Virginia is "active," the fee is $5, and it is not necessary to appear in person. Fourteen exchange certificates were issued last year.

Washington is not a member of the Association, and has no reciprocity arrangement what

ever.

West Virginia is "active," the fee is $10, and it is not necessary to appear in person. Three reciprocal registrations were granted last year.

Wisconsin is "active," the fee is $15, and the State Board is not governed rigidly by the rules of the N. A. B. P.; the Board reserves the right to modify or waive such regulations. Every applicant for reciprocal registration must appear before the Board in person, or before some member of the Board. Ten certificates of this character were issued last year. Wyoming is not a member, and registers only on examination. No exchange relationship of any kind has been provided for.

By way of recapitulation, the "active" States are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mary

REFITTING TO MEET THE TIMES

land, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

It is possible for a druggist registered by examination in one of these States to become registered in the others.

The "associate" States are Colorado, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi. These States do not issue recip

rocal registrations.

New Jersey and Rhode Island do not issue reciprocal registrations.

California does not issue a reciprocal certificate, but does grant what may be termed its "credentials" certificate.

Ohio, Nevada, and Minnesota issue reciprocal certificates based on rules of their own. In Michigan, in case the candidate is refused registration, the $15 fee is returned, as is also the $5 paid to the Secretary of the National Association. It is presumed that all States operate on the same plan.

Just thirty years ago this month I applied for a position as an apprentice in a drug store. I offered my services gratis provided I could have a chance to learn the business without being compelled to wash bottles and pack goods in the wholesale department. I had completed two years' work in a classical college and was fairly well versed in languages and the sciences. I was fortunate enough to serve under a prescription clerk who was a Ph.G. from one of the oldest colleges of pharmacy in our country.

My training was very severe. The first thing impressed on my mind was how to approach a customer so as to be both dignified and genial and at the same time to appear interested in his wants. Especially was I instructed in the proper way to wait upon a woman customer. I was also told never to hold the end of the twine in my mouth, as I

By LOUIS H. HAMM

had observed was the custom in all the stores where I had traded before entering upon my career. We must have no loafers, no smoking, and all must be as placid as a trout lake in May. Such were my instructions at that time in the general conduct of the store. The windows must be dressed with colored bottles, crude drugs, or the best of toilet articles, not with patent medicines, syringes, supporters, or other articles of a like nature. The cigar counter must be in the rear of the store and in as little prominence as possible.

A READJUSTMENT INDICATED. This training was the correct thing at that time, and after entering in business for myself I followed it for fifteen years; so well, in fact, that my nearest neighbor remarked one day that I had a large women's trade. "Yes," I said, "but I am not making any money. I am

going to refit, for I think refitting once in a while is as necessary as restocking."

The conditions of my location had gradually changed, and I had to change or quit. I was in the center of the business district where the steam and the electric cars delivered their passengers from the suburban districts. Family drug stores had opened up in the resident districts, and the women did not have to come down-town for ice cream or prescriptions. My store was small, and if people saw two or three customers in it at once they would not come in, for fear of delay.

I was in a quandary and knew not what to do.

I took a week's trip away to another State where there were larger cities and more of them. I visited a number of stores without making myself known and asking few questions. I thought I could imitate if I could not originate.

REFITTING TO SUIT LOCATION.

I came back and refitted my store and stocked it as my location seemed to demand. I made cigars, pipes, and smokers' supplies one feature of my store, and all kinds of sundries another feature. The shelf bottles were put in the back room where we could reach them handily, and, as a result, names that customers could not understand ceased to furnish food for questions. My store looked very little like the old-style drug store, but was a success from the start.

The next important move, and the hardest of all, was to select a clerk who would carry out my instructions according to my borrowed ideas. Again my travels and study of human nature did not fail me. I had visited the coast of my State many times, duck shooting and deep-sea fishing, and had observed how quickly and correctly a man would obey an order. I thought if I could only get a clerk to do the same thing it would be a blessing.

A druggist in town had a young man whom he had employed for four years and wished me to hire him. This young man was from the coast section where I had been on my

I told him that I had only one price to customers, friends, or relatives, and asked that he maintain it. One day, after he had been with me for about six months, he banged his fist down on the counter and exclaimed, "You have the queerest lot of customers I ever saw." I asked him why he thought so, and he replied, "I have been here six months, and no matter what price I ask I have not had a kick. Where I worked before I never knew what price I would get, as most all the customers would say, 'Mr. (my boss) lets me have those pills for forty-five cents. You shouldn't ask me fifty!"

Of course after I put in my side-lines and relegated the shelf bottles and drugs to the back room the other druggists, at our regular meeting and banquet, jollied me about my store, as they had done often before about my many fads. "What," they asked, "are you running, a pipe store or a general store?" "No," I replied, "I am still running a drug store, but with crude drugs as a side-line." A good many of them are now doing as I am.

While, with my present method of doing business, I make a special effort to get the men's trade, the business is not confined to them by any means. The women come just the same. At first some of them would say: "I would like to trade with you better if you did not make such a display of smokers' goods." But they are used to it now, as most stores have their cigar counters in front and make many window displays of pipes and tobaccos. The kickers still trade with me.

BOARD QUESTIONS ANSWERED

AN IOWA EXAMINATION.

PHARMACY.

1. What are volatile oils?

Volatile oils are odoriferous bodies of oily character that are volatile without decomposition at ordinary temperature. They may be conveniently divided into four classes: terpenes, oxygenated oils, sulphureted oils, and nitrogenated oils.

2. Name five volatile oils.

Oils of anise, bitter almond, cinnamon, lemon, and rose.

3. What are fixed oils?

Fixed oils are bodies which are greasy to the touch and which leave a permanent oily stain on paper. Chemically they are compound bodies containing the radical glyceryl in combination with anhydrides of the various fatty acids. 4. Name five fixed oils.

Cottonseed, linseed, olive, castor, and croton

oils.

5. What would you consider the best solvent for (a) quinine, (b) salol, (c) boric acid, (d) scale pepsin, (e) resublimed iodine?

(a) Alcohol, (b) alcohol, (c) glycerin, (d) water, (e) alcohol.

6. Name five tinctures with a drug percentage of more than ten.

Tinctures of asafetida, bitter orange peel, benzoin, serpentaria, and ginger.

liquid by agitation, without heat, strain, and add enough water through the strainer to make the product measure 1000 Cc. Mix thoroughly.

9. Briefly give the manner of preparation and state the ingredients in chloroform liniment.

Mix, by agitation, 300 Cc. of chloroform with 700 Cc. of soap liniment.

10. Briefly give the manner of preparation and state the ingredients of Seidlitz powders. To make 12 sets of two powders each: Mix 31 grammes of sodium bicarbonate, dried and in fine powder, with 93 grammes of sodium and potassium tartrate, dried and in fine powder; divide this mixture into 12 equal parts, and wrap each part in a separate blue paper. Then divide 27 grammes of tartaric acid, dried and in fine powder, into twelve equal parts, and wrap each part in a separate white paper.

11. Briefly give the manner of preparation and state the ingredients of solution of magnesium citrate.

Dissolve 33 grammes of citric acid in 125 Cc. of water, and, having added 15 grammes of magnesium carbonate, stir until it is dissolved. Filter the solution into a strong bottle of the capacity of about 360 Cc., containing 60 Cc. of syrup of citric acid. Then add enough water to nearly fill the bottle, drop in 2.5 grammes of potassium bicarbonate, and immediately stopper the bottle securely. Lastly, shake the mixture occasionally, until the potassium bicarbonate is dissolved.

12. What are the common names of the fol

Tinctures of musk, kino, iodine, nux vomica, and lavender compound.

8. Briefly give the manner of preparation and state the ingredients of hive syrup.

Hive syrup (compound syrup of squill, U. S. P.) may be prepared as follows: Mix 80 Cc. of fluidextract of squill with 80 Cc. of fluidextract of senega. Evaporate the mixture, in a tared dish, on a water-bath, to 100 grammes, and mix the residue with 350 Cc. of water. When the mixture is cold, incorporate with it, intimately, 20 grammes of purified talc, filter, pass enough water through the filter to obtain 400 Cc. of clear filtrate, and add to this 2 grammes of antimony and potassium tartrate previously dissolved in 25 Cc. of hot water. Dissolve 750 grammes of sugar in this

(b) phenyl salicylate, (c) mercurous chloride, (d) acetphenetidin, (e) sulphonethylmethane? (a) Butter of antimony, (b) salol, (c) calomel, (d) phenacetine, (e) trional.

13. What are the official Latin names of the following: (a) Salol, (b) aspirin, (c) Brown's mixture, (d) antiseptic solution, (e) Hoffman's anodyne.

(a) Phenylis salicylas.

(b) Aspirin is not official in the U. S. P. Moreover, the name "aspirin" is a coined one and cannot logically be given a Latin form. It might be written "aspirinum," but to do so is poor prescribing and worse Latin.

(c) Mistura glycyrrhizæ composita.
(d) Liquor antisepticus.
(e) Spiritus ætheris compositus.

14. State briefly how you prepare emulsions.

A typical emulsion, as of cod-liver oil, for instance, may be prepared as follows:

Place in a mortar one-fourth as much finely powdered acacia as the oil to be used, then add the oil and triturate well together into a smooth mixture. Next add all at once, not gradually, twice as much water as the acacia which has been used, and stir rapidly until a perfect emulsion has been formed, which is known by the appearance of a white pasty mass, free from oil particles, and a peculiar crackling noise as the pestle is drawn through the adhesive mixture. This primary emulsion should be well scraped with a spatula from the pestle and sides of the mortar, again stirred, and then the remainder of the water, or other diluent, slowly added with constant stirring. 15. State briefly how you prepare suppositories.

Hand-made suppositories may be made as follows:

Effect an intimate mixture of the active ingredients and vehicle in a mortar, by forming them into a uniform mass, and transfer the mass to a graduated tile to be divided into the required number of equal parts, which are then properly shaped with the fingers.

16. State briefly how you prepare decoctions.

Whenever a special strength is not directed the following general directions are carried

out:

Put 50 grammes of the substance, coarsely comminuted, into a suitable vessel provided with a cover; pour upon it 1000 Cc. of cold water, cover well, and boil for 15 minutes; then let it cool to about 40° C., strain the liquid, and pass through the strainer enough cold water to make the product measure 1000 Cc.

17. State briefly how you prepare infusions. Whenever a special strength is not directed the following general directions are carried

out:

Take of the substance, coarsely comminuted, 50 grammes; boiling water, 1000 Cc.; water a sufficient quantity to make 1000 Cc. Put the substance into a suitable vessel provided with a cover, pour upon it the boiling water, cover the vessel tightly, and let it stand for one-half hour in a warm place. Then strain and pass sufficient water through the strainer to make the infusion measure 1000 Cc.

18. State briefly how you would prepare elixirs.

Many elixirs can be prepared extemporaneously by simple solution of the medicinal ingredients in the desired vehicle. Additional operations, such as the use of heat, maceration, filtration, etc., are sometimes required.

19. How many grains in 8 grammes?

In one gramme there are 15.4234 grains. Therefore in 8 grammes there would be 8X15.4234 grains or 123.3872 grains.

20. What part of an avoirdupois ounce is 8 grammes?

An avoirdupois ounce contains 437.5 grains. Therefore, 8 grammes is equivalent to 123.3872/437.5 or 282/1000 of an avoirdupois

ounce.

21. How many fluidrachms in 15 Cc.?

1 Cc. is equivalent to 16.23 minims. Therefore, in 15 Cc. there would be 15X16.23 or 243.45 minims, which is equivalent to 4 7/120 fluidrachms.

22. What part of a pint is 15 Cc.?

One pint contains 7680 minims. Therefore, 15 Cc. is 243.45/7680 or 317/10000 of a pint -practically 1/32 of a pint.

23. What care should be taken in a drug store in keeping in stock spirit of nitroglycerin?

Great care should be exercised in dispensing, handling and storing the spirit, since a dangerous explosion may result if any considerable quantity of it be spilled, and the alcohol be partly or wholly lost by evaporation. through accident, it be spilled, a solution of potassium hydroxide should be at once poured over it, to effect decomposition.

If,

24. What care should be taken in storing spirit of nitrous ether?

It should be placed in small, well-stoppered, dark amber-colored vials, and kept in a cool place, remote from lights or fire.

25. What care should be taken in storing phosphorus?

It should be carefully kept under water, in strong, well-closed vessels, in a secure and moderately cool place, protected from light.

26. What care should be taken in storing syrup of ferrous iodide?

It should be kept in well-filled bottles of flint glass and not away from the action of light.

LETTERS

WHAT AN AUSTRALIAN THINKS OF US. To the Editors:

I want to tell you, as an Australian reader, what does and what does not appeal to me in the BULLETIN OF PHARMACY.

As will admit, of course, there are some you departments that do not interest us-say the "Month's History," for instance. Apart from the interest that centers around things in the U. S. A., this has nothing to do with us, not being acquainted to any extent with American views. Yet the department has this much to its credit: an outsider can get a glimpse of what is doing on that side of the world.

So keep it in, for we want to know how to act, if the same laws, etc., are ever applied here.

What has just been said also applies in a similar manner to the Editorial department. It is, in a way, purely local, but interesting.

The department of "Profits and Earnings" is a splendid section, for as a rule the average druggist is a fat-head at his books. This department seems to bring that fact home to him. It is a good thing. Keep it going. I have used it successfully, for it hit me up a bit. The department of "About People" would be excellent indeed if you knew any of the exalted brethren. But we don't.

The pictures are splendid. Interiors of shops are good, and it is a study of these photos that gave me the idea of fitting out my new shop, which is the only one so fitted in Western Australia. Everybody has liked the arrangement, it being quite novel and attractive. Keep your pictures: interiors, exteriors, and all the rest.

The department of "Questions and Answers" is good, and it has in many cases proved extremely useful to me.

The rest is all good, too, and very interesting; but I miss the Observer. Did he hurt somebody?

He was good and often must have touched sore spots. Find him again.

Your journal is all right!

I started four years ago in a suburb not thickly populated, in a shanty. Eighteen months later I enlarged, and last November I went into new premises, built to suit my order.

The ideas for the new place were collected gradually; the interior, as above stated, was taken from many of your photos. The outside was also suggested by one of your photos.

The dispensing arrangements were practically my own. I am not blowing my own trumpet, but I can say that my store is universally accepted as the most up-to-date one in Western Australia. The local people are pleased with it and are getting quite used to the new idea of no counter. This is replaced by separate cases, glass sides, front and top, just high enough to serve over comfortably.

Some think I am rushing things a little, as many of these ideas are new and have never been tried here before; but I am glad to say that I have no cause for complaint, so far. The innovations are "making good."

The "old stock" sale, also the "jitney" sale, were winners. I got good money for dead I sacrificed, of course, but I got rid of it, and have the money working.

stock.

Keep your journal as it is! I am enjoying it; it makes money for me; puts new ideas into my head, and keeps me from getting stale. R. L. BURLINSON.

North Perth, West Australia.

SPIRITED COMMENT.

To the Editors:

My hat is off to Old Man Hicks! However any one with half an eye can see he is not a druggist. No real druggist ever sold four ounces of sulphur for a nickel, though I once read of one who sold a cent's worth, and the grateful customer spent nearly seventeen dollars for fishing tackle, safety-razors, and other drugs.

What a vain old man! Just had to quote Freud and show us a thing or two. Still, I guess some druggists may have read Freud and have waded through the obscurities of his disciple Jung, too.

I think the old man is right about the drug business paying, although not always in money. Some time ago the BULLETIN had two articles along this line, one writer seeing the beautiful and romantic in our old gums, resins, and balsams, the other only the drudgery of the drug shop.

There is a happy medium, I believe, between the Lotus-eater and the Brother to the Ox; anyhow, I know of a druggist who lets profit.