166 
Is  It  Worth  While? 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
March,  1919. 
are  gained  without  long  periods  of  preparation.  Pharmaceutical 
history  amply  illustrates  this.  How  much  pharmacists  to-day  owe 
to  the  early  pioneers  for  years  of  faithful  service  is  hard  to  say. 
Their  deeds  live  after  them,  and  we  know  that  their  memory  is  both 
cherished  and  honored. 
Edmund  Burke  in  "Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  Present  Discon- 
tents "  says  that  "  The  man  who  lives  wholly  detached  from  others 
must  be  either  an  angel  or  a  devil.  .  .  .  We  are  born  only  to  be 
men.  We  shall  do  enough  if  we  form  ourselves  to  be  good  ones. 
It  is  therefore  our  business  carefully  to  cultivate  in  our  minds  every 
sort  of  generous  and  honest  feeling  that  belongs  to  our  nature.  To 
model  our  principles  to  our  duty  and  our  situation  .  .  .  and  rather 
to  run  the  risk  of  falling  into  faults  in  a  course  which  leads  us  to  act 
with  effect  and  energy,  than  to  loiter  out  our  days  without  blame, 
without  use.  Public  life  is  a  situation  of  power  and  energy ;  he  tres- 
passes against  his  duty  who  sleeps  upon  his  watch  as  well  as  he  that 
goes  over  to  the  enemy." 
Burke's  eloquence  might  well  act  as  a  guide  and  stimulus  to 
those  who  are  inclined  to  falter  in  their  work.  The  call  to  service 
is  insistent  in  the  hearts  of  men.  Whether  little  or  much  results 
from  their  efforts  depends  to  a  great  extent  upon  the  amount  of 
enthusiasm  and  energy  they  give  out  themselves  and  inspire  in 
others.  No  one  can  truthfully  say  that  service  of  this  kind  faith- 
fully rendered  is  not  worth  while.  It  would  be  a  thousand  pities 
if  because  of  some  temporary  discouragement  there  should  be  any 
diminution  in  the  ranks  of  those  to  whom  pharmaceutical  service 
means  not  merely  a  perfunctory  duty  or  drudgery,  but  an  exempli- 
fication of  good  citizenship  in  the  performance  of  which  all  that  is 
best  in  them  finds  truthful  expression. 
