314 
SELECTED ARTICLES. 
or from their possessors becoming legally incapable of conti- 
nuing longer to trade in medicine. 
In the case of a vacancy by death, the heirs of the late 
possessor have power to sell the concern, but the purchaser 
must be one of those who have obtained a license to open 
shop. And where the shop becomes void by the dismissal 
of the former occupant, he is always allowed by the govern- 
ment, though not entitled, to dispose of his interest in it to 
the best advantage, the purchaser being, as before, one of the 
qualified class. 
The income arising from a shop being thus always respect- 
able, and sometimes very considerable, the number of candi- 
dates, who are often taken from the most respectable burgher 
families, together with the comparative rarity of a situation 
becoming vacant, raises the price of a good concern far beyond 
what, to our idea, would appear its value. Thus, in towns of 
from 6 to 8000 inhabitants, it is usual to pay from 6 to ^800 
for an establishment. In larger towns, 12 or ^1400 is not 
uncommon; but in large cities, as Berlin, Dresden, Vienna, 
&c., the prices become enormously high. Indeed, I was 
assured by a gentleman of great eminence, and on whose 
veracity I can implicitly rely, that a short time ago, a shop, — 
certainly one of the first in Berlin, — was sold, and 60,000 
thalers, equal to £9000, paid down; I must add, however, 
that the establishments which bring such high prices are not 
mere apothecaries' shops ; there is generally attached to them 
a factory of chemical preparations. The leading apothecaries 
are generally manufacturers of the nicer chemical substances, 
particularly the vegetable alkaloids; and the names of Merck, 
Winkler, Wittstock, and many others, are nearly as well 
known in the commercial, as in the scientific world. 
I mentioned that no apothecary is allowed to charge more 
for his drugs than the price regulated by the list; and as this 
price is quite sufficiently remunerating, he is forbid in the 
strongest manner from attempting to increase his profits by 
substituting an inferior article. There is in each state officers 
appointed, comprising the University Professors of Chemistry 
