^"^'Ft^l'ms^^^^'}      Drug  Business  in  Australia,  India  and  U.  S.  107 
is  reason  for  a  new  box.  Distilled  water  is  always  used  unless  specified  other- 
wise, and  many  druggists  make  a  practice  of  silver-coating  all  pills  prescribed, 
unless  otherwise  ordered.  Every  bottle  of  drugs  sold  is  capped,  and  no  p^trcel 
is  sent  out  unless  wrapped  in  a  second  paper  enclosing  the  label.  Prices  seem 
to  rule  the  same  in  the  three  countries.  The  penmanship  of  prescriptions 
cause  the  same  trouble  the  world  over  ;  some  gocd,  some  bad,  and  some  that 
Webster  has  no  words  to  describe.  But  for  pure  "  cussed ness"  and  unintel- 
ligible scrawl  the  cake  "  must  be  awarded  to  a  physician  I  met  in  Tasmania. 
This  man  was  a  member  of  the  English  College  of  Surgeons,  a  well  educated 
man  and  a  fine  physician,  but  with  a  handwriting  that  gave  one  neuralgia  to 
look  at.  He  never  used  any  blanks,  but  always  selected  the  dirtiest  piece  of 
paper  he  could  find,  and  never  wrote  on  two  pieces  of  the  same  shape,  but, 
from  the  looks  of  the  prescriptions,  took  peculiar  delight  in  making  as  many 
shapes  as  possible.  He  started  off  with  something  that  was  meant  for  a  name, 
but  looked  as  if  his  pen  had  run  riot.  He  then  spread  himself  over  the  paper, 
brought  his  directions  up  in  a  line  to  see  how  the  "riot "  was  getting  along, 
and  then  lost  them  in  a  new  prescription  he  was  writing  from  another  corner. 
Half  a  dozen  prescriptions  on  the  same  paper,  and  no  two  written  in  the  same 
direction.  This  would  have  made  little  difference  had  they  been  legible,  but 
one  had  to  do  some  tall  guessing  to  read  them.  We  always  had  a  "  picnic  "  at 
the  store  about  once  in  three  months.  He  took  quarterly  trips  to  the  tin 
mines,  and  while  there  prescribed  for  patients  who  came  to  him.  He  took  a 
big  sheet  of  white  paper,  and  on  this  sheet  went  the  prescriptions,  each  one 
written  as  the  paper  happened  to  be  lying  when  the  patient  came  in.  Each 
had  a  name,  but  all  looked  the  same  ;  each  had  directions,  but  it  was  seldom 
with  the  prescription.  When  he  had  a  sheet  filled  he  would  post  it  down 
with  instructions  to  dispense  and  send  to  the  parties  mentioned.  The  whole 
force  of  the  establishment  then  went  to  work  and  solved  the  puzzle  as  best  we 
could . 
There  is  a  better  cash  business  conducted  in  this  country  than  in 
Australia.  Credit  business  in  Australia  is  very  general,  and  the  majority  of 
accounts  run  yearly.  In  India  nine-tenths  of  the  business  is  credit,  but  ac- 
counts are  collected  monthly.  There  is  a  great  loss,  though,  and  as  the  statute 
of  limitations  is  only  three  years  there  are  many  opportunities  for  swindling 
one  out  of  a  bill.  Salaries  of  clerks  are  better  here  than  in  Australia.  A  first- 
class  clerk  in  Australia  can  seldom  get  over  $18.00  a  week,  while  the  majority 
are  paid  about  |10  to  $12.00-  In  India  salaries  increase  with  time  of  service, 
and  a  good  man  can,  at  the  end  of  five  or  six  years,  be  drawing  $200.00  a  month 
and  over.  The  hours  of  business  in  Australia  are  similar  to  ours,  while  in 
India  they  are,  during  the  day,  only  with  one  in  calling  distance  after  dark. 
I  have  endeavored  to  point  out,  as  far  as  possible,  the  points  of  difference 
between  the  respective  countries  mentioned,  and  summing  up  my  reflections 
on  the  subject,  I  cannot  but  think  that  we  have  surpassed  the  two  countries 
in  all  that  pertains  to  Pharmacy  and  that  we  are  now  able  to  hold  our  own 
with  any  of  the  countries  of  Europe.  May  the  good  work  go  on,  and  may  we 
come  to  that  state  when  to  be  a  druggist  means  that  every  such  man  has  won 
his  way  to  that  position  by  an  apprenticeship,  a  College  Diploma,  and  a  moral 
character  that  gives  him  a  high  position  in  the  community  in  which  he  resides 
JOHNA.FALCK. 
Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  December  26th,  1887. 
