QUIZ DEPARTMENT.

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.

Illinois Questions for Assistant Pharmacist (97). -We suggest that you communicate direct with the secretary of the Illinois Board of Pharmacy, Fred C. Dodds, Springfield, Ill.

Selling Calomel Tablets in Missouri (98).—A general merchant will violate the Missouri pharmacy law if he purchases calomel tablets in quantities and sells them by the dozen without having a registered pharmacist in charge.

Smokeless Colored Fires (99).—It is difficult to obtain a full line of absolutely smokeless colored fires. Some mixtures, however, cause smoke to a greater extent than others. The following information about colored fires, stage lights, etc., is taken from Henley's Twentieth Century Book of recipes, formulas and processes (published by The Norman W. Henley Publishing Co., 132 Nassau Street, New York City. Price, $3.00).

Colored Fires: The compounds should be ignited in a small pill box resting on a plate. All the ingredients must be dried and powdered separately, and then lightly mixed on a sheet of paper. Always bear in mind that sulphur and chlorate of potassium explode violently if rubbed together.

Smokeless Vari-Colored Fire: First take barytes or strontium, and bring to a glowing heat in a suitable dish, remove from the fire, and add the shellac. The latter (unpowdered) will melt at once, and can be intimately mixed with the barytes or strontium by means of a spatula. After cooling, pulverize. One may also add about two and one-half per cent of powdered magnesium to increase the effect. Take for instance four parts of barytes or strontium and one part of shellac.

The following salts, if finely powdered and burned in an iron ladle with a little spirits, will communicate to the flame their peculiar colors:

Potassium nitrate or sodium chlorate, yellow.

Potassium chlorate, violet.

Calcium chloride, orange.

Strontium nitrate, red.

Barium nitrate, apple green.

Copper nitrate, emerald green.

20 parts.

10 parts.

50 parts.

100 parts.

Lilac Fire.

20 parts.

10 parts.

10 parts.

50 parts.

100 parts.

Water.......

I. Potassium chlorate..........

Copper chlorate

Strontium chloride....

Alcohol..............

Water

BUYING CLUBS.

Attitude of Jobbers Toward The Buying Clubs.

From the report of Dr. Wm. J. Schieffelin, chairman of the Committee on Proprietary Goods, read at the N. W. D. A. convention at Atlantic City, September, 1908. Published in Pharmaceutical Era, October 1, 1908.

The attitude of jobbers towards retailers who are members of buying clubs was discussed in a most intelligent and conservative manner by an esteemed expresident of this association, W. A. Hover, of Denver, in an address which he delivered to the Colorado Phar

maceutical Association at its annual meeting last June. Mr. Hover's address was such an admirable presentation of the matter from the jobber's standpoint that we include the substance of it in this report, as follows: "The subject of co-operative buying on the part of the retailer, like the majority of questions affecting trade conditions, has strong arguments on both sides. In other words, there are two sides to this question as there are to nearly every question where different in

terests are concerned.

"I do not include in this admission, however, those retailers who are under financial obligations to their wholesalers. No argument can justify a retailer who is being carried in using money for entering any combination which would work injury to the wholesaler whose money is being used; provided, that no advantage is taken of the debtor's obligation by overcharging. In other words, it is neither fair nor reasonable to use the money that belongs to one man to benefit yourself and others, to his detriment.

"There are retailers, however, who are under no direct financial obligation to any one, and to these this argument is addressed.

"The proposal to buy staple proprietary articles, drugs and sundries, in a co-operative way, and thus obtain the benefit of the combined purchasing power of a number engaged in the same business is certainly, upon first consideration, very attractive; especially to the retailer who by long hours of industry and careful management has accumulated a surplus, the use of which in the manner suggested would increase his margin of profit by the amount ordinarily absorbed by the middleman, the jobber. And the jobber would have a difficult task in arguing against this proposition, were it not a fact that trade conditions would be so demoralized that in the readjustment the gain would be a loss. Trade equilibrium, like the equilibrium of inert bodies, cannot be disturbed without doing serious damage.

"There is a natural relationship between the manufacturer, the jobber and the retailer. The jobbing druggist is absolutely essential to the retailer. Without him the manufacturer or the retailer could not, as business is being conducted at present, exist. The retailer is dependent upon the jobber for his daily supplies. The manufacturer would find it impossible to conduct

his business without the aid of the wholesaler as a distributer. This question has been tested time and again, and the wholesaler when he makes this statement knows whereof he speaks.

"Co-operative buying is applied to proprietary articles, which constitute about 56 per cent of the sales of the average wholesale druggist, and include hundreds of items, slow selling proprietaries, for which there is a very limited demand, but which the wholesaler is obliged to buy in quantities in order to secure the best price. These slow selling proprietaries, which constitute at least 75 per cent of the wholesaler's stock of patent medicines, owing to the quantities it is necessary to purchase and the undue length of time that they are held in stock, are sold at a profit less than the actual cost of doing business. The staple proprietaries are comparatively few, and such net returns as accrue to the jobber by their rapid selling qualities constitute the profit afforded by this class of remedies. Owing to the large investment in this merchandise, it becomes necessary for the jobber to turn his stock within a reasonable time. For this he depends at present upon the retail druggist. Should the retail druggist by co-operative buying, or even by direct purchases, materially reduce the wholesaler's sales and thus affect his profits, the wholesaler must necessarily look to some other outlet for the disposition of his goods, which opens up vast possibilities detrimental to the retailer.

"The most serious result of failing to recognize that the interests of the retailer and the wholesaler are mutual will be the multiplication of aggressive cutters. For you cannot expect the jobber, whom you are using as a necessary convenience only, to overcome the disastrous competition of the aggressive cutter. While it must be admitted that the aggressive cutter, whether in the shape of the department store or the retail druggist, does and will continue to exist, it is equally true that with restricted and expensive sources of supply he cannot thrive or increase as would be the case with an open market.

"What compels the present attitude of the wholesaler? Frankly, self-interest, and the conviction founded upon broad experience that to build up a prosperous business it is necessary to have prosperous and well conditioned customers, customers who can discount, or pay their bills when due; customers who are entitled by all rules of trade to a fair compensation for work performed. The world has no class of merchants more deserving of success than the retail druggists. Why should not their closing years show a competence at least sufficient to enable them to live in peace and comfort? Necessity and self-interest would again be the compelling motive if the present channels of trade were seriously obstructed. New channels would have to be sought; there would be unrestricted sales to all who would apply, and restricted credits or cash dealings would result.

"You of the small towns and villages say, how can all this affect us? Stop a moment and consider.

Transportation has been twice revolutionized within a generation. First by steam, then by electricity. The enormous development of the latter during the past decade is rapidly eliminating the lines between the resident of the city and the resident of the country. The one is rapidly becoming rural and the other metropolitan. Trade influences, favorable or unfavorable, in the city are instantly felt in the country districts. The country merchant is affected by the policy, whether good or bad, of his city competitor. Therefore, those of you in the small cities, towns and villages are directly interested and should likewise use your influence and your energies in maintaining trade equilibrium.

"It is a principle well recognized by the jobbing druggist to confine his sales to the retail drug trade, and very few wholesalers sell to dispensing physicians. This is as it should be, and the relations between the jobber and retailer and the physician should be maintained.

"The time will come, however, when without the active and sympathetic support that the retail trade should give the jobber, the jobber must become a physicians' supply house. Fully 75 per cent of the products of the pharmaceutical houses and plaster manufacturers that are sold to-day are, for reasons beyond the control of the retailer or the wholesaler, sold by the manufacturer direct to the retailer and thence to the physician. This large volume of business in which the wholesaler does not participate must necessarily be sought if conditions change and make it necessary for self-preservation.

"The retailer to-day does not obtain these supplies from the jobber, but says to the jobber, You cannot supply the physician. And the jobber is content to allow this to continue, provided his interests are not seriously affected in other directions. But let it become the rule and not the exception, that the jobber is used as a convenience and not as the primary source of supply, self-preservation must dictate a readjustment of trade conditions that must necessarily affect adversely the retail interests everywhere. Here lies the danger to the retailer in undertaking the seemingly attractive proposition of combination and co-operation in buying.

"I know whereof I speak when I say that the average wholesale druggist discourages the establishment of new stores. One customer who is doing a prosperous business and gradually accumulating something, is better than two customers who are merely eking out an existence. If the jobber cannot secure the one customer who is prosperous and making money, he must of necessity take the two who are barely making a living. In other words, where conditions change so that a small number of money-making retailers combine to destroy the distributive power of the jobber, the jobber as a matter of self-protection will naturally encourage the establishment of new stores, which will seriously affect those now engaged in business.

"These possibilities are not offered as threats of re

taliation. The jobber desires above all things to retain the good will and support of the retailers and to maintain a high standard of progress and success among them. It is the desire of the wholesaler to further in all legitimate ways the best interests of his retail trade. The deserving retailer rarely finds anything but an assisting friend in his wholesaler. Is it not, therefore, shortsighted to pursue a course that will antagonize the two branches of trade whose interests are so interwoven that any attempt to break the bands must produce discord and an entire readjustment of trade conditions, disastrous to the one and intensely unpleasant to the other?"

We commend these conclusions upon the subject of buying clubs to the earnest attention of both the manufacturers and retailers, and we sincerely trust that they will give the jobber's side of this question the consideration which it deserves. The time has arrived when the three branches of the trade should give serious thought to this perplexing problem, which carries within it the possibilities of grave disturbance to trade conditions unless each interest should concede the rights of the others.

A. PH. A.

I Enjoyed the Hot Springs Meeting of the A. Ph. A., and have not forgotten several others that it has been my privilege to attend. I am learning to record the A. Ph. A. meetings as one of the bright spots of the year. By means of these conventions, I have come to know many whose acquaintance I prize very highly. I trust that the pleasant relations may continue and result in lasting friendship.-[CHARLES W. JOHNSON, Dean, School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.

The Philadelphia Branch of the A. Ph. A. has prepared an interesting tentative program for the season. One meeting was held, October 6 and another November 3, and the following is proposed for the winter and spring:

December 1, 1908-The use and the value of pure food and drug laws.

January 5, 1909-Assay processes and methods for standardization.

February 2, 1909-U. S. P. and N. F. propaganda and the limitations of the prescription.

March 2, 1909-Essential oils and flavoring extracts.

April 6, 1909-The drug laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry. May 4. 1909-Some additions and corrections for the coming edition of the N. F.

The following lectures and demonstrations have been arranged for the post graduate course of instructiou.

November 17, 1908-The microscope and the examination of crude drugs and powders, at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.

December 15, 1908-The transformation of elements and modern theories of matter, at the Central High School, Philadelphia.

January 19, 1909-Pharmacodynamics, practical tests for the efficiency of drugs, at the H. K. Mulford Co.'s laboratory, 428 South Thirteenth Street.

February 16, 1903-Clinical laboratory work, a possibility for future pharmacists, at the Medico Chirurgical College.

March 16, 1909-Assay processes, their uses and practical value, at the Temple College of Pharmacy.

April 20, 1909-Botany as a hobby and a useful science for pharmacists, at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.

The New York Branch of the A. Ph. A. held its twelfth regular meeting, October 12. The committee on Professional Relations reported that the Brooklyn Pharmaceutical Association objects to placing an exclamation point after the designation of an excessive quantity on any ingredient in a prescription. A. M. Roehrig reported as delegate to the Hot Springs meeting of the A. Ph. A. G. C. Diekman reported as delegate to the meeting of the state association and H. J. Lohmann as delegate to the New Jersey Association.

An appreciative criticism of the Harrison formulas for the preparations of proteid iron (see the A. Ph. A. Bulletin for May, report of Chicago branch) was presented by T. D. McElhenie. He had had the same experience with the official process for solution peptonate of iron with manganese as reported by Prof. Harrison; hehad also had physicians criticise adversely the official preparation. Since adopting the Harrison formula he has had no trouble whatever. He follows the process suggested by Harrison with a few minor deviations. He makes use of the idea advanced by E. H. Squibb in

1873, of protecting solutions of organic substances by a small quantity of phenol (See Proceedings, Vol. 21); to prevent the developing of the characteristic unpleasant odor of the peptonate, washing the magma with a 1 in 1000 solution of phenol, finally washing it with distilled water. In using this method no odor is at any time perceptible. As the addition of alcohol to the sodium citrate solution of the peptonate causes a coajulation, he adds first the aromatic elixir, then enough water to make the volume 400 c. c., and lastly the alcohol, thus getting 500 c. c. of the "base."

Mr. McElhenie exhibited specimens of solution of peptonate of iron with manganese N. F., of the various preparations suggested by Harrison, of solution of pepnate of iron with manganese Harrison, in which the alcohol was replaced with aromatic elixir, and of a mixture of equal parts of the solution peptonate of iron with manganese and fluid extract of malt, N. F. Mr. Raubenheimer suggested the use of chloroform water in place of the solution of phenol.

T. N. Diessway told of his recent experiments in the production of scale peptonates.

Mr. Raubenheimer exhibited copies of the new French Codex, and the Swiss and the Austrian Pharmacopoeias. He also gave a brief summary of the chief characteristics of these works and the new pharmacopoeias of Spain, Russia, Holland, Japan and Denmark. His conclusion was that while several of these had one or more characteristics that might well be considered by the revision committee of the United States Pharmacopoeia, yet the U. S. P. VIII stands at the head of the list for practical and scientific purposes.

This expression was concurred in by Messrs. Mayer, Diekman, Lohmann and Cook.

Chicago Branch of the A. Ph. A.-The Chicago Branch held its first meeting of the season at the usual meeting place, Northwestern University Building, Tuesday, October 20. There were thirty-five members in attendance. President Oldberg presided and introduced Secretary Potts of the N. A. R. D., who addressed the meeting briefly, referring to the success of the Philadelphia Branch of which he has been a member and incidentally to various practical features connected with pharmaceutical practice. Mr. Potts has become a member of the Chicago Branch and announced his interest in the work of the branch and his desire to promote its usefulness.

Mr. George P. Mills, chairman of the committee on U. S. P. and N. F. Propaganda of the Illinois Pharmaceutical Association was next called upon and spoke of the efforts which have been made to interest physicians in the new movement. The manufacture of the preparations he said was comparatively an easy task, but reaching the ear of the physicians and impressing upon them the importance of the movement is the difficult part. He spoke of a plan which had been followed with excellent satisfaction in his locality, Evanston and the North Shore suburbs. This plan comprises a committee of the Local Pharmacological