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APPRENTICESHIP  AND  EARLY  TRAINING  OF  PHARMACISTS.  543 
by  some  impediment  in  the  ground,  as  a  large  stone  or  some 
other  obstruction  with  which  the  roots  came  in  contact. 
"  In  1866,  the  late  Emperor  Maximilian  obtained  some  cin- 
chona seeds  from  England,  which  he  distributed  in  this  country. 
Mr.  Nieto  got  the  largest  share  of  those  seeds,  and  as  he  took 
great  pains  with  them  he  raised  thousands  of  plants,  which  he 
distributed  to  a  number  of  persons.  Of  these  plants  the  greater 
part  were  lost  through  injudicious  management,  so  that  actually 
only  about  300  are  alive,  of  which  number  I  possess  one-third." 
— Pharm.  Journ.^  Lond.^  Aug.  20,  1870. 
THE  APPRENTICESHIP  AND  EARLY  TRAINING  OF  PHAR. 
MAOISTS. 
By  F.  Baden  Benger. 
The  education  question  being  one  of  the  foremost  and  most 
important  of  the  day,  I  trust  that  a  few  observations  on  the  early 
training  of  those  connected  with  our  own  vocation  may  not  prove 
uninteresting  to  the  members  of  this  Conference.  It  must  be 
evident  to  all  those  who  have  thought  seriously  on  the  subject 
that  our  present  system  of  apprenticeship  is  inadequate  to  the 
higher  standard  of  scientific  education  required  in  our  calling. 
It  has  answered  its  purpose  in  the  past,  but  requires  modification 
to  adapt  it  to  the  new  pharmaceutical  era. 
Apprenticeships  are,  for  the  most  part,  served  in  small  busi- 
nesses, where  pharmacy  proper  is  subservient,  and  necessarily 
so,  to  less  dignified  but  more  remunerative  employments.  The 
proprietors  are  but  too  glad  to  add  to  their  scanty  incomes  the 
premium  received  with  a  pupil,  and  they  maintain  the  advantage 
by  getting  as  much  as  possible  out  of  him  in  the  way  of  useful 
service.  The  leisure  of  some  and  the  ability  of  others  is  too 
limited  to  afi'ord  much  personal  instruction  or  direction  in  scien- 
tific matters  to  those  they  have  undertaken  to  instruct  in  the  art 
and  mystery  of  pharmacy ;  at  the  end  of  his  term  the  youth  has, 
we  will  assume,  gained  much  useful  information  connected  with 
his  business  ;  has  taught  his  fingers  to  fold  a  parcel  neatly,  and 
his  eye  to  guess  a  pennyworth  of  hair-oil  in  a  Worcester  sauce 
bottle,  but  in  how  few  cases  has  he  any  accurate  systematic 
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