Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1887. 
Pharmacy  in  India. 
105 
among  the  government  clerks,  such  service  being  given  to  them  free,  while 
the  apothecary  draws  an  income  also  from  the  tradespeople,  many  of  whom 
employ  him.  The  European  doctors  are  all  army  surgeons  who  are  appointed 
civil  surgeons  in  the  different  European  stations.  Besides  drawing  his  army 
pay  he  enjoys  a  large  income  from  his  practice.  A  civil  surgeon  serves  three 
years  in  one  station  and  is  then  transferred  to  another.  From  these  different 
practitioners  there  comes  a  large  prescription  business  and  sale  of  surgical 
appliances,  etc. 
Few  customers  appear  at  the  store  and  then  only  when  it  is  necessary 
to  select,  or  when  buying  fancy  goods,  etc.  A  greater  part  of  the  trade  is  done 
by  chits  (notes  sent  by  servants),  and  nine-tenths  of  the  business  is  credit.. 
Such  a  country  for  credit  does  not  exist  in  another  place  and  there  is  not  a 
firm  that  does  not  carry  a  large  amount  of  bad  debts  on  its  books.  People 
seldom  carry  money  with  them  and  credit  is  refused  only  to  those  who  are 
known  as  :<  bad  hats." 
Now,  as  to  the  preparation  of  prescriptions.  In  Bengal  and  the  Punjab  the 
eastern  and  northern  portion  of  India,  the  European  assistant  copies  the  pre- 
scription in  the  book,  and  at  the  same  time  calls  out  the  ingredients  to  a 
native,  who  is  called  a  compounder.  He  has  served  a  sort  of  an  apprentice- 
ship in  some  dispensary,  then  has  some  experience  in  a  drug  store  and  there- 
develops  into  a  compounder.  He  seldom  speaks  English,  but,  as  a  rule,  can 
make  out  the  names  of  the  ingredients  and  quantities,  but  can  seldom  read 
directions.  He  places  all  his  bottles  on  the  counter  and  then  prepares  the 
prescription  while  the  European  gives  him  the  quantities.  Unless  the  pre- 
scription requires  some  special  manipulation,  he  manages  to  compound  it  all 
right ;  but  otherwise  it  is  necessary  to  stand  by  him  and  tell  him  what  to  do. 
They  do  everything,  prepare  plasters,  suppositories,  etc.,  make  all  the  prepara- 
tions for  the  shelves,  but  everything  must  be  checked.  After  the  prescription 
is  compounded,  he  calls  out  the  quantities  and  has  his  bottles  in  order  as  they 
appear  in  the  prescription.  Often  he  has  gotten  hold  of  the  wrong  bottle  and 
the  preparation  is  useless,  and  all  it  concerns  is  an  ejaculation  and  it  passes 
out  of  his  mind  the  next  minute.  It  would  be  impossible  for  Europeans  to 
do  the  work,  the  heat  is  so  great  and  working  away  at  a  batch  of  pills  would 
cause  a  profuse  perspiration  in  two  minutes.  There  is  a  native  for  everything 
and  on  account  of  the  caste  institution  of  India  one  man  will  not  do  the  work 
of  another.  There  is  one  man  whose  special  duty  is  washing  bottles,  etc., 
another  acts  as  an  apprentice  to  the  compounder  who  shoves  the  hard  work 
on  him,  such  as  working  pill  masses,  pounding  roots,  etc.,  and  so  firm  set  are 
they  in  their  feeling  of  respect  for  those  above  them  they  dare  not  rebel. 
Bills  are  all  collected  by  natives  called  chupprassees,  and  are  sent  out  at 
the  beginning  of  each  month.  There  is  a  system  of  checking  by  which  the 
bills  can  be  traced  daily  to  each  chupprassee ;  and  should  any  money  be 
missing  or  not  be  turned  in,  and  some  customer  declared  he  paid,  the  chup- 
prassee to  whom  the  bill  was  delivered  on  the  day  of  payment  can  be  traced 
-at  once.  But  there  is  little  stealing  this  way  and  natives  are  trusted  with 
large  amounts  in  their  possession. 
But  nine-tenths  of  them  steal,  though  in  small  amounts,  and  while  your 
man  would  not  steal  a  hundred  dollars  from  you  he  would  not  scruple  to  steal 
a  two  cent  piece.    It  is  necessary  to  keep  all  the  show  cases  locked  day  and 
