IN BRIEF

Waste in merchandise distribution is expensive. Seasonable buying requires thoughtful attention. Fair competitive commercial conditions are desirable.

The celebrated Pasteur was at one time an apothecary.

Will unfair competition ever be controlled by legislation?

The S. D. Ph. A. Ladies' Auxiliary is now eleven years old.

Some people are never able to convert a promise into a performance.

A pleasant smile is a premium which should go with every package.

Calcium chloride in doses of 4 to 8 grams is administered to infants.

"We need your ideas, you need ours," is the motto of the Kansas City A. R. D.

In 1912, for the first time, the United States passed Great Britain in domestic exports.

Salesmanship depends upon many things. A good salesman understands his business.

Salesmanship is natural with some, but can be acquired by study if one perseveres.

The St. Louis R. D. A. issues a pamphlet entitled, "Hints to Physicans on Prescription."

Honesty is essential in manufacturing, in advertising, in retailing and in consuming.

Do what you can to educate public opinion regarding evils in merchandising methods.

The indiscriminate use and distribution of merIcuric chloride tablets should be discontinued.

The British Pharmaceutical Conference held a garden party at the Royal Botanical Gardens, July 23.

The path to success in pharmacy as elsewhere is difficult to maintain. It requires constant vigilance. "For all the druggists of Greater Kansas City," is the announcement made by the Kansas City A. R. D. At a dog show in England, a solid silver cup as a prize was presented by the pharmacists of Eastborne. The German government has discarded the use of mercuric chloride as an antiseptic in the German army.

Are you in a rut in handling your business? If so, see what can be done to improve your course of progress.

Howard University has raised the entrance requirement for the School of Medicine to two years of college work.

The oldest bank in the world and what is supposed to be the first one is located at Genoa. The building was erected in 1260.

Why is it that chemists in this country cannot supply the home market with the dyes used so extensively in the textile industry?

The pharmaceutical journal which published chilblain remedies in August was just a little out of season, especially this year.

Some claim that a lack of appreciation or coopera

tion between the manufacturer and the scientist is demoralizing the chemist.

The Kansas City A. R. D. has a luncheon and meeting on the third Tuesday of each month. Visiting druggists are welcome.

State association meetings are practically over for this year, but it is none too early to plan on attending the conventions next year.

American manufacturers are becoming more popular from year to year. Whenever possible, goods should be "made in America."

Is apprenticeship or studentship to be the basis of professional education? This question is discussed in England as well as America.

Dishonest advertising is not confined to medicines nor is the public opinion against dishonest advertising directed to this one class.

We continue to kick about the parcel post stamps. It is not necessary to use them, but they were required in the beginning as a matter of record.

A vacation is an escape from routine. It matters not what you do regularly and but little what change is made. The escape is the key-note to the vacation. The government seized a baby remedy because it contained codeine and alcohol in quantity which rendered it unsafe for use by infants. Manufacturers should heed this warning.

Manufacturers of insecticides and fungicides, whose goods are sold in Ohio, can arrange for the payment of their license fees by communicating with the State Board of Agriculture, at Columbus, Ohio,

The courts, as a rule, are ready to prosecute genuine medical fakers. It has been learned, however, that it does not pay to make arrests merely on suspicion. Positive court proof is necessary for conviction.

Milk weed fiber is stronger and closely resembles flax. The seeds contain a drying oil. The soft, white down attached to the seed is suitable for upholstery. The woody portions of the plant are suitable for paper-making.

The Imperial Pharmacopoeia for Great Britain is under consideration. It is proposed to establish a British Imperial Pharmacopoeial Commission at which both medicine and pharmacy shall alike be represented.

The pharmacists of San Jose, Cal., decided to close their stores during a visit from the state convention. One firm, however, not only held back but took advantage of the opportunity of advertising that both of his stores were open for business.

A medical professor at Vienna is disappointed because the women who study medicine at the university seem to lack a sense of responsibility. In pharmacy, the women seem to be the ones who most earnestly recognize the responsibility of the calling.

Forty years ago, an English pharmacist wrote, "There is little doubt in my mind that so far as pharmacy is concerned the microscope is as yet in its infancy, but that it will at no distant date make a rapid stride towards active and useful manhood."

STRAY ITEMS AND COMMENTS

August 24 has been selected by the Council of the A. Ph. A. for the 1914 meeting at Detroit.

In Memory of Oscar Oldberg.-Friends of the late Professor Oscar Oldberg have published in pamphlet form expressions of tribute and appreciation of the services and worth of their departed friend.

Night Schools will soon open in the various cities. Pharmacy apprentices who are deficient in prelimi nary education should take advantage of these facilities or they will not be able to enter a school of pharmacy or take a board examination.

Politics in Illinois seem to have more of a pull with the governor than do pharmacists. This in no way reflects on the new members of the board of pharmacy, but indicates that pharmacy is not recognized as a profession. At least, the professional voice was not heard.

The Price of Camphor is not likely to be lower. The Japanese government has control of the market and proposes to keep it. Unless commercial chemists can produce camphor cheaper than is done at the present time, the natural product will determine the market price.

It Pays to Register, says a young man who has recently passed an examination and secured a much better paying situation. Of course, it pays to register and the fact should be self-evident. A drug clerk who has no ambition to register is not worthy of the calling. The proprietor should discharge him at once.

"Barking up the Wrong Tree," is not a pharmaceutical expression, but one which pharmacists can understand. We are reminded of the saying when we read letters from druggists who complain about violations of the pharmacy law. It is claimed that the Minnesota law is openly violated and stores left in charge of unregistered men. Do not make such wholesale charges, but report specific cases to the board of pharmacy. This advice applies in any state having a pharmacy law. It need not be appropriated entirely by Minnesota.

Brandy. The Board of Food and Drug Inspection is of the opinion that brandy is the alcohol distillate obtained solely from the fermented juice of fruit, distilled under such conditions that the characteristic bouquet, or volatile flavoring and aromatic principles, is retained in the distillate.

Grape brandy is the distillate obtained from grape wine under these conditions.

Apple, peach, and other fruit brandies are similarly prepared from the fermented juices of the respective fruits.

The board is of the further opinion that so-called brandy prepared from grain, potato, or other form of industrial alcohol, or from alcohol obtained from the by-products of wine manufacture, mixed with more or less true brandy or other flavoring material, is adulterated and misbranded unless labeled to indicate its true composition.

If there is anything the matter with your business find out what it is.

Price cutting is not money saving. So says the Pacific Drug Review.

A little family drug store can be made to pay if properly managed.

Macaroni colored with arsenic did not escape the Department of Agriculture.

Port Arthur and Ft. Williams are Canadian places where flax seed is held in stock.

Clove growing is by far the most important industry in the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. Occasionally imagine yourself to be the customer in order to view matters from his standpoint. Bills relating to pharmacy that fail to pass are numerous, no matter what state we mention.

The cultivation of hydrastis in Russia is a subject of experiment since 1909. Results are favorable. Lead poisoning in England is now being treated by the application of electric baths in a new form.

Spirits of turpentine is a commercial term difficult to outgrow. The article should be called oil of turpentine.

Only eleven out of thirty applicants for registration passed the Pennsylvania board at a recent examination.

Is it a case of diamond cut diamond between yourself and your competitor? If so, forget about it at conventions.

Cider vinegar was found by the government to consist of boiled vinegar and acetic acid. The firm was fined $10.00.

Japanese peppermint oil is not a competitor of the domestic unless the price of the latter reaches a very high figure.

Men prefer solid soda. Does this indicate that they are more substantial than women, who do not object to a frothy beverage?

The radium emanations from water or air at various health resorts are insufficient for any physiological effect. So reports a Berlin investigator.

The first journal dealing with pharmaceutical science to be published was Le Journal des Scavans, brought out by the Sieur de Hedouville in Paris in 1665.

Guinea pigs, mice and sparrows are highly susceptible to hornet poison. So says a German investigator. He neglects to say anything about the effect of the poison on boys.

PUBLIC EXPRESSIONS

Read This Before You Write.

Contributions on subjects of interest to the pharmaceutical profession are always welcome. Write upon but one side of the sheet and spell out in full the names of medicines; never use abbreviations. The editor pays no attention to anonymous communications.

Commercial Salesman.-This much talked about and written about individual is necessarily viewed from many standpoints, and is thought of from many angles. Some people have an idea that it is a natural gift, being born under certain conditions of the moon, or under the influence of a certain planet, or in olden times, as in the case of a doctor -in order to be a skillful physician he must be the seventh son of a seventh son, etc. Others seem to think that a man takes a certain number of pink pills, and he is a salesman; others have an idea he is simply a jollier and never consider him seriously, while others who are more of a practical turn of mind have an idea he is a man who is naturally adapted and qualified to represent his House and his merchandise. A salesman who is not qualified and familiar with his particular line may impose upon the credulity of the unsophisticated buyer, and get into all kinds of trouble. He may be innocent of intent to defraud, still it is always hard for a salesman to establish an alibi. On the other hand, the buyer who is imposed upon is often more to blame than the salesman.

J. E. BRADLEY.

The salesman who is qualified, and holds his honor high, is drawing the better salary; likewise the buyer who knows his business draws a better salary, the latter drawing a better salary than the former. Those who are more closely identified with him pay his salary, and expenses, especially the expenses, deal with him more seriously, for if there is anything in the world which will make a man serious, it is to touch his pocketbook, and the oftener you touch it the more serious he gets.

A House is judged to a great extent by its salesmen, and it depends upon the salesman as to whether he creates a good impression or otherwise; this is true whether it be desired or not. I do not know whether any House realizes or appreciates the im

portance of its salesmen. While they know they are being represented, they are not always so sure of his character, or his qualifications. With many Houses the uppermost thought seems to be to get the business, and the sooner and quicker, the better, sometimes seeming to lose the thought of the impression that may be made in getting it. There are times when it would be better for a salesman to pass up an order when he is familiar with all the circumstances surrounding the same, which may not at all times be familiar to his House.

Some people have different ideas of success, and frequently I think we become too anxious to accomplish our end too suddenly. The uppermost thought in some people's mind is to "get the money." It is a by-word in a certain store I know, "Get the Money." Well, we all want to "get the money." That is what we are working for, but there are different ideas as to how we are to get it. One may think "any old way," while others take pride in the manner of getting it. One may be willing to get it by selling wooden nutmegs, while another would prefer to sell the genuine. After all, there is but one way to do a thing, and that is the right way, and if he can be taught to think right he will act right.

Some Houses in recent years think that in order to get the money it is not a "salesman" they want so much as a "Sales Manager." Just what a "Sales Manager" is, for the life of me, I have never been able to find out. In many cases he is not a salesman himself, and it is not necessary for him to know anything about the business he is Sales Manager for. He is not familiar with the goods, the prices, or the competition, yet he is made "Sales Manager."

In early days on the Missouri River boats there was a man known as the "Mate." One day when I was a boy I saw a boat unloading a lot of merchandise. The darkeys were doing all the work, but a certain man was doing all the swearing. I asked who he was, and was told he was the Sales Manager.

One writer in speaking of this unknown quantity in getting the money says: "If there is a toddling infant, or a decrepit graybeard anywhere who can be made to earn a penny, there is usually some grafter on hand ready to prey upon his wage."-[J. E. Bradley.

LITTLE TRICKS WORTH KNOWING.-It is often desired to separate postage stamps that are stuck together without destroying the paste, so that they can be used without another application of paste. This can be done by dipping the stamps in water for a few seconds (not as long as is usually done), shaking off the excess of water, and heating with a match as much as possible without burning. The heat expands the water between the stamps and separates them, so that they can be easily pulled apart, and are ready for use.-[Pacific Drug Review.

TIMELY TOPICS

October.

"The naked hills lie wanton to the breeze,

The fields are nude, the groves unfrocked,
Bare the limbs of shameless trees,

What wonder is it that the corn is shocked!"

Sunburn Remedies in September. Our exchange which published a list of sunburn remedies in the September issue counted on the hot weather continuing into the fall. Our memory of July and August is sufficient to excuse the editor.

The Hot Springs, Ark., Fire was such a destructive one that the entire country is interested in the welfare of the pharmacists in that city. A number suffered property loss. Burned down were the stores of C. P. Battle & Bro., Mr. Craft, Dr. W. T. Bailey and W. J. Greer. The latter also lost household and personal effects. Rudolph's pharmacy was destroyed. J. W. Angle lost a double flat, two cottages and all household and personal effects.

Medicines Containing Small Proportions of Poison may be mailed. Recently the postal laws and regulations were amended as follows:

Medicines and anesthetic agents, which are not outwardly or of their own force dangerous or injurious to life, health, or property, and not in themselves unmailable (see Sections 480 and 497), may be admitted to the mails for transmission in the domestic mails when inclosed in packages in conformity with the conditions prescribed in Section 496; Provided, THAT THE TERMS "MEDICINES" AND "ANESTHETIC AGENTS" SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED TO MEAN POISONS; Provided further, That the article mailed bears the label or superscription of the manufacturer thereof, or dealer therein, or of the licensed physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian preparing or prescribing the same.

In order to get a definition of the troublesome word, "Poisons," the secretary of the N. W. D. A. wrote the Post-Office Department, which replied as follows:

In answer to your letter of August 15, requesting to be furnished with a definition of the word "poisons" as used in the amended Paragraph 4 of Section 494, Postal Laws and Regulations, I have to say that under that amendment MEDICINES CONTAINING SMALL PROPORTIONS OF POISON MAY BE SENT IN THE MAILS, BUT MEDICINES CONTAINING A SUFFICIENT QUANTITY OF POISON TO RENDER THE COMPOUND A POISON ARE NOT MAILABLE. For instance, strychnine, although, intended for use as a medicine, is not admissible to the mails, but the usual compound of iron and strychnine is mailable.

New Crop of Lemon. To forecast the probable crop of Oil of Lemon is very much like forecasting the crop of all other commodities subject not only to weather conditions and the acts of Providence, but especially speculation, and is a difficult matter.

From reliable sources we learn that it is expected that the crop of lemons this year will be thirty to fifty per cent larger than it was last year, that is, provided no damage is done to the ripening fruit. The crop last year was practically a failure, resulting in extraordinary high prices for the oil and other products of the fruit, so that the above increase does not by any means indicate a bumper crop, nor does it in our opinion mean a very material reduction in prices, for the reason that it is to be assumed that with the great consumption of raw lemons during the past hot season the supply on hand carried over must have been reduced to a minimum.

Usually a very high priced commodity results in restricted sale. The requirements this year, however, of Oil of Lemon, on account of natural conditions, together with the satisfactory prices realized by holders, has brought out most if not all of the goods in storage, so that the world's market must be greatly reduced.

While the United States is not entirely dependent on the Sicilian lemon crop by any means, the California crop has been damaged by frost, to what extent cannot be definitely learned.

To offset a probable continued high price, the proposed reduced duty may have some effect, but we are of the opinion that the growers instead of giving the American consumer the benefit of such reduction, expect to share in this reduction to a considerable extent themselves, so that we are not likely to get the full benefit of the reduced tariff.

The new tariff provides for a reduction in duty on lemons from 12c to 2c per pound, which figures about 75c per case or $2.25 per 1,000 lemons. As near as can be estimated, the yield of oil is about one pound per thousand lemons. This is in the early part of the season, but as the season advances the oil contained in the fruit diminishes, so that all indications are that while new crop Oil of Lemon will be lower, unless speculators corner the supply, the price must advance as the season progresses.

PINUSOL.-A tar preparation for which many advantages are claimed. It is a yellow substance with a pleasant odor, readily miscible with ointment bases. It dissolves sulphur to the extent of 10 per cent; but is not soluble in alcohol. It cannot, therefore, be used as a substitute for Tinctura Rusci. Pinusol has practically no irritant action on the skin; it has a seductive action, and allays itching in a manner similar to Oleum Rusci. The freedom from unpleasant odor and staining properties of pinusol are, however, united to all the many valuable properties of the latter drug, and render it preferable for general use.-[Pollard (Oesterr, AestzeZeit., 1913 [3], Apoth. Zeit., 1913, 28, 468).

SG Parsons MD,

Siour 7 als

Pen Portrait of Professor Joseph P. Remington, sketched at the S. D. Ph. A. 1913 meeting by Dr. Parsons, of Sioux Falls. Courtesy of the Northwestern Druggist.

Read This Before You Ask a Question.

Many questions are thrown in the waste basket each month on account of the correspondents failing to give name and address. The editor has a large basket for such questions. Write questions on separate sheets and on but one side of the paper. No questions will be answered by mail. Spell out in full every word; never abbreviate the names of medicines.

Tincture of Ginger was first official in the U. S. P. of 1830 (U. S. P. II). This work was published by the National Medical Convention, held at Washington, D. C.

Pasteurizing Milk.-In order to determine the best way of pasteurizing milk so as to kill the disease germs and yet not give the milk a cooked flavor or lessen its nutritive value, the Department of Agriculture, through its Dairy Division, has been conducting a series of experiments, treating milk at different temperatures and for different lengths of time. According to the report on these experiments in Bulletin 166 of the Bureau of Animal Industry, when milk is pasteurized at 145 degrees F. for thirty minutes the chemical changes are so slight that it is unlikely that the protein (muscle building element) or the phosphates of lime and magnesia are rendered less digestible than they are in raw milk.

Moreover, from a bacteriological standpoint, pasteurizing at low temperatures is found to be more satisfactory than pasteurizing at high temperatures. According to Bulletins 126 and 161, where low tem peratures are used the majority of bacteria that survive are lactic acid organisms which play an important part in the normal souring of milk. When milk is efficiently pasteurized at high temperatures, the bacteria which survive are largely of the putrefactive kinds, and milk so treated if kept for any length of time has a tendency to rot instead of sour. From the standpoint of economy, the technologist of the Dairy Division finds that pasteurizing at low temperatures calls for less heat. It is found that it takes about 231⁄2 per cent less heat to raise milk to the temperature of 145 degrees F. than to a temperature of 165 degrees F. A similar gain is a saving of the ice needed, because it will require 23% per cent more refrigeration to cool milk to the shipping point when it is pasteurized at the higher temperature. The Department, therefore, recommends that "When market milk is pasteurized it should be heated to about 145 degrees Fahr. and held at that temperature for 30 minutes."

Papier-Mache.-A plastic material, formed of cutting of white or brown paper, boiled in water, beaten to a paste in a mortar, and then mixed with a solution of gumparabic in size, to give tenacity. It is variously manufactured by being pressed into oiled molds, afterwards dried, covered with a mixture of size and lamp-black, or otherwise ornamented, and varnished.

Hanley's Twentieth Century book of recipes gives

in popular language much practical information on the manufacture of this material. The author says: "The following are the ingredients necessary to make a lump of papier mache a little larger than an ordinary baseball and weighing 17 ounces:

"Wet paper pulp, dry paper, 1 ounce; water, 3 ounces; 4 ounces (avoirdupois); dry plaster Paris, 8 ounces (avoirdupois); hot glue, 1⁄2 gill, or 41⁄2 tablespoonfuls.

"While the paper pulp is being prepared, melt some best Irish glue in the glue pot and make it of the same thickness and general consistency as that used by cabinet makers. On taking the paper pulp from the water squeeze it gently, but do not try to dry it. Put in a bowl, add about 3 tablespoonfuls of the hot glue, and stir the mass up into a soft and very sticky paste. Add the plaster of Paris and mix thoroughly. By the time about 3 ounces of the plaster have been used, the mass is so dry and thick that it can hardly be worked. Add the remainder of the glue, work it up again until it becomes sticky once more, and then add the remainder of the plaster. Squeeze it vigorously through the fingers to thoroughly mix the mass, and work it until free from lumps, finely kneeded and sticky enough to adhere to the surface of a planed board. If it is too dry to stick fast, add a few drops of either glue or water, and work it up again. When the paper pulp is poor and the mache is inclined to be lumpy, lay the mass upon a smooth board, take a hammer and pound it hard to grind it up fine.

"If the papier mache is not sticky enough to adhere firmly to whatever it is rubbed upon, it is a failure, and requires more glue. In using it the mass should be kept in a lump and used as soon as possible after making. Keep the surface of the lump moist by means of a wet cloth laid over it, for if you do not, the surface will dry rapidly. If it is to be kept over night, or longer, wrap it up in several thicknesses of wet cotton cloth, and put under an inverted bowl. If it is desired to keep a lump for a week, to use daily, add a few drops of glycerin when making, so that it will dry more slowly.

"The papier mache made according to this formula has the following qualities: When tested by rubbing between the thumb and finger, it was sticky and covered the thumb with a fine coating. (Had it left the thumb clean, it would have been because it contained too much water.) When rubbed upon a pane of glass, it sticks tightly and dries hard in 3 hours without cracking, and can only be removed with a knife. When spread in a layer as thin as writing paper, it dries in half an hour. A mass actually used dried hard enough to coat with wax in 18 hours, and, without cracking, became as hard as wood; yet a similar quantity wrapped in a wet cloth and placed under an inverted bowl kept soft and fit for use for an entire week."

To Clean Papier Mache.-Papier mache articles should be washed with a sponge and cold water, without soap, dredged with flour while damp, and polished with a flannel.