STRAY ITEMS AND COMMENTS.

Michigan Is An Important State in the Union and has a pharmaceutical organization in keeping with other features of that section of the country. E. E. Calkins of Ann Arbor is secretary and has just issued a carefully prepared report of the 1908 meeting.

All of the Drug Stores in Mississippi will be required to employ registered pharmacists or close their shops. Such is the dictation of the state board of pharmacy. It is the determination of the board that the standard of pharmacy in Mississippi shall be second to no other state in the Union.

Bismuth Subnitrate Poisoning.-From time to time, cases are reported of poisoning and occasionally of death as a result of large doses of bismuth subnitrate being administered to children. It is probable that the juices of the stomach render the salt soluble and it has been suggested that bismuth subcarbonate will make a safer remedy for infants.

Which Would You Rather be, cigar clerk, grocery clerk or drug clerk? The following is from a Kansas City daily paper and seems to speak for itself:

SITUATION WANTED-YOUNG MARried man as clerk or relief clerk in drug store, grocery, cigar store, any hours 9 a.m. to 5 p. m., city references; can do the work. Address A, 669 Star.

The Year Book for 1908 of the Washington State Board of Pharmacy is the result of the love for the cause of pharmacy by the members of that board. As an example of this we quote the following announcement: "Before January 1, 1909 every county in the state must have a drugmen's club. You owe that to your family and your profession. This is the year of reformation. Fall in line." W. P. Bonney, of Tacoma is secretary of the Board.

United States Pharmacopoeial Convention.-The Board of Trustees has requested the colleges of pharmacy, the medical colleges and pharmaceutical and medical organizations represented at the convention of 1900 to furnish under official seal the date of incorporation and other data necessary for recognition at the convention of 1910. This will wonderfully facilitate the work of the committee on credentials at the next convention. Organizations which have received letters of inquiry should respond promptly to the correspondence.

A New Cure for Cancer, which reminds one of the early ages, was practiced in St. Louis recently. The patient was caused to walk around a human bone hidden under the carpet. This did not bring about a prompt cure so the "doctor" prescribed that a dog be given dog flesh to eat in the presence of the patient. As soon as the dog became sick the patient would become well. We smile at the forms of medicine practiced by savages and semi-civilized people, but it is

not necessary to leave the large cities of the United States in order to find equally thaumaturgic therapeutic measures in practice.

Surgeon General Walter Wyman and the U. S. P. and N. F.-The Washington, D. C., correspondent of the MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST, in an interview with a pharmacist of that city who is in close touch with the United States Marine Hospital and Public Health Service, sends us the following quotation from the pharmacists remarks:

"I believe that the work at the Hygienic Laboratory will not alone be interesting but also profitable. The surgeon-general is anxious to co-operate with the pharmacopoeial authorities and with the A. Ph. A. in any way that will promise to be of advantage to future editions of the U. S. P. and the N. F.

The Hygienic Laboratory is particularly well equipped for taking up and elaborating on many of the questions that will devise in connection with these two books and I believe that all of the officials are not alone willing but even anxious to assist in any way possible."

Beautiful Saffron Bed All In Purple Blooms.—In the garden of Dr. Joseph L. Lemberger, Ph. M., may be seen at the present time a bed of saffron in full bloom. Dr. Lemberger's plants are the true saffron, and are a rarity in this locality.

The flowers are purple in color, with elliptical segments, and with a long white tube within. The stigmas, in which the coloring and medicinal virtues of the plant chiefly reside are deep orange in color.

The scientific name of the plant is crocus sativus, the plant taking its name from the youth Crocus, who, according to Greek mythology, offended a goddess and was changed into this flower. The saffron bed is a beautiful sight when in full bloom, and many callers at the Lemberger and Gleim pharmacy in Market Square have admired the plants.

The plant commonly called saffron, or saff flower, has an orange colored flower. The plant's scientific name is carthamus tinctorius. This grows in abundance in this locality, if carefully cultivated. At this season of the year the highways in the vicinity of Brickerville, Lexington and Brunnerville, towns just south of the Lebanon-Lancaster line where the plant is much grown, are strewn with the waste portions of the plants.

After the two or three stigmas, or delicate yellow stamens in the heart of the flower, are picked out, the rest of the plant and flower is discarded. It is always thrown into the road, there being a superstition current where the plant is grown, that to insure a good crop the next season, the plant must be thrown into the highway after the stigmas are picked out.

In a paper prepared for a pharmacists' gathering some years ago, Dr. Lemberger devoted much space to this peculiar superstition.-[ Lebanon (Pa.) Evening Report.

STRAY ITEMS AND COMMENTS.

Seasonable Formula and Practical Hints. Now is the season when some of the journals give particular attention to preparations to curę prickly heat, to prevent mosquitoes from biting and for fourth of July colored lights. Next summer they will publish practical hints about handling the holiday trade.

The Section on Pharmaceucial Chemistrty in the American Chemical Society. This has been established and will be maintained and developed in proportion to the interest which pharmaceutical chemists of this country manifest in the organization. For detailed information, address Secretary Charles L. Parsons, Durham, N. H.

The Pharmacist Not Liable For Illegible Prescriptions. Charles B. Whilden contributes to the Practical Druggist and Review of Reviews, for November, 1908, a number of recent decisions affecting pharmacy. Among them we find the following:

"If the prescription of a physician is so illegibly written that a druggist, notwithstanding ordinary care, makes such a mistake in mixing the ingredients as to cause or hasten the death of the patient who partook thereof, the druggist is not liable in damages." (McClardy's Adm'x v. Chandler, 2 Kkly. Law Gaz. 1.)

Will You Assist in Preserving the American Bison?-The American Bison Society is raising a fund of $10,000 to fence the twenty square miles of choice grazing ground in Montana purchased by Congress for $40,000 from Flat Head Indians and set apart as a reservation for the preservation of the American bison, commonly called the buffalo. Of this $3,102 has been raised. Additional subscriptions should be sent direct to the president of the society, Dr. Wm. T. Hornaday, Zological Park, New York City.

Where Are the Advertisements?—We have just received the annual report of the Wisconsin Pharmaceutical Association and note the absence of advertisements. Such a volume is neat and pleasing in appearance and this particular one is full of interesting information. We also note that the word state is omitted from the official title. Sometime ago an effort was made to bring all of the state associations in line with a simple name and Missouri was the first to set this good example. Of course, New York state has an excuse for using the word state to distinguish it from a New York City Association.

The Japanese Like Saccharin but the government of that country discourages its use in competition with cane sugar. The government duty on the importation of saccharin is exceedingly high but manufacturers in Japan import the crude materials which come into the country, duty free, and then manufacture the saccharin on Japanese soil. The fact that the material used in manufacturing saccharin is also used to a far greater extent in other industries causes the government to hesitate in placing a duty on these articles. Meantime, the Japanese eat food sweetened with saccharin and smack their lips and say it is good.

Do Pharmacists Make and Spend Their Share of the Money? The St. Louis Globe-Democrat of recent date says: "Americans make and spend more money than the people of any two or three other countries combined. Although the population of the United States is only five per cent of the entire world, it produces twenty per cent of the world's wheat, twenty-five per cent of the world's gold, thirty-five per cent of the world's coal, thirty-five per cent of its manufactures forty per cent of its pig iron, forty-two per cent of its in the aggregate, thirty-eight per cent of its silver, steel, fifty-five per cent of its petroleum, fifty-five per cent of its copper, seventy per cent of its cotton, and eighty per cent of its corn. At the rate of increase of the past dozen years the wealth of the United States in 1908 is about $120,000,000,000, which equals that of Great Britain and France combined."

Fluidglycerates, is the title of a paper presented at the 1908 meeting of the A. Ph. A. by George M. Journal of Pharmacy for November. It gives a long Beringer and published in full in the American list of formulas for a new class of preparations proposed by the author in 1907. The glycerates are of the same drug strength as fluidextracts, that is, one cubic centimeter represents the medicinal properities of one gram of the drug. The finished product contains approximately fifty per cent by volume of glycerin, while the remaining liquid is water. Mr. Beringer has found a long list of drugs which yield all of their medicinal value to these solvents. They keep well and are useful in making infusions and other aqueous preparations and are particularly valued by the physician who desires to avoid the use of alcohol under certain conditions.

Can You Get Rid of the Saline Taste of the Bromides?—If so, send your formula to Dr. W. P. Spratling, Sonyea, N. Y., who is superintendent of the Craig Colony for epileptics. The medical profession has not as yet succeeded in finding any remedy to replace the bromides in the treatment of epilepsy. The saline taste is exceedingly objectionable and Superintendent Spratling offers $25.00 in cash to the person first sending him a satisfactory formula for a preparation of potassium bromide or sodium bromide containing at least ten grains of the salt in a teaspoonful of the preparation and so disguised that it will meet with the doctor's approval. The result of this offer will be exceedingly interesting to pharmacists who have long realized that syrup of lemon, syrup of ginger and other liquids ordinarily employed for this purpose are by no means satisfactory. A patient can tolerate the saline taste of bromides for a few days but when it is remembered that epileptic patients must take the bromides constantly for months or perhaps years, we can realize that the saline taste becomes intolerable. It is like the old story of eating thirty quails in thirty days. The first quail may be relished but we believe no one has succeeded in continuing the experiment for a sufficiently long time to tell just how the thirtieth quail tastes.

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.

Cream Colored Lace Curtains (100).—We cannot tell you what powder to use for this purpose. Perhaps some of our readers can help you out.

Saccharii or Sacchari (101).—The Latin word "saccharum" is a second declension noun and the genitive singular as used in a prescription is "sacchari." See Wall's Lessons in Latin or any work on prescription writing.

Oleum White (102). This is said to be zinc sulphide, placed on the market by a paint manufacturer. It is used in the manufacture of enamels for white and tinted paints. It is not, as you surmise, a medicinal preparation.

An Amateur Tanner (103).-I have been trying to find a small but comprehensive work on tanning of skins. A work that would allow me to do some amateur work, but so far have been unable to find anything satisfactory. Can any of our readers give advice based on experience?

Tincture of Aconite, U. S. P., VII and VIII (104). -If you will consult the U. S. P. VIII, page 73, you will find that the tincture of aconite of the previous pharmacopoeia contained one gm. of aconite in 2.85 Cc. of tincture of aconite. The present pharmacopœia calls for one gm. of aconite in 10 Cc. of the tincture of aconite.

Do Not Use the Red Cross (105).-We have recently purchased a store and have given it the name of The Red Cross Pharmacy. The nurses in this city have objected to our doing this. Can you inform me if there is a law prohibiting the use of same?

Answer. The nurses are correct. We have pointed out in previous issues of the MEYER BROTHers DrugGIST that no one has the right to use the Red Cross for business purposes without the permission from the Red Cross Society, which has its headquarters at Washington, D. C. Those firms who are now using the Red Cross, and were doing so before the law passed, consequently have the right to continue in the practice.

Finger Nail or Manicure Powder (106) is a cosmetic preparation employed with a piece of soft chamois or pounce to rub down the finger nails and beautify them. The flesh-colored preparation is made as follows:

with the perfumery, and then mixed with the pumice stone and chalk.

The white is made as the above without the carmine. Sometimes the oleate of tin is colored with carmine and used. The oxide of tin has also been perfumed and colored for the same purpose.

"Arbor Dianae" or Silver Tree (107).-Dissolve two (2) ten-cent pieces in two (2) fluidrams of concentrated Nitric Acid, applying heat if necessary; evaporate nearly to dryness to drive off any large excess of acid; cool and dissolve resulting crystalline salts in sufficient water (distilled preferably), to make a saturated solution. The solution will be blue on account of Copper Nitrate formed from the copper in the alloy from which the coins were made, but this will not interfere. A saturated solution of commercial Silver Nitrate may be used, if preferred, and made acid before use by the addition of two or three drops of strong Nitric Acid. Dilute this solution with seven or eight parts of water and put it into a glass vessel, the bottom of which is curved so that the center is the deepest part; add a drop of Mercury (Quick-silver) the size of a large pea and set the vessel in a place where it will not be disturbed for twenty-four hours or so. An arborescent (tree-like) growth of a Mercury and Silver amalgam will form in the bottom of the vessel, and may be kept indefinitely.

Representation at the U. S. P. C., 1910 (108).— The United States Pharmacopoeial Convention of 1900 provided for the convention of 1910. We quote from the constitution of the convention as follows:

Membership.

Section 1. The members of the United States Pharmacopoeial Convention, in addition to the incorporators and their associates, shall be delegates elected by the following organizations in the manner they shall respectively provide: Incorporated medical colleges and medical schools connected with incorporated colleges and universities; incorporated colleges of pharmacy, and pharmaceutical schools connected with incorporated universities; incorporated state medical associations; incorporated state pharmaceutical associations; the American Medical Association, the American Pharmaceutical Association, and the American Chemical Society; provided that no such organization shall be entitled to representation unless it shall have been incorporated within and shall have been in continuous operation in the United States for at least five years before the time fixed for the decennial meeting of this corporation.

Section 2. Delegates appointed by the surgeon-general of the United States Army, the surgeon-general of the United States Navy, and the surgeon-general of the United States Marine Hospital Service, and by the organizations not hereinbefore named which were admitted to representation in the convention of 1900, shall also be members of the corporation. Each body and each branch of the United States Government above mentioned shall be entitled to the meetings of this corporation. But no such delegates as are provided for in this article shall be members until their credentials shall have been examined and acted upon as provided for by the by-laws. Delegates admitted as members at any decennial meeting shall continue to be members of the United States Pharmacopoeial Convention until their successors shall have been appointed and admitted as delegates to the ensuing convention and no longer.

When the Average Man fails to make good he begins to look around for someone to blame it on.

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.

Pharmacy in the Government has only its professional side, and if it is desired to secure the best educated men to occupy these posts of responsibility, greater encouragement should be offered as to official rank and salary. The standard of education for the pharmacist is growing more exacting each year, and in the reputable schools, the time required to complete the course, falls little short of that required for the physician.

I feel that persistent agitation and influence brought to bear through the proper channels will certainly bring about our advancement. And, it appears to me, judging from the transactions of the last session of congress, in increasing rank, salaries, etc., in the army, navy, and revenue cutter service, that something will be done at the coming session for the members of the pharmacists corps in the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service.-[PHARMACIST, U. S. P. H. and M. H. S.

American Chemical Society (A new section on pharmaceutical chemistry). According to the announcement recently issued by Secretary Parsons, the American Chemical Society is about to close a very prosperous year. Its membership has increased beyond expectation, so that the early numbers of the Journal for 1908 can no longer be supplied to new members. With this increase in membership, the extension of its activities has been going hand in hand.

It is the aim of the association ultimately to cover all branches of chemistry, pure and applied. As a phase of this general plan, the pharmaceutical chemists of the A. C. S. have been invited to form a division at the Baltimore meeting during the Christmas holidays. It now rests with the pharmaceutical chemists to show that they merit such distinction at this time. Those who are members of the association are requested to send papers and, if possible, to be present in order that permanent organizations may be affected. Those chemists interested in pharmaceutical problems who are not yet members are hereby invited to join. The undersigned will be glad to learn of their intention to become members, also to be advised whether they will have any papers to present or not.—[EDward Kremers, Madison, Wis.

Linseed Oil Destroys the Natural Color of Wood. -I have just received MEYER BROTHERS DRUGGIST for October, and on page 304, I find under "Waxes for Floor, Furniture, etc," statements as follows: "Give the article a good coat of linseed oil before beginning work." "Here a plain dosage with linseed oil is sufficient."

Statements like these are repeated from time to time in the supposedly technical literature of the country every year, apparently entirely oblivious of the fact, that if the natural color and delicate veining of the wood is to be preserved there is no more effectual way to defeat this end than to treat the wood with linseed oil.

It is high time that some one took the initiative, and told the truth about the results of such treatment, so as to avoid the disappointments which are continually occurring from the adoption of this treatment as the result of these recommendations in journals upon which people rely for correct information. Painters themselves are often no better informed than their employers.

The oxidizing qualities of linseed oil produce the effect of carbonizing the surface of the wood, and every piece of wood treated with linseed oil will in the course of time, varying, according to the kind of wood, from a few weeks to a year or two, turn a brown black in which no trace of the original beauty of the wood is to be found. The worst of it is, that the damage is irreparable, as the carbonization extends below the surface so that nothing but resurfacing with a plane or scraper will restore the surface of the wood.

I know of one case among many others in which an employer who understood the subject came to inspect one of his buildings in which he was very desirous to have a fine natural finish and found his painter had begun to treat a floor with linseed oil, and discharged him on the spot. Although every effort was used to prevent the injurious action of the oil, that part treated was never restored.

The fine French polish which is the most perfect finish for preserving the natural beauty of the wood that can be obtained is made entirely, or almost entirely with spirit varnishes, and these are the only mediums which will retain perfectly the wood

structure.

Very many good floor waxes are made now, in which there is no oil that will injure the wood, and also any good spirit varnish or turpentine varnish will give a good finish, without darkening the wood more than is necessary to bring out its structure.

Of course the action of linseed oil combined with pigments is entirely different as regards color effects. Here the wood is entirely hidden under the pigment, which gives the color, though even here the future darkening must be reckoned with, as shown by the observation in Church's "Chemistry of Paints and Painting," page 51, "another cause is at work darkening and modifying the color; this is the yellowing of the oil itself."

All the beautiful effects which are now made by stains in furniture, etc., depend on thin mixtures of color which are either themselves transparent, or if opaque, are used in such small quantity as to only be held in the cells of the wood below or on a level with the surface and thus modify but not entirely destroy the color of the wood itself. Respectfully.-[WM. H. SEAMAN, M. D., Washington, D. C., October 16, 1908.