TRADE TOPICS

DRUG TRADE MAXIMS.

By Geo. S. Brown.

Buy cautiously. Do not put in a heavy stock of perishable stuff because it is a few cents cheaper than it was last week. It may spoil on your hands and make you disconsolate.

Do not hesitate to relieve an aching tooth, but bear in mind that it is not in your line to treat diphtheria. You may kill the patient or, very justly, lose the friendship of the "M.Ds."

Subscribe to as many first-class drug journals as you can. They are the life of the drug trade, and you cannot afford to do without them. remember that you cannot be too well posted.

Wait upon each customer in the order they enter your store, not overlooking a child or poorly-dressed person to gain favor with one who may be able to deposit more money in your coffers.

Do not let customers remain in your store unattended longer than a moment. If you are too busy to wait on them immediately, at least find out what they want and ask them to be seated.

It is not necessary to enter into conversation with all who come to make a purchase, but have something pleasant to say to each person, even if it is on that oft-repeated subject, the weather.

Have a large clock, keeping correct time, in a conspicuous place, but if asked the time of day, answer as graciously as though you did not think it strange the questioner could not see for himself. Do not permit your employees to read dime novels and trashy papers during leisure moments, but have the daily papers on the counter in readiness for waiting customers, or for your "borrowing neighbors."

When a drummer comes into your store, do not look upon him as a trespasser on your time. He may have some inducement to offer, especially if he knows that you are thoroughly posted as to prices.

If the jingle of the night bell calls you from a warm bed at 2 a. m. in wintry weather, be sure to wear a smiling face and extend a cordial greeting to your early customer, even though he may ask you for a free sample of-corn cure.

Read and ponder over the business points recorded below; get out of that old rut; take up a few legitimate side lines; watch the markets, and keep abreast with the times, or you may spend a protracted vacation on the briny banks of a well known watering place called Salt River.

ONE of the chief secrets of happiness is never to allow your energies to stagnate.

WHEN you hear that a man is looking for you, and is very anxious to see you, it is usually something disagreeable.

TOO LATE FOR CLASSIFICATION

The New Orleans College of Pharmacy becomes a department of Loyola University and will receive the hearty support not only of the university but also of the Jesuit Alumni Association. There will be no immediate change in the location of the school nor of the faculty. The school was established in 1900 and is a member of the A. C. P. F. Dr. Philip Asher is dean and M. T. Breslin president. F. C. Godbold is one of the directors.

The St. Louis Branch of the A. Ph. A. met, February 28, with President W. K. Ilhardt in the chair. Professor Leo Suppan presented the subject of "Variation in the Strength of Tincture of Aconite," and a general discussion followed on the methods of preparing the same.

Dr. H. M. Whelpley explained the proposed A. Ph. A. home for the headquarters of the association. The branch on motion endorsed the movement to secure such a home.

Professor Francis Hemm discussed poison laws in general and the St. Louis ordinance in particular. He showed that the local requirement is ridiculous and cannot be met by pharmacists.

Incidental business was transacted and general discussions continued until adjournment at 11 p. m. Senna Siftings Should be Clean.-A paper by Dr. G. W. Hoover, read at the Washington, D. C., Branch of the A. Ph. A. in February, described the difficult. ies in obtaining senna siftings, and the result of the experiments undertaken to obtain such siftings comparatively free from ash and other foreign materials; further, the methods of cleaning by which the siftings can be cleaned to a degree that the ash content will not exceed the limit of 14%. Results obtained showed that out of an original bale of 352 pounds net, the ash content was 17.52%. By dividing the contents into 9 portions, and following the cleaning process outlined, it was found that the lowest ash content in any portion was 9.48% and the highest only 10.63%. No difficulty was found in removing the sand and very little cost was added to the price of the siftings by the process followed. The discussion which followed indicated that the allowance of 14% ash was considered liberal.

Dr. George A. Menge called attention to the difference in the ash content of the leaves and the siftings, and that it would be possible to powder the leaves with much of the stems without the ash content showing the inferiority. This practice, Mr. Chestnut stated, would be quickly detected by microscopical examination. In closing the discussion, the necessity for cleaning senna siftings was strongly argued, it being pointed out that the nature and character of the foreign substances made their removal essential.

You may look good to some folks, but that don't prove you are what you ought to be.

IN BRIEF

India has 150,000 acres in indigo.

Cocoanut oil is growing in demand as a food. Illinois property is valued at $7,031,539,076.00. It is easy to get a job but difficult to hold a position.

The cry of today is for men of type, action, originality and vigor.

There has been a marked increase in the use of cremation in Europe.

Coal gas is now purified by passing through a weak solution of ammonia.

Vaseline is used to give leather a yellow color and the appearance of age.

St. Louis desires representation in the Executive Committee of the N. A. R. D.

Cocoa butter was formerly a by-product. Today, cocoa itself is really the by-product.

The latest fad is said to be the use of perfumes by hypodermic injection as a stimulant.

For information about boards of pharmacy, see MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST, page 46.

Candidates for registration in Missouri must have one year high school or its equivalent.

When you pass a Canadian coni on the counter, you should accompany it with a lemon.

An all rubber life pad is one of the latest inventions as a result of the Titanic disaster.

If your clerk wastes time, it is probably due to bad methods over which you have control.

Does any other division of trade find as many side lines as surrounds the drug business?

The hook worm disease is reported by the state health officer in seventy-two counties of Texas. "Wisdom brings efficiency," is the motto of The Modern Druggist published at New Orleans, La. Practical work will be inaugurated at the June 9 meeting of the Florida board which occurs at Tampa. It is strange but true that some pharmacists actually oppose the plan of closing even a part of Sunday.

Strychnine, the greatest of all stimulants, was given to the world in the same year by Pelletier and Caventon.

Many states prohibit the pharmacists from keeping a copy or refilling a prescription calling for powerful or narcotic drugs.

As a rule, applicants for registration must inform the secretary of the board at least ten days previous to the date of examination.

Much is to be gained by going about things in the right way. Do not, however, procrastinate for a lifetime in an effort to find out the right way.

Three cases in court against a board member's clerk has caused the governor of a western state to remove the proprietor as a member of the board.

Tinctures fifteen years old were found on the shelves of pharmacists in Birmingham, Eng. They were made according to the Pharmacopoeia of 1885.

Gelatin capsules were probably first invented by James Murdoch, of London, whose patent was described in the London Journal of Arts for August, 1848.

The A. Ph. A. has two presidents. The one in office is Professor W. B. Day, of Chicago, and the President-elect is George M. Beringer, Camden, N. J.

Synthetic milk is the latest report from Germany. It is called "cow's milk." Sir William Crookes is quoted as having said, "It tastes good and seems to be palatable."

Sir Thomas Crosby, the recently elected lord mayor of London, is a physician and eighty-one years of age. It is the first time a medical man had received this honor.

The odor of clays is said to be due to bacteria. This explains why the odor of clay becomes more perceptible when moistened. An alkaline solution strengthens the odor.

A St. Louis pharmacist was sued for $10,000 damages by the parents of a boy who committed suicide with unlabeled phenol, said to have been purchased from the pharmacist.

A party about to open a drug store asked a wholesale firm to furnish "a stuffed Red Bull, Large Size, with horns and hoofs." This was not a case of a "bull in a china shop."

The government printing office does not use as good paper as might be procured for its publications. If they are worth printing at government expense, they are worth preserving.

A glass which will not break has been produced by a manufacturer at Baccarat, France. It is just the thing for lamp chimneys and for the test tubes used by pharmacy students.

The age of the earth is placed at eighty to one hundred and fifty million years when calculated by estimating the amount of sodium chloride carried annually by rivers to the ocean.

Brooklyn pharmacists are being prosecuted for violating the Trade Mark Law by handling aspirin not purchased from the agents in this country. Great newspaper publicity is given the cases.

An epileptic child who was bitten by a rattle snake remained free from attacks for years. This has led to the therapeutic use of the venom obtained from the venom sac of the rattle snake.

The United Kingdom of Italy proposes to make a law prohibiting untruthful claims as to composition or therapeutic virtues of medicines. This will apply to the advertisement as well as the label.

A witness before a House of Commons committee in London stated, "There is a tendency in the United States to advertise remedies which will cure practically anything from a cancer to a wooden leg."

Is there any significance in the fact that the Pharmaceutical Journal and Pharmacist, of London, refers to dealers in drugs as "pharmacists," while the Chemist and Druggist, of that city, calls them "chemists."

COMMENT.-If the total volume of this prescription is 2 fluid ounces or sixteen fluid drams, as we read it, then there is an excess of potassium chlorate for complete solution at normal temperature of the room, even if all were water, according to the statement that one part by weight of potassium chlorate dissolves in or requires seventeen parts of water by weight, for complete solution.

The presence of alcohol in the listerine would render the salt somewhat less soluble.

The glycerin will likely not interfere. This prescription does not undergo any chemical change that would render the chlorate less soluble. A mixture of this kind should be dispensed with a shake label.

The prescriber often orders such concentrated preparations to avoid a large volume. In such cases he usually directs the nurse or patient to add a teaspoonful or two, to more water before using, when complete solution takes place. Of course, the subscription M. ft. sol. can be disregarded.

Chloral Alcoholate Formed. I have had peculiar experience with the following prescription which, when prepared, separated and an oily looking liquid rises to the top and has a hot peppery taste, which when taken by the patient almost burnt him up. The tongue and lips were parched as if burnt by an acid. We prepared a second bottle with the same result, then using cinnamon water instead of Aromatic Elixir. We had no further trouble. The only theory I could find was probably a separation of anyhydrous chloral, but why the peppery taste? Am sending you a sample.

alcoholate in the form of supernatant oily and rather peppery tasting liquid.

Such a combination as this though easily made results in trouble to the one who has to swallow the medicine.

If instead of using elixir aromatic containing alcohol, an aromatic water like, for instance, cinnamon water or syrup had been employed as the vehicle for administration, no trouble would have occurred. Such facts as these ought to be kept in mind by both the prescriber and compounder.

How to Keep the Shelf Bottles Clean.—I have had shelf bottles considerable trouble in keeping my clean. What would you suggest as a practical procedure? I am only sixteen years of age, and this is my first experience in a drug store. Later on I will attend a college of pharmacy.

COMMENT.-Make up the following preparation for general use in removing grease, oils, and dirt generally.

This alkali soap solution should be used whenever water will not dissolve and remove the dirt from a bottle.

The soap solution generally removes resins, oils, fats, extractives, color stains, etc.

In case of rusty iron stains, like on the tincture solutions, of chloride of iron bottle or other iron proceed as follows: Place a piece of cotton on the end of a wooden stick and dip it in commercial muriatic acid and with this swab the stopper and ironstained bottle; repeat until the stain dissolves, and then wash with water.

Subacetate of lead bottle cleanse with acetic acid on cotton.

Wax or pitch or rosin on labels or bottles can be dissolved away with oil of turpentine.

Dry extractive or colorings can be removed with lye or caustic soda solution.

In every case when the stain is removed, wash off and dry the bottle and label thoroughly.

A rung out chamois, often soaking it in clean water, answers the purpose admirably.

For keeping the shop glassware dust free, there is nothing more satisfactory than wiping the bottles off occasionally with oiled cleaning cloths which are generally sold by dry goods stores under the name of dustless cleaning rags.

GLASS and glass bottles are many centuries old. A glass bottle lately found in some ruins in Egypt bears the name of an Egyptian king who ruled over 3,800 years ago.

SLEEPING OUT.-There are two classes of people who should sleep in the fresh air in all seasons-those who have tuberculosis and those who do not want to get it.-[E. Cummings in Jour. Outdoor Life.

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.

The Tennessee Ph. A. will meet at Memphis, July -. I find that every member is enthusiastic and all are pulling together for a successful meeting. The Entertainment Committee will visit Memphis soon and make the necessary arrangements. We are now busy with the Tennessee Solons. We are anxious to have them repeal a law passed two years ago which allows physicians who are not registered pharmacists to practice pharmacy in towns of 2,000 or less.-[E. C. Finch, President Tenn. Ph. A., Waverly, Tenn.

Hard on the R. P.-My mother was sick and I got an old druggist (R. P.) from up the country to run my store for a week. I came back in about five days; Mr. (R. P.) was filling a prescription; it called for three ounces; he had the bottle full and a two-ounce graduate half full when I arrived. I saw he was a little nervous. I read the prescription, then asked Mr. (R. P.) if he had ordered any goods since I left. He said no. I asked him where he got the TakaDiastase (I had none in stock), he says What? I repeated the question; he replied, "I thought that was part of the directions. When I returned from my dinner he put on his coat and hat and said he guessed he would go back home; he was not used to them 'scriptions.-[W. O. Trott, Morrisonville, Ill. A Discouraged Drug Clerk. I have been studying the situation in Oklahoma for some time. I am registered in this state, also in Kansas. I find that in towns of 10,000 inhabitants or less a registered pharmacist is able to get along without registered clerks. He keeps an unregistered man, who is on duty practically all of the time that the store is open. The registered proprietor is around more or less, usually less. He is, however, easily reached by 'phone in case a prescription comes in which the clerk is afraid to fill. This condition of affairs discourages registered clerks and obliges them to accept positions at the salaries paid unregistered men.

I must also refer to another condition which is also discouraging. We have in the cities larger than 10,000 inhabitants druggists who are unregistered but manage to get along most of the time without registered men. When the board of pharmacy gets after them, they manage to find a registered pharmacist who is hard up for a job, usually on account of not being able to hold one for any length of time. They pay him a small salary and he stays two or three weeks and then leaves or is fired. Meantime, the board of pharmacy loses track of the store and the unregistered proprietor continues to run the

place until he is again reported or the board of pharmacy accidentally finds out that he is violating the law. He then secures another registered man, who stays with him long enough to satisfy the board and things blow over.

I believe it would pay the registered clerks of this country to each contribute from $1 to $5 per year and have agents devote their entire time to traveling about the country and reporting to boards of pharmacy stores run in violation to the law.-[T. D. Lavinder, Oklahoma City, Okla.

To the Class of 1912.-In view of the fact that it gives me so much real pleasure to hear from my old preceptors and "the boys" of 1912, occasionally, through the columns of the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST, I feel that they may be interested in knowing that I am still alive and employed every minute that I am on duty, in my chosen profession. I want to say also that I thoroughly enjoy each issue of the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST. I look forward with much anticipation to the coming of the next number. It is certainly alive with good things from cover to cover.

Of course, I am located in Little Rock, in the state that produced everything, even to Democratic leaders. I am the manager of a retail store which is located in the richest and most exclusive residential district. Our store is also adjacent to a large public school and, naturally, we enjoy a big patronage from the school children. Their nickels are as much appreciated as the dollars of their mothers. We attend to their wants with as much care and accuracy as we do their elders.

You who are located near a public school, with its hundreds of scholars, can appreciate the real necessity of waiting on this trade promptly. To the uninitiated, I wish to say that when forty or fifty youngsters come in the store at one time, there is "something doing." They simply must be waited on immediately to make room for the others.

Our general business during the past year has been very satisfactory indeed. We had a splendid cotton crop in Arkansas and especially in the country adjacent to our city, which makes trade in all lines good. At this particular time, there is scarcely any sickness excepting colds and Gripp; consequently Quinine, Bond's Pills and King's Cough Syrup are in great demand.

I am sorry to say that on account of lack of room, we are unable to have a physician in our store. However, our prescription business is good and steadily increasing. We check each item in a prescription and take particular pains to deliver it to our customer promptly.

To my old friends, I wish you a happy and prosperous 1913 and hope that I may see your name often in the columns of this journal.-[L. H. King, 1519 Gaines street, Little Rock, Ark.

Forty Years in Pharmacy. My student-life was spent at the University at Copenhagen, Denmark; my expectation was to make good as an M. D., but

at the age of 21 every male citizen in Denmark must report for military duty, and I had then yet two years left of my course.

I could have asked an extension of four years, but thinking I would be found under weight, I presented myself for inspection and merely passed, and then, when I asked for extension, I was refused.

I never believed in being educated to kill my fellowbeing, and I persuaded my father to furnish me means to emigrate for this country, the only way now left open for me to avoid military service; being an undergraduate, I could not apply either for service as physician or pharmacist.

I arrived in New York in May, 1870, and the latter part of June found me in Kansas, the bulk of emigrants going for that state at the time. I found temporary work near Ottawa, and here I made the acquaintance, later ripening into friendship, of a druggist by name of A. Dobson.

For five years I wandered from one place to another in different branches of merchandising, gaining hold by being able to speak five languages, and then in the spring of 1876 I received an offer from this Mr. Dobson, saying his old clerk was going into business for himself in Leadville, Colorado, and telling, if I still had a desire to handle medicine, and thought I could qualify to take charge of and run his drug store after four months' brushing up, the place was open for me. I accepted and at once started for my new position, and, strange to say, August 1, 1876, Mr. Dobson turned over to me his store, dwelling house and bank account and with his family went to the Exposition at Philadelphia, leaving me in full possession of his worldly goods.

He was gone a little over four months and was fully satisfied with my administration, and I remained with him until 1878, when I gave up my position to take a trip to see my parents and incidentally to take in "the World's Fair in Paris."

In the fall I returned to Kansas and secured with ease a clerkship in the City Drug Store in Topeka, Kansas; here I remained for two years, when I got the western fever and came to Puget Sound.

In Seattle I made the acquaintance of a Mr. G. Kellogg and soon gained his friendship and confidence, and within six months after my arrival in Seattle I was installed as his partner and was put in charge of La Conner Branch Drug Store and the same time was commissioned as postmaster here, the office being the only money office in the northeastern part of Puget Sound, La Conner at that time being the only port in this vast territory where could be obtained physician, medicine, U. S. Court deputy clerk and U. S. land office, and likewise the only place where could be obtained a money order or express. I have been here ever since-32 yearsand during this period my longest vacation was three days on a wedding trip, and besides I have not been away from La Conner 48 hours at any time and not over one dozen trips even of such short duration during all this time. I was postmaster until Cleveland fired all good Republicans, and as postmaster

I have issued over $2,800 of money orders in one mail, mostly from U. S. land office. I secured sole ownership of the drug store in 1882. In 1886 I got

a competitor. The newcomer had a capital of $12,000 at his disposal, while I had over $2,000 borrowed capital to make good. In July, 1907, I was burned out, losing over $3,500 in less than two hours, while my competitor's loss was only $20 in broken glass, and still I am here and have for one year had the field to myself.

After the fire I slowly but surely gained my feet and everybody proved I had their confidence and good will and assistance was offered freely, otherwise I could not have won out.

Again, I am in sole possession here, and though my misfortunes have been costly and hard to bear, I am once more on the way to make good, and I am in possession of the esteem and good will of all the people, a gain worth more than money. Though I have been frozen to my post of duty, I have had several honors offered me; personally I have not met half a dozen of my brother pharmacists, still in 1902 I was elected one of their delegates to the Fiftieth Anniversary of the American Pharmaceutical Association, and two years later my name was sent in to the governor of the state with four others, from whom he was to select one member for the state board of pharmacy In my 32 years' experience as proprietor of a drug store only one man can say he had a drink of straight liquor in my store, and it was the doctor using his key while I was absent, but he never had the second chance-I made him give up the key at once.

At present, and for three years, La Conner is under local option and I have not dispensed or sold one drachm of liquor in this time, and still I have the good will and respect of all. Under the option law I can only fill physicians' emergency prescriptions, and, as I would have to take out a $25 Federal license and a $25 state license, I refused, and thus far have won my battle.

In the line of drugs I carry only the recognized standards, and I handle but few of the patent medicines, but I try to make good in every deal and guarantee satisfaction or money refunded.

In my 32 years, I have never had a serious mistake laid to my door.

Here you have a biography of my life and experience as a druggist; of course, my medical training has helped me, and though I have not secured richness in dollars, I feel my life has not been wasted. I hope this will give points that may help the young struggling druggists.-[Sophus Joergensen, La Conner, Wash.

OLD-FASHIONED MORALITY AND HEALTH.-A clean mind in a clean body: the ideal is as old as the Stoics. But it is as modern as it is ancient, and today it is the essence of sanitation, of social morality, of eugenics. He who follows the prosaic directions of common old-fashioned morality is already far advanced in the science of health.-[Public Health Jour.