AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION. 
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perntices  or  subordinates  the  best  tuition  he  is  capable  of.  It  is  a  mistaken  and 
short-sighted  policy  in  the  apothecary  to  withhold  instruction  beyond  the  merest 
calls  of  business,  under  the  impression  that  it  will  react  unfavorably  to  his  interest. 
The  man  who  has  efficient  assistants  will  have  his  reputation  increased  instead 
of  diminished,  and  this  will  be  a  safeguard  against  ingratitude,  when  it  occurs. 
To  this  end  he  should  improve  and  extend  his  pharmaceutical  library  by  an- 
nual additions  ;  he  should  encourage  the  periodical  literature  of  Pharmacy,  to 
keep  posted  up  with  the  improvements  and  discoveries  of  the  day,  and  he  should 
exhibit  such  an  interest  in  his  apprentices  or  assistants  as  will  encourage  them 
to  adopt  studious  habits,  which  is  the  best  safeguard  against  the  temptations 
into  which  young  men  and  boys  are  drawn,  unless  they  have  some  regular  ob- 
ject of  pursuit. 
The  second  class,  or  assistants  but  half  educated,  are  a  numerous  and  interest- 
ing portion  of  the  pharmaceutical  community.  They  are  found  every  where, 
because  the  causes  of  their  deficiencies  exist  every  where,  though  not  equally 
so.  To  induce  these  to  do  now  what  they  should  have  done  in  their  minority 
is  the  object  of  this  appeal.  The  assistant,  except  in  those  instances  where 
the  pressure  of  business  is  continuous  during  business  hours,  has  ample  oppor- 
tunities for  study.  He  should  not  fail  to  embrace  them  on  every  occasion,  whilst 
his  mind  is  untrammelled  by  the  troubles  and  responsibilities  of  the  engage- 
ments peculiar  to  the  proprietor.  He  should  beware  of  the  idea  that  he 
"  knows  enough  to  conduct  business."  In  offering  himself  as  a  pharmaceutical 
assistant,  a  young  man  tacitly  declares  that  he  is  capable  of  conducting  a  dis- 
pensing establishment;  that  he  is  a  fit  adjunct  to  the  physician  in  combatting 
disease.  He  assumes  a  responsible  position,  next  only  to  that  of  his  employer. 
In  the  eye  of  the  law  he  is  responsible,  in  the  absence  of  his  employer,  for  the 
conduct  of  business,  and  is  actionable  for  the  results  of  ignorance  or  careless- 
ness. A  proper  sense  of  this  should  induce  the  assistant  to  qualify  himself  by 
study  ;  to  read  regularly  and  understandingly,  and  assist  his  reading  when  neces- 
sary by  experiment  and  observation.  He  should  never  let  a  false  pride  induce 
him  to  pass  over  an.  error  uncorrected,  and  he  should  always  keep  in  view  that 
his  destiny  is  to  be  a  proprietor,  and  act  as  becomes  a  pharmaceutist.  By  pur- 
suing these  suggestions  many  third  or  fourth  rate  assistants  might  command  the 
best  situations  and  good  salaries. 
The  third  class — the  beginners  or  apprentices — call  forth  the  earnest  sympa- 
thy of  the  Association.  It  depends  much  on  the  employer  and  his  chief  assistant 
whether  the  apprentice  will  make  rapid  or  slow  progress,  or  whether  he  will 
ever  make  a  good  apothecary  ;  it  very  much  also  rests  with  himself.  Some 
dispositions  are  so  inimical  to  tuition  that  no  amount  of  pains  will  fashion  them 
into  shape  ;  yet  it  often  happens  that  a  promising  youth  will  grow  into  irregu- 
larities from  the  want  of  a  little  candid  training  on  the  part  of  the  employer.  If 
there  is  any  one  fault  in  American  boys  more  prominent  than  another,  it  is  the 
inclination  to  act  independently  of  authority.  The  "young  America"  spirit  leads  to 
various  ill  results,  one  of  the  chief  of  which  is  imperfect  education,  whether  pro- 
fessional, mercantile  or  mechanical.  It  is  one  phase  of  this  ill  spirit  that  is  now 
filling  the  ranks  of  pharmacy  with  half  educated  clerks.  Let  the  young  apothe- 
cary do  well  what  he  attempts,  and  carry  it  out  on  all  occasions,  from  the  most 
menial  service  of  the  shop  to  the  most  accurate  operation  of  the  laboratory.  Let 
.him  vie  with  his  fellows  in  the  graceful  handling  of  the  spatula  and  the  pestle,  in 
the  neatness  of  folding  a  powder  or  bundle,  in  the  accuracy  of  writing  or  at- 
taching a  label,  and  in  the  quick,  quiet  and  courteous  mode  of  conducting  busi- 
ness at  the  counter  ;  these  are  all  parts  of  the  accomplishment  of  a  perfect  phar- 
maceutist. The  beginner  should  early  adopt  the  idea  that  his  vocation  consists 
of  something  besides  a  business  for  gaining  a  livelihood;  it  also  partakes  of  the 
character  of  a  liberal  profession,  and  demands  of  its  votaries  that  they  uphold  its 
ethics  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  gain,  that  they  sell  good  medicines  even  if  they  get 
low  prices,  because  it  is  wrong  to  dispense  bad  medicines  when  it  is  possible  to 
get  good.  It  would  be  well  if  every  beginner  could  have  a  vision  of  the  duties 
he  has  to  perform  before  entering  the  precincts  of  the  shop  as  an  apprentice. 
