96 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
ness when he begins it; he must keep pace with it; he must 
advance as it advances, otherwise he will be outstripped by- 
more enterprising competitors. To maintain his standing, 
unremitting attention is indispensable, in order that he shall 
not be behind the information of the day, that he shall be 
enabled to appropriate to his own uses the latest improve- 
ments that have been made. In a word, it is important that 
he should be a reader. 
It may be supposed by some, that the indulgence of studious 
inclinations is incompatible with those business habits which 
must be acquired before success can be commanded; be this 
as it may with other occupations, the pharmaceutist is obliged 
to prosecute his studies ardently; so to combine them with his 
more active engagements, as to have ample leisure for both; so 
to make the one subservient to the other, that intelligence 
and intellectual culture shall be apparent, and promptness, 
order, and regularity in the management of his concerns shall 
not be wanting. He whose deficiencies are obvious cannot 
expect to prosper, to secure the confidence of his fellow-citi- 
zens, to arrive at respectability. It is absurd to urge the plea, 
that time is not afforded to devote to the cultivation of that 
science, on a full acquaintance with which the very affairs 
depend that he is solicitous should thrive: it is but the subter- 
fuge of ignorance; it may satisfy himself, but will not serve 
as an apology with the community. Neglect of either study 
or business is equally fatal; to each must be given a proper 
share of attention to form an accomplished pharmaceutist. To 
deal in drugs, to vend them merely, may not require the aid 
of science; but to modify them, to combine them, so that they 
shall fulfil the purposes of the physician; to render them fitted 
for administration to the sick, requires all the assistance that 
science is capable of yielding; and so surely as total failure will 
ensue, if undertaken without suitable qualifications, a corres- 
sponding result will be experienced, if such qualifications are 
not preserved, by a constant perusal of the treatises and pub- 
lications devoted to the extension of the theory and practice 
of Pharmacy. 
