352 
THE POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF ASSISTANTS. 
The following circular has been issued by Mr. Hobson of Beverley :— 
Eaely Closing. —C. Hobson, Pharmaceutical Chemist, begs to advise his numerous 
friends and the public generally, that in order to give his assistants increased opportu¬ 
nities for study and recreation, and thereby, he hopes, enable them more efficiently to 
perform their duties during business hours, he intends, on and after the 19th inst., until 
the 1st April next ensuing, to close his shop at eight o’clock p.m., instead of nine as 
heretofore, and trusts to have the assistance of his patrons to aid him in carrying out this 
arrangement. 
Urgent requirements will after that hour be supplied on application at the house door. 
Market Place^ Beverley^ Nov. l^th, 1866. 
THE POSITION AND PEOSPECTS OE ASSISTANTS. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Sir,—Permit me to thank you for the calm and dispassionate tone of the 
remarks which, under the heading of “Early Closing,” appear in the Journal 
for November, and which form a worthy supplement to, and practical applica¬ 
tion of Mr. Ince’s “ Pharmaceutical Ethics.'^'' 
I am persuaded that it is only by a full and free discussion of the somewhat 
vexed questions of the relations between employers and assistants that a satis¬ 
factory result can be anticipated; but it is necessary that while the assistants 
approach the discussion of the subject with becoming deference, the employers 
should show a willingness to listen to the opinions, and further the interests, of 
their employes. 
As you pertinently remark, “ Chemists’ assistants hold a better position in 
the families of their employers than do the assistants, or shopmen., as they are 
called, in other trades.” It is nevertheless an undeniable fact, that “shopmen ” 
in every other trade, who require perchance no special education, can command 
a better salary by far than their more select compeers in the drug trade. A 
case occurred the other day (for which I can vouch), in which a young man 
applied for a situation as junior assistant at an establishment in one of the 
fashionable faubourgs at the West End: the liberal-minded employer prefaced 
his remarks by supposing the applicant to be about twenty-four years of age, 
and proceeded to offer the tempting salary of £20 per annum!—which, I am 
happy to be able to say, was declined with thanks. 
Now I hold, that if apprentices be well instructed in the “ arts and mysteries,” 
they ought to be able, at the expiration of their term of apprenticeship, to go 
up and pass the Minor Examination of the Society; but if such an instance as 
the foregoing can be cited of West End salaries, well may youths who know the 
real state of affairs pause before entering “ the profession ” of a chemist and 
druggist; and well may young men, who are now filling situations as assistants, 
exclaim, with much truth, when urged to qualify,— Le jeu ne vaut pas la 
chandelle. 
For be it remembered that there are in the drug trade very many assistants 
who have not the remotest chance of getting into business, and who should be 
receiving a sufficient salary to enable them to lay by for old age. In every 
other trade (notably drapery), if a young man endowed with but average 
abilities get into a large establishment, he can always by diligence in a few 
years secure an income far beyond that with which many a druggist in business 
would be but too contented; it cannot be because the responsibility in dis¬ 
pensing medicine is less than in measuring tape. 
What is the remedy ? 
It lies with assistants themselves; as I have supposed apprentices to be 
