Am.  Jour.  PhArm.  ) 
Sept.  1, 1871.  J 
Pharmacy  in  Prussia,  etc. 
393 
the  laboratory.  Except  in  the  largest  cities,  assistants  as  well  as 
apprentices  live  and  board  with  their  employer ;  they  frequently  enjoy 
the  rights  and  privileges  as  members  of  the  family.  Apprentices  used 
to  receive  no  salary  except  board,  for  which  in  former  years  they  even 
paid  a  small  compensation,  either  in  money  or  by  prolonged  appren- 
ticeship ;  recently,  however,  they  receive  towards  the  termination  of 
their  apprenticeship  a  small  salary.  Assistants  receive  board,  and 
besides  an  annual  salary  of  from  180  to  300  thalers ;  in  large  cities 
where  they  sometimes  have  to  board  themselves,  they  are  compensated 
accordingly  ;  their  engagement  is  quarterly,  with  six  weeks'  notice 
in  case  of  leave,  on  either  part.  It  is  customary  that  assistants  have 
free  every  alternate  Sunday  and  besides  half  a  day  each  week  ;  where 
there  are  several  assistants  in  an  officine  they  have  frequently  every 
alternate  evening  free.  Apprentices  have  not  quite  as  much  time  of 
their  own,  but,  aside  from  their  daily  labor,  they  have  sufficient  time 
for  private  study  and,  during  summer,  for  botanical  excursions. 
The  keeping  of  a  fountain  and  the  sale  of  carbonic  acid  gas  and 
mineral  waters  on  draught  in  the  store  is  forbidden  ;  if  the  apothecary 
manufactures  and  sells  them,  he  has  to  do  it  in  a  separate  locality  and 
by  persons  engaged  for  this  branch  of  business. 
The  position  of  the  apothecary  in  Germany  differs  from  the  one 
he  holds  in  this  country,  smaller  places  excepted,  .in  which  he 
either  cannot  afford  to  engage  an  assistant,  or  is  sometimes  unable  to 
obtain  the  services  of  one,  the  principal  takes  less  part  in  the  manual 
labors  of  the  officine,  except  during  the  pressure  of  business  or  in  the 
absence  of  the  assistant ;  his  private  office,  usually  adjoining  the  store, 
is  generally  also  his  library  and  study.  If  two  assistants  cannot  be 
kept,  the  principal  attends  also  to  the  labors  in  the  laboratory.  His 
education  and  knowledge,  his  familiarity  with  technical  and  sanitary 
affairs  and  with  common  things,  as  well  as  his  social  position,  make 
the  apothecary  the  confidential  adviser  frequently  applied  to  by  the 
public,  and  make  the  apothecary's  store  in  Germany,  as  Mr.  Danl. 
C.  Robbins  so  well-timed  indicates,  in  his  Drug  Report  of  1868,*  as  a 
desideratum  also  for  this  country — "  a  place  for  public  advice  and 
for  correct  information  about  all  articles  in  daily  use,"  and  that  with- 
out any  charges.  The  apothecary  is  also  the  legitimate  expert  for 
the  execution  of  chemical  analyses  for  physicians,  for  the  sanitary 
*  Proceedings  of  Amer.  Pharmaceuticatl  Association,  Vol.  XVI,  page  291, 
