A Prominent Glasgow Pharmacist-Mr. John Macmillan-His Beautiful and Finely-equipped Pharmacy -To Him Belongs the Credit of Devising the Original Formula for "Easton's Syrup." The illustrations shown in connection with this article picture one of the best equipped and handsomest pharmacies in Great Britain. It is one of the two stores owned by a prominent "chemist" or pharmacist in Glasgow, Scotland-Mr. John Macmillan. The dispensing department of the pharmacy is shown in part in the illustration at the top of this page, and that it is a model will readily be admitted by the reader. It reminds one of a college laboratory. In this department there are accommodations for six dispensers, each of whom has a full set of all the ordinary drugs, chemicals, and apparatus required in dispensing. Work is thus carried on in the most expeditious way, without interruption, and with all the advantage which comes from silence, perfect equipment, and an atmosphere of scientific endeavor. MR. MACMILLAN HIMSELF. Mr. John Macmillan is one of the best-known pharmacists in Scotland. Born in 1842, at Ochiltree, in Ayrshire, a village that has recently become famous as the scene of George Douglas Brown's strong and successful novel, "The House with the Green Shutters," John Macmillan commenced his apprenticeship, at the age of 15, with the now defunct firm of Messrs. Murdoch Brothers, who half a century ago were prominent pharmacists in Glasgow. The first task set the young apprentice was to rub up a batch of mercury with chalk in a No. 12 Wedgwood mortar. The trituration had to be continued for some days, and as the work was somewhat monotonous, it can be easily understood that the prospect appeared anything but cheering. As was usual in those days, all the galenicals were prepared on the premises, and all from the best quality of drugs, so that the establishment of Messrs. Murdoch was an excellent training school for apprentices, and the traditions of a good business house thus early inculcated have since been fostered and maintained by Mr. Macmillan. THE INTERESTING HISTORY OF "EASTON'S SYRUP." To Mr. Macmillan belongs the credit of devising the formula for, and first preparing, Easton's Syrup, which for the last generation has been a familiar preparation, and which is now official in the British Pharmacopoeia as "Syrup of the Phosphate of Iron with Quinine and Strychnine." Dr. Easton, who was Professor of Materia Medica in Glasgow University from 1855 to 1865, conceived the idea of administering the phosphates of iron, quinine, and strychnine during convalescence from serious diseases, and wrote a pamphlet on the subject. Easton came about Murdoch Brothers' shop, and was on very friendly terms with Mr. Macmillan, at that time the senior assistant. On Mr. Macmillan therefore devolved the duty of working out a suitable formula, and the now well-known syrup was the result. This was largely prescribed in Glasgow, and the formula was first published in Aitken's Practice of Medicine, A sectional view of Mr. Macmillan's pharmacy. present, at St. George's Cross. In 1873 he opened a branch at Hillhead; and this beautiful shop is the subject of all the accompanying illustrations. This pharmacy is admitted to be one of the finest in the west of Scotland, the dispensing department, as has already been intimated, being especially well planned. Since the opening of this branch Mr. Macmillan's trade has progressed by "leaps and bounds." The accommodation in the St. George's Cross establishment has been quadrupled, and the staff, all told, now numbers 39, and even the energies of this large number are often taxed to keep pace with the demands of a still growing trade. Mr. Macmillan has frequently published valuable suggestions in the pharmaceutical press, but he shines more as the thorough practical pharmacist, his opinion on any pharmaceutical point being respected by the best medical men in Glasgow, with all of whom he maintains the most cordial relations. Although a very busy man he has found time to edit a useful volume on "New Remedies," which has gone through no fewer than eight editions, the last edition containing 260 pages of very interesting matter. The ninth edition is now in course of preparation, and this will no doubt still further enhance Mr. Macmillan's reputation. A FEW PROFITABLE SPRING SPECIALTIES. Articles Germane to the Annual House-cleaning Season-They Are Readily Sold, and Yield a Good Profit-Formulas which Have Stood the Test of Experience. By A. ARMOR. The spring house-cleaning season is approaching, How to Make and this is the time when the enterprising druggist can coin a few dollars if he will. Let me give the formulas of two or three specialties which I elaborated for this season some years ago, and which have become good paying specialties. A CARPET AND RUG CLEANER. OPAL PASTE. A Wonderful Carpet Cleaner. Will make Carpets and Rugs look like new. It is Economical and Quickly Made. Dissolve one package of OPAL GRYSTAL in one gallon of boiling water. Add one pound of Ivory Soap cut into shavings, then boil for ten minutes. After the soap is thoroughly dissolved, add four gallons of water and stir well. Let This is the time when the housewife wants to make her carpets and rugs look like new, and yet FIVE GALLONS FOR 25 GTS. there are so many kinds of cleaners upon the market, and so many of them are disappointments, that it is often a perplexing question for her to know what to get and use. Pastes, soaps, and liquids exist by the dozen. I offer to my trade a good formula that gives excellent results, that can be depended upon, and that has given satisfaction to my local produce a heavy lather. Remove the lather with a wooden trade for many seasons. I have scores of unsolicited testimonials from satisfied people. The formula is as follows: stand until it cools, then it is ready for use. DIRECTIONS.-Apply with a scrubbing brush, which will scraper. Dry with a soft flannel cloth. Opal Crystal 25c Per Package. PREPARED BY A. ARMOR, Druggist, Cor. Taylor Ave. & Monterey St., Allegheny, Pa. I may say that I get 25 cents for each package of "Opal Crystals." The profit on the transaction is 22 cents! Worth while, isn't it? And yet the consumer never feels that he is being bled in the We put this product up in six-ounce panel bottles, and sell it for 25 cents. The directions on the label read as follows: "Shake the bottle well before using the polish. Put a little on a bit of old Canton flannel and then rub briskly and quickly. The furniture will shine almost immediately." And I also say on the label that "This polish is something entirely new. It is the most speedy and elegant renovator ever known or brought before the public. It makes the poorest and most worn-out furniture look almost equal to new." I call the product by the name of Dissolve the salts in the water, and you have one gallon of the best washing fluid very easily made for 25 cents. Then this may be sold with the directions to use a cupful or more of it to a boiler of water. I put up these various household preparations and place them in a position where they can be readily seen by my patrons. I also have signs calling attention to their uses, particularly in the case of the washing fluid, for which I have no printed label. Then, of course, as I have already suggested, I put a circular in packages leaving the counter and distribute them in other ways. Well-directed efforts along this line turn many a bit of lucre into the druggist's till that otherwise might be shot through the pneumatic tube of some enterprising department store! A CONVENIENT TABLE FOR COCAINE SOLUTIONS. From repeated trials I have found the following table to work accurately, and submit it to my brother pharmacists with the hope that it may be of benefit to them. Having had occasion to fill a large number of orders from physicians for solutions of cocaine hydrochlorate, ranging in strength from one to twenty per cent, I noticed that the alkaloidal salt, when dissolved in distilled water, made quite an appreciable increase in the bulk, viz.: when, in following the general rule, I would use fifty grains of cocaine hydrochlorate, and one fluidounce of distilled water, in making a ten-per-cent solution, I found that the finished solution would measure about five hundred and twenty-three minims-an increase of forty-three minims over the fluidounce. I therefore began experimenting to devise a means of preventing this waste. The experiments were made with P., D. & Co.'s small crystals of cocaine hydrochlorate, and with distilled water at the ordinary room temperature. The following table was the result; it is for making one fluidounce of the solution: Strength Amount of cocaine hydroch. Amount of dist. water. 5 per cent. " 44 20 23 grains. 460 minims. " 46 44 440 421 400 As the profits on solutions of cocaine sold to physicians are small, this table, by enabling the pharmacist to dispense the solutions at less cost than they could be produced by the regular method, means a saving that is worth while. The saving on a solution of ten-per-cent strength, made according to the table, would for one fluidounce be three and a half grains of cocaine hydrochlorate; the price at present in ounce lots is about one cent per grain. In a twenty-per-cent solution the cost of fifteen grains of cocaine would be saved on one fluidounce. Even if you dispense only one ounce each day of cocaine solution, of any of the four popular strengths, the sum saved in a year would surprise you! |