LEEDS chemists’ ASSOCIATION. 
399 
to be expected to do.^ But so long as horses require medicine, and druggists sell it, or 
dust abounds Avhere it is not urgently wanted, some one or other must fill this very im¬ 
portant post; and knowing, as I do, that we cannot all be kid-glove gentlemen, I 
dissent entirely from any view which favours the notion that work of this kind is not 
fitting or honourable work. I believe if a man would learn anything he must begin at 
the bottom, and these menial operations are to the druggist a part of the necessary drill 
and discipline to fit him for the station he has to fill. Therefore I have faith in the dirty 
work, and do not think it is doing any real kindness to an apprentice to give it all to 
porters, as most assuredly the day will come when its value will be appreciated. It will 
give habits of thoroughness and neatness, it will give the ability to teach those who 
come after, and, most of all, when they begin business on their own account (with very 
limited means in many instances), they will be thankful that they can, if need be, open 
shop themselves, and do the rough as well as the smooth work, with equal comfort and 
respectability. Therefore, do not despise these common operations and think tliem be¬ 
neath you, but let them be well and thoroughly done, and if it is only a dirty bottle 
that you clean, do not think of it too much in that light; there is another, a brighter 
and a better, namely, this,—you are doing your duty, doing your part in the world’s 
work, filling a gap that wanted filling, and the main thing you haA^e to remember is, 
that it does not so much matter what a man does, as how he does it. If you can gather 
no other thought from my paper than this, it is certainly worth your having, not be¬ 
cause it is my thought, for I have only embodied in other words that old Scriptural 
aphorism, of doing what your hand findeth to do with your might; and I am sure, if this 
one principle is fairly carried out, your shop, in a little country town, will not present 
the dire picture drawn by Mr. luce in his admirable essay. 
“ For this leaves 
In act no trifle, and no blank in time. 
This greatens, fills, immortalizes all; 
This, the blest art of turning all to gold ; 
This, the good heart’s prerogative to raise 
A ro3ml tribute from the poorest hours, 
• Immense reA-enue ! Every moment pa.ys. 
If nothing more than purpose in thj' power, 
Thy purpose firm is equal to the deed: 
IVho does the best his circumstance allows. 
Does Avell, acts nobly; angels could no more.” 
“ Why have I said so much about this, and so little about scientific study ? Be¬ 
cause I Avould lay the foundation before the superstructure ; because, hoAvever much 
order, cleanliness, etc., may be necessary in the shop, it is just as much so in the ware¬ 
house, and it is the want of some of these characteristics Avhich has made some of our 
trade look AAuth suspicion on our efforts to educate the rising generation of chemists 
and druggists. Doubtless it is, for the most part, a groundless fear, for work and true 
science go hand-in-hand, and excellence in one can hardly exist without excellence 
in the other. 
“ Thus far I have looked at our business from the apprentices’ point of view, and 
tried to shoAV that even elementary Avork is not entirely Avithout its uses. The field en¬ 
larges rapidly when vm come to the dispensing counter, for here we are brought face to 
face with the varied phenomena of disease and suffering. True it is that use habituates 
us to our Avork, and it is possible to make up a prescription Avithout the reihotest thought 
of the purpose for Avhich it is intended. Yet one source of interest is lost by this 
course, for each prescription has its own tale to tell. If we could now and then draw 
aside the veil which hides the result of our Avork, it would often steady the thoughtless, 
and teach us all, that a chemist must be not only a student but a man of thorough 
honesty of purpose and integrity. Let us in imagination visit one of the many similar 
scenes of suffering, and learn the lesson it should teach. 
“ Here is a sick child, feverish, restless, sleepless, and its parents Avorse, possibly, from 
mental anguish, than the child from physical suffering. What will they give to seethe 
little one calmly at sleep, the feA'er subdued, and the half-Avild, anxious look of 'disease 
replaced by the beauty of health ? A medical man is called in, a prescription Avritten 
and sent to the nearest chemist’s to be dispensed. Noav what Avill he do Avith it ? It is 
