still have to remain in schedule B. Among several amendments to the pharmacy law which the board will endeavor to get through the legislature this year, with the help of the State Pharmaceutical Association, this will be one.

Adulteration and Substitution.

Dr. George C. Diekman, chairman of the Committee on Adulteration and Substitution of the Eastern Branch, submitted the following report covering the work performed by his committee during the past year: In all 2,746 samples were collected from pharmacists and others doing business within the territory over which this branch of the board has jurisdiction. These samples were submitted to the chemist of the branch for analyses, and reports on 2,655 samples were received from him, 91 samples remaining unanalyzed. These samples were collected by the inspectors of the board from stores located in every part of the territory embraced in the Eastern section. In each instance a portion of the sample, duly sealed, was left in possession of the person from whom purchased.

A comparison of this report with that for the year 1904 shows that while a greater number of samples were collected, the deviations from the pharmacopoeial requirements of strength and purity are steadily on the decrease.

The following detailed tabulation of the results of analyses was given: Not Number Standard. Standard. Examined. 584

1 Tincture of iodine..

512

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In proceeding against violators of the law for the sale of articles below the required standard of strength, the board has found that the courts would not sustain it in the contention that separate fines could be collected for two or more offenses committed in one day. The law at present reads that any person violating the section in question shall forfeit $25 "for every such violation." The board will endeavor to secure the insertion of the words "each and" before every in the words previously quoted. It is also contemplated to strike out from subdivision 3 of section 196 the words "knowingly, wilfully or fraudulently," to meet some legal technicality which the board has had to contend with in prosecuting offenders.

An effort is to be made by the board through an amendment to the law to place wood alcohol among the poisons listed in schedule B, there being some conflict of opinion among lawyers as to whether the board had power to add wood alcohol to the list without authority of the Legislature.

Doctor Taylor, of the State Education Department, appeared before the board and read the minutes of the Ad Interim of the pharmacy council of the Board of Regents. The adoption of these minutes places Scio College, Ohio, among the recognized colleges of pharmacy in this State. The report covered practically the same ground as described in the AMERICAN DRUGGIST for November 13, 1905, page 276. The business of Monday's session was conducted in two sittings, the first lasting from 10 till 12 and the second from 2.30 till 5.

Important Ruling at Tuesday's Session.

At The board met in the same place on Tuesday at 10 a. m. this sitting definite action was taken in the matter of allowing druggists to label original packages of poisonous preparations by pasting the poison label over the waxed paper wrapper in which the package is sent out by the manufacturer. STORES MUST BE EQUIPPED WITH THE LATEST PHARMACOPIA. The board adopted a new and important ruling which will be known as Rule No. 20. This provides that no store license will be issued to any pharmacist applying for the same who fails to give satisfactory proof to the board that he is in possession of the latest revised edition of the United States Pharmacopoeia, or of some work which embodies the latest revised edition of the United States Pharmacopoeia in its contents.

At the suggestion of Doctor Muir a committee was appointed to wait on Governor Higgins, both to pay the respects of the board and to get the Governor's views on the wisdom of introducing the proposed amendments to the pharmacy law at this session of the legislature. On this committee were appointed C. O. Bigelow, William Muir, Willis G. Gregory and Judson B. Todd. The committee reported later that the Governor had received them very cordially, showed much interest in their talk and assured them that the proposed amendments met with his approval. One of the amendments not mentioned above provides increased remuneration for the members of the board. At present members are allowed $5 for each day actually engaged in the performance of services as a member, and it is provided that no member shall receive more than $150 in any one year, together with his necessary expenses and disbursements. By the proposed amendment members shall be entitled to $10 per day, the minimum amount allowed to members of every other State board.

Sundry other business of a routine nature was transacted, after which the board adjourned to meet with the State Pharmaceutical Association in Niagara Falls next year.

A NATIONAL LEAGUE OF BUYING CLUBS.

Representatives of Co-operative Drug Buying Associations Meet and Form a National Organization-Disposition Evinced to Cultivate Friendly Relations with Manufacturers.

Representatives of the principal co-operative drug buying associations, irreverently known in some quarters as “buying clubs," came together for a conference in the Hotel Astor, New York, on Wednesday evening, January 3. Some ten cities were represented and the total attendance was 12. It was purely a business meeting and was not either preceded or followed by anything in the way of luncheon or dinner. Those present were evidently animated by a desire to establish the friendliest relations with the proprietary interests, and contrary to what was expected by those who had been "tipped off" about the meeting, no antagonistic spirit made itself felt during the entire proceedings. It was decided to form a national organization of co-operative companies and a committee was formed for this purpose to report with a constitution and articles of incorporation some time during the month. The gratifying announcement was made that no company which had made a practice of selling to cutters or otherwise demoralizing prices would be admitted to membership.

The fact that a meeting was to take place was kept very quiet, but many of the wholesale houses were aware of the movement. One of the leading wholesale druggists of this city said that such a plan was bound to prevail in the end. He said there was more of a disposition on the part of the manufacturers to deal directly with the consumer, and in some instances large houses have issued circulars to the trade announcing that a saving of 40 per cent. could be made by dealing direct, since they had dispensed with salesmen and had no outside expenses. Continuing, he said: "We are manufacturers as well as jobbers, but we experience considerable trouble in selling the goods of other houses who compel us to live up to their contract, while they at the same time are dealing directly with the people whom we are refusing to have any business with. A change is bound to come. It may not be for five years and it may be longer, but it will come."

This shows the feeling of some jobbers.

THE ILLINOIS PHARMACY LAW EXPOUNDED.

The Illinois Board Issues an Explanation of the Law-Temporary Absence Defined-The Status of the Pharmacopoeia DefinedPoison Law Will Be Enforced.

We print below a copy of a letter which is being sent by F. C. Dodds, of Illinois, secretary of the Board of Pharmacy of the State of Illinois, to every registered pharmacist in the State, calling attention to the provisions of the pharmacy law that are not clearly understood by all druggists and other matters of importance to them. The letter is being sent out with the annual certificates. The letter reads as follows:

STATE OF ILLINOIS.-BOARD OF PHARMACY.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,

To the Registered Pharmacists of Illinois:

I am directed by the State Board of Pharmacy to call your attention to the following provisions of the Pharmacy Law and other matters of importance to registered pharmacists.

TEMPORARY ABSENCE.

Section 1 provides that every drug store in the State must be under the direct charge of a registered pharmacist. A slight exception is made in section 6, which provides that any assistant pharmacist shall have the right to act as clerk or salesman in a drug store or pharmacy during the temporary absence" of the registered pharmacist.

The board construes the words "temporary absence" to mean that the assistant pharmacist may have charge of the store only while the registered pharmacist has gone to his meals, or any other like necessary duty requiring no more time than is generally so consumed.

APPRENTICE REGISTRATION.

Section 7 of the law is in regard to the registration of apprentices. It is as follows:

It shall be the duty of registered pharmacists who take into their employ an apprentice for the purpose of becoming a pharmacist to require said applicant to at once apply to said Board of Pharmacy for registration as apprentice, and the said Board of Pharmacy shall have the right to require such an examination as shall establish the educa

tional qualifications of the applicant, and the date of experience required of applicants for assistant or registered pharamcist shall be computed from the date of registration as apprentice. The Board of Pharmacy shall furnish proper blanks for this purpose and issue a certificate of registration as a registered apprentice upon the payment of $2." You will observe that it is the duty of a registered pharmacist who takes into his employ an apprentice for the purpose of becoming a pharmacist to at once apply to the State Board of Pharmacy for his registration as an apprentice. It is also of great interest to the appren. tice to become registered at the earliest moment possible, since under the law the drug store experience required of applicants for assistant pharmacist or registered pharmacist commences with the date of apprentice registration.

A certificate as a registered apprentice does not give authority to the holder thereof to compound, recommend, dispense or sell drugs, medicines or poisons, ercept under the immediate supervision of a registered pharmacist, and must not be construed to empower the holder thereof to exercise the duties of a registered pharmacist or assistant pharmacist, nor to conduct a drug store during the absence of the registered pharmacist. If a registered apprentice is left in charge of a drug store it is a clear violation of the pharmacy law.

EXPOSE YOUR CERTIFICATE.

Section 8 provides that every certificate of registration shall be conspicuously exposed in the pharmacy or drug store to which it applies. Any person violating this provision is liable, upon conviction thereof, to pay a penalty of not less than $25 nor more than $50.

This provision applies to the certificate of every registered pharmacist, every assistant pharmacist and every registered apprentice, and the board especially requests a proper compliance with it.

Section 8 also provides that the name of the registered pharmacist who conducts a drug store or pharmacy shall be conspicuously displayed over the door or department. A proper compliance with this provision

is also requested.

No person shall sell at retail any drug, medicine or poison without affixing to the box, bottle, vessel or package containing the same a label bearing the name of the article, distinctly shown, with the name and place of business of the registered pharmacist from whom the article was obtained: Provided, nothing in this section shall apply to the sale of patent or proprietary medicines when sold in original packages, nor with the dispensing of physicians' prescriptions. Any person failing to comply with the requirements of this section shall be liable to a penalty of $5 for any and every offense."

This means that a printed, written or stamped label or tag must be affixed to every box, bottle, vessel or package containing any drug, medicine or poison. The label or tag should give the name and place of business of the registered pharmacist from whom the article was obtained. You will observe that this section does not apply to the sale of patent or proprietary medicines when sold in original packages, nor tothe dispensing of physicians' prescriptions.

ADULTERATION AND SUBSTITUTION.

Section 14 refers to adulterations and substitutions and provides a penalty of $50, together with all costs and expenses, for adulterating or altering any drug, medicine, chemical or pharmaceutical preparation, or substituting one material for another.

According to a recent opinion of the Attorney-General of the State, the 1890 edition of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia will remain the standard of purity until the 1900 U. S. Pharmacopoeia is adopted by legislative enactment.

The Board is determined to protect the honest, law-abiding druggists. against the unscrupulous competition of the druggists who substitute and adulterate their preparations. You have nothing to fear if your preparations are according to either the 1890 or 1900 Pharmacopoeia. if they are not according to either, you are liable to prosecution.

COCAINE.

Section 14b relates to the sale of cocaine. It provides among other things that the certificate of a pharmacist who has been twice convicted for its illegal sale shall be revoked.

The board wants to impress upon you the fact that this provision applies to all pharmacists, and that the certificate of a clerk may be revoked the same as the certificate of the proprietor of a drug store.

POISONS.

Sections 62 and 63 of the Criminal Code refer to the sale of poisons. These sections are as follows:

Section 62. "Every druggist or other person who shall sell and deliver any arsenic, strychnine, corrosive sublimate, prussic acid or other substance or liquid usually denominated as poisonous, without having the word "Poison" written or printed upon the label attached to the phial or parcel in which such drug is contained, or shall sell and deliver any drug or medicine other than upon the prescription of a physician, without having the name of such drug or medicine printed or written upon the label attached to the phial or parcel containing the same, shall be fined not exceeding $25."

Section 63. "If any druggist or other person sells or gives away any arsenic, strychnine, corrosive sublimate or prussic acid, without the written prescription of a physician, and fails to keep a record of the date of such sale or gift, the article and amount thereof sold or given away, and the person to whom delivered, he shall be fined not exceeding $50 for each neglect. Whoever purchases any such poison and gives a false or fictitious name shall be punished in the same manner." Your attention is called particularly to the requirements of the above sections.

SUITS AGAINST CUTTERS.

Paris Medicine Company Sues Hegeman Corporation-Wells & Richardson Company Proceed Against Abraham & Straus.

Suit has been brought by the Paris Medicine Company, manufacturer of Laxative Bromo Quinine, to restrain the Hegeman -Corporation of New York from selling Laxative Bromo Quinine at less than the established price. The bill of complaint contains the usual statements regarding the restraining of the defendants from corrupting the agents of the plaintiff. The case will be tried in the United States Circuit Court for this district and it is expected to be brought to a speedy trial.

The case of Wells & Richardson Company against Abraham & Straus, Brooklyn, was up last week before Judge Thomas in the United States Court for Brooklyn, when briefs were submitted by the attorneys for the plaintiff and the defendant. Frank F. Reed, of Chicago, appeared for Wells & Richardson Company and E. Wise submitted a brief in behalf of the defendants.

BILLS OBJECTED TO.

Virginia Drug Clerks Oppose Measures Favored by the State Association.

The drug clerks holding membership in the Virginia Association of Registered Drug Clerks, with branches in the cities of Richmond, Lynchburg, Manchester, Danville and Portsmouth, are in an angry mood over the proposed amendment to the pharmacy law of Virginia drafted by the Virginia Pharmaceutical Association, which reads as follows:

Any registered pharmacist having in his employment and under his training a clerk not under 18 years of age, who has had at least two years of experience in his drug store, pharmacy, or pharmaceutical department and who proposes to qualify himself as a registered pharmacist, may, by application to said board and by offering satisfactory evidence of said clerk's age, experience and purpose, as above required, and by paying a fee of $5, have the said clerk duly registered as his apprentice in pharmacy, for a period not exceeding three years and for the business of said pharmacist at a place particularly -designated, and upon such application and evidence the said board, making proper record thereof, shall grant to such pharmacist a permit authorizing said pharmacist in his discretion and upon his own responsibility to allow the said clerk, as an apprentice in pharmacy for the period and at the place aforesaid, to be in the sole management and control of the said drug store, pharmacy or pharmaceutical department for not more than six consecutive days at any one time and for not more than 30 days in the aggregate during any year.

The said permit shall be returned to said board for can-cellation at the expiration of said three years, or whenever the said apprentice before the expiration of said three years shall cease to do business for said pharmacist at the said designated place, and for the failure to so return to said board the said permit, the said pharmacist shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $10 nor more than $100.

The drug clerks insist that under this amendment it would be possible for a druggist who had a negro porter in his store for a term of two years to have him registered as an apprentice, and they object strenuously to this, saying it would be an end to the business so far as a registered white clerk is -concerned.

OPPOSITION TO A PATENT MEDICINE BILL.

Opposition to the so-called Patent Medicine bill has also developed. The text of this bill reads:

Before any patent or proprietary medicine may be sold or offered for sale in this State the proprietor, owner or seller thereof shall make written application to the Board of Pharmacy of this State for the privilege, and shall file with said board ample specimens or samples of said medicines, an affidavit showing the ingredients of said medicines, with description of the packages in which it is sold, together with the directions and advertisements thereof, if any, and shall pay to said board for each medicine a fee of not less than $5 nor more than $50, the amount of the fee to be determined by the board in its discretion, upon considering the selling price and profita

ble sales of said medicine; and shall obtain from the said board a certificate, as provided in the next section of this act, and if the same medicine contains alcohol, cocaine, opium or any poison, then the said applicant shall file with said board an affidavit showing the respective portions of the several ingredients of said medicine. As a further condition of selling or offering for sale a patent or proprietary medicine containing alcohol, cocaine, opium or any poison, the said board, if it deems it best, may require the formula showing the ingredients and the proportions thereof to be shown conspicuously by label or otherwise on each package of said medicine.

THE NAVAL HOSPITAL CORPS.

Review of Its Work During the Past Seven Years-The SurgeonGeneral Recommends Reorganization-Increased Number of Warrant Officers Advocated.

The annual report of the Surgeon-General of the United States Navy contains the following interesting references to the Naval Hospital Corps:

The Naval Hospital Corps was authorized by act of Congress approved June 17, 1898, and has existed as an organization for seven years. During this period much has been accomplished in securing to the service a competent and efficient body of men. The desire of the bureau has been to secure for service in this corps, which forms a part of the enlisted force of the navy, men of sobriety, reliability, and intelligent aptitude, and it is gratifying to report the fact that the work and conduct of the corps is commendable.

During the past year demands for the detail of members of the corps for duty at naval hospitals, dispensaries, naval stations, marine detachments, recruiting offices, and for service on board vessels in commission have been met with considerable embarrassment, and there should be material increase in the number of these grades to supply the needs of the service. Careful study of the present condition of the hospital corps and of the future needs of the service has satisfied the bureau that in order to place it in efficient condition, and to retain in the service desirable men in the lower ratings for a longer period than one enlistment, it is imperatively necessary to effect a reorganization whereby greater inducements than the law now permits may be offered. It is discouraging to note that very few of the men in the two lower ratings enlist for a second term.

PERSONNEL OF THE CORPS.

At present the corps is composed of 25 pharmacists, 207 hospital stewards, 240 hospital apprentices, first class, and 264 hospital apprentices. The pay allowed by present law for the hospital stewards is $60 per month; for hospital apprentices, first class, $30, and for hospital apprentices, $20. Unless there is a reasonable prospect for advancement with increase of pay for the men, particularly for those in the ratings of hospital apprentice, and hospital apprentice, first class, it will be impossible to keep the corps recruited with desirable, experienced and trained men.

TRAINED NURSES.

The hospital apprentice, first class, represents the trained nurse of the navy, and he, after being qualified for this rating, is not satisfied with the pay given, and usually will not remain in the service unless further promotion before the expiration of the term of his enlistment to the higher rating of hospital steward, with attendant increase of pay, is assured, but will seek the more lucrative employment and greater comforts of life to be found ashore. The result is that the trained men are not held for the service, and under existing conditions it will be impossible to secure permanently for the medical establishment of the navy a thoroughly competent nursing staff of men.

UNJUST DISCRIMINATION.

The pay of hospital stewards having been fixed by the act of Congress organizing the hospital corps, the men of this rating are deprived of the benefits of the executive order of

June 26, 1903, increasing the pay of all other chief petty officers of the navy who have qualified after examination for permanent appointment. Thus placed at a disadvantage, as compared with other chief petty officers of the service, hospital stewards are dissatisfied. Moreover, as the number in the grade of pharmacist is limited to 25, the chance of promotion to the warrant grade for any individual is very small. It is apparent that the inducements offered are not sufficient to cause the most desirable members of the hospital corps to remain permanently attached to the naval service. Unless reorganization is effected a permanent corps of trained men will not be secured. The number of pharmacists allowed by law is 25, and with this small number there is little hope for the more ambitious and useful men in the lower ratings to secure ultimate advancement to the warrant grade.

NO HOPE FOR COMMISSIONS.

Moreover, the pharmacists are placed at a disadvantage in reference to other warrant officers of the Navy, as there exists no provision for their promotion to commissioned rank, as obtains for other warrant officers of the navy. Thus hampered by unsatisfactory provisions of the law, it long since became apparent to the bureau that it is idle to expect to retain in the hospital corps the men who have been carefully trained for service requirements and whose attachment to the service was most desirable and necessary in the care and treatment of the sick.

The bureau, in the two preceding annual reports and on other occasions, has earnestly represented that it was necessary to reorganize and increase the efficiency of the hospital corps, and these recommendations have met with the approval of the department, which has urgently recommended favorable action thereon by Congress. After thorough investigation of the subject, a favorable report was submitted by the Naval Committee of the House on a bill incorporating the recommendations of the bureau, but it failed of consideration and final action during the last Congress. The necessity for the reorganization of the hospital corps, heretofore recommended, still exists, and the bureau again earnestly recommends that request be made for prompt consideration of this important matter by Congress, as it is vital to the efficiency of the medical establishment of the navy.

REORGANIZATION BILL APPROVED BY THE SURGEON-GENERAL.

An organization that will meet present needs and permit of ready expansion in the event of war and secure an efficient hospital corps for the navy, is, in the opinion of the bureau, provided for in House bill No. 12646, third session, Fifty-eighth Congress, which contains the following provisions:

First, that the hospital corps of the navy shall consist of chief pharmacists; pharmacists; chief baymen; baymen, first class; baymen, second class, and baymen apprentices. Second, that the number of chief pharmacists and pharmacists on the active list shall not exceed 50 in all, the chief pharmacists and pharmacists to be appointed by the President and have the status of warrant officers, and that the provisions of law regulating the promotion, pay and allowances, and rights of warrant officers set forth in Section 12 of the act approved March 3, 1899, known as the "personnel act," shall extend to and include all chief pharmacists and pharmacists of the hospital corps. Also that vacancies in the grade of pharmacists shall be filled from men holding the rating of chief baymen, subject to such examination as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy, and that no pharmacist shall be promoted to the rank of chief pharmacist until he shall have passed an examination as to his mental, moral, physical and professional fitness, before a board of officers, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy. Third, that as many chief baymen, baymen, first class, baymen, second class, and baymen apprentices shall be enlisted as, in the judgment of the secretary of the navy, may be necessary, and that enlisted men of the navy and marine corps shall be eligible for transfer to the hospital corps. Fourth, that all necessary hospital and ambulance service at naval hospitals, naval stations, navy yards, and marine barracks, and on vessels of the navy and fish commission, shall be performed by members of the hospital corps, and that the corps shall be permanently attached to the medical department of the navy and shall be included in the effective strength of the navy and be counted as part of the enlisted force provided by law, to be subject to the rules

for the government of the navy. Fifth, that the pay of chief baymen shall be $70 per month, except when serving under acting appointments, when it shall be $60 per month; for baymen, first class, $50 per month; for baymen, second class, $35 per month, and for baymen apprentices $20 per month, with such an increase on account of length of service as is allowed other enlisted men of the navy, and that all benefits given by existing law or that shall hereafter be allowed to other warrant officers and enlisted men of the navy shall hereafter be allowed in the same manner to warrant officers and enlisted men of the hospital corps of the navy.

BUSINESS METHODS IN NEW ENGLAND.

Recollections of a Summer's Trolley Tour-Painting the TownEffect of the Trolley on Advertising Methods.

(Special Correspondence.)

The electric roads with which this country is so thickly gridironed afford an easy, rapid and pleasant means of observing the business methods pursued in sparsely settled districts by the drug trade. Such an opportunity was an interesting incident in a summer's holiday, during which a portion of the line running between Lewiston and Bath, Maine, was traversed. While the stocks of country stores and those of some small cities would perhaps not pass muster in the large centers, yet the side lines and outside issues are not more numerous than those of the modern city establishments, and for the dollars the city chap cannot excel his country brother in keenness.

PAINT POT AND BRUSH.

At Lisbon Walter S. Cole, registered pharmacist, looks after the welfare of the inhabitants of that town with a varied stock well adapted to country needs. On the trip from Lisbon Falls to Brunswick it was in evidence by various landscape disturbances that some of the druggists at the latter place had confidence in the paint pot and brush, for such signs as "Deprean's Pharmacy" and "Deprean's Reliable Drug Store, Brunswick, Maine," were noticed. The public was also admonished to "Go to Wilson's Pharmacy, Brunswick, Maine." Arriving at Brunswick, both of these stores, judging from outside appearances, were neatly arranged. The Wilson establishment looked as though recently from the painter's hand and bore many signs calling attention to the "reliable" specialties. P. J. Meserve has on a prominent corner of the same street on which the above stores are located an establishment of inviting appearance.

AN ENTERPRISING ADVERTISER IN BATH.

Proceeding from Brunswick to Bath one who attempts to read all of the drug signs will find ocular excitement galore and at the same time be impressed with the thought that a certain Dougherty of Bath is attempting to corner all of the fences, ledges and trees by the wayside. But in this effort Mr. Dougherty is not alone, for other Bath druggists are engaged in the same publicity game; the former's output and put-up is, however, most extensive-in fact, he seems insatiable. To him the thoroughfare traversed by the electrics have limitations and when the cars approach the steam railroad lines it is noted that the fences belonging to the latter corporation bear Dougherty's handiwork. For fence, store and board signs he evidently believes in black background and white for letters. He also uses tin signs tacked on trees, the background being yellow and the lettering black. Here are some of the Dougherty signs which he who runs (or rides) may read: "Trade with Dougherty, the Drug Man," Dougherty's Drug Store" and the above with the addition "Honest Goods"; "Trade with the People-Dougherty's Drug Store"; Dougherty's Up-to-Date Store"; "Dougherty for Low Prices"; “ Dougherty, the Leading Drug Man"; "Bath's Leading Druggist, Dougherty," with the Hub baseball localism, "'Nuf ced." Upon some of the small wooden signs used by Mr. Dougherty a small mortar and pestle are painted, and these read: "Dougherty Prescriptions Carefully Compounded." A. Hallet & Co. also use roadway signs to a marked extent. They choose blue and white for colors and the mortar and pestle figure extensively in their signs. One sign reads: A Hallet & Co., Bath Maine. Everything the latest. Patent Medicines." Another states: "Graduates in Pharmacy,

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A. Hallet & Co." One sign was a round wooden affair, with the inevitable blue background and white letters.

Swett & Co. is another firm using this idea and some of the signs are of the shape of a large wooden mortar. This appears upon one: "Swett & Co., Prescriptions, Books and Stationery."

Webber, also of Bath, is not wholly devoted to inconspicuousness, for as the car dashed down a slope it was noticed that the green of the opposite hillside was disturbed by a dash of brown which bore the information that there were "Drugs at Webber's, 94 Front Street, Bath, Maine."

The extent to which this method of advertising is carried is no doubt due to the advent of electricity as a means of locomotion, which with the frequent trips and low fares makes the city easily and cheaply accessible to the country resident, thereby greatly increasing the population from which the druggists can draw revenue.

THE SIGNS OF BATH.

Bath has a population of approximately 10,000. One of the first stores noted on Front street was that of Leonard & Mitchell, "pharmacists." Swett & Co., "drugs and medicines," were nearby. This store bore an abundance of yellow and black signs and an attempt was being made to push sales of soda water and root beer. Before one window a sidewalk display of periodicals was being made. Attention is directed to another store by a marble slab in the brick sidewalk, in which is chiseled "A. Hallet & Co., Pharmacy." The proprietor of this establishment is F. C. Cox, Ph.G. (M. C. P., '89), and one of his clerks is the genial W. C. Temple, an M. C. P. student of a few years ago. "John D. Foster & Co.," "Foster's Drug Store; Prescriptions Accurately Dispensed," are signs to be noted on another store. "Anderson's Drug Store" has the "Agency for Huyler's Chocolates and Bon-Bons." Webber's drug store is another establishment also on Front street. At Webber's drug store a drive on cigars, tobacco and patents was being made. That of David T. Dougherty is on one of the principal streets running back from the Kennebec. Mr. Dougherty is a Ph.G. of the M. C. P. brand. On his store appears "Prescription Pharmacist and Drugman." He was featuring his soda drinks by attractive fountain signs.

The window displays were characterized by sameness and an absence of anything unique. Package cigars and patent medicines were predominating features. A window of one store was devoted to an exhibit from a correspondence school. The window shows did not keep pace with the roadside energy above noted.

boards show that their applicants possessed the necessary qualifications in any other way than by a rigid test?

Perhaps the greatest change has taken place in the chemistry of our pharmaceuticals, and this branch seems to be the stumbling block of the applicant in his examinations. The average druggist may say that advanced chemistry is not necessary in the drug store now, since the larger proportion of drugs and chemicals come into the drug store ready for the prescription. This is all true enough so far as the manufacture of the chemicals is concerned, but if the clerk has not the necessary qualifications to understand the chemistry of these various, preparations is he competent to fill a physician's prescription for them? Is he to be trusted to do the compounding -avoiding incompatibles-and to correct the errors likely to creep into the busy physician's prescription? Were these examinations made lax or the method of grading less careful and the country flooded with a lot of incompetent clerks the first to decry such a state of affairs would be the proprietors of retail drug stores.

It is true the securing of competent clerks in this State has become very difficult. The really competent men are being retained in their present positions by more attractive salaries, and with the number of registered men not located actually lessthan formerly it simply leaves the proprietor to employ assistants and apprentices, many of whom are neither morally nor mentally fit for the business.

If the advanced requirements of State boards and colleges can be made the means for weeding out such men from the profession and the interval of a year or two can be tided over until the colleges can turn out the requisite number of men fully competent to pass the rigid examinations of State boards the reformation of another side of the business will have been completed.

Severe Examinations.

We have had some complaints from different sections of the State, says the Midland Druggist, in regard to the rigid examinations of the State Board of Pharmacy. At the last examination of the Ohio board, out of a class of 113 applicants only 10 were granted certificates. The burden of the complaint from the trade is that their apprentices are becoming discouraged because of their failure to pass the examinations and are quitting the business, and that such severe tests are not any more necessary now than 5, 10 or 15 years ago.

Without any wish to criticise our friends we are compelled to take exception to this statement. It is the consensus of opinion that no art, trade or profession has taken greater strides forward or been more thoroughly revolutionized than has that of pharmacy during the last 12 or 15 years-and the end is not yet.

With these changes in the very life of the profession has come the necessity for higher standards in the laws regulating the practice of pharmacy, and what is more important, higher standards of education. So keenly has this necessity been felt that a prerequisite law has been passed in several States, the general requirements have been raised in many others, and still others are contemplating similar steps in the near future.

If the profession demands a higher education, how can the result be secured other than by raising the entrance requirements of colleges and State boards? How could the State

DR. ALEXANDER TSCHIRCH,
Vice-President of the Swiss Pharmacopoeia Revision Committee.

Dr. Tschirch, whose scholarly work on the medicinal and economic plants of India is well-known to pharmacognoscists, delivered an address on "The Pharmacopoeia as the Mirror of Its Time" at the last meeting of the Swiss Apothecaries' Society, and in sending a copy of it to the AMERICAN DRUGGIST he inclosed a recent portrait of himself, which we have pleasure in reproducing herewith for the benefit of themany admirers of his work in the ranks of pharmacy.