ROMANCE OF RUBBER

By Lyman L. Weld, The B. F. Goodrich Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio.

Where Crude Rubber Comes From.-When, shortly after the outbreak of the war in August, 1914, the British Government announced that an embargo would be placed on all crude rubber leaving the ports of her possessions, there were few druggists in this country who realized the vital import which such action would have upon their business.

To all intents and purposes, the stoppage of shipments of crude rubber from . British ports would have cut off the crude rubber supply of the United States, and the demands which the automobile industries would have made upon the small shipments which were received would have reduced the available supply for druggists' sundries to the irreducible minimum. Today, we would have no rubber sundries.

All of which leads to a mighty interesting study -the source of supply for materials from which to manufacture water bottles, syringes, atomizer bulbs and other numerous items of druggists' sundries.

Rubber in its crude state is to be found in tropical lands only. While rubber plants are common in nurseries in this latitude, they are of the nonbearing variety. The warm sun and humid atmosphere of the tropics are necessary for the proper growth of rubber trees. In Brazil, Central Africa and the East Indies the chief supply is gathered.

When the rubber tree is tapped, much as we tap maple trees in the spring when the sap begins to run, a white, milky substance technically known as latex runs out and is caught in little buckets or containers. The native who attends the tree must make daily visits and collect the latex, which he carries to a central station-often a crude thatched hut, where the water of the latex is evaporated over the smoke of a palm nut fire and the rubber coagulated.

Conditions attending the gathering of rubber are almost beyond our comprehension. The most fruitful source of rubber forests in South America is the

upper Amazon-in the land where monkeys swing by their tails from the tree tops and where parrots screech their shrill siren song from the branches. Reptiles and wild beasts with which we are familiar only in circus menageries make the rubber forests their home, and fever germs lurk in the swamps.

African rubber is collected by scantily-clad Ethiopians who live in tribal fashion just as they did when Babylon was at its height, long before the Christian era. The favorite method of coagulating the latex which is collected in that wild land is to smear a coating over the body, let it dry and cover it with another coat until the native is wearing a waterproof coating of considerable thickness. The perspiration of the body coagulates the rubber.

Rubber gathering has probably reached its most advanced state in the East Indies, where a good many years ago were established plantations which have now begun to bear. Until a few years ago Brazil was the chief source of crude rubber supply, but so many of the plantations in the East Indies and the Malay Peninsula have begun to bear in the last five years that the balance has swung largely in favor of the East, and the large supply reduced the price of crude rubber before the war to the point where it was unprofitable for Brazilian natives to make the long trip up the Amazon.

It was that condition which made the situation in the last few months of 1914 so serious. Had the United States manufacturers not met British demands and thus secured supply for this country's needs, we should have had a shortage fully as serious as the lack of dyes and drugs. The plantations which supply the greater part of our crude rubber are in English possession and controlled by British capitalists who in turn are controlled by the British government. And even in Brazil we are handicapped because of lack of American ships, for we have been using British merchantment to carry our goods. Another argument for a larger merchant marine.

STORE MANAGEMENT

The Proper Conduct of a Retail Drug Store.* By Harry A. Gilkey, Minneapolis, Minn. The confidence inspired by the knowledge that all liabilities can be met when due is a fundamental asset to a successful business venture. The druggist who realizes that he will be able to take advantage of cash discounts by regularly paying his bills has laid the cornerstone in the foundation of his business. With capital and credit to rely upon he can carefully and wisely plan his buying, thereby realizing the maxiof profit from that which he has to sell. The goods being bought, carefully checked as to quantity and price, the next step is as to their disposal.

Harry A. Gilkey

mum

A clean and parlor-like store in which to display one's wares is a business advertisement and source of personal pleasure. The shelves should be kept full of salables and all bottles well filled. Careful arrangement of everything, stock and working utensils alike, is essential; the right thing in the proper place, with due regard as to handiness and serviceability.

Finances, quality goods, a clean and attractive store, these will combine to create that essential, "interest in the business." Enthusiasm, much of it is necessary and will assist in cultivating accuracy, in attention to details of service, in a systematic dispatch of all duties and in developing an optimistic attitude toward the trend of affairs. Conscientious effort to succeed is at all times a requisite, a continual sticking-to-it, hustling early and late.

A regular and systematic invoicing, with accurate book accounts and a minimum of extended credit, these serve to keep the druggist ever in the knowledge of his financial standing.

Backed by goods of merit and the honest intention to realize fair profits, salesmanship will develop itself. Own-make preparations of a simple nature are always advantageously dispensed and a diversified line of these goods is a profitable and everlasting store advertisement.

Stock must be closely watched, for it is a moral certainty that goods not on hand cannot be supplied to a waiting customer. No matter how slow a seller an article may be, some customer who thinks that

*Awarded third prize (value $10.00) by the Meyer Brothers Druggist in contest for January, 1917 (see page 100 of the March issue for announcement of other contest).

Also see Meyer Brothers Druggist for January, 1917, page 14, and February, page 48.

preparation the greatest in the world is going to call for it and unless it is in stock, that customer is going to suspect that he is not dealing with a first-class drug store. It would seem, almost, that wholesalers cause carelessness on the part of druggists, for a daily delivery is often the means whereby stock is allowed to become exhausted on the assumption that "we can have it here tonight." To keep confidence gained and seek more should be the aim of every druggist, for that brings customers and customers help to wear out the cash register cogs.

With accuracy, alertness, promptness and even haste in store service, an inexhaustible supply of wholesouled kindness and patience must be dispensed. Patience to customers, patience with clerks. If clerks can be taught that they are not servants but rather partners in the business, that they prosper directly as does their employer, they have deemed a lesson benefiting themselves and they for whom they work. They must realize that the sky is their limit, that if they "deliver the goods" they will be repaid, and with interest. The customer, oftentimes sick in body and at heart, is worthy of the utmost display of kindness, sympathy and patience.

Build firmly, Mr. Druggist, upon the aim to serve honest and conscientiously. Demand a profit in all goods sold. Work hard, mighty hard, and keep always informed by reading trade journals, price lists and by attending association meetings. Be a live wire, but not shockingly so. Make the drug business your ideal and seek to develop and improve it as such.

Granted that the monthly balance shows a profit, save a few dollars, for all too soon cometh the days when the rain falleth and the hours of youth return not again.

The druggist must realize from the first that it is for him to work hard, use judgment in his efforts and sacrifice much pleasure. Then by practicing the suggestions herein set forth he will find each Thanksgiving day one on which to be a little more grateful than that preceding. He will have a standing in his community, likewise in his profession and, incidentally, "a little pot of gold under the carpet."

The proper conduct of a retail drug store is the energetic and accurate dispensing of goods, wisely purchased and profitably marketed by a man whose business ability has taught him to develop and spread broadcast, with his wares, an unselfish brand of sympathy and kindness.

THE HARVEST.-"Does God fix the death rate? Once men were taught so, and death was regarded as an act of Divine Providence, often inscrutable. We are now coming to look on infant mortality as evidence of human weakness, ignorance and cupidity. We believe that Providence works through human agencies, and that in this field, as in others, we reap what we şow-no more and no less."-[Dr. L. Emmett Holt.

INEXORABLE ENERGY

By William Ochse, St. Louis.

Have You Started the New Year Right?-Time to get up-it is the morning of the year. Stretch your frame of mind, go through a few brisk mental exercises and take a cold plunge into the clear and sparkling possibilities that lie before you.

Now for a lively rubdown until you are aglow with Optimismthen slide into your union suit of Hope, slip on your socks of Faith, buckle up your shoes of Energy and give your bright Outlook a clean shave put on a shirt without a "Yellow Stripe," a clean, white collar of Determination with a harmonizing tie of Cheerfulness and get out your comfortable coat of Enthusiasm with pants and vest to match.

William Ochse

You are going out on another lap in Life's Journey and you want to get a good start. You have made this trip many times in the past and, like every other thinking man, you are planning a more prosperous and successful journey for this year.

There are two broad highways from which you may choose your route-the "upper" and the "lower" roads. The upper road may seem the most difficult at the outset but it is by far the better of the two.

This "upper" road over life's journey is traveled only by those who have the qualities and virtues to overcome difficultes and surmount obstacles. It is up hill and down. You will pass through foul and fair weather-you will encounter steep grades, rocky slopes and narrow passages, and there are many evidences of struggle by the wayside-you will see the bypaths here and there which lead off to the lower road-but the main highway is plainly marked at every fork and junction so that he who runs may read-and if you follow the sign of Progress that marks the way you will reach the Goal of Success at your destination and enjoy pride and pleasure in having won.

The "Lower" road is down grade all the way-it affords "easy" means of transportation-there are tufted seats in all conveyances-there are gay and hysterical crowds to cheer you as you pass-there are bands and orchestras to make music-there are many bright mirages and optical illusions to lead you on and there is much "leisure" among the happygo-lucky wayfarers. There are also bypaths along this road which lead to the upper highway-but the

signposts are marked in small letters and there are few who struggle up these difficult paths. Yes, this lower road offers enchantments of a varied nature until you get by the last connecting path to the great highway of Progress-and then you suddenly become thirsty-you experience hunger for more practical and permanent things, but your hunger is not gratified-your shoes of Energy need repaid-your socks of Faith are threadbare-your union suit of Hope is ragged-your collar of Determination is transformed into a yoke of despair-and your good suit of Enthusiasm is tattered and torn. You are suddenly jolted by the husky voice of Failure crying out, "Far as we go-all off!"-and you find yourself dumped out with no return ticket. Here the way is dark and threatening everything is disorder and confusion and just beyond there is quicksand that has no bottom.

But you have resolved to take the "Upper Highway" to Success-you have traveled this road before and you know it is passable every foot of the way.

You will be accompanied by your three guidesExperience, Judgment and Personality-and these will insure a good trip.

Ten months of the year is still in front of you, and you can shape it to meet your own ideas so far as business is concerned. Already the year is divided into past, present and future-with the future steadily shifting over to the past like the hands of a clock, and when it passes, the ever-present is the time to act and to work-making every minute of the future count to insure the pleasant vision of a successful past.

Old-fashioned American good times are now with That is a settled fact. The possibilities were never greater and the outlook never brighter.

us.

BOARDS OF PHARMACY

The Virginia Board will hold an examination at Richmond April 24-25. This is a week later than usual. All other examinations are held on the third Tuesday of January, July and October.

The Ohio Board will hold an examination at Columbus April 3. Examination questions will not be based on the U. S. P. IX until after the October, 1917, meeting. Meantime, the U. S. P. VIII will be the law and guide. Applicants for registration should send to Secretary M. N. Ford of Columbus for blanks.

DIPHTHERIA. In the various countries of the world the average annual death rate from diphtheria during the most recent five-year period for which data are available, has ranged from 6.8 per 100,000 of population in Chile and 7.0 in New Zealand and the Netherlands, to 19.0 in the registration area of the United States, 22.6 in Prussia, 25.9 in Austria and 40.1 in Serbia. There is no conclusive evidence that diphtheria as a disease is decreasing. On the contrary, the weight of evidence is favorable to the view that it is increasing. [F. S. Crum, Weekly Bull. Dept. Health, N. Y.

TIMELY TOPICS

Window Displays for March and April.-The N. A. R. D. Journal suggests the following:

goods.

March-St. Patrick's Day special, horehound drops, rubber April-Easter specials, perfumes, cards, egg-dyes, sulphur and cream of tartar, mineral water.

Lime Slip.-Into a 12-ounce glass draw 1 ounce of pineapple syrup and 1 ounce of orange syrup. Into this squeeze the juice of 1 lime. Fill the glass onethird full of ice and the balance with carbonated water. Mix and decorate with slices of orange and pineapple.

To Prevent Mold on Books. During continued damp weather books often become musty and even moldy. This can be prevented, according to the Scientific American, by placing a few drops of oil of lavender and Canada balsam in the back corner of each bookshelf.

Do You Sell Water Glass?-Druggists as a usual thing do not pretend to keep posted as to the price of eggs but as the weather grows warmer the hen sticks a little closer to business. The price of eggs is coming down. Look up your stock of "water glass." Every year interests new buyers for this convenience as an egg preservative and you can do a nice little business in this one item alone.

A Clear View Through a Wet Wind Shield.-Harold Snipe describes in the British Medical Journal a method of obtaining a clear view through the wind shield of an automobile even in the wettest weather. The following solution is applied to the wind shield: Sodium Chloride, 1 dr. Water, Glycerin,

1 oz. 2 ozs.

A little of this is placed on gauze and wiped over the glass in a very thin layer, but always in a downward direction. This is a boon on a wet night on a dark road.-[Practical Druggist.

Recommendations for the Use of Arsenate of Lead.

for the same area; or cotton-seed meal, 10 lbs.; or sodium nitrate, 4 to 5 lbs. The author prefers superphosphates as the source of phosphorus in the proportion of 4 lbs. to 100 square feet. Potassium sulphate is the best source of potash, using 12 ozs. for the same area. Lime should be applied as ground limestone, using 25 to 28 lbs. for 100 square feet of soil deficient in that constituent, such as that of New Jersey. [M. A. Blake (New Jersey Agric. Exper. Station Bulletin, 1915, 277, 3; Chem. Abstr., 1915, 10, 82). Seed Time Is Here.-It will soon be the time when garden and flower seeds will be in demand. In many parts of the country, especially in the smaller towns and cities, these are sold quite largely by the drug stores.

The drug store that does sell garden and flower seeds should make arrangements with the seedsman, from whom they procure their supplies, to furnish them with a goodly quantity of seed catalogues. If you can get them with your imprint, so much the better, but get them anyway.

A seed catalogue is "mighty interestin' readin,' for anybody that has any opportunity to plant seeds. From its garish cover on through its profusely illustrated pages it is exceedingly attractive. Some of the claims made in it of wonder prolificacy and extreme earliness may be of a character to astonish the natives, but we like to read it just the same.

Send these catalogues out to such of your customers as you think may be interested, if you have a list; if not, let it be known through such advertising channels as you generally use that a copy can be had for the asking. Urge upon your customers the desirability of an early selection, while the assortment is complete.

Culture Solution for Growing Seeds.-There are several formulae available for "culture solution in which seeds will grow and bear fruit." We may point out, however, that it is usual to start from seeds which have developed their principal roots in sawdust. The seedings are then fixed in the cork of a suitable vessel so that the stem is allowed to grow upwards and develop in light and air, while the root branches in the vessel containing the nutritive solution. The vessel is protected from light by sinking it in the soil, and in this way a uniform and not too high temperature is assured. Excellent results are said to have been obtained with the following solution:-Potassium nitrate, 1 Gm.; ferrous phosphate, 0.5 Gm.; gypsum, 0.25 Gm.; magnesium sulphate, 0.25 Gm.; distilled water to 1 litre. Another formula is:Potassium nitrate, 1 Gm.; sodium chloride, 0.5 Gm.; calcium sulphate, 0.5 Gm.; magnesium sulphate, 0.5 Gm.; calcium phosphate, 0.5 Gm.; dilute solution of ferric chloride, a trace; distilled water, 1 litre. All the published formulae contain the following six elements, which are essential to the growth of the plant: -Potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, phosphorus, and iron; the formulae only differ in unimportant details.

HISTORICAL PHARMACY

Home Remedies in Early Days.

By William M. Johnson, Shawnee Methodist Mission, Johnson Co., Kan.

Read at the Kansas City Drug Club.

White Oak Bark was used when they wanted a strong astringent.

Dog Fennel was a common counter irritant used as a poultice and will draw a strong blister.

The Infusion of Old Tobacco Pipe as emetic and purgative was the dependence of every old-time doctor and granny.

White Root. This was what my father depended on more than any one thing in treating the Indian children for colds, making a tea of it.

Blackberry in a cordial was counted a sovereign remedy for summer complaint in children, and if the berries were not to be had a tea from the root was used.

Elder Bark extracted in suet had great virtue as a salve. Dried elder flowers were popular for fevers and as a tonic. Common plantain leaf had much as a poultice.

Hoarhound grew in large quantities. When in bloom the bees would make honey of it; this we would save separate and use in colds and sometimes we made it into candy.

Black Walnut Bark is a purgative and a very powerful one. The sap that runs from a scar on bark, dries and forms a soft mass. A small pill made from this is a strong purge.

Night Shade with cream made a fine poultice for poison oak. The leaf of jimpson weed or stramonium was smoked for coughs and asthma, and was much used as a strong relaxing poultice.

May Apple (mandrake) root as a purgative and tonic was the basis of all early ague and chill medicine. The thought of the taste of a threatened tea made from this, often cured laziness blamed on the ague.

The Process of "Smoking Them Out" with chicken feathers burning on hot coals under the bed, was the final cure-all used with great ceremony when diagnosis was uncertain, and all other remedies had failed.

Boneset Tea was used in fevers, ague and indispositions. It was the greatest thing to make you sweat that I ever saw. All families gathered large quantities of it in the early fall and put it away for winter use. I have seen men perspire through the mattress under its effects.

Chicken Gizzards were much used for indigestion and intestinal disorders. I have had personal experience curing myself by the use of home-made apple brandy and chicken gizzards when physicians gave me up. The freshly prepared remedy is far superiod to any of the preparations on the market.