ETHICAL  ANALYSIS. 
2T 
An  efficient  instrument,  a  sort  of  moral  hydrometer,  capable 
of  penetrating  deeply  into  an  action,  and  indicating  with  con- 
siderable precision  its  moral  strength,  or  specific  gravity,  as  it 
were,  is  one  of  the  very  best  appliances  for  ethical  analysis.  A 
well  educated  and  sensitive  conscience  is  such  an  apparatus  ; 
but  unfortunately  this  most  important  instrument  is,  by  a  false 
or  careless  adjustment  and  graduation,  too  often  rather  a  mea- 
sure of  the  external  pressure,  the  influence  of  fashion,  or  of  a 
misguided  public  sentiment,  than  a  true  measure  of  moral  recti- 
tude and  high  principle. 
One  of  the  most  useful  methods  of  physical  analysis  is  that 
which  indicates  the  nature  of  a  substance  by  studying  its  effects 
upon  other  substances,  called  reagents,  and  the  modifications 
to  which  it  is  subject  by  contact  with  these.  This  method 
applied  to  ethical  inquiries,  though  difficult,  is  one  of  the  most 
instructive.  Actions  in  themselves  right  are  never  incompatible 
with  each  other ;  they  have  always  a  favorable  effect  upon  the 
integrity  of  the  individual  ;  they  improve  and  elevate  his  in- 
stincts and  affections,  and  put  him  in  harmony  with  the  good  and 
the  true,  and  thus  strengthen  him  for  an  upward  and  onward 
course  through  life.  On  the  other  hand,  wrong-doing  is  at  war 
with  the  best  interests  and  highest  enjoyments  of  life,  and  is  de- 
grading and  weakening  in  its  effect  upon  character. 
These  facts,  so  obvious  in  regard  to  clear  instances  of  virtue 
and  vice,  are  too  little  applied  to  those  complex  and  remote 
effects  of  human  actions  which  grow  into  established  abuses  and 
sometimes  into  legalized  crimes. 
The  profession  of  pharmacy,  in  common  with  all  others,  abounds 
with  illustrations  of  this  remark. 
As  far  as  it  lays  claim  to  rank  among  liberal  professions,  it 
must  possess  higher  principles  of  action  than  pertain  to  most  of 
the  mercantile  and  industrial  pursuits.  Although  like  all  in- 
dustrial occupations  it  has  for  its  active  principle  the  potent 
element  of  acquisitiveness,  yet  this  must  be  materially  modified 
in  its  characteristics  by  benevolence  and  conscientiousness,  by 
the  love  of  knowledge  for  its  elevating  and  humanitarian  uses, 
by  an  honest  desire  for  reputation  and  for  fame — motives  which 
it  is  well  to  keep  before  men  in  all  departments  of  labor,  but 
