ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT. BY W. W. KERR, SECRETARY ARKANSAS BOARD OF PHARMACY, BATESVILLE. Query: Is 1900 in the nineteenth or twentieth century? The Next Meeting of the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy will be held in Little Rock, June 12, 1900. The Next Annual meeting of the Arkansas Association will be held in Little Rock on June 13-15, 1900. Don't fail to be on hand. The Meyer Brothers Druggist.-We have had several letters from parties asking date of the issue of this journal containing the article on the Arkansas board examinations. It will be found on page 110 of the issue for April, 1898, and young men expecting to appear before the board for examination would do well to send for and carefully read it. A Suggestion.-It strikes us that it would add materially to the future success of our association if there was a change in our laws providing for a commercial section. Commercial matters do not legitimately come within the scope of an association organized to further professional interests, and yet many persons join such organizations with the hope of being benefited financially, and finding that that feature of their vocation is not touched, or, if touched, so modestly as to yield no substantial benefits to them, they at once lose all interest, and back out of the thing by not paying their dues. Let us by all means have a commercial section. We are Indebted to Prof. Joseph P. Remington for a copy of the eighteenth edition of the United States Dispensatory. The Dispensatory, spoken of in general terms, needs no introduction from us to the pharmacists of Arkansas, but from what we have noticed in our travels, this particular edition does. We confess to a great degree of surprise to see, as we have seen, so many presumably up-todate pharmacists who have no copy of the United States Pharmacopoeia, and not even a Dispensatory later than the fifteenth or sixteenth edition on their shelves. How they reconcile themselves to the omission, we don't know and can't see; but, somehow, they seem to be comparatively happy, and where "ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," perhaps. The last edition is, as each previous one has been, a great improvement over its predecessor. We notice this particularly in the introduction of full descriptions of the newer remedies which have been introduced to the profession with such startling rapidity within the last few years, and also in the remedies of the British Pharmacopoeia, which has made a very large advance in its late edition over any that have gone before. All these things are of vital importance to the pharmacist who would give the medical profession and the public the service they are entitled to and expect. We recommend the eighteenth edition to all such, with unqualified approval. 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. Those Imperfect Post-Marks.-I, notice, with some interest, your editorial in the October issue of MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST relative to "postal marks." No doubt some postmasters are too careless about legibly stamping each letter, but if you will procure a post-marking stamp, such as is used in fourth-class offices, and try your hand on a series of letters, say ten batches of ten real letters each, changing dates, etc., for each lot, you will have an idea as to why all letters are not more legibly post-marked. It would take a very long communication to explain what this little experiment would exemplify. The department furnishes the stamps used, and permits the use of no other. I suggested to the department that I would gladly have a good stamp made at my own expense if I would be allowed to use it, but received no response.-[R. H. STRICKLAND, Postmaster, Lego, Tenn. I Wonder Why the retail druggist is not more particular about the quality of the drugs he buys? Why he does not systematize his buying, that he may get the best goods at the lowest market price, instead of digging up a few shorts every day or two for Tom, Dick or Harry, as the case may be? Why he kicks about cutters, and will not help out the people who try to protect him? Why he stays behind the prescription case doing nothing, while the patient drummer waits out in front to see him, post him up and, if possible, get his order? Why he does not take advantage of the market before an advance and lay in a supply? The argument is mighty poor that "when he pays more he charges more." Why he buys goods from the specialty men who sell department stores, and kicks if the drug salesman does the same thing? Why he does not solicit the trade of the laundries, dye works, barber shops, and candy makers in his town? Why he does not carry a better assortment of fever thermometers, physicians' supplies, such as hypodermic syringes, needles, etc.—[ ? ? ? Enforce the Pharmacy Laws. With all due respect to the boards of pharmacy and to certificate holders, I wish to say, not as a mere assertion, but as one who has labored under the frail protection promised by the pharmacy law-which has been enacted for the protection of those concerned, directly or indirectly-that the certificates of registration issued by the respective boards over the country, are, as a rule, worth something less than the paper and time expended in drafting the inscriptions thereon. We have authority to practice this science as provided by law regulating its practice; but a law not enforced is worse than none, and unless we take it upon ourselves as an individual affair we will never have our rights protected. I do not know of a more efficient plan than that suggested by Meyer Brothers Druggist (see page 291 of October issue) in replying to our Missouri friend's complaint about the law being violated, etc. In sections of the country where this annual fee for registration is required, and is well established, there will be found better protection for registrates, a higher standard and some money in the treasury, with willing hands ever ready to guard your personal interest along this line.-[NEWTON H. BOWMAN, PH. G., Dallas, Texas. The Traveling Salesmen I Have Met.—It is a hard subject to study, and a harder one to tell about--is the traveling salesman. The fraternity is so varied and of such a variety of types that one is at a loss where to begin and how to describe each particular character, without doing injustice in some instances and of giving too fulsome praise in others. When you meet one of the old boys on the road "Since the war, sir," who never tires of telling interesting bits of history, both as soldier and horseback "drummer" of the pioneer days of "drumming," you can't help admiring the man, his inexhaustible fund energy and continuous of humor and good fellowship-the typical old Southern gentleman in manner, combined with the live, active business man of the present. Alongside sits the new man, fresh in more ways than one, who appears like some gayly plumaged tropical bird, flaming neck-tie, the yellowest of shoes, with eyeglasses, and both to the initiated. One gets on at a station; as soon as the train starts you see him separate himself from his companions and go either to the front or rear of the train, there to meet the conductor alone. If that official is afflicted with color blindness, the enterprising salesman gets over the road for much less than the regular fare. There is one thing they are all agreed on-their positive and pronounced contempt for a $1.00 per day hotel. The foregoing subjects are, of course, exceptions; and as exceptions usually prove the rule, in this case is borne out by the fact that the traveling man, taken as a class, is much above the average, and his business requires that he be a gentleman, educated, thoroughly posted in his particular line of business, a student of human nature, a judge of men; and, if he be a success, thoroughly reliable and honest,— ["Muy Poco." Plain Facts About the Pharmacist In the U. S. Employ.-I read from time to time, in the MEYER Brothers DRUGGIST, articles relating to the pharmacist in the public service. While these articles fairly state the conditions and emoluments of the various branches, there are points that it would be well for the young pharmacist to consider. It is to be presumed that "our young man" has served a regular apprenticeship and parted with his hard-earned wages to secure the degree of Ph. G., and now wishes to begin life's battle in earnest. Can he afford to enter public service? To be sure, it offers what appear to be advantages of permanency of position and moderate compensation, with prospect of a slight increase as years go by. But what is the other side? Is he prepared to sacrifice the prospect of future independence and adopt as his life-long motto, "I serve?" For the pharmacist in public service must expect nothing but a subordinate position for life. Others will be appointed to command; he will have naught else to expect, but must ever be a server at the beck and call of a superior. As a young man these chains bind not so tightly or are they such gall and bitterness as in after years he finds men young enough to be his offspring appointed to rule over him. But, you say, "our young man" need not remain to face this condition. True, but after a few years' service he will find that he has not only fallen behind in his profession but that he has lost touch with business methods of civil life, and that he is not cane and umbrella strapped together; silver tags on everything to announce to the world that the owner hails from the village of New York or Chicago; who tells of his very high standing with his house, reads the Standard, and spends his time mostly trying to make mashes on the simple village maidens he may chance to meet on the cars or streets. Another has the outward appearance of a confusion between a simple but honest farmer and a village school teacher; he talks a lot but says very little. After much speculation whether he is the president of the largest thing on earth, or the direct representative of the Most High, (judging from his talk) you finally learn he is selling cigars for the Stinkadoro Manufacturing Co., of Cabbageburgh, Connecticut, that he draws a salary of $200.00 only unwilling but actually unable to again begin at per month, and has just notified his house that he would resign the first of the month unless they raised him "50." He also relates, at great length, how he "cussed out" the boss when he was in last, and advises you that the only way to make the head of the firm respect and appreciate you, is to just lay down the law to him in plain and strong language. He also tells you how he has educated his trade by giving them a good cussing, and informing them, in the first place, that he did not have to sell them, as there were plenty more where they came from, etc. The schemes they work, or try to work, is amusing the lowest round of the ladder to carve out a career for himself. With the Same Expenditure of Time and Talent, the same attention to business that he has given to the public service, would have made him master, not servant. Not one man in twenty has the nerve or ability to break away from long established habit and, in middle life, begin anew. "Our Young Man" has other difficulties in public service which are carefully thrust to the background when the bait is thrown out for his temptation. Therein he finds that socially he is a "nobody," and In is continually reminded of that fact. He is never allowed to forget that he is an enlisted menial. He must needs "put his heels together" and "stand to attention" whenever addressed by a superior. civil life he is the peer of anybody in society, in the church, or elsewhere. In the public service he is passed by on the other side by those who hold that mighty patent of gentility, "by act of Congress"-a commission. Some years since, in my hearing, a young steward of the army, pleading for what he considered his due, was curtly informed by his superior officer that "enlisted men have no rights that commissioned officers are bound to respect." This axiom is as true now as then. Officers are, perhaps, more careful not to express it so openly, but all believe and practice it to the letter. It Is to Be Presumed That "Our Young Man" Looks Forward to Honorable Matrimony. Can he, as a man and a lover, consistently ask the woman of his heart to face the slights and covert insults that surely await her coming from the "ladies" of the officers' families? Of all the bitter humiliations man or woman can be made to bear, one that cannot be resented is the most unendurable. The Public Service Is the Worst Possible Place in Which to Rear a Family. Unusual temptations and pitfalls await the child so born. Doubled are the trials of the parent. The inevitable changes of station result in the loss of the sweet companionship of childhood, the interference with education, and kindred evils. The pharmacist in public service will find that his salary will not admit of anything more than the most ordinary education for his children, while seeing others, not one whit brighter or better than his, enjoying all the advantages of fair compensation and permanent residence, will be mortifying to his pride. "Our Young Man" Must Be Willing, should he enter public service, to see all the results of his labor, all the effort of his mind and ingenuity of his hand pirated and appropriated by his superior officer. No protest will avail him. His very life and being, physically and mentally, belong to his superior. His executive talent as well as his ability in outside lines are called into use, and the result cooly and unblushingly appropriated by the great "I," who is, for the time being, his "Commanding officer." It is a well-known fact that professional talent and executive ability seldom, if ever, go together. For Years Past, as Well as at the Present Time, ninetenths of the executive ability of the medical departments of the public service is exercised by the pharmacists and hospital stewards attached thereto, although the medical officers fail not to take to themselves all the honor, glory and rewards arising therefrom. Now, if after a fair statement of facts, "our young man" selects the public service for his future life-work, it is well. He accepts the responsibility for his own future. But I assert that until pharmacy is accorded its proper place, and not rendered secondary or subservient to any other in public service, it should be shunned by the self-re specting young pharmacist who expects or desires to be anything or anybody. Those who are engaged therein, and who see no prospect of relief, or by reason of age are unable to make a radical change in life, it is a privilege and duty to show others the difficulties, annoyances and inconsistencies of the position. Public service, for the young pharmacist, is a veritable apple of Sodom, fair to the eye but full of bitterness and disappointment. [FROM ONE WHO HAS SERVED. A Report On Some Oils of Eucalyptus.-Probably no other genus of plants shows a more striking difference in the volatile oils distilled from the various species as is the case with the eucalyptus varieties. The distillates of not less than fifty species have been more or less thoroughly investigated. Only a few of them were found to be of medicinal value. Based on these researches, the various eucalyptus oils have generally been grouped into two classes, namely: 1. Oils Containing a High Percentage of Eucalyptol (mostly distilled from Eucalyptus globulus). 2. Oils Containing Phellandrene (mainly from Eucalyptus amygdalina). Phellandrene, as a rule, is not found in oils of a high eucalyptol percentage, whilst on the other hand there are oils which are very low, or even entirely wanting in eucalyptol. Aside from the hydrocarbon phellandrene, other terpenes such as pinene, camphene, etc., are met with; some oils contain, as important constituents, aldehydes, such as citral, citronellal and cuminie aldehyde. The coughing sensation caused by inhaling some eucalyptus oils, especially when they are insufficiently rectified, is due to such aldehyde compounds as are found in the lower boiling fractions, mainly butyric, valeric and capronic aldehyde. These are only the most important ones of the large number of chemical individuals found in the oils of commerce, and as eucalyptol is the only efficient constituent, the quality of these oils is estimated according to the percentage of eucalyptol. To ascertain the true merits, the following points must be kept in view: 1. Absence of Disagreeable Smell or Nauseous Taste.(Due to the above mentioned low boiling aldehydes). 2. Specific Gravity.—(Best taken by Westphal balance). Should not be lower than 0,910 at 15° C. It may be accepted as a rule that the higher the specific gravity the richer the oil in eucalyptol. 3. Optical Rotation.-As eucalyptol is optically inactive-that is to say, does not turn the plane of polarized light either to the left or right-all such oils turning more than 10° in either direction should be rejected. Phellandrene and pinene have high rotatory power, and large percentages of either are easily revealed by optical examination. 4. Solubility in 70 Per Cent Alcohol.-As the oxygenated compounds, eucalyptol, etc., are very readily soluble in alcohol of this strength, whilst mineral oils, ter penes, etc., are almost insoluble in it, this test sometimes becomes of great importance. Not more than three volumes are, as a rule, required for clear solutions. In exceptional cases a somewhat larger quantity will be needed. I found for an oil from eucalyptus dumosa, conforming otherwise to all the requirements for a first-class oil, that five volumes of 70 per cent alcohol were required to complete solution. 5. Phellandrene Reaction. The presence of phellandrene is easily shown by the well-known test with sodium nitrite and acetic acid, by which the nitrite of phellandrene will soon form as a semi-solid mass. All oils rendering this reaction are unfit for medicinal purposes. The process is best carried out by dissolving I Cc. of the oil in 2 Cc. of petrolic-ether, and in pouring this mixture on 1 Gm. sodium nitrite previously dissolved in 1 Cc. of water. Finally, a sufficient quantity (about 1 Cc.) of glacial acetic acid is added, by which the nitrous acid is set free, which will then combine with the phellandrene. 6. Quantitative Determination of Eucalyptol.-Although various methods have been devised, unfortunately none of them give very reliable results. Whilst the hydrogen bromide test can be used for oils containing only a small amount of eucalyptol, the phosphoric acid test, however, is not applicable for oils containing less than 20 per cent. For practical purposes only the latter method comes into consideration at the present time, and the results, as given further on, are all obtained by it. To 10 Gm. of the oil accurately weighed and contained in a beaker, from 5 to 6 Cc. syrupy phosphoric acid (spec. grav. 1.75) are gradually added. Care must be taken that no rise of temperature occurs, which is prevented by constantly stirring after the addition of each drop, and by immersing the beaker in ice-cold water from time to time. The formation of a semi-solid mass will soon be observed, which, at the end of the reaction, is carefully removed from the beaker, spread on filtering paper and subjected to a strong pressure. The object of doing this is to remove all excess of the acid and all such compounds which did not combine with it. The pressing is best done with a common tincture press from which the tin vessel has been removed and replaced by two small boards, between which the bundle of filtering paper is placed. This pressing has to be repeated with fresh paper as long as oil stains appear on it. The crystals are then scraped on a tared watchglass and weighed. On multiplying this weight by 6.11 the percentage of eucalyptol will be obtained. The factor 6.11 is derived from the following equation (taking it for granted that the product of addition is composed of one molecule of eucalyptol and one molecule of phosphoric acid): C10 H18 O+H3 PO4=C10 H18 O. H3 PO4 Samples showing less than 40 per cent should not be accepted; more so as there are sufficient oils in the market showing as high as 60 per cent and over. Quercus Cortex. Thou noble oak! an ordained destiny thine, -[DR. E. GREBE, Analytical Laboratory, Meyer Brothers Drug Company. -[Chemist and Druggist. Percentage of Eucalyptol. QUIZ DEPARTMENT. 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. Dehorning Sticks (1).—They are used for dehorning calves. How are they made? The New Mexico Board of Pharmacy (2) secretary is W. C. Porterfield, Silver City, N. M. The Best Work on Microscopy (3) for beginners is "The Microscope," by Gage, seventh edition, price $1.50. States Where Doctors Can Register (4) as pharmacists without examination. We are unable to give a list of such States; in fact, they are few and far between. We suggest that you write to the secretary of each board. Syrup of Quinine (5).-The preparation which you have in mind is made according to the formula contributed by Dr. J. C. Falk to the Missouri Pharmaceutical Association in 1896. The formula appears on page 63 of the proceedings for that year. Thawing Frozen Water Pipes (6).-Prof. R. W. Wood, of the University of Wisconsin, thawed out frozen water pipes during the past winter by means of electricity. The ordinary street current was used with the voltage reduced to about fifty. He passed the current through the frozen pipes. How to Prepare for Board of Pharmacy Examinations (7).—We suggest that you first carefully study the article on the subject by C. H. Daggett, published on page 300 of the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST for October. This will also give you additional information about the books of reference. Bay Rum Hair Tonic (8).— Scruple (9) is supposed by some, says the Chemist and Druggist, to be the diminutive of scrupus, a sharp stone, from which its meaning as "a scruple of conscience" would also be indicated; but it is more generally traced to scripulum, something written, which was exactly the meaning of the Greek small weight gramma (from which the French gramme was adopted), though it is not quite easy to see the connection between "something written" and a small weight. Cleaning Cream (10).-Fenner's Complete Formulary says: Ivory or other white soap, eight ounces; sal tartar, one-half ounce; borax, two ounces; oil of sassafras, one drachm; water, one and one-half pints. Cut the soap into small pieces and dissolve in the water by heat of water-bath; add the borax and sal tartar, and, while cooling, add the oil of sassafras mixing them well together. This removes grease, paint, and dirt by rubbing in and washing out with warm water. Compressed Tablets (11).-"In preparing the material for compressing tablets of quinine sulphate, is it necessary to mix with the acacia, moisten with water and pass through a suitable sieve, dry, reduce again to a fine powder, mix with the powdered cane sugar and moisten with sufficient water to make it pass through a suitable sieve, then dry, etc.; or, in other words, is it necessary to add the acacia and cane sugar separately as described above? why?" Who can answer? If so, Cheese Cement for Glass Porcelain (12).-Take soft cheese, grind and wash it in hot water; then, when it is freed from all soft matter, and nothing remains but pure casein, press it in a fine cloth so as to squeeze out all the liquid. There remains a white matter, which is to be dried, reduced to powder and preserved in a wide-mouthed bottle or a close-fitting box. To make use of it, it must be ground up with a small quantity of water, which makes a very adhesive paste. It must be used immediately, and in the cold. Non-Drying Typewriter Ink (13).—The Retail Druggist says: A large proportion of typewriter inks are made with glycerin and water for a vehicle, and this is the cause of their drying in the ribbons after a length of time. In order to prevent this unpleasant result the vehicle must be of a fatty nature, and the following is a formula of this type: Warm together the last three ingredients, then incorporate the dye. By using lampblack, mixing it with petrolatum and thinning with a mixture of equal parts of oil of turpentine and benzin, an indelible ink may be obtained. The Explosive Lyddite (14) —The London Graphic says: "The high explosive thus called from the name of the small Kentish town and gunnery centre where the experiments with it were made, is nothing else than picric acid brought into a dense state by fusion. Picric acid is a bright yellow substance freely used in peaceful industries for dyeing purposes. It is obtained by the action of nitric acid on phenol or carbolic acid. It burns very violently, and, owing to the tremendous blast produced by the explosion, the destructive effect of a bursting shell filled with it is some eleven times greater than that of a shell filled with powder. Common shells of forged steel filled with lyddite are used with 6 and 9.2 inch breech-loading guns, and with howitzers; also with 4 to 6 inch quick-firing guns. |