ities of practitioner's life soon disabuses his mind on this subject. He finds that diseases are peculiarly obstinate, and would rather run irregular courses than conform to the typical cases pictured by his teachers and text-books.

Mr. Holmes must not be surprised if his address meets with a flood of criticism not only from physicians but also at the hands of well-meaning pharmaceutical friends.

The president's recommendation to make physicians out of pharmacists without requiring of them a special training in physical and clinical diagnosis, reminds us of the present condition of pharmacy in Missouri. In order to register as a pharmacist without an examination, either of two extreme courses are open to the ambitious candidate. One demands an apprenticeship of four years, with the attendance upon two courses in a recognized college of pharmacy. The diploma from such an institution, under the conditions mentioned, entitles the bearer to register without examination. The other course is much easier and consists in managing to obtain a "medical diploma." It does not matter whether it is granted after attending a four years' graded course in medicine, or obtained at the end of five or six months in a quack medical institution, or sold by a medical diploma mill without a day's attendance upon lectures. The piece of sheepskin or imitation parchment must be self-styled a medical diploma, and it will entitle the bearer to register as a pharmacist in Missouri. In other words, it is not necessary for the possessor of a diploma to be a physician, much less a pharmacist, in order to entitle him to register as a pharmacist. How long this condition of affairs will continue remains with the good pharmacists of Missouri to determine.

The National Wholesale Druggists' Association convened at Chicago, September 18 to 21. This organization has a large membership in proportion to the number of persons eligible to join the association. Its growth has been gradual but constant. At the last session the annual dues were doubled, so that regular members pay fifty dollars and associate members twenty dollars per year. This action caused a few to resign and a number to have their changed from the regular to the associate list.

names

The recent convention was an important one on account of the work now being done by the N. A. R. D. It was at the St. Louis meeting two years ago that the wholesalers, retailers and manufacturers approached each other with the view of securing a better understanding. The good work has been continued, and much was accomplished at Chicago.

The stamp tax has been assailed in earnest by the N. W. D. A., and its committee on that subject feels confident that the revenue will be repealed or modified in the very near future.

Cash discounts were among the subjects discussed and the proposition made to establish a uniform discount of one per cent.

The committee on drug adulterations submitted a

lengthy and interesting report, giving in detail facts and arguments supporting its recommendation for the passage of a national pure food and drug law. The following are the recommendations made by the committee:

That we deprecate the sale of misbranded and adulterated foods and drugs.

That we constantly keep before us the importance of quality in the products we sell, on many of which life is often dependent. That we reiterate our indorsement of the Brosius Pure Food and Drug bill.

That, individually and as an association, we use our utmost endeavors to influence our legislators to push the bill to early and final passage at the next session of Congress.

That we label correctly and definitely all the goods we sell. That we carefully consider the advisability of advocating the sale by assay-chemical or otherwise-of the drugs and medicinal products which contain alkaloids, resins, oils, oleo resins, and essential oils.

The new officers for the following year were selected as follows:

President-William J. Walker, Albany, N. Y.

First Vice-President-Frank S. Churchill, Burlington, Ia.
Second Vice-President-Frederick M. Robinson, New York.
Third Vice-President-E. C. Smith, St. Joseph, Mo.
Fourth Vice-President-W. H. Williams, Ft. Worth, Tex.
Fifth Vice-President-W. F. Michaels, San Francisco, Cal.
Secretary-A. B. Merriam, Chicago,

Treasurer-S. E. Strong, Cleveland, O.

Board of Control-J. C. Fox, chairman, Atchison, Kan.; James McCord, LaCrosse, Wis; F. L. Carter, Boston; M. Carey Peter, Louisville, L. C. Hall, Cleveland.

Special action was taken with a view of confining the membership to those actively engaged in the wholesale drug business. The committee on membership was given specific instructions on this point.

The New German Pharmacopœia which becomes the official guide in the German empire January 1, 1901, has already been published. It is said to be a great advance over the work which became official

January 1, 1891. It will interest our American readers to know that antidiphtheritic serum and tuberculine have been made official.

The following are the additions, numbering twentysix in all:

The Proprietary Association of America.—This society holds two meetings a year, and the convention at Chicago, held concurrent with the meeting of the N. W. D. A., was the semi-annual gathering. The membership of the society is confined almost exclusively to the manufacturers of proprietary medicines. It works hand in hand with the N. W. D. A. and thus becomes allied with the N. A. R. D. through the action taken at the St. Louis meeting.

But two sessions of the association were held. In these an expression of good will to the retailers was made and the time occupied by addresses of welcome and the consideration of various topics in rather an informal manner.

The entertainment feature of both the P. A. A. and N. W. D. A. are combined. The wholesalers, like the retailers, know how to enjoy themselves on such occasions. Chicago, through the efforts of the local trade, presented an elaborate program which was carried out to the letter, with but a single exception. This change of the original plans came unexpectedly when the automobile party found themselves far from the hotels in the twentieth century substitutes for carriages, and were caused to realize that the balky

traits of horses and mules have been transmitted to automobiles. Street cars and horse carriages were secured after the novelty of the situation wore off.

The President of the French Republic honored the pharmacists attending the International Pharmaceutical Congress with a reception. It seems that the London pharmacists decided that it would not do for them to hint to the Lord Mayor of London that it would be graceful for him to give the British Pharmaceutical Conference a reception during its recent meeting in that city. They are now wondering which of the two is the greater honor- a reception by the Lord Mayor of the largest city of the world, or by the president of the French Republic. One English writer in commenting on the affair does not fail to point out to the jubilant delegates to the pharmaceutical congress that the president of the French Republic went a step further during the International Medical Congress in Paris and invited the presidents of the sections and the official foreign delegates to a state banquet. This seems to afford our English critic a crumb of comfort.

For the Benefit of the Baltimore A. Ph. A. members, and especially ex-local secretary H. P. Hynson, we are pleased to state that the recent annual meeting of the British Pharmaceutical Conference opened with a temperature of 90 degrees in the shade, 130 degrees in the sun and 150 degrees at the formal reception. This certainly breaks the record and explains one reason why so many of the British pharmacists were restless during the reading of scientific papers and anxious to hear the author's peroration. The weather was hot in Baltimore, and, according to the oldest members of the A. Ph. A., it was hotter when the association met in Kansas City, but the hospitality of these cities overshadowed the excessive heat, and no doubt the same can be said of the recent convention held by our British cousins.

Carbolic Acid has been freely and carelessly sold by the grocers and oil men of England. The number of accidents, deaths and suicides which have resulted, induced the law-makers to change the order of affairs. The sale is now confined to the drug trade, unless the acid is in the original packages and bears the statement that it was prepared either for agricultural or horticultural purposes. The editor of a London

grocers' journal is mad, and startlingly says that the pharmacists have "roped in" another piece of "common ground." The Chemist and Druggist suggests to this disgruntled editor that grocers have as much right to sell one poison as another, and suggests that he advocate the repeal of the pharmacy act so that grocers can, as a special inducement to customers, advertise that one ounce of arsenic will be given free with every half pound of tea purchased.

The United States Pharmacopœial Convention was incorporated because beginning with 1890 the convention assumed the responsibility of publishing the Pharmacopoeia, holding the copyright and making use of the profits derived from the sale of the work. This money has been used in paying for extra and special work, leaving sufficient funds for a division among the members of revision, which is looked upon as an honorarium. Our English cousins do not begrudge the business tact of the Yankee pharmacists, but lament that the General Medical Council in that country controls the publication of the British Pharmacopoeia without adequately compensating the pharmacists who do the work without receiving anything more than a vote of thanks.

Should Women be Pharmacists? is a question in a list for discussion at a State meeting. We feel that it is somewhat out of date. A quarter of a century ago it was all right to ask whether women will be pharmacists or whether they should be. To-day, however, women are pharmacists, and a history of the past ages shows that it is useless to discuss the question of whether a woman should be whatever she

happens to be. The fact that she is, settles the

matter.

Constant Study in any one direction will have its effect upon the personal appearance of the party who is interested; thus, we have the miser face, the good samaritan face, the face of the thief, the face of the artist, the face of the politician, the face of the soldier, the face of the judge, the face of the minister, the foxy face, etc. The face of the pharmacist is one which gives the appearance of one who is ready and willing to do much for little pay.

The Price of Quinine has failed to excite any curiIs it not about the period osity for some time past. when there should be an opportunity for druggists to speculate in this chemical? We believe that the most tenacious of the retail druggists must have sold the last of their holdings in quinine from former speculations by this time.

Just Eleven Months before the meeting of the A. Ph. A. in St. Louis.

PRESCRIPTION CASE DEPARTMENT.

BY PROF. J. M. GOOD, PH. G., HON. M. D., DEAN ST. LOUIS COLLEGE OF PHARMACY.

Spirit of Sulphur.-A correspondent in Alabama says: "We have a demand for 'spirit of sulphur.' Will you kindly give us information in regard to it?" Perhaps some of our readers can give the desired

information.

"Ext. Rhus Rad. Fl."-The drug in this case is the "rhus radicans," the fresh leaves of which are official as rhus toxicodendron, or poison ivy. The root has medical properties as well as the leaves, but while the title as above written might cause some confusion, the druggist should dispense the fluid extract of the official drug.

In the lists of some manufacturing pharmacists it is given among the "specific" or "green drug" tinctures.

Ung. Betulæ Comp.-This is, no doubt, a private formula, the principal medicinal ingredient of which is the brownish-black empyreumatic oil known as "oleum rusci." It is obtained by distilling the bark of the common, European birch. The volatile oil of sweet birch, almost identical with oil of wintergreen, must not be confounded with it. It is often prescribed in ointments, cold cream sometimes being used as a vehicle for it. It has been found useful in the treatment of chronic eczema.

"Viba Pluma."-A correspondent asks: "What is 'fluid extract of viba pluma?' It was prescribed by Dr., of St. Louis."

Inquiry of the physician mentioned confirmed the suspicion that the prescription had been incorrectly read.

He says: "I know of no such drug as 'viba pluma.' If the prescription was written by me, it, in all probability, was, as you suggest, viburnum prunifolium. The clerk was either a poor reader of abbreviated prescription writing or I am a poor writer."

Heroic Medicine.-"J. L. C.," of Texas, says: "Please tell me what you think would be a good disguise for the following:

If the above is horse medicine, it is possible, perhaps, to compel the helpless animal to swallow it. It will not "masquerade" as an elixir, "doctor it" as we may, and we suggest that our correspondent had better spare his efforts and his material. Let him try to educate his physicians up to the point of consideration for their patients.

Sup. Carb. Soda.-"B," of Arkansas, writes: "We copy prescription for Thompson's Fever Syrup just as it appears in his work, as follows:

We are unable to find sup. carb. soda in any textbook at hand, hence the question with us is: "What kind of soda shall we use in compounding?"

The older ones in the practice of pharmacy will recognize "supercarbonate of soda" in the abbreviation which has puzzled our correspondent. "Super" -above or over-here signifies, in combination with carbonate, the higher or bicarbonate of sodium. "Soda sal aëratus" is another old name for the same substance. The unscientific nomenclature of chemistry and pharmacy is gradually disappearing, with none to mourn its departure.

Pharmaceutical Manipulation.—“L. W. P.” writes: "Kindly inform me through the columns of an early issue of MEYer Brothers Druggist, how to compound the following prescription without causing precipitation:

Additions to the formula which would improve it would be allowable."

To compound the foregoing, the most satisfactory result would be reached by the following successive steps:

1. Mix the spirit of nitre, paregoric, the fluid extracts and the alcohol together; add to this mixture about twenty fluid ounces of syrup and add syrup squill compound.

2. Dissolve the codeine in a small amount of water and add the solution to number one.

3. Mix the chloroform, turpentine and essential oils in a dry, one-ounce vial, add ten grains of powdered acacia; mix by shaking well; add a half ounce of water and shake the mixture for a few minutes to form an emulsion. Add this mixture to number one. 4. Add syrup sufficient to make thirty-two fluid

ounces.

This will make a mixture which will not be unsightly, but in dispensing, directions should be given to "shake the bottle."

We may add that this prescription is rather complex for this day of directness in prescribing.

Not Used to the Place.-Mr. Isolate (of Lonelyville)-What is the matter Amabel? You seem agitated.

Mrs. Isolate (distracted)—Oh, Ferdinand! hurry into the kitchen and calm the cook! There's an eel coming through the cold water faucet and she thinks she has the delirium tremens.-[Puck.

We sell our own preparations when it can be done consistently, but always supply the advertised product when it is called for.

We Make All of Our Own Remedies and find that it is better to push one successfully than have a dozen poor sellers.

I have never solicited physicians for their business, but try to merit their confidence by prompt and efficient service, and by showing them that quality is of first consideration in all drugs and chemicals.

It does not pay to counter-prescribe. A pharmacist cannot be a successful doctor, nor can an M. D. always be a successful druggist.

A Doctor's Order With Us is Law and permits of no deviation from what he may specify.

Keeping down the store expense account helps the net profits. After all that may be said on this subject, the following points will bring success in the retail drug business as well as any other.

I. Close attention to the business by the proprietor. 2. Careful buying and cash discounts.

3. Short book accounts.

4. No ornamental help, but every one in the store a worker. 5. A stock of goods kept up to date.

6.

A generous distribution of accommodation and politeness. 7. Living within your income.

-[JOHN W. REED, Quincy, Ill.

Miss Frederica de Wyl at Home.-We had quite an interesting time interviewing the various druggists and pharmacists from Scotland to Italy. The drug store-Drogheria (Italian); Droguerie (German) – is a separate establishment, in no way connected with the chemist-Apotheke (German); Farmacia (Italian); Pharmacia (French). The latter only fills prescriptions and counter prescribes; generally has a small shop about twenty feet square, with only a few bottles and huge ointment jars in sight. There is no attempt made to beautify; the more mysterious they can make the same appear, the better chemist the public seem to think he is. Every city has only so many, and we were told that their charges were regulated by the authorities. If the same is true, they allow very liberal profits for the pharmacist, as we paid 2 francs .50 (50 cents) for a two-ounce mixture of syrup of tolu and wild cherry, in Ostend, Belgium. The prescription is filled in view of the customer; they have no private prescription room and use metric system everywhere.

The prescription is returned to the customer, the druggist keeping a copy.

We Generally Went in and Asked for Calomel and Soda Tablets (they are not kept anywhere, not even in London or Paris), and while the druggist would look over his list as to what that might be, we would take a look around the shop. After a time he would come from his laboratory, his hands under his apron (in Scotland, Switzerland and Italy they wear aprons like our grocer), and inform us that he had no such article in stock, but would make them for us; of course we had no time to wait. Saw no tablet triturates or gelatin capsules in Europe. Bought some quinine pills at Lucerne; they were a pink gelatin-covered pill with the amount of quinine contained in

each marked thereon in black figures. We never found less than two men, and generally three, in each little shop; never saw any of them busy, and when they found we were from America, they were as anxious to interview us as we them.

In Mayence, Germany, a druggist asked me if it was really true that in America the druggist sold lemonade and cigars. After I told him that we sold no lemonade, it dawned upon me that he had reference to the ice cream soda. All non-alcoholic drinks over there go by the name of lemonade, although the most of them never come in contact with a lemon; did not tell him that the Kansas and a good many Missouri druggists sold whiskey. At Brussels one of our party had a common prescription for a cold; when he gave it to the pharmacist he looked at it a few minutes and told him he would have to go down two turns to the right, where he would find an English and American pharmacy, as his preparations were all made according to the Belgium Pharmacopoeia. So we had to go down the two turns (two blocks) to the American pharmacy, (where they spoke only French and German) and where,a fter a lot of explanation and changing of our prescription, we had it filled. At Rome we wanted potassium carbonate; he studied quite a while, then got all the preparations of potassium he had and put them on the counter before us, to select the one we wished, among which we found what we wanted. At Florence, Italy, we stopped at the Grand Hotel, which, 400 years ago, had been the home of the "Medici family." Notwithstanding the many changes that have been made since that time, it still bears evidence of its past grandeur; also the Coat of Arms above the entrance (seven large pills, a very peculiar scale on a pill slab). I felt very much at home when I awoke in the morning and found the same Coat of Arms looking down upon me from center of ceiling. At Genoa, Italy, we saw a sign, "Farmacie Commercial et Industriel." Now, this was a new one on us, and as we saw a sign in the window, "English spoken here," we entered, but found, as in most all the places where they have those notices, the Englishman was just out, and as we were no Italian scholars all we could understand was that he manufactured a line of proprietary medicines.

The Most Handsome Pharmacy we saw was "Pharmacy Hall" at Ludgate Hill Station, London, and wound up by visiting a pharmacy and drug store in Paris which had the following sign in its window: "American and English patent medicines at cut-rate prices."

Came home perfectly satisfied to have a drug store and pharmacy in America. At Aix la Chapelle we saw a druggist making his own mercurial ointment. -[F. DE WYL, Jefferson City, Mo.

Department Store Taxation in Germany has at last met with success. Persistent efforts have been made during the past seven years to secure legislation on this subject, and on June 18 the Prussian parliament, by royal edict, put a special tax on department stores in Germany, to take effect January 1,

1901.