1 66  Use  of  Books  by  Students  and  Assistants.  {Km^{;^m^ 
Manipulations,  Gray's  or  other  standard  work  on  Botany,  Webster's  or 
other  Unabridged  Dictionary,  Dunglison's  Medical  Dictionary,  with 
perhaps,  one  of  the  standard  works  on  Therapeutics  and  Materia 
Medica  and  on  Toxicology. 
If  the  pharmacist  be  an  ambitious,  progressive  and  studious  man, 
who  is  desirous  of  extending  his  knowledge  beyond  the  usual  curriculum 
of  pharmaceutical  studies,  he  may  add  to  his  library  other  valuable 
pharmaceutical  and  medical  books,  such  as  his  taste  may  dictate  and 
his  purse  enable  him  to  procure. 
These  books  are  generally  expensive  works,  and  should  be  handledt 
by  whoever  uses  them,  with  the  greatest  care,  or  they  will  soon  become 
soiled  and  torn  to  pieces.  I  have  thought  it  advisable,  therefore,  to 
offer  a  few  hints  to  the  students  and  assistants  in  pharmacy,  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  these  books  should  be  handled  and  used  to  prevent 
their  becoming  soiled  or  torn. 
Nothing  is  so  provoking  to  a  preceptor  as  to  see  his  student  or 
assistant  damage  or  soil  his  valuable  books  by  rough  or  careless  hand- 
ling. Be  careful  in  laying  a  book  down,  not  to  place  it  too  near  the 
edge  of  the  counter  or  shelf,  or  in  any  position  where  it  is  likely  to  be 
knocked  off  or  to  fall  to  the  floor.  If  the  U.  S.  Dispensatory,  the 
dictionary  or  other  large  book  falls  it  may  strike  on  one  corner,  which 
is  liable  to  shatter  it  to  such  an  extent  as  to  produce  a  loosening  of  the 
back,  and  in  a  short  time  leaf  by  leaf  will  fall  out  and  it  will  soon 
become  either  an  entire  wreck  or  so  badly  damaged  as  to  be  of  little 
use  for  reading  or  as  a  book  of  reference. 
Again,  some  young  men,  when  reading  a  book  and  required  to  wait, 
upon  a  customer,  never  look  how  or  where  they  lay  it,  and  often  place 
it  on  its  face,  with  its  pages  open,  and  perhaps  where  oil  or  other  sub- 
stance has  accidentally  fallen,  and  thus  deface  and  soil  the  leaves,  in 
addition  to  the  injury  that  is  done  to  the  back  by  the  strain  caused  by 
the  improper  position  in  which  the  book  is  placed.  Now  there  is  no 
excuse  for  this  careless  habit,  and  such  vandalism  should  be  rebuked,, 
on  every  occasion,  in  the  severest  manner. 
Every  young  man  should  feel  glad  to  think  that  he  has  the  inesti- 
mable advantage  of  access  to  useful  and  valuable  text  books  for  read- 
ing and  reference.  A  proper  appreciation  of  such  advantages,  if  not 
his  own  sense  of  justice  and  duty  to  his  preceptor,  should  prompt  him 
to  the  greatest  care  in  the  handling  and  use  of  such  works.  What 
