COUPONS The Profit-Sharing Coupon is not what it seems to be. Mr. James W. Morrison, in the Chicago R. D. A. News discusses as follows the fallacy of the coupon stamp: We want our customers to do more business, to make more money. We are for anything that will help them do that. The coupon-trading stamp-men say their plan will do it. But will it? When you give a coupon or trading stamp you give part of your profit. You cannot afford to do that. back. You must get it Can you charge more for the goods you sell? Can you substitute cheaper goods for the same price? Certainly not. You must be fair with your customer or he will not and ought not be your customer. Besides you have competition. But the coupon-trading stamp man tells you you will get it back in increased sales. Suppose you do increase your sales 25 per cent. Suppose you are doing $20,000 per year and increase that to $25,000. The coupon-trading stamp man tells you you can do it for 2 per cent. Two per cent on what? On the $5,000 increase? Certainly not. On your whole business! Now 2 per cent on $25,000 is $500. You have spent $500 to get $5,000 worth of additional business. That 10 per cent rebate is bad enough. But suppose your competitors also give coupons. Where is the additional business to come from? There is just about so much to be had in your city. If you all give coupons that business will probably divide just as it did before. You will have the $20,000 you started with, but will pay 2 per cent or $400 more for it than before. Do you want to do that? Of course not. Shall you have to do it? Probably-unless you and your competitors see the folly of it. The coupon-trading stamp plan is being promoted by great corporations whose interest is their profit in it. It is opposed by great wholesale houses like Marshall Field & Co., Carson Pirie Scott & Co., and Macey & Co., whose interest is in the welfare of their customers. It has been legislated against by states whose interest is in their people. It has been denounced by associations of retail and wholesale merchants whose interest is in their own trades. Isn't it about time that you as an individual merchant did something about it? MOST PEOPLE expect life to pay them a dividend before they put anything into the investment. USEFUL NOTES A Hint. To separate yolk from the white of egg, try breaking the egg into a small funnel. The yolk will remain within the funnel, while the white may be caught in a receptacle below.-[Canadian Druggist. Mortars and Pestles.-Dr. J. Crone, of Ems, Germany, in an article in the Apotheker Zeitung, called attention to the improper shape of most of the mortars in use. A proper mortar, whether for the preparation of powders, salves or emulsions, should be shaped like a hemisphere, in order to give the best results with the least amount of energy. The same remarks relate to the pestles, that should be rounded without any projecture or flange. Whiting in Packets. The preparation for whitening ceilings, which is sold in powder form in packets, is made as follows: Mix well and pack into 1-pound cartons. The directions are: Add a pint of boiling water to the contents. [Southern Pharmaceutical Journal. A Pliable Lantern Screen. An excellent lantern screen or photographer's background that can be rolled up without cracking or wrinkling easily can be made with the use of the following coating mixture: Glycerin, 1 lb.; white glue, 1 lb.; French zinc oxide, 2 lb.; hot water, 1 gallon. The glue is dissolved by heat in a portion of the water, the glycerin well worked in, and the zinc oxide incorporated. The cloth to be treated is stretched on a frame, and the mixture applied while hot.-[Camera Craft, through Brit. Journ. Photog., February 26, 1915, 139. Life Lifters.-How necessary we are, one to the other, along the road of life. It is the little pleasant things we say and do that tend to make the way hard, or life worth the living, for our fellow pilgrims. Never forget to wear a cheerful smile every morning and be absent-minded enough to forget to take it off at night. Sleep in it-it will insure pleasant dreams. Don't nag! The world hates a fault-finder. Give to the needy, speak a word of comfort to the heavy-hearted, go out of your way to be agreeable to the aged, and lend a ray of hope to the discouraged ones. [John H. Brown. Removing Paint from Wood. As examples of the numerous preparations of the kind in question, the following are on record: (1) Potassium hydroxide, 1 lb.; acetone, 2 pints; methylated spirit, 1 pint; oil of turpentine, 1 pint; petroleum spirit, 1 pint; castor oil, 10 fl. oz. Mix. It is used by spreading thinly over the old paint. After a few minutes a second application is made, when the softened paint can generally be easily removed with a blunt spatula. (2) The following is an example of a patented prep aration: Lime water, 2 gallon; soda, 1 lb.; soft soap, 4 lb.; ammonia, 2 oz.; paraffin oil, 4 pint. A well-known book on painters' materials states that "some of the most satisfactory paint removers are prepared by mixing in various proportions such substances as acetone, amyl alcohol (fusel oil), carbon bisulphide, ethane tetrachloride. These solvents can either be used alone and put on with a brush or made up into a paste with pumice powder and used with a pad." Some seem to be little more than a solution of hard paraffin in benzine prepared with heat, excess of paraffin crystallizing out on cooling and being left in the liquid. In nearly all preparations of the kind, however, there is something present to retard evaporation of the solvent, usually castor oil or cocoanut oil. A small addition of either to a solution of hard paraffin in benzine or petroleum spirit prepared as above would answer very well.[Pharmaceutical Journal. Labeling Tin Boxes.-The first thing to do in preparing a tin surface so that a label will stick to it permanently is to remove the oil or grease adhering to the surface, says H. C. Bradford in a recent issue of Merck's Report. This may be accomplished most effectively by applying crude sulphuric acid to the tin with a swab made of glass wool. The acid is first diluted with water and then applied to the surface with the swab. The tin is then washed with a solution of sodium carbonate and allowed to dry. This procedure puts the tin in good shape to hold the label, provided the proper sort of paste is used. Grease may be also removed, although not so thoroughly by rubbing the surface of the tin to be pasted with a sponge that has been wet and rubbed on a cake of scouring soap or even dipped in whiting. Then the surface is given a coat of some slow-drying resinous varnish. The best varnish to use is damar, thinned out with alcohol until it is about of the consistency of compound tincture of benzoin, or even tolu tincture, may be used in place of the damar. According to Mr. Bradford, the most suitable paste to use in causing labels to stick to tin treated in one of the foregoing ways is the following: Lump starch Powdered aluminum sulphate Glycerin Water 16 ounces 2 ounces 2 ounces 2 ounces 4 ounces 12 pints Mix the starch, aluminum sulphate (not alum), and 4 pints water, to a smooth, creamy paste. Dissolve the lye in about 11⁄2 pints water, and stir slowly into the starch mixture, beating it briskly, so as to get a smooth, even mixture. Next, warm the Venice turpentine until it can be worked easily, and stir it in the same manner, and then follow with the glycerin. Lastly, beat in the balance of the water, put the mixture on the fire and heat, with stirring, until it is just cooked. It should be rather soft. Stir in about half an ounce of methyl salicylate, mix thoroughly, and put into jars.-[Practical Druggist. THERAPEUTICS FOR PHARMACISTS Breast Feeding.-As a rule, the infant should be fed from only one breast at a time. Only in those cases in which the milk is insufficient in quantity should both breasts be given at one time:- [Isaac Abt, Detroit Med. Jour., February, 1915. Cold as a Tonic.-The human body has a wonderful power of adapting itself to changes in temperature, but the power must be educated by use. Cold is dangerous when it comes as a surprise. Make a friend of it and it is one of the best tonics you can have. [New York Health Almanac, 1915. Treatment of Warts.-Cinnamon oil is stated to be an excellent remedy for warts. A drop of the oil is applied daily to each wart. In a few days, they disappear, leaving no scar. The application is quite painless. [Rosenberg (Amer. Medicine, February, 1915, through Practitioner, June, 1915, 892). Mentho-Phenol for Toothache.-Menthol, 3, and phenol, 1, melted together, make a useful analgesic application for an aching tooth with an exposed pulp. It is also of use applied to a painful socket after tooth extraction.-[J. Morgan Howe (Dental Brief, through Brit. Journ. Dent. Sci., April 15, 1915, 378). Antidotes for Phenol.-A common antidote for carbolic acid is alcohol, but common cider vinegar is equally good and often more handy. Externally in full strength it restores the functions of the skin and removes soreness; internally, diluted one-half or two-thirds, it is to be slowly administered in teacup doses. [Exchange. Pediculi Pubis.-These annoying pests, commonly known as "crabs," can be instantly destroyed by the application of ether in the form of a spray. The following will often do the work in a single application: Salicylic Acid Comp. Antiseptic Solution 2 drams 8 oz. -[The Continental Druggist. Encouraging the Health Department. - Every thoughtful citizen should know what work the health department is doing and the extent of protection from disease that is being given to him and to those dear to him. Such interest will in itself insure more efficient work, for the health department needs the moral support, the approval and at times the cooperation of all intelligent citizens.-[John W. Trask, Pub. Health Rep. Treatment of Sweating Feet.-Dr. H. Althoff (Deut. Med. Woch.) says the feet should first be thoroughly washed with warm water and soap, rinsed and dried. Then the soles and the skin between the toes are pained with equal parts of thirty-five per cent formaldehyde and distilled water. The solution should dry before the foot is covered. In general this treatment should be repeated three days in succession. The effect is prompt and lasts for four to six weeks, when the application should be repeated. Sweating is often permanently cured. Menthol Thymol Soap Embrocation.-The following soft soap inunction is recommended: Menthol, 10 Gms.; thymol, 2 Gms.; soft soap, 30 Gms. This quantity is sufficient for five days' use. On the first day, one side of the back is treated; on the second day, the other side; on the third day, the chest; on the fourth and fifth day both thighs. The rubbing is to be kept up at each application for eight minutes. After twenty-four hours the parts are to be washed with tepid water and then treated withoil.[Stepp (Fortschrift. der Med., 1913, 841; Apoth. Zeit., 28, 857). Individual Health Depends on Community Health.The health of the community depends on the health of the citizens, but the health of each individual also depends in some measure, often in large measure, on that of the other members of the community. Health of the individual is therefore a condition that, generally speaking, can be maintained only by a combination of individual and community effort, and its importance is such that in the activities of the city and of the state it should hold a prominent place. The health of the community should be of greater concern than commercial prosperity, for it is essential to commercial prosperity. Necessary as are our courts, our fire and police departments, and our educational systems, the importance of the community's attention to the citizen's health is second to none.-[John W. Trask, Pub Health Rep. Use of Disinfectants During the Course of Disease. -All agree that disinfectants can be used with the greatest effect at the bedside of the patient. If done properly the necessity for terminal disinfection is lessened or perhaps removed. The patient is the source of infection. In most of the infectious diseases he is continually giving off virulent organisms in his secretions and excretions. These should be disinfected by proper means as soon as possible after being discharged; also all linen, bedding, dishes, and other utensils which necessarily come in contact with the patient. In some diseases it is not necessary to disinfect all discharges, though in case of doubt the errors should be made on the side of safety. In typhoid fever the feces and urine are highly infectious, but sputum, vomitus, and sweat may contain the bacilli and should also be treated. In such diseases as diphtheria the chief avenues by which the infection is given off are in the secretions of the nose and throat, rarely of the ear, and in the expired air as droplet infection. These discharges should be received on cheap fabrics that can be used once and then destroyed. The bath water used in all cases of infectious disease should be disinfected. Perhaps it is going too far to insist on the disinfection of all discharges of patients suffering from infectious disease, regardless of what the disease may be, though such a course would be preferable to treating one class excretions and leaving untreated others which might spread the infection.[H. E. Hasseltine, Passed Assistant Surgeon, United States Public Health Service. TRADE TOPICS Use a Blackboard.-Place a blackboard just outside and at right angles to the window. Paint on it, at the top, a hand, pointing to the window, and chalk on the board catch phrases calling attention to the goods and prices, changing the phrase each day. [Pacific Drug Review. Ask Your Jobber.-If a salesman tells you that new goods may be returned to the jobber if not sold, or if you are told that you may return them under conditions, BEFORE SIGNING communicate with the jobber who shall fill your order. IT MAY PAY YOU WELL to do this. It frequently has occurred that representatives have made false statements about guaranteed sales, etc.-[E. A. Sennewald. Paint Jobbers as a Class Do Not Exist.-There are paint jobbers, men who collect the products of various factories, maintain a well assorted and ample stock and from this supply the wants of the retail dealer for the painter and decorator, but as a class, working along well defined lines, proud of the sphere available for their own activities, guarding against the intrusion of commercial hermaphrodites, and jealously watchful of the rights of other classes whom they may best serve by loyalty to their own-such a class does not exist.-[Paint and Varnish Record. Pharmacy Questions. Where are the six-ounce bottles? What became of that bottle of magnesium citrate? Who failed to charge John Jawsmith with those cigars he got? want list. Did anybody check this invoice? Are you fellows on the job here or do you think this store is a sanitarium for the rest cure? When did Crooksey Portsmouth say he would pay this bill? Who ordered this? Who fell for this bum check? Has anybody seen the box opener? Where did you put those pale pills for pink people? Who hid the cash book? Did anybody send Dr. Killem that gauze bandage? Who left that syrup percolator to run all over the basement? Who left that can of carbon open? Where did Dr. Donchernaw say he was going? Did Miss Linnie Laughinggas leave a call for Harold Youngthing? Did that nail file we ordered for Mrs. Townpest ever come? What went with the package that Mrs. Trouble left here yesterday? When is the two-twenty train due?-[The Southern Pharmaceutical Journal. One Kind of Salesmanship.-A woman came into a drug store with the words, "Boric Acid," written on a piece of paper. She asked the pharmacist if that was good for sore eyes. He said "yes," and she said she wanted five cents worth. He soon returned with the package, when the customer inquired how she should use it. He told her she had better learn that from the friend who advised her to buy boric acid. This pharmacist was related in kind at least to the One who saw a customer come out of a saloon across the street and enter his store and order ten cents worth of quinine. When asked the best way to take the quinine the pharmacist told the customer that he had better go back to the saloon for such advice. He reminded the customer that while he spent fifty cents with the saloonkeeper, he only wanted ten cents worth of quinine and then asked for professional advice thrown in for nothing. This is one kind of salesmanship but not the kind taught by Alfred W. Pauley in the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Fair Prices. Some merchants worry too much about their prices. They are constantly trying to figure some way to knock off a penny or two on the price. It is worth while for some to stop and consider whether price is, after all, the most important thing in running a successful business. If a merchant would devote the time which he wastes worrying about his prices to figuring out improved service to his customers, in improving the quality of his goods, and in devising comforts and conveniences for his store, wouldn't it pay him better in the end? Who are the most successful merchants of your acquaintance? Are they not the ones who devote their attention to the keeping of well-ordered and well-assorted stocks, and the management of their store, so as to give the most satisfactory results to their customers? Isn't the man who makes the big success of his business very often the one who does not worry about what prices his competitor is charging, provided he knows that his own prices are based on sound principles,. and are necessary to return him a reasonable margin?-[Popular Storekeeping. Features of Your Business.-The Newman Drug Co., of Louisville, Ky., distribute among their customers a very attractive, interesting and instructive pamphlet. The following, under the heading of "Features of Our Business," may assist others in getting up a similar advertising scheme: mor We employ only highly educated pharamacists to compound prescriptions--men who are absolutely dependable-clean ally and physically, whose entire time, mind and energy is concentrated on their work. No distraction, no interference-as they are away from all possible interruptions. This is an added safeguard against errors. Every United State Pharmacopoeia and National Formulary product we manufacture in our laboratory has the Government tests for purity and accuracy applied. A record is kept with a control number, so we know and can positively state that all of our products are up to the required standard of strength and purity required by the National and State Pure Food and Drug Laws. Every package used by us, be it bottle or box, is new and absolutely clean. We never refill an old bottle. Our pill and powder boxes are all hinged, so that tops or directions cannot be confused. Ointments are dispensed in collapsible tubes, thus avoiding any possible re-infection from dirty or gresy jars. Our labels are all typewritten, directions clear and cannot be misunderstood. Another special feature of our business is the complete stock of Vaccines and Serums kept on hand constantly. To properly keep and protect these products from deterioration and becoming inert, we installed a tremendous poreclain-lined, mahogany refrigerator, in which we maintain at all times an average temperature of 50 degrees. Our firm buys and dispenses nothing but the best, irrespective of cost. We never substitute one product for another, claiming that it is "just as good." We never misrepresent an article, nor do we attempt to divert a customer from what he wants and asks for. We cannot and do not recommend patent medicines. We do not counter prescribe, for that is absolutely the physician's field, not the druggist's. We do not permit our name or our place of business used to endorse or exploit fake medicines. to be Not Personal Attendance.-A physician who receives a description of symptoms by letter may not prescribe any narcotic drug therefor. This ruling of the Treasury Department at Washington may prove a hardship in cases where doctor and patient are temporarily separated, but it will drive out of business hundreds of mail order "treatment for drug habits" concerns, and prove decidedly advantageous to the profession as well as to the laity. Treatment by correspondence does not constitute personal attendance upon" a patient, is the ground for this decision. [Pharmacal Advance. While it is certain that the government will not, through its agents, deliberately persecute any physician who, in the legitimate practice of medicine, innocently disobeys or neglects to obey one or other of the minor provisions of the Harrison Act, there should be an exercise of greater care in the matter of full and exact compliance with the law; some good, honest doctors are making the mistake of presuming too much on their unquestionable rectitude and failing to make and keep accurate record of their disposition of narcotic drugs.-[Pharmacal Ad vance. We are not so confident on this important point.[Editor MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST. Pharmacists Should Post the Physicians and Look Out for Themselves.-The medical profession is taking more interest than ever before in the proper care of drug habituates. This is owing to the effect of the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Law. Many habituates were anxious to reform, and others are led to do so per-force of circumstances. Physicians do not have the reputation of being good business men. Many of them are restless under the restraint of rules and regulations. The attack made on the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Law in some sections of the country was due, first, to ignorance of the real purpose of the law, and second, to the fact that it placed additional restraint on their actions. We are not surprised that some physicians have been careless and are now being arrested by the federal authorities. Pharmacists should urge their medical friends to strictly comply with the law in every particular. A Conviction of a Physician Under the Law of Tennessee upheld by the Supreme Court of that state. On page 2903 of the September 24, 1915, issue of the Public Health Reports appears an opinion of the Supreme Court of Tennessee which may be of value as a precedent. The Tennessee law requires that physicians shall be in personal attendance on patients to whom habitforming drugs are distributed or dispensed by them. The court stated that the law "is modeled after and closely conforms to the act of Congress later passed and approved December 17, 1914" (the Harrison antinarcotic act). A detective secured from the defendant, who was a physician, a prescription for morphine, stating that TOO LATE FOR CLASSIFICATION Effects of Selection on Alkaloids in BelladonnaUnder the title "Some Effects on the Production of Alkaloids in Belladonna," the United States Department of Agriculture in Bulletin 306 gives the results of a series of tests on controlling pollination of first and second generation plants, with especial attention to cross-pollination and close-pollination. Following are the conclusions reached in the Bulletin: It having been established in the previous investigation that a wide range of variation exists in the alkaloidal content of belladonna plants, the present investigation was undertaken to determine whether the characteristic of alkaloid production is transmissible to the progeny through seed, and whether the character is changed by vegetative propagation. The results thus far show that the first generation plants secured from seed of cross-pollinated selected individuals display the characteristic of the maternal parent with regard to alkaloid productivity. This condition is generally true at all stages of growth during a season and also for at least two successive seasons. Close pollination of the parent plant has show only a moderate influence on the transmission of this characteristic. Second-generation plants from cross-pollination have been grown at Arlington, Va., Madison, Wis., and Timmonsville, S. C., and at all three stations they have displayed the relative alkaloid-producing tendencies evident in the original parent plant and the generation preceding. While the plants at the different localities showed a parallel relationship toward each other, there was considerable difference in the general quantity of alkaloids produced. Thus, in the case of Madison and Arlington, where two pickings were made at fairly corresponding stages of growth, it was found that the Madison plants yielded more alkaloids than those at Arlington. At Timmonsville the yield was still greater than at Madison, but here only one picking was made, and it is hardly possible to make a true comparison. Nothing definite developed to indicate that a relationship exists between the amount of precipitation and sunshine and the percentage of alkaloids produced. Plants were grown from cuttings, and at two stages of their growth these plants showed a marked tendency to display the same characteristic regarding alkaloid production as the plants from which they were propagated and the original parents of those plants. |