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CAPSULES OF SCIENCE Prepared by WILBUR L. SCOVILLE.

Bread vs. Pastry.

Diastase is very sensitive to mineral acids, and the hydrochloric acid of the stomach is found to be sufficient to arrest the digestion of pure starch, but it has been shown that when phosphates are present, as in whole wheat bread, these unite with the hydrochloric acid and the digestion of starch goes on. Thus bread containing the natural mineral constituents of the grain will digest under circumstances which arrest the digestion of pastry and other starchy foods.

Cock-robin Cocktails.

Maraschino is made by fermenting the pulp of marasch cherries, together with a small quantity of the leaves, for three or four days, then adding 10 to 15 per cent of alcohol and distilling. The distilled liquor is aged two or three years, then mixed with syrup so that the cordial contains 30 to 44 per cent of alcohol and 26 to 36 per cent of sugar. True maraschino has a flavor that is different from a similar liquor made from other varieties of cherries, and can be distinguished by its flavor, but not by chemical methods.

Eat to Live.

Since the discovery of "vitamines" or bodies existing in very small proportions in foods, and which are essential to a healthful assimilation of the foods, a further study has shown that foods contain a number of chemical principles which are essential to life, but are not foods in the sense of being nutritive. Among these principles are tyrosine, tryptophane, lysine, and

hystamine. Lysine has an influence upon growth, and tryptophane is necessary to normal metabolism. Some of these principles are found only in certain foods, hence a variety in foods is necessary to health.

Coal-escing.

The microscopists have found a way of cutting sections of coal so thin as to be transparent, and have been studying them under the microscope. They find that the greater part do not show any cellular structure, and when fragments of plants are found they are rarely complete but melt into the homogeneous portion. From this they think that in the formation of coal the vegetable matter was first entirely decomposed by bacterial action to a liquid, and that this was soaked up by undecomposed vegetation which subsequently changed into coal by losing most of its constituents except carbon.

Concerning Digitalis.—

E. Berry says that digitoxin has a toxic and cumulative effect upon the heart and that it probably combines permanently with the heart muscle, causing it to become hard and leathery. Preparations of digitalis made with cold water contain only traces of digitalis, infusions made with hot water contain more, alcoholic tinctures up to 20 to 30 per cent of alcohol contain it in full amount, but strongly alcoholic tinctures (60 to 90 per cent) contain much less. Digitonin and gitin accelerate the heart, but cause short beats and are non-cumulative. Fat-free tincture of digitalis contains none of these, but the usual tinctures contain them in full amount. Digitalein, when free from digitoxin and digitonin, shows good therapeutic effects, causing large, slow beats with almost complete recovery. Tinctures and infusions contain this, and preparations of digitalis which are "defatted" contain it in the best condition for use.

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BUSINESS HINTS

The Trained Nurse as a Business Creator.

A druggist in a suburban section of a large town, says the Northwestern Druggist, found that there were more nurses in the neighborhood than were able to obtain employment. He suggested one day to one of them that in the interim of no engagement she should canvass the section for him. She was to call at each house, introduce herself, state that she was a nurse, and that she had been sent out by the Up-to-Date Drug Store. Any advice or suggestions she could offer were to be given free.

A basis of remuneration was arranged and the nurse tried the experiment. It worked out very well. She found many families where the woman of the house had some problem, either of her own or on account of the children, which she was glad to talk about. If the nurse could make a helpful suggestion, she did so. If she felt that it was something where the services of a physician should be called, she said so. If anything was needed in the way of simple remedies, or appliances, bandages, etc., she suggested the proper thing and offered to have it sent if desired. She also left a card at each house which stated that she would be at the drug store two afternoons each week in case any one wished to call and see her for further advice.

This was the means of bringing many women to the store, and they usually made purchases. The plan succeeded so well that other nurses were glad to take the work up, especially in the matter of being on hand at the store on afternoons when the first nurse was away filling engagements. The house-to-house calls were mainly attended to by her, however, as she had an aptitude for it and enjoyed being out in the open.

Perhaps there is a suggestion here for some other druggists similarly situated. You might find a nurse in your own town or community who needs the exercise in the open air. It would help to build up the trade of the store along the more legitimate lines, it would give the store prestige and be a good advertisement. Some of the large drug stores have a hospital department presided over by a saleslady in the cap and apron of a nurse, and a plan such as outlined above might be the means of building such a section in your Own store.

Your shop might come to be a headquarters for nurses, a place where people would come, or send, when a nurse was needed. If you are on friendly terms with the nurses they would very likely suggest your store when asked where needed sick-room supplies could best be obtained. This, of course, in case there was no special registry for nurses in your town or section.

There's Value in a Name.

One of the greatest assets of the pharmacist of today, according to a statement made by Charles H. La Wall at the 1916 meeting of the New Jersey Pharmaceutical Association, is the development of his own individuality to a point where he personally is so identified with his business that his name, when mentioned

in the community where he is located, is looked upon as a synonym for a high-class professional pharmacist. How well the leaders of the past and many of the leaders of the present in retail pharmacy have appreciated this advantage is shown by the fact that it has been and is the almost invariable practice of those who have succeeded.

One of the easiest ways for the druggist to develop his individuality is to use his name in connection with his business in every way possible. His store should not have a locational name such as "Center Square Pharmacy," or an esthetic name as "Elite Pharmacy,” or a name of purely commercial import as "Economy Pharmacy," unless his own name is attached as part of the title, which usually makes a cumbersome and awkward designation.

This failure to impress the store owner's personality is evident from even a hasty study of the titles found on stores in both town and city districts. What is still more important, however, by far the greater number of pharmacists either are so careless about the matter or take so little pride in their stores that even when they have no distinctive title one looks in vain for a name on the outside of a store to identify the proprietor or manager with the business.

"In many stores," continued Mr. La Wall, "the only way one has of ascertaining the name of the responsible person in charge is to visit the store with a pair of opera glasses and decipher the names on the certificates and diplomas, which are usually hung in such position as an art committee would select for eliminating unworthy pictures.

"If pharmacy is to come into its own via the smaller store, as many seem to think possible, it will only be through the development of the individuality of the proprietor or manager.

"The weakness of the chain store is its anonymity. It overcomes this weakness by commercial devices more or less obvious to the thinking observer. If the proprietor of the small store would use his name to the fullest advantage, and where he has a permanent registered manager, use that also, it would have a marked effect in time, not only upon the standing of the individual pharmacist in his community, but it would tend to elevate pharmacy as a distinctive semi-professional calling whose members are not at present accorded the recognition which they deserve, partly on account of their own inertia in such matters as are herein discussed."

Advantages of a "Dollar Table."

A dollar table, well located, and filled with out-ofthe-ordinary merchandise, says the Voice Salesman, is an excellent scheme in almost any store, just as a “dollar window" often will sell more goods directly than almost any other kind of trim.

This is particularly true of goods that enter into the stock of the gift shop and the stationer-and the drug store of to-day is more or less of both. The variety of goods that can be put out all at one price is so exceedingly large, and the goods themselves are so attractive, that the selling is a very easy matter.

There is no limit to the tables that can be used in this manner, provided the space can be obtained. There can be one-dollar tables, two-dollar tables, and tables

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of as much higher priced goods as your trade demands. But if you can only have one table, by all means let it be a dollar table. There are hundreds of very attractive articles that can be procured to sell at that price, every one of which, if properly bought, furnishes a substantial margin of profit.

The table should be of fair size; small tables have very little attraction for shoppers. Cover the table with some bright colored tissue paper, which can be changed at little expense when soiled, and put out a good and varied assortment of fancy merchandise. Have a good-sized sign on a standard set in the middle of the table, and have it high enough to be readily seen when the table is surrounded by shoppers.

The assortment of goods suitable for such a display is almost inexhaustible. At any season of the year, the druggist who sets himself to do so can find a wide range of articles in his various departments that can be put upon the dollar table, while at special seasons-the vacation season for tourists and the Christmas gift season, for example-the stock and therefore the variety of goods available is considerably increased.

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Marketing an Automobile Polish.

Constant washing of automobiles with soap and water eventually deadens the polish; in addition, the work is expensive if done at a garage, and disagreeable if done by the owner himself. For these reasons druggists are asked frequently to supply automobilists with a mixture that will aid them in keeping their machines clean.

How to meet this demand is described by a writer in the C. R. D. A. News, published by the Chicago Retail Druggists' Association, as follows:

"During the past year there have appeared on the market several preparations to keep automobiles clean by spraying on them a thin layer of one of these preparations and then wiping the surfaces dry with cheesecloth. They do the work satisfactorily and preserve the polish at the same time. Such preparations sell to the consumer at $2.50 to $3.00 per gallon.

"The large manufacturers of petroleum produce what is known as a white mineral oil (neutral) which costs from 45 to 55 cents a gallon. This is a waterwhite mineral oil of light specific gravity, and when properly mixed with gasoline, and some essential oil to

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Announcing an Opening.

A drug-store opening announcement that covers in a comprehensive manner the various lines of goods offered is the following, which was distributed recently by Fred D. Nelligar, proprietor of The Redgate Pharmacy, Norfolk, Virginia:

At the corner of Colley and Redgate Avenues, we have completed a modern drug store, stocked brimful of pharmaceutical merchandise and sick-room requisites, together with many other needfuls usually known as side lines.

To fill your prescriptions we have Squibb's line of chemicals, the best in the United States, none better in the world; Mulford biologicals and serums kept in a serum refrigerator; Parke, Davis & Company's and Sharp & Dohme's pills, tablets, and standardized liquids; Lilly's capsules; Johnson & Johnson's plasters, bandages, and surgical supplies.

In confectionery we have Loose-Wiles, Lowney's, and Apollo. Our ice cream is the Montauk kind; the beverages from our fountain are perfection, served by an expert soda-man, not a boy; and we put special emphasis on the fact that our cream holders, glasses and spoons are germless: each one is sterilized in our Darnall steam sterilizer before being used a second time. We have the National Biscuit Company's dainties. We have a complete assortment of cameras and films. We develop your films free, only charging for successful prints; returning them the same day they are left.

The Seamless Rubber Company supplies us with rubber goods guaranteed to last at least two years.

For Men. Our tobacco merchandise is well selected, properly taken care of and complete.

We have a coffee in pound tins, of unsurpassed flavor, priced at forty cents a pound; sample for the asking.

For your automobile we are prepared to supply sponges, chamois, polish, etc., at much less than down-town prices. Mazda lamps and Ever-Ready flash-lights.

Playing cards, tally cards, poker chips and dice for those who use them.

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A Customer Service that Brings in New Faces.

J. B. Powell, writing in System, says that by supplementing the city directory, which is published every two years, a Missouri druggist has established a muchappreciated service. He keeps track of all new families that move to town, and files the names and addresses in a card index intended for public use.

When a customer consults the city directory and fails to find the name he is looking for, a salesman is always near to suggest trying the card index.

The merchant keeps the index up to date by watching the newspapers. Besides serving the public, the names form a valuable addition to his mailing list.

PRACTICAL PHARMACY

Formaldehyde Fumigation.—

On account of the extreme shortage and high price of potassium permanganate its use in formaldehyde fumigation has largely been abandoned in favor of cheaper substances. The Western Drug Record offers the following substitutes and suggests that druggists try them out in order to have the experience necessary to recommend them intelligently:

Chlorinated Lime Method.
Chlorinated lime
Water

12 ounces. .4 fluidounces. Formaldehyde, U. S. P. solution.....1 pound. Place the chlorinated lime in a mixing pan and add the water to it, stirring until a paste is formed. Then pour the formaldehyde solution over the moistened lime. The same precautions should be used as in the permanganate method. The formula is sufficient to fumigate 1000 cubic feet of room space. Bichromate Method.

Sodium bichromate Formaldehyde, U. S. P.

10 ounces. .1 pound.

Sulphuric acid, commercial....11⁄2 fluidounces.

The acid can be added to the formaldehyde and the mixture kept on hand for use. Care, however, should be exercised on account of the presence of the acid. This solution is added to the bichromate, which has been spread out in a thin layer over the bottom of the vessel.

One of the drawbacks of this method is that the residue is somewhat corrosive, and if a metal container is used, it should be removed and scrubbed out with water as soon as possible.

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The Tablet-triturate Board.

When a prescription is presented for a tablet triturate of a strength not carried in stock, certain pharmacists, not in close touch with jobbers or manufacturers, do one of two things. They either order the tablets by mail-at a delay of two or more days or they adroitly explain that the prescription in question can be filled by substituting pills, capsules or powders of equal strength.

Neither practice is to be commended. In the first instance, the delay causes the patient to forego treatment for several days; in the second, the change suggested by the druggist sometimes creates an unfavorable impression in the minds of the patient and physician.

In a paper read before the 1916 meeting of the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Association, Arthur D. Anstock suggests how the pharmacist can avoid the delay and also save himself the embarrassment of hav

ing to make the “substitution" explanation. Mr. Anstock recommends a hard-rubber tablet-triturate board.

A board with fifty perforations is a good one to use. A blank test with sugar of milk should be made, and it will be found that sixty-two to sixty-five grains will be the amount required. This may be marked on the board for future reference.

In making tablet triturates where the drug to be used is an alkaloid or salt, the drug with sufficient sugar of milk to make the weight noted should be thoroughly triturated, preferably in a small glass mortar, and moistened with seventy-five per cent alcohol to make a mass. Twenty-five to thirty-five minims is usually sufficient.

This makes a firm tablet, but if a harder tablet is desired powdered acacia may be used, allowing two grains to fifty tablets and moistening with eighty-five per cent alcohol.

Drugs containing resinous principles work better with chloroform or a mixture of alcohol and chloroform. When chloroform is used as a moistening liquid it would be better to use a metal board.

All tablet triturates cannot be made by moistening and pressing through perforations. Calomel and soda triturates made this way would darken. When these are called for in a strength not carried in stock, it would be better to make a compressed tablet triturate.

Frequently tablets will stick to the pegs after they have been pressed through the perforations. This difficulty may be overcome by moving each row of triturates slightly with a spatula. Almost immediately they should be placed on a piece of white paper and the paper agitated occasionally, so that they will not adhere to it.

Unless too great a quantity of liquid has been used to moisten the mass, the tablets will be dry enough to send out in from fifteen to thirty minutes.

Administration of Deliquescent and Liquid Drugs in Capsules.

For the extemporaneous dispensing in capsule form of certain deliquescent and liquid substances, N. S. Davis, M.D., writing in The Journal of the American Medical Association, recommends the incorporation of the substances with a wax mass. In this way potassium iodide and similar drugs can be given; also guaiacol, oil of sandalwood and many other liquids which the doctor wishes to prescribe in doses of from 5 to 10 minims. The iodides can be given in doses of 10 or 12 grains (from 0.5 to 0.8 gm.), and the pill will be readily absorbed, as is shown by finding iodine in the saliva in three minutes or less after such a capsule is swallowed.

The capsules are permanent, ordinarily keeping for weeks in the hottest, dampest weather, if placed in a corked bottle.

For the making of a pill to be placed in a capsule containing sodium or potassium iodide in doses of 10 or 12 grains (from 0.5 to 0.8 gm.), about 11⁄2 grains (0.1 or 0.15 gm.) of the wax mass is needed. Red mercuric iodide and other drugs can be incorporated in the same mass, if they are required.

To make a pill containing guaiacol, oil of sandalwood or similar liquids in doses of 5 minims or thereabouts, the same quantity of mass is needed.

The wax mass is made of one part beeswax and three parts castor oil. The ingredients are melted and put together, heating them gently while they are being mixed, and then allowed to cool.

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BOOKS

CASPARI'S TREATISE ON PHARMACY.

This book, now in its fifth edition, has been enlarged and revised recently to bring it in harmony with the new editions of the United States Pharmacopoeia and the National Formulary.

Charles Caspari, Jr., professor of pharmacy in the department of pharmacy of the University of Maryland, is the author, and previous editions of his work are familiar to many druggists who used them as textbooks during their student days.

There are three distinct divisions in the book.

Part I comprises general pharmacy, which includes the study of weights and measures, specific gravity, the application and control of heat, mechanical subdivision of drugs, and methods of solution and separation, together with a classification and description of the various plant products and solvents used in pharmacy.

Part II treats of practical pharmacy and involves a study of the official galenical preparations, together with a study of the many operations of the dispensing

counter.

Part III is devoted to pharmaceutical chemistry, the author confining himself to a discussion of such compounds as are either officially recognized in the pharmacopoeia or are of special interest to pharmacists.

The book is not intended, however, nor would it serve, as a substitiute for the U. S. P. and the N. F. Its object, rather, is to act as a guide to the intelligent study and use of these two authorities and to answer the many questions as to the why and wherefore of official directions and tests that present themselves to the mind of the practicing pharmacist.

The price of the book, which contains 929 pages illustrated with 337 engravings, is $4.75, net. Lea & Febiger, 706-710 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, are the publishers.

"LESSONS IN PHARMACEUTICAL LATIN."

While designed primarily as a text-book for colleges of pharmacy, this book, by Hugh C. Muldoon, Ph.G., instructor in organic and analytical chemistry and Latin at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, should prove of considerable value as a means of instruction and reference for practicing pharmacists.

The book presents in a simple manner such rudiments of Latin as will enable the pharmacist to interpret correctly those portions of the language which he may encounter in the practice of his profession.

Neither drug-store experience nor previous knowledge of Latin on the part of the student is assumed, and an endeavor is made to explain carefully such points as are likely to prove troublesome. Simplicity is obtained by spending but little time on pronunciation; by omitting exceptions to general rules; by noting but four cases of the noun and adjective, with stress on the genitive; by simplifying the third declension as much as seems advisable; and by reducing verb work to a minimum.

Especial attention is given to the writing of titles, and to prescriptions. Quite detailed explanation of metric prescriptions is provided, and the requirements of Harrison law prescriptions are also noted. The appendix contains matter valuable for supplementary work and for reference, the Latin-English vocabulary being particularly complete.

"Lessons in Pharmaceutical Latin" is published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, and the net price is $1.25.

SIMON AND BASE'S MANUAL OF CHEMISTRY.

To conform with the changes in the new United States Pharmacopoeia and to provide for a number of rearrangements, additions and deletions of material, a new edition (the eleventh) of this book has been found necessary. The authors are W. Simon, Ph.D., M.D., late professor of chemistry in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, and in the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery; and Daniel Base, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in the department of pharmacy of the University of Maryland.

The object of the volume is to supply necessary fundamental instruction to all who are concerned with the medical bearings of chemistry, and particularly to students of medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry.

Included in this 648-page book are 55 illustrations, one colored spectra plate, and six colored plates, representing 48 chemical reactions. Lea & Febiger, 706-710 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, are the publishers, and the price of the volume is $3.50, net.

"HISTOLOGY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS."

The contents of this volume, which is the work of William Mansfield, A.M., Phar.D., professor of histology and pharmacognosy at the College of Pharmacy, Columbia University, is well described by its title.

The book is divided into three parts. In part one there are six chapters dealing with the microscope and microscopic technic; in part two there are nine chapters dealing with the cell and cell contents; and in part three there are ten chapters dealing with the histology of various medicinal plants.

Special attention is given to the study of plant hairs, which are of the greatest diagnostic value in the study of powdered drugs; also to bast fibers, for which a new classification is presented which is based on the structure of the cell wall and the nature of the cell, whether branched or not, crystal bearing or not.

All the different types of cells and cell-contents that are found in the official drugs of the U. S. P. IX. are described and illustrated in this volume; their association and relationship to each other and the nature of the cell content in different parts of the plant are clearly indicated.

The book is the outgrowth of the author's experience as a teacher of histology. It contains much new material and is profusely illustrated from original drawings by the author.

"Histology of Medicinal Plants" is published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 432 Fourth Avenue, New York City. The price of the volume is $3.00, net.

O. A. F.

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