^Vimberato™*}    Necessity  of  an  Early  Closing  Movement.  507 
would  require  that  every  pharmacist  would  keep  "  better  hours," 
willy  nilly,  and  enforce  that  demand  by  appropriate  legislation,  if 
necessary. 
But  I  have  wandered  from  my  text.  I  want  to  make  a  plea  for 
"  shorter  hours  "  for  the  retail  pharmacist  from  another  view-point, 
and  that  is  its  vital  necessity  for  the  mental  good  of  the  pharmacist 
himself,  and  the  profession  or  work  for  which  he  stands  as  an  ex- 
ponent. 
It  is  unfortunate,  in  many  ways,  that  our  daily  work  is  not  wholly 
a  trade  or  wholly  a  profession.  It  is  both,  and  the  professional  or 
scientific  side  suffers  through  the  combination.  But  it  is  a  condi- 
tion that  exists,  and  will  exist  during  our  lives,  at  least,  so  that  we 
will  have  to  make  the  best  of  it. 
How  may  the  conditions  of  our  daily  work  be  bettered  ?  Most 
probably,  to  the  largest  degree,  at  least,  by  personal  development 
along  scientific  lines.  We  understand  well  the  basic  principles  of 
our  science  and  art,  and  we  are  particularly  well  informed,  as  a 
rule,  regarding  the  art,  or  the  practical  operations  of  our  calling. 
But  we  are  "  rusty  "  on  the  purely  scientific  side  of  our  work.  We 
have  not  delved  deeply  enough  into  the  literature  of  American  phar- 
macy. We  lack  sufficiently  detailed  information  regarding  the 
physical  and  chemical  properties,  and  possibilities,  of  our  drugs,  and 
we  lack  the  spirit  or  desire  for  original  research  work. 
It  is  no  idle  boast  to  say  that  there  has  been  more  scientific  work 
done  in  purely  technical  pharmacy  in  this  country,  during  the  past 
fifty  years,  than  perhaps  in  any  other  nation  of  the  world.  When 
we  think  of  the  wonderful  researches  of  Procter,  Parrish,  Maisch, 
Squibb,  Trimble  and  others  who  have  worked  so  zealously  for  the 
development  of  the  sciences  relating  to  pharmacy ;  when  we  think 
of  the  work  our  old  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  has  done 
during  the  past  eighty-five  years  in  training  men  for  scientific  work; 
when  we  think  of  the  splendid  facilities  our  college  offers  for  original 
research-work  within  her  walls — of  her  fine  laboratories,  of  her  emi- 
nent teachers,  of  her  wonderful  library  of  12,000  volumes  with  its 
mines  of  undeveloped  scientific  possibilities — it  should  be  an  inspira- 
tion to  every  one  of  us  to  develop  the  best  that  is  within  us  and 
give  it  to  the  world. 
But  all  this  is  idle  dreaming — "  Castles  in  Spain  " — if  there  be  no 
time  for  thought  and  action,  or  if  the  body  be  worn  out  by  long 
