may be carried out 
without so much classical culture as Mr. Ince has enjoyed. Most of us perhaps have to 
confess that w^e know “ little Latin and less Greek.” But we have stores of literature in 
our own language which we may study with abundant benefit to ourselves, and we have 
at least one poet equal to Mr. Ince’s favourite Horace. After all, money-getting is not 
everything. As Mr. Ince suggests, man was not made to stand for thirty years behind 
a few square yards of mahogany. Like the rest of mankind, it is our duty, and may be 
our pleasure, to cultivate the intellect, to contemplate the beautiful, and to bring our¬ 
selves under all the influences that tend to raise us as moral, accountable, and religious 
