WORKING FORMULAS. BY ALBERT E. EBERT, PH. M., PH. D., CHICAGO. [Continued from page 278.] One of the Necessary Utensils of the soda fountain is a sponge. Nothing else will take its place to keep the fountain, counter, sink and surroundings clean. One of the drawbacks in the use of the sponge is that it gets easily soiled and becomes slimy, and when in this state ordinary washing with water and soap or alkalies does not restore it to the condition of a clean sponge. The writer has observed the following, that if the sponge is allowed to be in contact with salt the slimy condition disappears and then the sponge can be thoroughly cleansed with water. The salt brine obtained from the ice cream cabinets, or the tubs in which the ice cream cans are packed, answers the purpose well in this cleaning of the sponge. Wherever it is convenient, it is very advisable to allow the above named salt brine to discharge through the waste-pipes of the sink, thereby preventing clogging up with the slime from the rinsing of the glasses, etc. The writer has observed that the use of the pointed ice cream spoons which have come into use this season, causes the cracking of the soda glasses. This form should be avoided when purchasing spoons. Limes are quite plentiful at present on the market; we would recommend their use instead of lemons in making lemon syrup. The flavor and taste of a syrup thus prepared is really exquisite and delicious. I av. oz. Fluid extract of spigelia..... ...... 3 fl. ozs. Syrupy glucose, enough to make 16 fl. ozs. Mix the powders, add the oils and with the fluid extracts make into a smooth paste, then add the syrup. Attach a shake label. Mix. I fl. dr. Oil of rose geranium.. Oil of cubebs Oil of copaiba.. White-Wine Vinegar. Acetic acid, U. S. P. I fl. dr. .6 fl. drs. I pint. .....I pint. ....I av. 07. ....2 fl. drs. .....I gal. Sherry wine.. Tartaric acid.. Acetic ether.. Water enough to make....... Linseed Tea. Linseed, whole I av. oz. Macerate for several hours and pour off clear. WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT. BY E. B. HEIMSTREET, SECRETARY WISCONSIN BOARD OF PHAR MACY, JANESVILLE. FORMULAS. Honey Beverages-P. L. Simmonds, F. L. S. says in the British and Colonial Druggist that the earliest manufactured kind of intoxicating liquid was proba Next Meeting Wisconsin Pharmaceutical Associa- bly mead. From honey a fermented beverage is tion now being decided. Next Examination by Wisconsin Board of Pharmacy at Hudson, October 12. Wisconsin Items. made, which is largely used throughout the Soudan. The Drake Bros. Drug Co., of Milwaukee, have ten registered metheglin it was frequently alluded to by old writers. pharmacists in their store. H. H. Ponkey has purchased the Bijou Pharmacy at Cumberland, formerly owned by Gatchell & Co. August Benn has purchased the Menominee Falls Pharmacy and is putting in a full and complete stock of drugs and goods suitable to the trade. W. H. Jones, postmaster, and D. D. Shea, of Arena, who were burned out some time ago, have just moved into their new building, the postoffice and drug store being combined. THE TREASURY STAMP TAX DECISIONS. Also see pages 302 and 303. (19879.) Chewing Gum.-Retail dealers not permitted to remove chewing gum from original stamped packages and place same in show case. You will advise them that chewing gum must be sold at retail from the original packages, and that retail dealers will not be permitted to remove the gum from the original stamped packages and place the same in the show case. There is a wide difference between a chewing gum vending machine and a show case. The gum may be sold and delivered directly from the machine without assistance from any person, and the regulations relating to vending machines does not apply to show cases, and you will so advise the company. There is no regulation permitting the manufacturer to distribute free samples of chewing gum upon which tax has not been paid. (19896.) Stamp Tax-Wines, -Liability to stamp tax of wines bottled for private consumption of manufacturer, use of employes, and samples furnished to salesmen-Tax on a quart bottle may be paid with two 1-cent stamps. 1. Bottled wine removed from the premises for the private consumption of the manufacturer does not require stamps. 2. Wine bottled solely for the use of employes, furnished gratis and drunk by them on the premises, does not require stamps. The foregoing answers are based on condition that the element of sale is wholly lacking. 3. Wine given to salesmen to be distributed by them as free samples among the trade must be stamped. 4. A quart bottle may be stamped with two 1-cent stamps. Prof. J. H. Beal, of Scio, is the new president of the Ohio Pharmaceutical Association. He is chairman of the committee charged with executing the projects of the newly organized National Pure Food and Drug Congress. He is chairman of the section on Education and Legislation of the American Pharmaceutical Association and he is also one of the most modest and unassuming men connected with the profession. A Man Scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his horses, cattle and dogs before mating them; but when it comes to his own marriage, he rarely or never takes any such care.-[Darwin. Mead formed the ancient, and for centuries the favorite, beverage of the nothern nations. It is called by the Germans honeywine. Mead is frequently mentioned by Ossian. Dryden has a couplet: T'allay the strength and hardness of the wine, Let with old Bacchus new Metheglin join. Queen Elizabeth was so fond of mead as to have had it made for her every year. Mead formed the nectar of the Scandinavian nations, and was celebrated by their bards; it was the drink which they expected to quaff in heaven out of the skulls of their enemies, and was, as might be expected, liberally patronized on earth. The Scandinavian mead is flavored with primrose blossoms. In Spain mead is known as aloja. The Africans use several honey drinks, hives being common. In Madagascar they make a honey wine, a composition of 3 parts of water and one of honey, which they boil together and skim after it is reduced to three-fourths. They afterwards put it to ferment in large pots of black earth. This wine has a pleasant tartish taste, but it is too luscious. In Abyssinia, according to Bruce, they use 5 or 6 quarts of water to I of honey. These they mix together in a jar, throw in a handful of parched barley meal and some chips of a bitter bark, which in two or three days takes off the cloying taste of the honey and makes the beverage wholesome and palatable. Braggon or Bragget was a sort of metheglin. Hydromel is honey and water submitted to fermentation. Oxymel is a mixture of honey and vinegar. Here is a more modern recipe than Queen Elizabeth's for mead; 8 ounces each of sarsaparilla, liqorice root, ginger and cassia bark; 2 ounces of cloves and 3 ounces of coriander, suitably cut and bruised, are boiled for 15 minutes in 8 gallons of water, allowed to cool and settle and then strained through flannel. To this is added in the fountain, 1 gallons syrup, gallon honey, 4 ounces each of tincture of ginger and solution of citric acid, and afterwards sufficient water to make 10 gallons, when it is charged with carbonic acid gas. [To be continued.] English Wit.-My first, a well-known spice; my second, a large coining establishment in London. If you will but take the hint combined you'll find them. -Pepper-mint. Meyer Brothers Druggist VOL. XIX. PUBLISHED MONTHLY IN THE INTERESTS OF THE ENTIRE DRUG TRADE. ST. LOUIS, OCTOBER, 1898. EDITORIAL. No. 10. Charles Emile Dohme is the pharmacist whose likeness occupies the position of honor on the first page of cover of the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST for October. Mr. Dohme joined the American Pharmaceutical Association in 1863, and has for many years been a prominent and valued active member. His selection as chief executive officer at the Baltimore meeting was unanimous in fact as well as name, no other candidate having been even mentioned during the usual period when the question arises "who is to be president?" Preserve the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST for binding. Forgetting to sign your name is equivalent to having your communication thrown in the waste basket. Board of Pharmacy examinations were explained in the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST for April, 1898, page 10. Three Subjects-the A. Ph. A. Report, the Internal Revenue Tax and the Liquid Air Lecture-consumes much of our space this month. The regular departments will be in line for the next issue. The Missouri Pharmacists are to be congratulated upon their State Association, which for nearly a quarter of a century has looked carefully after the welfare of the profession in the State and its general interests at large. A Private Cost Mark to be placed on all prescriptions dispensed in Minnesota is the dream of that State association. Missouri has promised to cooperate in the work. The benefits to be derived from such a plan are too evident for discussion. It remains with the pharmacists of this country to put the idea in practical operation. "It Will be a Happy and profitable day for the United States of America when it adopts the metric system of weights and measures." So says Prof. W. P. Wilson, director of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum. Some of our readers may consider that the movement in favor of the metric system is con fined to the pharmaceutical and medical professions. Such is a great mistake, and if we are not careful trade interests will secure the adoption of the metric system in commercial transactions before it becomes the customary weights and measures of the prescription manufacturing counter. Money interests always count. Should Only Graduates be Registered, is the title of more than one paper read before various pharmaceutical organizations during recent times. We cannot help but recall in memory the vigorous protest made by many so-called self-educated pharmacists not more than fifteen years ago, when the advantages of a college training were dwelled upon by the pharmaceutical press. What would those parties have said if at that date even an intimation had been made that at some future time registered pharmacists would be limited to graduates in pharmacy? Do Not Mourn for the "good old days" of yore when the apprentices ground asafoetida, clerks made mercurial ointment by hand and the proprietor visited the wholesale market twice a year to replenish his stock. J. H. Redsecker of Lebanon, Pa., was expressive when as president of his State association he said: We are fortunate that we are living in this eventful age, when more history is made in a decade than in some of the centuries that have preceded us. The closing years of the nineteenth century have witnessed some of the greatest achievements in scientific discovery, and they have been specially remarkable along the lines of our profession. To the Students now matriculating in the colleges of pharmacy of this country we commend the following words of Sir Astley Cooper, spoken many years ago at the Royal College of Surgeons: Gentlemen, you are about to enter on a noble and difficult profession; your success depends on three things: First, on a good and thorough knowledge of your profession; second, on an industrious discharge of its duties, and third, on the preservation of your moral character. Without the first (knowledge) no one can wish you to succeed; without the second (industry) you cannot succeed, and without the third, even if you do succeed, success can bring you no happiness. You will hear much advise from teachers and perhaps from parents, but keep the above pasted in your notebook. The Same Old Story.-One of our exchanges complains because there exists a sameness in the various addresses delivered by the presidents of the various State pharmaceutical associations. We would be surprised if it were otherwise. The presidents are as a rule practical, energetic retail pharmacists. They realize the duties of the office and present subjects of common interest to the profession. It is very natural that their addresses should be quite similar. This condition in no way detracts from their value. The documents are not written for the benefit of editors, but for the consideration of the members of the association. Then our contemporary should remember that No bird has ever uttered note That was not in some first bird's throat. Label Makers for pharmacists' shelfware seem to have a law of their own. More than one enthusiastic Ph. G. has informed us that carefully prepared lists of names written in accordance with U. S. P. nomenclature have been murdered by the label maker who cannot write the word camphor with "gum," who fails to realize that "balsam" of copaiba is an oleo-resin and that blood "root" is a rhizome. The pharmacist who receives labels not made according to instructions should promptly refuse to accept them. Here is an opportunity for the wholesale drug houses to help along the causes of pharmaceutical education by giving strict instructions to the label makers and see that all packages and shelfware bear modern, scientifically correct names. Harder Examinations is the unmistakable language used by some of the boards of pharmacy in announcing the character of the ordeal for the future. At the same time many of the best known pharmaceutical educators of this country claim that examinations do not examine, and that the average board of pharmacy examination of to-day is already harder than it should be; that is, harder in the direction of questions, while it is weak in its potency as far as determining the qualification of the candidate is concerned. We again make use of our oft-repeated assertion that a competent pharmacist is able to pass an appropriate board of pharmacy examination at any time without an hour's notice. How many of the registered pharmacists of any State can pass an examination given by their board of pharmacy without cramming for the occasion? The Usefulness of the Microscope of the present day is generally recognized in nearly all departments of science and industry. The advances in the perfection of the optical portions of the instrument, however, have been practically at a standstill since the efficient work of Robert T. Tolles, who was born in 1823 and died in 1883. Work from this American worker's hands is to be found in various parts of the world at the present day, and the microscope manufacturer who can equal it feels that he has accomplished almost perfection. Thus, we are not surprised to learn that on May 17, 1898, a monument was erected to the memory of Mr. Tolles at Mt. Auburn, Boston, but we are disappointed in finding that this tribute is made by the New England Association of Opticians, whose membership includes only two or three microscopists. Commenting on this subject the American Monthly Microscopical Journal says: "The greatest master of the microscope, the man who reached the pinnacle of perfection, whose work was never equaled in any country in the world, was Robert B. Tolles. He stood in the front rank of those whom the world should honor as the greatest of men. But world and honor are not synonyms, and thus Tolles was suffered to moulder in an unknown grave. Is it not sad that while the warrior, whose fame is born in the brutal roar of cannon and whose path to glory leads over thousands of mangled corpses and unspeakable sufferings inflicted by him, is honored by monuments, that the genius and toils of such a man who increased the common heritage and the welfare of humanity should be permitted to go unnoticed?" U |