ANoJumr}    Memoir  of  Prof .  Wm.  Procter,  Jr.  523 
timely  words  of  warning  then  uttered.  He  says  :  "  Some  individuals 
enter  the  lists  of  pharmacy  under  delusive  impressions,  or  are  placed 
there  by  guardians  who  are  equally  misguided,  illy  prepared  by 
education  or  endowments  for  so  responsible  a  vocation.  It  is  a  sad 
spectacle  to  behold  such  giving  their  early  years  and  youthful  ener- 
gies to  a  profession  not  suited  to  their  tastes  or  inclinations — pur- 
suing it,  perhaps,  until,  on  the  threshold  of  manhood  (when),  they 
find  themselves  about  to  be  cast  upon  the  ocean  of  society  in  a  vessel 
with  whose  qualities  and  powers  they  are  too  slightly  familiar  to 
enable  them  to  cope  with  the  difficulties  which  assail  them.  Many 
who  are  unsuccessful  as  apothecaries  might  have  arisen  to  respecta- 
bility and  competence  in  other  pursuits  more  harmonious  with  their 
inclinations  or  natural  gifts.  It  too  often  happens  with  these  that, 
repelled  by  ill  success  from  their  legitimate  calling,  they  are  induced 
to  bow  before  the  image  of  empyricism  in  the  hope  of  a  golden 
reward,  and  prostitute  that  knowledge  that  they  never  should  have 
acquired  to  the  invention  of  nostrums,  and  forcing  them  into  notice. " 
At  the  commencement  of  the  course  of  Lectures  on  Pharmacy, 
there  was  some  misgiving,  in  the  minds  of  some  students,  whether 
they  would  find  an  equivalent  for  their  time,  and  the  money-cost  of 
the  course.  Such,  however,  soon  found  that  there  was  a  science  and 
method  in  the  dull  routine  of  even  the  mortar  and  the  spatula  which 
they  had  not  dreamed  of,  and,  by  the  time  the  course  had  ended,  they 
discovered  a  necessity  for  the  exercise  of  mental  as  well  as  manual  dex- 
terity behind  the  counter,  if  they  purposed  encountering  an  examina- 
tion on  their  fitness  to  prepare  and  dispense  pharmaceutical  products. 
In  the  preparation  of  his  lectures  no  amount  of  labor  was  too  great 
to  deter  him  from  bringing  before  his  class  practical  illustrations  of 
his  subjects ;  oral  instruction  he  deemed  very  imperfect  in  his  branch, 
unaccompanied  by  full  demonstrations.  This  necessitated  the  expen- 
diture of  time  and  personal  exertion,  which  few  could  realize  who 
were  not  conversant  with  his  habits  of  thoroughness  and  conscien- 
tiousness in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  as  a  teacher.  During  several 
years  of  his  professorship  his  health  was  not  strong,  but  his  active 
mind  rose  above  his  bodily  infirmities,  and  made  the  physical  subser- 
vient to  the  determined  will  which  animated  him.  While  aware  of 
the  necessity  of  taking  care  of  himself,  the  severities  of  winter  rarely 
prevented  his  being  found  at  his  post  at  the  appointed  time.  He 
commanded  the  respect,  and,  we  may  say,  the  affections  of  his  class, 
