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
Many persons, he says, come to druggists for medical and
surgical advice, that could not, and would not think of consulting a
lady, even if she were competent to give advice. It would be as
unsuitable as for women to shave men, as they do in Germany. I sent for
the lady, though the clerk urged that she had a sick child, and could
not leave it. I told her the object of my call. She very kindly talked
with me, and gave me information, of which I will give a synopsis. She
boarded for several years after she was married, and as she had nothing
to occupy her time, she spent much of it in the drug store with her
husband. Seven years ago he died, and she, by the advice of friends,
continued the store. She has employed a young man only part of the time.
She says it involves great responsibility, but she is, and feels just as
responsible as a man, and would be held so in court; but is not any more
liable to indictment, or prosecution, than a man. It is something that
requires exactness. It will not do to trust entirely to the memory. She
generally refers to the book for directions. A youth of good abilities
can, in from six months to one year, put up prescriptions, and a boy,
when taken into a drug store, is paid from $1.50 to $2 a week for six
months. A druggist of New York writes: "There is but one college of
pharmacy in the city of New York, where instruction would be given
equally to ladies, if they desired it; although, as yet, none have ever
presented themselves. Ladies have never been employed, to my knowledge,
as druggists' clerks in this city, or elsewhere in the United States,
nor, as I am of opinion, in Europe. In one instance, it was attempted in
Philadelphia a few years since, by a leading druggist, with a view of
economy, I believe; and although he professed to have engaged the ladies
merely as saleswomen in the fancy goods department, they nevertheless
were allowed to dispense medicines. It so happened that one of these
made a mistake, in giving the wrong medicine, which resulted in the
death of the patient, a lady of wealth and wide acquaintance, and the
consequence was the ruin and destruction of the whole business of the
druggist. This put an end to the experiment in Philadelphia." (This we
extremely regret, but know that such accidents have occurred from the
incompetency and carelessness of some young men and boys, with less
disastrous results to the proprietor.) "The business," the writer adds,
"is, in some respects, quite unsuited to females. It requires much real
manual labor, its hours are long, and its constant, close confinement
wears upon the strongest constitutions. I have myself lost my health at
it, and I know of numerous others who have done the same." A lady
physician writes: "I do not know whether women are anywhere employed as
druggists' clerks. They are not either in France or England, where
special education and license are required. I am not aware of any
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