in their territory and get him into the association, if he was not already a member, and also to collect his dues if he had not already paid them. In two weeks' time this committee completely covered St. Louis and collected nearly $2000 in dues! In fact, dues were collected from practically every druggist in the city. Even the smaller druggists who did not have clerks, and who were not in position to attend more than once or twice a year, cheerfully paid the dues for the good they were receiving from the association.

On one occasion we invited a representative from each wholesale drug house, the Mayor of our city, and one or two others to take luncheon with us after our business meeting. This proved quite a drawing card, and the meeting was nearly twice the size of any that we had had previously. At the next meeting we had a number of invited guests, among others our honored and beloved National Secretary, Mr. Thos. V. Wooten, and after lunch some 10 or 12 responded with enthusiastic talks, which helped to impress upon the druggists that the monthly meetings of the St. Louis Retail Druggists' Association were good things to attend.

CUTTERS ELECTED OFFICERS.

By this time we had worked our attendance up to about 100. At the next meeting was held the annual election of officers, and the same officers were reëlected. The writer was very careful to appoint committees composed of active men in each part of the city, making some of the committees large so as to get as many druggists working as possible. The most important part of the election was the choosing of our Board of Directors, and we take particular pride in saying that the five members of our board constitute the five large downtown cutters. These men were also appointed the Price Committee, with full power to act for the entire city. This committee holds its meetings separately from our regular meetings, once a month, and although we have been cautious and careful we have advanced prices up and down the line until we have got them about as far as we feel is practicable for the present.

SCHEDULE OF PRICES.

I cannot, of course, give the present schedule as a whole, since it comprises a small booklet, but I may say that the following prices cover all patents not mentioned specifically in the schedule, although it is to be noted that perfumes, toilet articles, and medicinal and toilet soaps are exempted:

ENLISTING THE SYMPATHIES OF THE LADIES.

At our next monthly meeting after the election of officers, every member invited his wife or sweetheart to join us at luncheon, and it took the large dining-room of the great Southern Hotel to take. care of us. This meeting was a phenomenal suc-cess, and the largest that we have ever held. We got the druggists' wives interested; they saw what interesting meetings we held, and after that they reminded their husbands regularly on the third Tuesday of each month that the meeting of the association was to be held that day!

It might be asked how we paid for this big meeting. The writer, who was in the chair, asked the question of the association: "Shall the association take from its treasury the amount to pay for the ladies' luncheon, or would every man take pride, when the hat was passed, to throw in a dollar or two, and relieve the treasury of this burden?" Four druggists promptly passed the hat, and not a man in the crowd refused, but, on the other hand, each had a pleasant smile and many dropped in two and three dollars, far more than enough to cover the expense of the ladies.

GUESTS.

At the next meeting we invited the city salesmen of all the wholesale drug and pharmaceutical houses, as well as a representative from the drug journals and others, to join us at luncheon. This so impressed the city salesmen what a grand and good association we had, and what a splendid time they enjoyed, that they took time to explain to every druggist what he was missing by not attending the meetings regularly.

To-day St. Louis can accomplish anything that it

wants to, and as the writer said, in responding for the association at the Boston Convention: "We have no axes to grind; we need nothing; we are simply here to help others." Let me say that the Price Committee could advance the prices of any number of articles, mail the letter out to-night. to each of the druggists in St. Louis for the advance prices to

go into effect at a specified time, and we could rest assured that the directions would not be deviated from by a single druggist. Naturally we are proud of our association, because, as I said before, the work was done absolutely without any help whatever from outsiders, but was accomplished by the St. Louis druggists themselves.

It's all very well to talk about educating the public by initiating them into the mysteries of the prescription department of the drug store, but there are some things which it is just as well for the dear public not to know.

There is a natural air of mystery about the drug store so far as most people are concerned. It is proper that there should be, or the druggist will find that he will have trouble in getting his customers to pay any more for a prescription than the mere value of its ingredients.

We are not living in the dark ages, and we don't expect to flimflam the public by charging them all that their ignorance will allow for an ounce or two of water and something else equally high priced. We are not conducting secret and uncanny rites, brewing a miraculous witch-broth over a sulphurous flame with his satanic majesty presiding over the foaming cauldron; nor are we endeavoring to inculcate within the minds of our patrons the belief that it is only by means of some mysterious, occult power that we are able to extract virtue from the drugs in our possession.

We are occupying an exalted position in the business world and giving people in return for their money the benefit of years of training in accuracy and scientific compounding, as well as a material consideration in the way of the actual medicines delivered. We are taking the prescriptions brought to us and putting them up with the best attention to correctness and to the quality of the ingredients. We are charging just a fair price for the drugs and too small a price for the skill used in combining them.

A small proportion of the people appreciate the value of the skill and care very little what they pay for it. A large proportion know little or nothing about the value of the skill and care a great deal what they pay for it. The latter class have money

which is just as good as that of the former. If we overeducate them, they will perhaps have to pay our price just the same, but it will be very hard to get them to do it.

The illusion does no harm to any one. It means simply a little politic reticence. Give people evasive answers to their inquiries as to "What kind of stuff is in that prescription anyway?" What a time you would have with the doctor, too, if you gave away the secrets of his trade by disclosing everything in his prescriptions!

An actual incident in a drug store that I know of ran as follows: The druggist had stepped out, leaving his father, old Mr. Blake, temporarily in charge. The old gentleman was not posted on drugs, but once in a while helped a little behind the counter. Pretty soon came in old Dr. Gray, the village veterinary, who knew a lot about horses and very little about drugs.

He wanted to get a prescription put up which he had been in the habit of getting quite often. He asked Mr. Blake if his son was there, and being told that he was not he continued:

"Well, I get a kind of medicine here that I have him fix up for me. I want it right away. Don't you s'pose you could kind o' put it together?"

"I don't know," said Mr. Blake. "Mebby I could. I've got the Dispensatory here, and that tells about everything and what it is, so I guess we couldn't go far wrong. Let's see your prescription."

"Here it is. It's one cut out of the 'Horseman.' Mr. Blake took the prescription, and, putting on his "close by" glasses, looked it over carefully. "Here's the bottle I get it in," said the doctor, handing over a half-pint flask.

"All right. Now let's see what that first thing is: 'Sodium Bicarbonate, 1 ounce.'

The dispensatory was brought into use, and when the item was found, Mr. Blake said:

"That ain't very hard. It's just common baking soda. I guess I sold enough of that in the grocery business years ago to know it when I see it."

He weighed it out and put it in the bottle. Then

he read again:

If the moral which this tale points is not obvious, then I miss my guess. It may be all right to have the prescription desk arranged with plain glass windows in the front of it, and everything in such shape that the public can see the dispenser dispens

"Why, dock, that ain't anything but salt. I'm druggist enough myself to put salt and sody in a bottle." So he put that in.

"Now we'll see what this 'aqua' means. That may be the sticker."

A third time the book was opened.

"Water, by the jumping John Rogers! Half a pint of water! Well, here she goes. There: I guess the old man is as good as the boy on that prescription. I can't charge you over three cents for it, and we'll make two cents and a half on you, then, dock."

"Three cents!" shouted the doctor. "By the great hellity devilty damn! I've paid your son thirty-five cents for that fifty times, I'll bet. You're a lot of robbers. I wish I was in the drug business. I'll have every druggist in this county arrested on the charge of grand larceny. Thirty-five cents!" and out of the door went the doctor.

We know that we are right and justified in asking the prices that we do. We ought to ask more, but who could make the public believe that we are entitled even to the present prices-I mean the general public?

Our own safety demands that we keep up the illusion. The medical fraternity demand it. The safety of the public demands it. If the people knew what went into their medicines they would soon be dosing themselves to death.

Let's charge what the prescriptions are worth with a proper amount of respect for our ability, and if the people blame us and accuse us of secrecy and extortion, and kick us right and left and jibe at us, let them jibe. We will at least have the consciousness of having done right, and will be justified in considering that we have helped humanity against humanity's wishes.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS?

George C. Bartells, of Camp Point, Illinois, contributes the following two incidents to the Campfire:

Years ago I had for a neighbor a certain shoemaker and dealer who always kept in his cellar a good supply of hard cider where it could be had, and when it could not be obtained he would get a keg of beer or whisky. After a while he found that his two boys would fill a pint or quart bottle when they went out hunting or fishing, and would frequently come home in a rather "limber" condition. He could not find out for some time their source of supply, till I suggested the keg in his own cellar. Then he resorted to a jug which was kept under his bed.

One day that gave out, and he came to me while

sitting in front of my store, told me how dry he was, and that he would like to try my bottle or jug, thinking of course that every druggist had his especial vessel. I told him I did not have any, and that I did not use stimulants. This he could not believe. He asked leave to go in my store and help himself. I jokingly said "yes," never thinking he would dare take anything. After a while he came out, went into his store, and in a little while came back, asking me to tell him what was in a certain bottle in the corner of the prescription

case.

To my horror he showed me the croton oil bottle, an original 24-ounce one, out of which he had attempted to take a drink. I was alarmed and told him he had better send for his physician at once. Fortunately he had not swallowed much and his life was saved, but he came near death's door

near enough never to want to meddle with another druggist's "private bottle!"

The man is now dead, but on another occasion a friend of his who was a drinking man had a halfgallon jug of coal oil.. He had set it down where it could be got at. My shoemaker neighbor took a drink, thinking it was whisky. The friend had told him in a joking way to "help himself." He was very sick and called in his doctor, who, when he found what had been taken, advised the patient to "put in a wick and burn it out."

These are facts, though hardly believable.

OUCH! WATER OF AMMONIA INTERNALLY!

D. G. Machenheimer, of Carmi, Illinois, is responsible for the next three incidents:

I was waiting on a customer one evening when in rushed a man with a prescription in his hand, and demanded that I wait upon him at once, saying that his wife was dying. I hurriedly took the prescription and read Fl. ext. ergot, one-half ounce; aqua ammonia, one-half ounce; mix.

I hastily put in the ergot, again glanced at the prescription and put in the half-ounce of aqua ammonia, and quickly labeled the bottle and handed it to the man, with directions to take a teaspoonful every 3 hours. He seized the bottle and rushed out. In a short time the telephone rang, and the doctor who had written the prescription inquired if it had been filled by us.

The "boss" answered the 'phone, and, knowing

nothing about it, asked me. I told him that I had filled it, and then, looking again at the prescription, read “aqua cinnamon" in place of aqua ammonia! I told the boss.

"Well," the doctor declared meanwhile, "Mr.just called me up and said the medicine burned his wife's mouth. I wondered if the clerk hadn't put in spirits of cinnamon instead of the water." The "boss" said, "Yes, the spirits must have been used."

It didn't take me very long to put up another bottle and hasten to Mr.'s house, but it necessitated a great deal of explaining to set things right. The wife had taken a teaspoonful of the mixture, and her mouth had been burned, but she hadn't swallowed much of it. The doctor's writing of aqua cinnamon might easily have been mistaken for aqua ammonia, although I should have realized the strangeness, to say the least, of combining water of ammonia and fluidextract of ergot in a prescription.

THE OLD LADY AND THE CHLOROFORM.

About 5 o'clock one evening an old lady came into the store where I was employed as assistant clerk and asked for 10 cents worth of chloroform. I asked her what use she wanted it for, and she replied, "to remove grease spots on some clothing." I consulted the "boss," and he directed me to give it to her. I did so, and shortly afterwards went to my supper, and thought no more of the matter.

When I returned the old lady was in the store and the "boss" and the doctor were working over her. The "boss" gave me the bottle and asked how much she had taken. She had evidently swallowed about half an ounce. Just then several policemen came into the store and took charge of her. In the meantime, I had put the bottle where human eyes could see it nevermore, thinking that the police might ask for it.

I then learned that after purchasing the chloroform the old lady had gone upstairs to the doctor's office, and, finding no one in, had sat down in a chair and taken the chloroform. When the doctor returned he found her in á stupor, but succeeded in reviving her in a short time.

HIS NOTION OF A PILL.

A man came into the store one evening and asked for something for his wife's neuralgia. I gave him a dozen of Gross's neuralgia pills with morphine, to be taken one every hour until 3 doses were taken. The next morning the man came in for some more pills. I asked him if his wife had taken them all. He replied: "Yes, she took one every hour, but her bowels didn't move yet, and she seems to want to sleep all the time." I told him to keep her awake, and as a helper gave him some compound cathartic pills to give her. The term "pill" to him had simply meant something to move the bowels, and since. then I have found many persons with the same strange and often dangerous notion.

After looking the prescription over very carefully, and observing that no physician's name was signed to it, I asked the customer in a casual way who had written it. He gave me the name of a prominent doctor who had been in the habit of sending me prescriptions, and, not being in direct communication with him by 'phone or otherwise, I decided heroically to arrange the dosage in this prescription to suit myself. It seemed to me that, as written, the prescription was absolutely dangerous. The next day the doctor came in, and I asked him if he had really written the prescription, hand

ing it to him for his attention. He quietly answered in the affirmative, and said nothing about the tremendously large dose ordered. Bewildered, I told him that, not being able to communicate with him, I had taken the liberty of changing the dose to a teaspoonful. He gave me a sidelong glance and replied; "Well, a teaspoonful of that mixture won't do his cow very much good!"

The case was clear. Not wishing to go on record as a cow doctor, he had not signed his name to the prescription, nor indicated what the mixture was to be used for!

F

Define (1) campanulate, (2) tubular, (3) ligulate,. (4) labiate, (5) rosaceous, (6) cruciferous, (7) papillonaceous, as applied to the forms of flowers, give a drawing of two or more; also define (8)) polypetalous, (9) staminate, (10) pistillate.

G

Liquid air is said to generate intense cold, reaching a temperature of 312° below zero according to the Fahrenheit thermometer; the usual temperature thermometers are filled with an indicating fluid of mercury or alcohol. (1) Could you ascertain the temperature of liquid air by means of such thermometers? (2) Give the freezing point of mercury. (3) Give the freezing point of pure alcohol. (4) What liquid could be used as an indicator for a thermometer, capable of indicating a minus temperature of 312° F.? In every case give both Fahrenheit and Centigrade degrees.

H

(1) How many liniments are official? (2) What is the idea of adding alcohol in the manufacture of ammonia liniment? (3) Why does an old rancid oil make a better liniment when mixed with an alkali than a fresh oil? (4) What causes this liniment to become solid at times? (5) What is the common name or synonym of ammonia liniment, and what is it used for?

I

(1) The official camphor liniment contains 200 parts of camphor by weight in 1000 parts of liniment; the official belladonna liniment contains only