IN BRIEF Do you make your customers your friends? Anybody can make good, but making better is what counts. Cincinnati has the largest office furniture factory in the world. The more a man knows the easier it is for him to learn more. English pharmacists are taking kindly to the optical business. The Minneapolis Drug Club is a very active, efficient organization. The inventory is appropriately called the compass of a business. A man is not always wrong because public opinion differs with him. A man's friends make him pleasant and his enemies make him strong. The Keokuk water power provides assistance for over a million persons. Mulberry leaves are now preserved in cold storage for the use of silk worms. What advertising methods do you employ? Perhaps you have no methods. Radium is continued as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of carcinoma. There is little that is good in the man who can see no good in his fellow-man. Do you realize that cheerfulness is a valuable asset in the retail drug business? The salmon industry in the vicinity of Seattle amounts to $27,000,000.00 per year. The Union of South Africa produced about 11,000,000 pounds of tobacco during 1912. Have you realized how much of the success of your store depends on your clerks? Convince a man that you are his friend, and he will buy a white elephant from you. Don't try to do everything yourself. Other people can possibly do some things better. It is reported that resublimed iodine is now obtainable for prompt delivery in England. The new British Pharmacopoeia has very few from the list of what are known as new remedies. Because you have done a thing for many years may be the best reason for changing your method. Soap has been used for more than 3000 years but is not extensively used by some people, even today. The Department of Agriculture is encouraging the fish industry on account of the shortage of meat. The drying of apples for stock feed has the advantage of less bulk and much better keeping qualities. The Department of Agriculture examined about 12,000 samples of food and beverages during the past year. Who defeated the war tax on proprietary medicines? Now, that it is all over, several claimants are in the field. The ladder of life is full of splinters-but they point upwards and jab us the hardest when we're sliding down. The manufacturer of a beverage who put wood alcohol in his product recently received a long time prison sentence. The man who is going to make his store absolutely necessary to the public is going to do it by service, not by price. Texas has a hole in the ground at Spur which measures 4,489 feet. It was made in an unsuccessful effort to find water. If your state legislature meets this season you will have the opportunity of protesting against proposed unfair legislation. Retail selling is as much a profession as medicine or law, and there is no reason why it should not demand as thorough a preparation. The war tax is referred to as an emergency revenue tax. The payment of the same is looked upon as an emergency in more than one instance. New York State spent ten million dollars last year in an effort to extinguish fires and only fifteen thousand dollars for the prevention of fires. The nose is spoken of as a safeguard against disease. In case of some persons, judging from the size of the organ, they should never be sick. Professor L. E. Sayre has written an account of the early history of pharmacy in Kansas. Someone in each state should undertake similar work. If you hire a boy with mental deficiency to grasp pharmacy, do not keep him, even if he works cheap and may be able to do some work in the store. The Spirit in us knows all things and circumstances in life are object lessons which teach the flesh the knowledge of the Spirit.-[W. A. Hickey. Concentrated cider, properly made, may be diluted with water when used. It keeps better than ordinary cider and is less expensive for transportation. Friendship in business is a fine thing, but the man who has no other claim on people for their trade than that of friendship is in a precarious position. Surplus and cull apples are used in making apple syrup which promises to become a welcome addition to our present diet. So says the Department of Agriculture. Pharmacists are the ones who have become greatly exercised about the rapid growth of the drug habit. They have taken the initiative in restricting the sale of narcotics. The supply of dolls and other toys of German manufacture was as large in the United States, this year, as usual. The dealers in this country take credit for ingenuity and capability in importing goods. The British Pharmacopoeia recognizes only the dry thyroid. Physicians, however, do not always want this article when they prescribe thyroid, consequently English pharmacists are in doubt what to dispense. 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. The Oil of Peppermint Market.-Weather conditions during the early Spring and throughout the Summer were extremely favorable, and a thorough canvass made by our representative in producing districts early in June showed an increase of over 3,600 acres over the acreage of 1913. Throughout the season the Peppermint plants looked very promising, and the distilling was begun as early as the latter part of June, which is quite unusual. It furthermore developed that the yield was exceptionally large and averaged at least 30 pounds of oil per acre, generally more, and, in consequence, a production of between 550,000 and 600,000 pounds of oil has to be reckoned with this year, while the annual consumption is estimated to amount to about one-half of this quantity. Stocks of old oil were nearly exhausted before the new crop could be marketed. As soon as the new oil was available a rapid decline took place, until the present values prevailed. The Export demand, on account of the European war, being very small only, and, on account of business conditions in general, it would not be surprising if the declining tendency which has so far prevailed would continue, and unless next year's crop should prove to be an entire failure, it is reasonable to assume that Peppermint Oil may be bought at moderate figures for some time to come. Since the high prices which prevailed during the last few years enabled the farmers to take better care of their fields, the quality of this year's oil was generally found to be excellent.-[Fritzsche Brothers. Pharmacists Should Give More Attention to the Preliminary Education of Apprentices. The average pharmacist does not pay much heed to the suggestions made by the pharmaceutical journals and persons interested in pharmaceutical education regarding the preliminary education of apprentices. Of course, those entering schools of pharmacy soon find out what is required, but only a few states have high school work as a requirement of applicants for registration. Illinois. Must have eighth grade education, or take State Board preliminary examination in eighth grade arithmetic. Minnesota. All applicants take Board examination in arithmetic and English. Wisconsin.-One year H. S., or the Board preliminary in lieu of it. This preliminary is similar to the Minnesota preliminary. It is because of these conditions that I have never felt able to urge more than a two-year entrance requirement to the Highland Ph. G. course. The twoyear H. S. student is reasonably well equipped to do the work of any two-year course now being offered in American colleges of pharmacy. Now, note the condition which confronts many students if all of the colleges should make a fouryear high school entrance requirement. 19 23 25 Some states have a flat four-year store experience requirement of applicants for registration. Hence: (a) H. S. 4 years, graduation age (b) Store apprenticeship, agen then (c) Two years College of Pharmacy, age Can you imagine a more effective way of driving students into plugging schools?-[Clyde L. Burrows. Why Business is Improving.-Throughout the country, business conditions in all lines are improving, bank reserves have been steadily increasing, and in connection with the new Federal Reserve system a tremendous change has taken place in the financial situation. The opening of the stock exchanges, even to the limited trading which our safety requires, illustrates the confidence of our financial institutions. Manufacturers and others are securing loans freely and on normal terms, and the fear that we would be unable to adequately finance our industries has entirely disappeared. Exports are enormous, with prospects of becoming still greater, and foreign orders are pouring in, not alone for foodstuffs, but for many of our manufactured products. Even the Cotton situation is clearing up wonderfully. Exports of that staple have already commenced, and in a few months, we believe that what threatened to be a heavy cloud over business in the South, will have almost, if not entirely, disappeared. The writer's business brings him into personal contact with almost every line of trade in the country, and with the largest and best concerns in these lines, therefore he obtains his information at first hand, and from sources that can absolutely be relied upon. From all quarters come reports of increasing demands, showing that a spirit of confidence, that great element which is the keynote of all business, has awakened. Foreign orders and the practical elimination of foreign competition are responsible for creating an optimistic spirit, and that in turn has started the great domestic machine going. People are realizing that we have nothing to fear for the future, and are loosening their purse strings.[J. H. Weeks, Philadelphia, Pa. BE CONTENTED.-There is a good deal of helpful philosophy in the course of the good natured man who had a pile of small cherries on his plate, and who made them taste better by looking at them through a magnifying glass and saying to himself, "Those are the biggest and handsomest cherries I ever saw."-[John H. Brown, Atchison. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS By George W. Hague, Ph. G., Freeport, N. Y. Taking Subscriptions for Drug Journals. This is one line of work which furnishes the agent a cleancut, work-when-you please, and pay-when-you-earn-it propostiion. By clean-cut, the writer means that your work is finished each night-as soon as the day's canvassing is done. It takes but a few minutes each night to fill out the subscription blanks and mail them to the drug journal. Compare this with the drummer who is selling goods on the road. He has to spend a great deal of time after his outside work is done adjusting prices between the office and customers, writing to the house for quotations, supply customers by mail with quotations, etc. Many drummers have to spend their Sundays adjusting matters by correspondence between house and customer. By work-when-you-please means that these positions are usually on a commission basis and your time is your own. This cannot be said by salesmen selling other goods on a commission basis, because the house wants even their commission drummers to send in orders as steady and as even as pos sible, so that they can be prepared to fill them. The pay-as-you-earn-it means that the canvasser keeps out his commission every time a subscription is taken, and sends the balance to the journal. The only preparation required is that the drug journal should be notified in advance before calling on the druggists, so that they can send sample copies to persons that the canvasser expects to call on. The above work, which is done outside of business hours is very simple and pleasant. Now, getting into the real work, it requires a knowledge of drug journals, work, courage, and tact. The easiest subscriber to sign up is the druggist who has just opened a new store. This kind will usually subscribe to the first journal that is presented to them; because one or two are needed. But when they have been in business some time and are taking three or four journals, they are hard to sign up, because they have gone their limit. The person who is interested in true pharmacy and reads the drug journals is usually easy to sign. The man who cannot name a member of his State Board of Pharmacy; cannot name a single standard work on pharmacy; cannot name a College of Pharmacy in this country, he is the one that you cannot sign.. Outside of the new druggists or the easy ones to sign, every drug journal to get subscribers must have some good feature to it. All drug journals are worth their subscription price, but in order to produce some good talking point, they should publish a price list, or have a free "Wants" page, or have some good feature to it. The fact that a journal has a free want page and allows its subscribers to advertise positions wanted, help wanted, stores for sale, stores A wanted, books for sale, etc., is a strong point in their favor. The writer, when doing subscription work, used this point as one of his trump cards. druggist would say that he did not care to subscribe because he wanted to sell out and retire. The answer would be, subscribe to this drug journal and advertise your store for sale, free of charge. A drug clerk would say that he did not care to subscribe until he found a better position. The answer would be, let me have your subscription now, and you may use our advertising notices at once, free of charge. A year's subscription to a journal that gives its subscribers free use of its want columns, is a good investment for any druggist who has no more use for it even than to sell his old scales, books, show globes, cases, etc. The value of a journal price list is too well known to mention. Some good feature in a journal might be appreciated by one, and regarded as a lot of nonsense by another. Thus: Board questions and college news are always interesting to the student. Printed formulas are usually welcomed by the man who is always adding to the list of his own preparations. Articles on side lines are useful to the one that makes merchandise his best part. The agent must size up the druggist; know from cover to cover his journal; and he prepared, if necessary, to dig up back information. Every agent should pick up, as he passes along the line, what news items that he can, and thus make interesting reading for the subscribers. This brings the agent to a point where he can have printed in the journal considerable news that would be of local 'interest. Thus: You can say that in the January issue your journal will contain a list of all the relief , clerks in, say, Pittsburgh, Pa., like the following: Telephone. Nationality. .15 Gold St.. 406 Spring. ..American. 16 Broadway. 126 Prospect.. ...American. ..97 Madison Ave..987 Lekington...American. 92 College St.....None. French. H. Schneider..... .97 Broadway.....942 Spring. .German. During the February issue the same useful news can be furnished the subscribers in Wheeling, W. Va. This information is worth a year's subscription to any druggist who might need a relief clerk, or has any fear of the Board of Pharmacy. If for some reason the journal will not publish such lists, there is nothing to prevent the agent from having some typewritten and mail one to each customer and relief clerk in that section. (To be continued.) EUSAPYL. This is the name given to a combination of chloro-metacresol with castor oil soap. It is introduced as a disinfectant for the hands, and is prepared by the Hoechst Colour Manufacturing Co.[Bull. Sci. Pharm., 1912, 19, 48. 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. Foreign Bodies in the Nose. Do not interfere by any efforts of extraction with foreign bodies in the nose. They are liable to be pushed up or further back, and to become lodged out of sight. Let a doctor see the case. Hope's Mixture.-(-) Mistura Camphoræ Acida. Acid Camphor Mixture. The National Formulary says: Nitric Acid (U. S. P.) 17%1⁄2 cubic centimeters 17.5 Cc. Tincture of Opium (U. S. P.)12 cubic centimeters 12 Cc. Camphor Water (U. S. P.) a sufficient quantity. 1000 Cc. To make 1,000 cubic centimeters... Mix the Nitric Acid with about five hundred cubic centimeters of Camphor Water, add the Tincture of Opium, and lastly, enough Camphor Water to make one thousand (1000) cubic centimeters. Stamp-Inks. In the latest edition of his "Pharmaceutische Manual," Eugen Dieterich devotes a chapter to the preparation of stamp-inks. These may be divided into three classes: first, those made with mineral colors and an oily basis; second, those containing aniline colors dissolved in oil; and third, aniline inks made with glycerine. The last are for india. rubber stamps, the oily colors being unsuitable for these. The aniline colors employed for the oily inks are the oil-soluble ones put on the market by the firm of Franz Schaal, Dresden. the processes by the remark that in each case a shallow pan or dish, but little larger than the plate of glass itself, is required for holding the silvering solution, and at least one-half inch deep, with a perfectly level bottom. The most ordinary method is as follows: First making reducting solution A by first dissolving and then boiling 12 grn. Rochelle salts in 12 oz. of distilled water. While this is boiling, add 16 grn. nitrate of silver dissolved in 1 oz. water and boil 10 minutes longer, take from fire or flame and add enough cold water to make 12 oz. in all. Next make silvering solution B by dissolving 1 oz. nitrate of silver in 10 oz. distilled water, add slowly liquid ammonia until the brown precipitate is nearly, but not quite, all dissolved, then add 1 oz. 95 per cent alcohol and sufficient water to make 12 oz. in all. Take equal parts by weight of solutions A and B, mix them thoroughly and cover the bottom of the silvering dish with the same; and lay the glass which has previously been cleaned with soda solutions, and rinsed with clear water, while still wet, face down into the mixture; let it remain in the dish or pan for about 20 minutes or thereabouts, rocking it gently near an open window, then take out the glass and stand it on edge to drain. The solutions should stand a few days before being used, to allow them to settle, and distilled water should be used in making them. One drm. each of the solutions will be required for each square inch of surface. Another process is Draper's method, which is described in the following: Then am Dissolve separately 500 grn. Rochelle salts in 3 oz. distilled water and 800 grn. nitrate of silver also in 3 oz. of water. Add of the silver solution to 1 oz. strong liquid ammonia, until brown oxide of silver remains undissolved. add alternately monia and silver solution carefully until the nitrate the of silver is exhausted, when a very little of Just brown precipitate should remain, and filter. before using add the Rochelle salt solution and dilute the mixture with distilled water to make 22 oz. in all. Clean the glass or mirror with nitric acid or plain collodion and tissue paper. Coat a tin pan of suitable size with beeswax and rosin, equal parts, melted together. Fasten a stick one-eighth of an inch in thickness across bottom of pan and pour in the solution. Put the glass in quickly, face downward, one edge first; carry pan to open window and rock the glass slowly for half an hour. Bright objects should now be visible through the film. Take out the mirror and set on edge on blotting paper to dry, and when thoroughly dry lay it face up on a dusted table. Stuff a piece of thin, soft buckskin with cotton loosely, and go over the whole surface with this rubber in circular strokes. Put some fine rouge on a piece of buckskin and impregnate the rubber with it, polishing the silver in small circles, goAfter one ing gradually over the whole surface. hour of continued rubbing the surface will be polished perfectly opaque and, with care, free from scratches. It is best, before silvering, to heat the solution and the glass in water of 100 deg. F. POISON LAW DISCUSSIONS By W. A. Hickey, Ph. B., St. Louis. This department is set apart for the discussion of poison laws. Correspondence from readers solicited. Keep in Touch with This Department. The discussion of poison laws began on page 272 of the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST for September. Is it Not Time for the A. M. A. and A. Ph. A. people to get busy and draft uniform and sane poison laws? If the authorities at Washington recognize the necessity of entirely new poison laws, why do not the doctors and the pharmacists, the people who are directly interested, act in this matter?-[W. A. Hickey, St. Louis. The Poison Law of Mississippi requires the keeping of a poison register. It is necessary for the dispenser to record his name, also that of the customer, giving the age, color and sex of the latter, also the amount of poison and the purpose for which it is purchased. It is the intention of the Board of Pharmacy to have this law enforced. 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 artieles, 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." Comment on Jos. Clinkenbeard Article.*-Think of the small amount of mercuric chloride it requires to destroy life. If a man has a cut on his hand he can buy enough bichloride at the nearest drug store to kill himself. In seven years' time 850 suicides from carbolic acid in the City of St. Louis. How easy it is to buy an ounce of phenol. An expert watchmaker cannot tell what is wrong with a watch by looking at the outside cover. The doctor and the druggist are one. The doctor is a city salesman for the druggist, and he is right on the ground and knows personally the one who needs the poison. The doctor is a check on the patient and the druggist is a check on the doctor. The enforcement of a New York Board of Health ordinance in 1906 deceased phenol suicide from 343 to 36. Does not that sturdy forcible writer, Mr. Clinkenbeard, mean, "Doctors who prescribe" and not dispense? From the dispensing doctor deliver us, unless it is a case of necessity. Yes, by all means, let the druggist only dispense. [W. A. Hickey, St. Louis. Everybody Is Conserned in the Poison Law Question. I do want to express my agreement with your views, and my thanks for the opportunity of saying a word in favor of uniformity and carefulness in regard to this important subject. At first sight it would *Page 272 of Meyer Brothers Druggist for September, 1914. appear to people that they have little at stake in the matter, that it affects comparatively few. But reflection shows that everybody is concerned, and that the common safety is at stake. It is always hard to bring home the moral phase of such a subject to people who think it a matter for specialist interest. The fact is that the better our civilization the more we are bound up with each other,-what hurts one hurts everyone, and what protects one protects everyone. The escence of morality is not the virtue of the individual but his care for others than himself, his recognition that he is what he is that is good by virtue of being a loyal and faithful member of society. This is what brings the cause you have at heart into the field of moral duty; and I trust that you will receive wide and effective co-operation in your wise and humanitarian endeavors.-[John W. Day, pastor Church of the Messiah, St. Louis. Poisons and Liquids. The postal rules, regulations of interest to pharmacists. The average pharmacist does not understand the restrictions which the government has placed on the transportation of poisons and liquids by mail. The folowing paragraphs are of special interest: 2. When in strong glass bottles holding four ounces or less, the total quantity sent in one parcel shall not excel twenty-four ounces, liquid measure. Each bottle shall be wrapped in paper or other absorbent substance and placed in a box made of cardboard or other suitable material and then placed in a box and packed in a container made of double faced corrugated pasteboard of good quality. The corners of the container must fit tightly and be reinforced wtih tape so as to prevent the escape of any liquid if the contents should be broken, and the whole parcel shall be securely wrapped with strong paper and tied with twine. Single bottles of liquid holding four ounces or less may also be packed as prescribed in the following paragraph: 3. When in glass bottles holding more than four ounces, the total quantity sent in one parcel shall not exceed sixteen ounces, liquid measure. The bottle must be very strong and must be inclosed in a block or tube of metal, wood, papier mache, or similar material; and there must be provided between the bottle and the block or tube a cushion of cotton, felt, or other absorbent. The block or tube must be at least five thirty-seconds of an inch thick in its thinnest part for bottles holding eight ounces or less and a least three-sixteenths of an inch thick for bottles holding more than eight ounces. The block or tube must be rendered water-tight by an application on the inside of paraffine or other suitable substance and must be closed by a screw-top cover with sufficient screw threads to require at least one and one-half complete turns before it will come off. The cover must be provided with a washer so that no liquid will escape if the bottle should be broken. And Section 494 in part: All kinds of poison and all articles and compositions containing poison, and all poisonous animals, insects. and reptiles, and explosives of all kinds, and inflammable materials, and infernal machines and mechanical, chemical, or other devices or compositions which may ignite or explode and all disease germs or scabs, 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, or damage, deface, or otherwise injure the mails or other porperty, whether sealed as first-class matter or not, are hereby to be non-mailable matter, and shall not be conveyed in the mails or delivered from any postoffice or station thereof, nor by any letter carrier. And Postmaster General's order No. 7361 dated July 29, 1913, amending Paragraph 4, Section 494. Medicines and anesthetic agents, which are not outwardly or of their own force dangerous or injurious to life, health, or property, and not in themselves unmailable (See Sections 480 and 497) may be admitted to the mails for transportation in the domestic mails when inclosed in packages in conformity with the conditions prescribed in Section 496: Provided, That the terms "medicines" and "anesthetic agents" shall not be construed to mean poisons: Provided, further, That the article mailed bears the label or superscription of the manufacturer thereof, or dealer therein, or of the licensed physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian preparing or prescribing the same.-[Pittsburgh Druggist. DON'T advertise profitless goods in your window. Advertising costs money and should produce money. |