The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's WorkPenny, Virginia
General
The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work
Penny, Virginia
Women -- Employment
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of
Columbia, and Ohio, during the year ending June 1st, 1860, 36,155 males
and 52,515 females were employed in making clothing.
=103. Curiosity Dealers.= In large cities, a few persons may find
employment in this way. To the business of selling coins, medals,
buckles, old-time jewelry, &c., is usually added the sale of shells and
foreign birds. The same persons might engage in the sale of stuffed
birds and animals, marine plants, minerals, and other such articles as
are suitable for placing in a museum. Many women on the streets of
London sell coins, medals, &c.
=104. Druggists and Druggists' Clerks.= Some knowledge of medicines and
their nature is requisite to an attendant in a drug store. The business
is light, and, to some, a pleasant one. In a large drug store, one of
the clerks might be a young man, to attend to night prescriptions. The
day business could easily be carried on by ladies, if they were
qualified. Many articles sold by druggists require a chemical or
mechanical combination. Schools for giving instruction in the art of
preparing medicines are established in New York and Philadelphia. If
enough ladies would unite to form a class, we have no doubt that
separate instruction would be given them by the professors of pharmacy.
We hope these schools will tend to prevent abuses in the prosecution of
the drug business, as those persons will be most patronized who are
known as graduates of these schools. Dyestuffs, paint, hair oils, &c.,
are sold by most druggists, besides the materials directly used in their
business. The apothecary's business is more confined to the mixing and
putting up of medicines, as prescribed by physicians. Girls that put up
drugs are paid by the package, and earn from $2 to $5 per week. Most
country physicians prepare and sell their own medicines. Censors in
Great Britain visit the stores of druggists, and are required by law to
destroy any medicines they consider not fit for use. In France the
regulations are equally strict. In some parts of France and Germany,
sisters of charity are employed to compound medicines, and some to
administer them. Mrs. Jameson, in her "Communion of Labor," describes
her visits to several hospitals in Europe, in charge of sisters of
charity, where some of their number were employed to fill prescriptions,
both homoeopathic and allopathic. I find that in most Roman Catholic
institutions in this country, some sisters are set apart to perform the
duties of druggists. In 1776, when Howard visited Lyons, he found "there
were sisters who made up, as well as administered, all the medicines
prescribed, for which purpose there were a laboratory and apothecary's
shop, the neatest and most elegantly fitted up that can be conceived."
Lord Brougham, in a speech at York, about two years ago, after
eulogizing the Protestant sisters of charity as nurses, said: "They are
the persons who make up, who distribute, who administer all the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account