the walking encyclopedia which is a characteristic of every place.

It is not necessary to publish a volume containing the history of your place, but write it up in the form of a series of articles for your local paper. This work will interest you. You will be contributing something to the welfare of knowledge and it is not at all unlikely that your activity in this line will help your business. We will be pleased to hear from pharmacists who are taking an interest in local history.

Is the Sign of the Pestle and Mortar Fading Away? -The secretary of the Iowa Board of Pharmacy is quoted as saying, "It is not being used nearly as extensively as it was in years past. It is about the same as the use of colored bottles in a drug store. Formerly, every store had a set of colored glass bottles. They have no particular use unless it is to throw a mystery on the business."

The Board of Pharmacy of Iowa has decided to discard the old seal which made use of the pestle and mortar as an emblem of the calling. The new seal is a very plain affair. The board gives as its explanation for this action the fact that medicine peddlers in the state are rapidly increasing in spite of the fact that each one must pay $100.00 a year license. The Board of Pharmacy issues this license and stamps each one with its seal. The board believes that a seal showing the pestle and mortar will mislead the public into believing that these drug peddlers are really pharmacists.

No Price List.-Price lists are not a thing of the past, nor can they be considered exactly out of date, but it is impossible at present to print in a monthly periodical a price list which will be dependable by the time it reaches its readers. The unsettled condition of the market caused by the world-wide war of nations has played havoc with the prices of goods handled by pharmacists. It would not be appropri

ate to say that prices are demoralized, for they have been strengthened and all the tendencies are upward. We have decided to omit the customary price list from the September issue of the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST. The best we can do is to warn the retail drug trade against under-selling. A price list is essentially a work of reference and unless reliable is of no value. The price ruling the day we close the form which ordinarily contains the price list are all likely to be changed before our October issue is in the hands of our readers.

Faint, Slight and Cloudy.-Can you readily distinguish between these conditions when working with the test tube? Has it occurred to you that at best such expressions are relative? Your interpretation of conditions depends much on your training, your power of observation and your regard for accuracy.

It is not alone in the chemical laboratory that standards are governed largely by a personal element. You may be attentive to business, careless or indifferent, but the distinction will depend much

The

on the individual who makes the observation. same difficulty is met with in all of the walks of life and the best that a person can do is to profit by reliable instruction, make careful observations and form the habit of discrimination. Your acts of life may be "faint, slight or cloudy," varying according to the one who writes your biography.

What is the Use of a Diploma?-Such is the question asked by some graduates who find that they can register on their diplomas in a single state but cannot obtain reciprocity by such means. A diploma is really a certificate of attendance and proficiency in work of a given curriculum. The laws of the state are by no means uniform in recognizing a diploma as sufficient evidence of competency for registration. It would be unwise as well as unjust for a state which requires an examination of every applicant for registration to grant registration on reciprocity from another state where diplomas are recognized. This would enable some who could not register by examination in a given state to register on diploma in another state and then by reciprocity become legally entitled to practice pharmacy in a state where they could not otherwise qualify.

British Pharmacists Complain that they do not have sufficient to say in an official way about the revision of the British Pharmacopoeia. Physicians in the United States are decidedly in the minority in the work of revising the U. S. P. Some time ago, a prominent physician gave an address entitled, "The Re-capture of the Pharmacopoeia." He called attention to the time when physicians looked after all the work of revision. New revisions of both the British Pharmacopoeia and the U. S. P. will soon be on the market. It will then be in order to arrange for pharmaceutical recognition in British Pharmacopoeial work and greater medical assistance on the U. S. P.

In the Basic Elements of Economic Progress the United States ranks high among the nations of the world, being one of only five countries having an area in excess of three mililon square miles, and the only nation of the western world (except Russia) having a population of over 100 million. In the interchange of products among its own people it leads the world, its home trade at the present time being estimated at nearly 40 billion dollars, or equal to the international exchange of the world and approximately ten times the value of our own foreign trade, now valued at four billion dollars.

It is Never Safe to Violate the Law.-Several Illinois pharmacists have recently learned to their sorrow and expense that prosecutions may occur at any time without special warning. The twenty-four stores recently caught and fined from $20.00 to $100.00 each should serve as a warning not only to other violators in Illinois, but to those, no matter where located, who are disregarding the state pharmacy law.

The Semi-Centennial of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy occurs Nov. 10 and 11. If you ever attended the school, send in your name.

STRAY ITEMS AND COMMENTS

Do You Weigh the Paper?-English pharmacists are somewhat concerned over a short weight discussion which is going on. A select committee appointed to consider the question reports that "on the whole the retail trade of the country (England) is honestly educated."

The United States is Studious.-There are a hundred thousand students enrolled in professional schools of the United States, this year, according to figures compiled by the U. S. Bureau of Education. Of these, law has the largest number, with 20,878; medicine has 17,238, and pharmacy, 6,165.

Are you Violating the Postal Regulations governing the mailing of poisons? Section 472 has the following broad and stringent provisions:

"All kinds of poisons, and all articles and compositions containing poisons and all other natural or artificial articles, compositions or materials of whatever kind which may kill or in any wise hurt. harm, or injure another are hereby declared to be non-mailable matter but the PostmasterGeneral may permit the transmission in the mails, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe as to preparation and packing, of any articles hereinbefore described which are not outwardly or of their own force dangerous or injurious to health, life or property."

Kentucky is Now One of Our Prize States.-In 1800 some Indians of the Sacs tribe were in St. Louis, who on hearing it said that Kentucky was inhabited by white people, expressed much astonishment that any person should live in Kentucky, as it had been a place where much blood was shed, and that it was filled with the names or souls of the butchered white inhabitants, a people who had arts among them unknown to the Indians. Even the word Kentucky, the name of the chief river of the state, signifies river of blood. [J. H. McCulloch's "Researches in America," pp. 210-213.

Everything in Nature Ebbs and Flows. Sleep and work, the tides, sunlight and darkness, summer and winter, youth and old age, thoughts of happiness and ideas of depression. The bodily functions are all rhythmic-hunger and satisfaction, nervousness and equipoise. Needed sleep comes naturally when the pain is stopped through the numbing of the senses. The cause is still there and it is the physician's duty to reach it. Abnormal sleepnessness often occurs after certain fevers, in certain forms of heart disease, in rheumatic inflammations, after alcoholic debauches or through excessive use of tobacco, tea or coffee.

Opium is said to have been introduced into China by the Arabs, who are known to have traded with its southern ports as early as the ninth century. At a later period, but long before the English set foot in India, the Chinese imported opium from that country in their own junks, but not extensively, and only for legitimate medical use; and it was not until somewhat late in the seventeenth century that opiumsmoking began to prevail among them. The Persians, says Mandelso, writing in 1638, "boast themselves to be the first inventors" of opium-eating,

which they practice "not so much with the intention to make themselves sleep as to raise courage in themselves," specially for a particular purpose; and Sir Thomas Herbert speaks of their foot-posts being "enabled by it to run day and night without intermission."-[Chemist & Druggist.

Rhubarb.—At present, says Hardesty, in Clinical Medicine, rhubarb is chiefly purchased for the trade at the town of Hankow on the upper Yangtse, the yearly export amounting to nearly seven hundred thousand pounds. In selecting the root much care should be taken to secure a good grade. Good rhubarb should be moderately heavy and compact, of a fresh color, a brittle, fresh appearance, aromatic odor, and a bitter and astringent taste, feeling gritty between the teeth, staining saliva yellow when chewed, and affording a powder of a bright yellow color; or it may have a slight reddish-brown tinge. An inferior grade should be rejected. If very light it is rotten or worm-eaten. If very heavy or compact it has been improperly prepared or is of inferior species or culture. If dark-brown internally, very porous and has a prominent mucilaginous taste, it should be rejected.

Value of the Drug Journals.-The pharmaceutical journal is a missionary by mail which goes into the dark parts of the profession with a message from the great outside world of pharmacy. It is the herald of the college and pharmaceutical association. From it the clerk gains the inspiration which makes him desire a better scientific training than the shop affords, and which eventually leads him to the door of the college of pharmacy. From it the druggist receives the impulse which prompts him to unite with the State and National associations, and through it he gains the consciousness that he is a member of a vast organization of men of similar aims and interests. It is the news letter by means of which every pharmacist may correspond with every other pharmacist in the world, and obtain from them the best thoughts pertaining to his avocation.

When the history of the last quarter century of American pharmacy is written the journals must be given credit of being the chief factor in the improvements which have taken place within that period.

The professor who does not send his students home ardent supporters of the journals of his profession has neglected a serious duty, and has failed to recognize the merits of his strongest ally in the work of education. The pharmacist who does not regularly subscribe for and read at least one of the journals is neglecting the most important available aid for increasing the profit and standing of his calling, and is of the kind that will render his greatest service to pharmacy on the day that he leaves it and makes room for a better man. I never knew an incompetent pharmacist who was a subscriber and regular reader of a good drug journal, nor a competent one who was not.-[Prof. J. H. Beal.

STRAY ITEMS AND COMMENTS

Solution

Strychnine When Given in Alkaline should be the strychnine as found in the tincture of nux vomica.

An Inspector of Pharmacies is to be appointed in Illinois, following a recent civil service examination. The salary at the start is $125.00 a month and traveling expenses.

Bacteria Are Difficult to Kill.-It is generally supposed that staining bacteria for microscopic examination kills them. Recent experiments indicate that such is not the case and slides of various bacteria, if carelessly handled may cause infection.

Pitchblend has been discovered in an old mica mine at Singar, in the Gaya district of Bihar, India, which contains 83 per cent of uranium oxide, and the yield of hydrated radium bromide is expected to be 260 to 315 milligrams per metric ton.

Watch the Effect. Will the public, the medical profession and the pharmacists of the United States learn a lesson from the war that America can produce practically all of the drugs and chemicals required for the successful practice of medicine?

The Plan of Giving Premiums with goods did not meet with approval at the Detroit meeting of the Michigan Ph. A. or with the A. Ph. A. Cut rate prices, premiums and other methods of reducing a legitimate profit persist, but without official sanction.

An Ideal Preparation is wanted by a dealer who is anxious to place on the market a preparation which will reduce the weight of a person who is excessively fat or add flesh to one who is under-weight. We suggest that he consult with the Department of Agriculture.

War Prices in England.-The Insurance Act provides for a schedule of prices allowed pharmacists filling prescriptions for persons insured. Owing to the advance of prices caused by the war, the government revised this schedule so that pharmacists would not bear the entire burden of the advanced prices.

Proposed Alcohol Tax.-The St. Louis Drug Club was prominent among the organizations making a vigorous protest against the proposed special tax on alcohol to help meet the emergency revenue. The organization pointed out that such a tax would be a discrimination against one line of industry and a direct tax on the sick.

Many Varieties of Rice. The number of kinds of rice grown in the Philippines are enormous. There are said to be nearly 1,000 varieties. The Philippine Bureau of Agriculture is trying to find out which are the better varieties, and to encourage the growing of a comparatively small number of kinds, and thus make possible an increase of the rice crop.

House Flies Do Not Bite. That they do bite is a mistaken impression due undoubtedly to the fact that a certain kind of fly known as the stable fly is found occasionally in the house, and they inflict painful

wounds. The regular house fly is not provided with a weapon of offense or defense, its mouth part consisting of a tube pressed out at the tip for sucking up liquid substances.

Chloral in England.-We do not always know just what is going on around us until some special condition brings facts forcibly to our attention. England would not give manufacturers concessions for the use of pure alcohol in the manufacture of chloral. This position of the revenue authorities prevented the manufacture of chloral in that country. When the war broke out, the government was surprised to find that all of the chloral hydrate used in England had to be imported.

Is Business a Pleasure with You?-E. B. Butler, retiring president of Butler Bros., after thirty-seven years of service during which the business grew from a very small one to the largest jobbing institution in the world, has the following to say: "Business with me has been a pleasure and not a task. This is due to the fact that during all these years there has existed among the members of our business family a spirit of loyalty and co-operation which, I am sure, is rarely to be found."

Kentucky Board of Pharmacy Sued. The man who registered in Georgia and demanded reciprocity with Kentucky on thirty days' notice was refused and resorted to the courts. The judge decided that the Kentucky Board had a right to insist on an applicant for reciprocity having served twelve months in the state where he was registered by examination. This prevents a person who has failed before the Kentucky Board going to another state, passing the board and securing registration in Kentucky within a period of twelve months.

A Device for Cleaning Bottles. The great difficulty in removing deposits from the inside of bottles is well known, and often they have to be discarded for this reason. A Swiss inventor makes an ingenious device in the shape of a rather large metal basin with a middle upright tube. Sand is put in the basin, and a hose connects with the water supply. A simple arrangement allows of projecting sand and water into the bottle, which is fitted over the tube, and this cleans it effectually. Then the sand can be stopped and the operation finished with pure water.

"Trade with the Enemy" is an expression which has not been in use in this country since the Civil War. In England, it became an every day phrase as soon as the war broke out. Some banks refused to honor checks from depositors with German names until their naturalization papers were produced. At this writing, it has not been fully decided whether or not an English pharmacist has a right to pay a German manufacturer or exporter for goods ordered and delivered before the war broke out. It is certain that "alien enemies who happen to be in the British empire suffer certain disabilities." While such persons cannot sue for debt, there seems to be no legal reason why debtors cannot voluntarily pay such persons.

IN BRIEF

A slovenly window points to a shiftless store. Now is the time between meanwhile and a while ago.

Are you making the best use of your show windows?

While other nations destroy the United States produces.

The largest lead works in the world are located in St. Louis.

“We have it,” is the motto of a prominent Keokuk drug store.

Mother pension laws are now in operation in twenty-four states.

The right-hand column of a menu rarely increases one's appetite.

The advice to give customers what they want is always timely.

The South American field is being cultivated by American business men.

Prospective customers judge a store by the appearance of its windows.

Europe has demonstrated that the censor's pen is mightier than the sword.

Edwin G. Cox, Craig, is the new secretary of the Missouri Board of Pharmacy.

The drug and chemical markets are the hardest hit of any affected by the war.

Give your old as well as your new address when reporting a change of address.

The only way to startle the world is to do something the world knows all about.

A show window furnishes the means by which a store looks out upon the world.

Seven pharmaceutical associations are scheduled to meet at San Francisco in 1915.

An opportunity for America to extend trade is being realized in many lines of business.

Don't let your mind wander. Listen to your customer. Let him do some of the talking.

Four years' drug store experience is required of all applicants for registration in Florida.

The Evening World, of New York, advises America to wake up and make use of opportunities.

The world of trade has moved up a notch. The selling idea is assistance and not insistence..

At no time since the Civil War has the drug market been so unsettled as for the past few weeks.

The outcome of the war is a question, but the drug market is what keeps pharmacists guessing. The opinion has been expressed without argument that this will be the last great war until the next

one.

Twenty-three out of fifty candidates for registration in Alabama recently successfully passed the examination.

The present is the time to do things. If you think of something that ought to be done don't delay; do it now.

Some men are so suspicious we're almost sure they count their fingers after we've shaken hands with them.

The Alabama Board of Pharmacy has published rules governing reciprocity. Write E. P. Galt, secretary, Selma.

Chemists are wanted for the United States departments. Address Civil Service Commission, Washington, D. C.

The United States Pharmacopoeia exemplifies the spirit of true democracy and is revised by those who actually use it.

"Business as usual," was the motto early adopted in the English commercial world, following the declaration of war.

A call of opportunity is being taken advantage of by the business interests of this country in extending foreign trade.

Germany has furnished more of the chemicals used in medicine than any other country. How will it be in the future?

Under date of August 15, The Chemist and Druggist published in detail instructions for the manufacture of antipyrine.

Carrying on business as usual during the reconstruction of the map of Europe is the announcement made by a London firm.

The N. A. R. D. has not decided where it will meet in 1915, but we are informed that a trip will not be made to the Pacific Coast.

Dr. Alsperg, head of the Division of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture, says "Standards should not handicap progress.

Perhaps it will take centuries to recover the loss to civilization by the present war. Plenty of centuries, however, are before us.

The Canadian Ph. A., scheduled to meet at Winnipeg, August 7, 1914, has, on account of the war, postponed the convention one year.

Serving the public and conserving the drug supply has been the duty of the pharmacist since the breaking out of hostilities in Europe.

The Chemist and Druggist says, "The manufacture of salicylic acid in this country is one of the things that British chemical manufacturers have yet to do."

England as well as the United States is discussing the propriety of establishing factories for the manufacture of fine chemicals. Such is one of the effects of the war.

Many food and drug products have recently been destroyed under the direction of the government. One was an imitation of cognac. The manufacturer was fined $250.00.

Keep a quantity of rubber stamps on hand bearing the name of your store in a variety of types and designs, and in connection with different slogans and brief advertising messages.

New business can be created by the judicious use of the telephone at less expense than any other promotion methods save that of the personal solicitation of people coming into the store.

IN BRIEF

St. Louis has the largest hardware house in the world.

Have you any time-savers in bookkeeping? If so, what are they?

Suport the Stevens Bill, which is intended to regulate retail prices.

Do you carefully prepare the advertisements placed in your local papers?

War prices have started talk about synthetic rubber on a commercial scale.

Take an occasional look around the store from the viewpoint of your customers.

A radium factory in England is prepared to turn out about 4,000 milligrams of radium per year.

The world rapidly grows richer in times of peace, but war destroys wealth with startling rapidity.

Eighteen out of forty-eight applicants for registration in Pennsylvania passed the recent examination. A pharamcist in Boston was recently fined $25.00 for accepting a 'phone order to repeat a prescription. Fleas are now blamed for the spread of scarlet fever. It is, however, difficult to put your finger on the flea.

Cincinnati produces more soap than any other Icity in the United States. This does not mean that it uses more.

The revised British Pharmacopoeia will not be issued until some definite result follows the present war in Europe.

The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy examined thirty-six applicants for registration recently and passed seven of them.

The N. W. D. A. convention at Indianapolis, Sept. 21-26, places in history the fortieth annual gathering of the organization.

Antipyrine was discovered in 1884 by Knorr, shortly to be followed by acetanilid, phenacetin and the other coal tar derivatives.

It is reported that Chicago drug clerks want shorter hours. It is more likely that they want fewer hours of work during the day.

The lack of practical men in Government departments is announced in England. Such a condition is not necessarily confined to war times.

Do you constantly keep in view the desirability of getting better clerks, not necessarily new ones, but have those in your employ improve?

Tin is among the important items advanced in price on account of the war. Probably it will lead to tin smelteries in the United States.

Knowledge is the basis of all salesmanship. Gall, aggressiveness and diplomacy may catch and hold the prospect, but real knowledge closes the order.

In Canada, the law forbids a pharmacist's repeating a prescription for poisons unless so ordered in writing by the physician. The 'phone message is not valid.

Each issue of the Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association contains abstracts of proposed changes in the U. S. P. with new standards and descriptions.

If the postal law regulating the transmission of poisons is strictly enforced, it will prevent a pharmacist from sending by mail a prescription containing poison.

The almost superstitious dread of cancer and unwillingness to admit its existence or seek medical advice in time are well known and difficult obstacles in its control.

Five grains of sodium chloride is the equivalent of one grain of potassium bromide as a restrainer in photography. It is well to bear this in mind during the times of war prices.

George P. Mills, Evanston, Ill., has retired from the drug business after thirty years' service. He wil! now enjoy in travel and study some of the wellearned fruits of his labors.

1917 notes a period in pharmaceutical educational advancement. The minimum college entrance requirement will then be two years of high school work or its educational equivalent.

"The Possibilities of the Motor Cycle," is the title of an editorial in an exchange. The editor does not refer to the possibilities that impress the pedestrian when a motor cycle approaches him.

The refilling of prescriptions is still a question for discussion. Remember that the pharmacist receives the same as an order for one filling. Do not refill unless so authorized by the physician.

The Pennsylvania Ph. A. makes use of a $20.00 income from invested funds by awarding it in gold as a prize for the most meritorious paper, pharmaceutical apparatus or original device presented at the annual meeting.

Drill courtesy into your sales force, inject ginger into them and teach them the talking points of your goods, but first and foremost show them that their interests and the customer's interest are one and the same thing.

It is estimated that the European war costs $50,000,000.00 per day. Just think of what could be done for pharmaceutical education if one day's expense of the war was made a permanent fund in the interest of pharmacy.

A drug firm in England of foreign names has found occasion to give great publicity to the fact that the firm was founded in London, thirty years ago, that every share holder is a native of Great Britain and that all of the employes are British.

When a certain boodler, grafter, and otherwise thoroughly naughty and disreputable gentleman had been pounded black and blue by the newspapers, and all the good people had shrieked themselves hoarse crying out for his gore, it was said of him, and no one denied it, that whatever crimes he had committed, he at least always kept his word, I couldn't help it, my heart warmed to him.-[Dr. Frank Crane.