210  Mercantile  Aspects  of  Pharmacy.  {Am£^Srm' 
of  better  instincts  in  trade  methods  and  of  a  more  liberal  exer- 
cise of  mercantile  honor.  The  tradesman,  then,  in  protecting  the 
honor  of  his  confrere,  sustained  the  moral  of  his  trade  and  shielded 
his  own  honor.  There  was  no  written  compact  or  agreement,  but 
there  was  a  sort  of  moral  law  which  was  scrupulously  kept  and 
upheld.  As  a  consequence  the  interests  of  trade  were  then  better 
protected  and  a  spirit  of  the  corps  pervaded  all.  Now,  the  rougher 
experience  is  marked  by  an  entire  absence  of  these  advantages  and 
the  time-honored  maxim  of  "  live  and  let  live  "  is  echoed  back  by 
selfish  demand  of  let  me  live,  only. 
As  a  merchant  of  a  former  day  the  Apothecary  maintained  his 
vocation  with  respect.  He  gave  no  heed  to  arts  which  characterize 
the  methods  of  his  competitors  of  to-day,  his  business  era  stood  in 
no  need  of  it.  The  illumined  bottles  of  his  window,  a  traditional 
insignia  of  his  craft,  were  the  only  advertising  aid  to  which  he 
resorted.  There  was  but  little  disposition  to  question  his  terms  or 
prices,  his  integrity  of  dealing  was  undoubted,  and  when  the  value 
of  his  service  was  to  be  demanded  the  science  of  his  business  stood 
foremost  in  the  consideration.  So  far  as  the  arts  of  trade  were  requi- 
sites for  success  he  had  not  need  for  such  resort,  and  he  could 
securely  repose  upon  the  accredited  value  and  dignity  of  his  pur- 
suit rather  than  risk  its  debasement  by  any  questionable*  method. 
But  we  live  in  a  day,  and  time  wholly  different,  a  vast  change 
having  been  wrought  in  these  later  years  in  the  quiet  precincts  of 
the  older  Apothecary's  shop.  The  growth  of  trade,  with  its  cease- 
less effort  and  widely  extended  competition,  has  left  the  old  land- 
mark far  back  in  the  dim  past,  and  obscure  though  it  may  be  to 
some  of  us,  and  antiquated  withal,  yet  there  lingers  around  and 
about  it  a  halo  of  reverential,  and  respectful  memory. 
If  the  query  proposed  simply  seeks  to  learn  whether  the 
Apothecary  needs  a  better  mercantile  education,  the  answer  must 
be  equally  simple,  and  in  the  affirmative,  but  if  the  inquiry  be 
extended  so  far  as  to  include  the  methods  of  that  education  requi- 
site to  meet  the  needs  of  the  present  time  then  the  scope  of  reply 
is  made  more  comprehensive. 
On  one  point  we  may  readily  agree,  and  it  is  this.  That  there  cer- 
tainly never  before  existed,  in  our  experience,  a  period,  in  the  history 
of  the  trade,  in  which  the  elements  of  difficulty,  and  discord,  or  in 
which  a  demoralized  condition  so  widely  extends  as  at  present.  It 
