380 
EDITORIAL. 
hence the custom of depending on apprentices. There is no real ob- 
jection to this, if a proper system is followed, so that of two appren- 
tices one will always be sufficiently advanced to act as a responsible 
assistant in the absence of his employer. The latter therefore is bound 
to exercise his best judgment in admitting youths to his establishment, 
to keep a conscientious watchfulness over their conduct whilst engaged 
in their duties, and to afford them every facility of advice, and books 
whereby they may acquire a rapid and correct knowledg of their profes- 
sion. We have been pained repeatedly in our intercourse with the 
Pharmaceutical students of this city to learn how culpably negligent 
in some instances their employers have been in furnishing the means 
for study. It is the pecuniary interest of every pharmaceutist to render 
the inducement to study and intellectual culture strong, to his appren- 
tices. Their increase of knowledge reacts in his favor, they are better 
satisfied with the necessary but onerous confinement they are sub- 
jected to, and they are less disposed to devote their leisure hours to 
the pernicious literature of the day or the sensual enjoyments too free- 
ly attainable in a large city, and which have lead many promising 
lads and young men from the path of rectitude, and plunged them into 
the vortex of dissipation, based on means dishonestly obtained from 
their employers. In so speaking we know that it is the truth. We 
have a strong sympathy with the young and rising members of the phar- 
maceutical body; we understand their difficulties and trials, imaginary 
and real ; and we would encourage them to aim at a high standard of 
qualifications, and let no ordinary impediment, or short-lived tempta- 
tion, prevent them from attaining to it. They will find the charac- 
ter thus gained a more substantial and valuable capital, when they 
arrive at manhood, than twice the amount necessary to stock a store. 
With such qualifications young men find no difficulty in getting situa- 
tions, in which we frequently see them advanced till they become the 
principals. 
Apparatus for making Tinctures. — In Mohrand Redwood's Pharm- 
acy, p. 567, a method of making tinctures is described, as suggested by 
Dr. Burton of London, which consists in suspending the ingredients, 
enclosed in a coarse bag, in the menstruum near its surface. The 
principle of circulatory displacement then comes into play viz., Solu- 
tions of solid bodies are generally heavier than the liquids by which 
they are made, and consequently when a soluble substance is suspended 
in a solvent, a downward current of solution and an upward current of 
menstruum is established, which continues until the whole liquid 
is equally saturated or until the substance is dissolved. The difficulty 
of procuring stoppered bottles with mouths sufficiently large to admit 
