3S8 
Unprofitable  Reading. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      Aug.,  1875. 
ical  arrangement.  The  two  should  be  made  one,  and  both  may  be 
infinitely  strengthened  by  cultivation.  Lastly,  there  is  the  old  English 
term  called  labor,  without  which  all  other  virtues,  major  and  minor, 
are  ineffectual.  This  labor,  with  its  intellectual  order  and  its  mechan- 
ical system,  is  weakened  by  certain  well-intentioned  practices  that  have 
been  adopted  in  good  faith,  chief  of  which,  as  far  as  my  knowledge 
goes,  is  the  time  wasted  in  taking  notes.  I  would  venture  to  appeal 
against  this  unwise  habit,  which  is  still  existent.  In  the  cumbrous  old 
days  of  scholarship,  when  years  were  spent  on  Latin  verse,  and  pro- 
tracted processes  of  learning  were  accepted  as  proof  of  diligence,  the 
learner  gazed  with  pride  on  his  folio  manuscript  of  annotations  ;  but 
in  this  age  of  admirable  text-books  their  use  has  been  superseded. 
I  regret  that  during  nine  long  years  of  classical,  not  of  pharmaceu- 
tical study,  two  hours  every  day  were  de-utilized  in  this  unprofitable 
toil. 
A  subject  fresh  to  the  compiler  is  not  likely  to  be  correctly  noted  ; 
attention  is  distracted  from  the  lecturer,  whilst  in  physical  and  experi- 
mental subjects  the  value  of  the  illustrative  demonstration  is  lost  in 
the  vain  attempt  to  catch  the  ipsissima  verba  of  a  sentence.  A  single 
experiment,  done  afterwards  by  the  learner's  own  hands,  or  a  plant 
dissected  in  confirmation  of  a  botanical  allusion,  is  a  far  more  reliable 
mode  of  recollection  than  a  page  of  disjointed  and  hastily  compiled 
memoranda. 
The  time  that  lies  at  the  disposal  of  most  of  us  is  of  so  limited  a 
nature  that  it  is  wisdom  to  economize  it  to  the  utmost.  And  can  the 
student  hope  that  his  best  memor'ia  technica  will  beat  or  equal  the  instruc- 
tions of  a  well-digested  manual  ? 
Note-taking,  except  the  merest  headings,  is  to  be  deplored  as  repre- 
senting the  maximum  of  trouble  with  the  minimum  of  result.  But  if 
there  be  a  gain  in  seizing  currente  calamo  a  lecturer's  expressions,  let 
me  strongly  urge  the  use  of  short-hand,  and  say,  from  personal  knowl- 
edge, that  its  difficulties  have  been  enormously  overrated.  Three 
months,  with  one  hour's  daily  application,  will  smooth  its  opening  em- 
barrassments ;  and  three  months  more  at  the  same  rate  will  give  facil- 
ity in  practice.  Pitman's  system  is  readily  acquired,  and  its  characters 
are  not  difficult  to  decipher.  I  put  my  six  months'  phonography  against 
nine  years  irksome  note-taking,  and  I  have  not  the  courage  to  estimate 
the  saving  in  pure  weariness. 
But  if  this  dreary  custom  of  taking  notes  forms  the  first  illustration 
