USEFUL NOTES

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

Artificial Milk.-An artificial milk is being used in Europe which is made by treating ground peanuts and soy beans with a solution of potassium phosphate and malted dextrin syrup to form an emulsion, flavoring with butyric acid and citric acid, and fermenting slightly with a culture of lactic acid bacilli, says the Bulletin of Pharmacy. Sodium and calcium phosphates are also added. It is stated to be palatable, as well as efficient as a food.

Renovating Worn Leather.-According to a work of reference quoted by the British Pharmaceutical Journal, "shabby dark leather will look like new if rubbed over with either linseed oil or the well beaten white of an egg, mixed with a little black ink. Polish with soft dusters until quite dry and glossy." In your case a suitable green color would have to take the place of the ink. You might possibly require to use a hot iron after rubbing the rough part with very fine sandpaper, and coating with the following: Three parts of white wax and one part gum copal are melted together and dissolved in linseed oil. The mixture is boiled for five minutes, stirred until cold, and rolled into balls.

Refills for Flash Lamps. According to the British Pharmaceutical Journal the following mixtures may be used to refill the batteries of flash lamps, etc.: Charcoal, 3; graphite, 1: manganese peroxide, 3; arsenious acid, 1; mixture of glucose and dextrin or starch, 1; calcium hydroxide, 1. These are intimately mixed into a paste of the proper consistence with a solution composed of ammonium chloride and sodium chloride, to which are added one-tenth volume of mercuric choride and an equal volume of hydrochloric acid. This liquid is added to the dry mixture gradually, and the mass is well worked to ensure uniformity. Another formula is: Zinc oxide, 1; plaster, 3; zinc-chloride, 1; water, 2.

Waterproofing and Stiffening Leather. The best method of treating leather so as to waterproof and stiffen it, according to the London Pharmaceutical Journal, is to impregnate it with a solution of gelatin and postassium bichromate. The following mixtures can be used: (1) Water, 1,200; gelatin, 15; potassium bichromate, 5. (2) Water 1,500; gelatin, 50; potassium bichromate, 30. The temperature of the solution may vary from 50° F. to boiling point. When the bichromate percentage is small the liquor is used cold, and the leather is immersed for twenty-four hours. A shorter period of immersion is given when warm and more concentrated solutions are used. In every case the leather must be dried and dressed on both sides with a suitable dressing.

6 drops

Coloring matter (e. g., carmine), a sufficient quantity. Heat the milk to about 130 degrees F.; dissolve the alum in one ounce of water and heat to the same temperature.

Linimentine and Sirocol.-The following formulas are given in the Pharmazevtiz Journal:

Linimentine. Two parts of capsicum and one part of camphor are allowed to macerate for seven days with a mixture of one part of alcohol and five parts of ammonia water. The mixture is then filtered and to the filtrate two parts of tincture of quillaja are added.

Sirocol. Six grammes of potassium sulphoguaiacolate and 7.5 grammes of sodium benzoate are dissoved in 30 grammes of distilled water and the solution is mixed with 6 grammes of alcohol and 75 grammes of syrup of bitter orange peel.

Royal Golf.-Into a suitable glass break an egg, and add 1 ounce syrup of raspberry, 2 ounces of sweet cream, 14 glassful shaved ice, and a few dashes of solution of acid phosphate. Fill the glass with carbonated water, coarse stream, and then pour all into another glass, repeating the operation until a foaming drink is produced.

TIMELY TOPICS

Whenever You Desire to Know the Price of an Article, consult the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST. The May issue has an extended and carefully prepared list of drugs and chemicals. The copyright articles and patent preparations were listed in the January number.

Sell Thermometers.-You will find that during hot weather the demand for weather thermometers increases largely. Arrange to prominently display your stock for a few days, off and on, when the weather is particularly hot, and you will be astonished at your sales of thermometers.-[Practical Druggist.

Drug Stores Are Like Some Hotels.-A hotel proprietor said, "Summer business is peculiar. One day they flock in and you wonder where they all come from. The next day, there will be a slump and you wonder where they have all gone."

"If you lie yourself, do not let the dust do, so in your store," says the editor of the Spatula. He adds, "A store that is dirty and dusty in hot weather is repellent rather than attractive."

Straw Hat Varnish (for light colors).

Light green 2 drams brilliant green, 20 grains of aniline yellow.

Blue: 2 drams soluble (or spirit) blue.
Dark blue: As above with 2 drams indulin.
Violet: 1 dram of methyl violet, 3B.
Crimson: 2 drams of safranin.

Common Weeds That Cause Hay Fever.-The president of the American Hay Fever Prevention Association lists the following:

Common ragweed, Roman wormwood (Ambrosia artemisiaefolia); Giant ragweed, Ambrosia trifida; Western ragweed, Ambrosia psilostachya; False wormwood, Bastard feverfew, Parthenium hysterophorus; Marsh elder, Iva ciliata; Western elder, Iva auxillaris; Careless weed, thorny amaranth, Amaranthus spinosus; Cockle bur, Xanthium canadense; False ragweed, Franseria acanthicarpa; Yellow dock, Rumex crispus.

It should also be remembered that the grasses are on the hay-fever list. They answer the botanical requirements of being abundant, wind-pollinated, with insignificant flowers and abundance of pollen. They also pass the biological test by being noxious to a large class of hay-fever sufferers-in fact, in England and Europe generally, where the ragweed and other weeds of this class are not found, they are the most common cause. They begin to pollinate in May and are one of the most common causes of hay fever commencing at that season.

The grass family (Gramineae) is very extensive and includes many of the cultivated forms. Some of the common varieties are Johnson (Sorghum halapense), Canary (Phalaris canariensis), and Smut grass (Sporobolus indicus).

Diluted Flour.-A correspondent in the Lancet (London, England) draws attention to the fact that

mixed flours, containing barley and oats, agree well, but if maize is added consumers complain in a few days of colic, sometimes of a severe character. Such a result, it is stated, is well known to those who have resided in the East, where the adulteration of wheat flour with maize is common. Flour may be diluted

with barley, oats, rice, beans, maize or rye, or with mixtures of these cereals, the only stipulation being that the percentage of wheat should not fall below a certain figure. Within these limits the proportion of the different ingredients employed depends very largely on the state of the market at any given moment. If, for example, stocks of barley are abun-. dant and the grain cheap, the miller will use more barley, and so on with the other cereals. The whitest mixture is a flour diluted with oats and rice, and the darkest is one mixed with barley, whilst maize gives a yellow tint. Of all the diluents, barley is really the most satisfactory, being nearest to wheat flour in composition and general characters, and it blends well with flour in baking. Many fastidious people, however, object to the color. It is probable that maize flour, on account of its abundance, is the diluent most in use at present. Unfortunately, maize contains a large percentage of cellulose and its fixed oil is liable to become rancid. If flour containing maize could be stored in cool granaries and only supplied the day before it is baked, there would be less objection to its use, but in existing conditions the extensive use of the maize mixture is prejudicial to public health. If the public taste would accept the darker loaf, wheat and barley would be the best mixture. Some bakers are making bread of barley meal alone, which is quite satisfactory, but for which it is necessary to charge a higher price.

In many parts of Europe, the law of entail provides that the estate shall be inherited by the eldest son, the main object doubtless being to hold properties intact.

This law may accomplish its purpose, but it frequently results in the severance of family ties, by causing the younger sons to seek their fortunes in other lands.

And thus it was that Christian F. G. Meyer, at the age of seventeen, after serving as a shepherd on his grandfather's estate, determined to seek his fortune in the new world.

Arriving in New Orleans, after a five weeks' voyage, he had barely sufficient funds to take him to his destination near Fort Wayne, Indiana, whence relatives had preceded him.

Through a fortunate chance he found his first employment in Reed's Drug Store, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Serving his apprenticeship under a worthy master, he soon acquired, by reason of his indefatigable energies and natural ability, the rudiments of the drug business.

His compensation, though meager, enabled him, by practicing the strictest economy, to acquire a half

interest in a retail drug business, which he subsequently became sole owner of by purchasing his partner's interest for ten thousand dollars.

In 1857 Mr. Meyer admitted his brother, John F. W. Meyer, into full partnership and thus the firm of Meyer & Brother came into being.

By reason of the energies and business acumen of its owners, coupled with their honesty of purpose and just dealings, the business prospered to such an extent that it was deemed advisable to start a wholesale department.

Railroad facilities being very limited at that time, Mr. Meyer traveled on horseback, personally calling on the drug trade in the territory adjacent to Fort Wayne.

re

To satisfy his ambitions, and realizing the stricted possibilities of Fort Wayne, Mr. Meyer soon began looking around for a wider field. Recognizing Saint Louis as the most logical point for distributing and manufacturing, located in practically the center of the country, with unequaled facilities for doing business, the Saint Louis house was established.

This was in 1865, and although there were a number of wholesale houses located in Saint Louis at that early time, the new firm of Meyer Brothers & Company, through strict adherence to certain well defined policies, soon won an enviable reputation for just and honorable dealings.

The slogan "Quality our first consideration," was adopted early in the history of the business, and has been adhered to ever since, although "Price" is not overlooked, and will always be as low as consistent with quality.

In 1889 the business had grown to such proportions that it was deemed expedient to incorporate under the name of Meyer Brothers Drug Company with a capital of $1,750,000.00.

From that time on, the firm was recognized as the largest of its kind in the world, serving not only the drug trade of the United States, but our sister Republics as well.

During the sixty-five years many changes have occurred, and though methods of conducting business have been materially affected, the original policy of the founders has not been deviated from. It can be stated in all sincerity that Meyer Brothers Drug Company has never knowingly taken advantage of its friends, and never will.

THE TENDENCY TO REVERT TO THE NORMAL.-Speaking generally, there is undoubtedly a tendency in the individual who has some morbid variation from the normal to reproduce that variation in his offspring, although Nature is forever trying to revert to the normal, and in favorable environment she succeeds in the generality of cases in restoring the normal condition. Hence you see, even in families in which a morbid tendency is strongest, most of the members usually escape.-[F. M. Sandwith in Clin. Jour.

MICROSCOPICAL NOTES

The Microscopic Determination of the Qua Foreign Materials in Powders.-A. Maurizio lebensm. Hyg. 6, 156-60 (1915). A review of microscopic methods for the quant. detn. of stituents of different materials. While in cases as the analysis of paper such metho yield approx. results, there is little hope even roughly the quantity of the different uents in mixts. like compound flours or stoc -[H. S. Bailey.

The Microscopic Analysis of Meat and Fish -R. Lucks. Landw. Ztg. 64, 508-14 (1915); B Intelligence 7, 433-4.—A microscopic method h devised for distinguishing meat meals fr meals and also for detg. their degree of purit of the meal to be analyzed is well ground, the kept as it is, and after some time the chang caused by keeping are studied. Five g. of the flour are placed in a porcelain dish and treat CHCI. After 2 to 1 min. the results are ob if the meal contains mammal or fish bone debris forms a deposit at the bottom of th while the muscular portions float on the su the liquid. These particles are decanted off CHCI, and the remainder is well washed i and subsequently examined under the mic The mammalian bones are easily distinguish the fish bones, from the size of the lacunae sej the lamellae of the bones. These lacunae, regularly present and well-developed in the I mammals, are often wanting or only slig veloped in those of fish. This character is ab reliable. A second portion of the ground flou is placed in a porcelain dish, then mixed and with 200 cc. of 50% HNO3. After heating t meals assume a blackish yellow color, wh meal becomes a yellowish brown, if mac herring, and light yellow, if composed of small portion of the meal treated with HNO amined microscopically. As the acid has d the lime of the bones, the latter cannot se more as a means of diagnosis. On the oth the muscular fibers are very characteristic. ' of the meat treated with HNO, is put in a p dish and heated with about 200 cc. of 2% Na this treatment nearly all the animal tissu stroyed, while the plant tissue is relatively y served. The whole is filtered, and the resid amined under the microscope; if it consists fibers, or pieces of wood, etc., it may be co that the impurities in the meal come from t ing material. If there are also other im pieces of straw, hay, grains of oats, barley, et fragments of potato, etc., it may be conclu one is dealing with a meat meal made from the probability being that such carrion is from animals that have died of some contag ease. [E. H. Walters.