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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1950-01-12, Page 7tin fx )our, yon Osla, )r t. en-•. ton, d to ienoa 61 iedy lou• awa i•itic shee Pn 8 'Mr- rnnd tares Ll: AAA tens eet. Bt - W "Green "lies,owde e Rhubarb, Ground Cuttlefish one" Students at the Ontario College of Pharmacy live in a world of glossy green flies, powdered rhu- barb, ground cuttlefh4t bone, and aome 8,040 other 'items which are the tools of their profession. The flies, la'boriotxsly collected in Spain, are for blistering plas- ters, The rhubarb is for tonics; the auttleftgh bone for canaries. The undergraduate Muse become faariliar with the Chinese beetle and many another insect; tree baric such as,eascara wood and cinchona (which yields quinine); and a wel- ter of liquids, oils and chemical salts from which pills, emulsions, tinctures and infusions are made. So complex has pharmacy become that the course now demands four years of intensive effort instead of „ the three mouths considered long enough in 1882. The College of Pharmacy is ai- ftliated with the University of Tor- onto. , Curricula, admission stand- ards, and examiners are under the jurisdiction of the University Sett - ate. Many lectures are given by Varsity professors. Located near the junction of Gerrard and Ohurch, the three- storey College is in a one-time "fashionAble' area which has be- come part of busy downtown Tor- onto. Students have a tight sched- ule of about 28 hours a week of labs and 'lectures, In addition to studies during the academic year, students must work 18 months in a store or a plant as "interns" (usually during the suttrmer months). After they graduate many will spend seven or eight years in retail stores before they can afford to start in business for themselves. Wan'ien who graduated front the College in 1906 are still among Canada's 4,000 practising pbarma- eists and 50 women are enrolled this year. 1'n 1948 the first and second prize winners were women, something male graduates of that year would rather not discuss, The College is proud of its high standards. At most of the 69 ac- credited `colleges of pharmacy, in the United States, the' entrance re- quirement is junior matriculation, In Ontario it is third class honours in senior matriculation, Students in pharinacy spend half their tinne in University buildings taking such subjects as botany, pharmacology, chemistry, physics, zoology and En'gliS4t. At the Col- lege itself they take various courses in pharmacy, pharmalteutical chem- istry and materia medics, The last is a grouping of courses in physiol- ogy, first .aid, the .study of animal and plant sources that yield crude drugs, and the study of biological products. Also taught, of course, is tate ab- breviated Latin that makes up the language of the prescription. The scrawled note a Canadian doctor Bands his patient makes eaay. d°eaTZ ing for a druggist• 176-oiuse there are on4y about 200 abbreviations to memorize, Orders from overseas aren't so simple. A good many people in Central. Europe are sending pra- soriptions for relatives to have filled• Here and Ontario druggists are having quite a time with them. And in some Ontario communities mid - Europeans buy as many as 100 leeches a month at $1.50 a leech from one store alone. The Ieaches (bloodsuckers) are used to reduce the swelling in black eyes, Pharanacists fill prescriptions that may range in price from less than a cent to $4 for a.. single pili. Ingredients come from all over the world and students are. taught to pick them out at sight, "No two humans look exactly alike and neither do any two of the su•b- stanees wve use,' pharmacists say, though to the layman many of the bottles carefully stacked side by side seem to contain the sante mat- erial. After first becoming familiar with their materials, pharmacy stu- dents work in a lab 'where the bottles are numbered. If a student isn't sure, -he can c'r'oss to the other.' side of the room where a list iden- tities the substances. However, the number system trains his power of observation and after a while he knows at a glance what a bottle contains, The College museum has a fas- cinating display of old utensils, prescription books and preparations. For instance, there's a packaged commercial product of the early part of the nineteenth century known as "Electric Beans", The legend on the package says beads Create Rich Red Blood. Pills were potent in the old days; one patent medicine was labelled "Anti -Pill Cure." Then there's a poison regis- ter kept by a Toronto druggist in 1877. At the top of one page, in a long straight ]land, is the sig- nature of Sir John A. Macdonald. 'I'be first Father of. Conkedera- tion bought an eyewash solution, one ingredient .of which was a poison, -From Varsity Cradnate Trees That Weep Priceless 'Fears Perhaps the greate$t dollar-earnt- ing asset in the Empire is rubber, most of it from troubled Malaya, a British possession. There the rubber trees weep to bring in 60 million pounds worth of dollars a year. This most versatile and widely - applied of all the earth's natural products is indispensable to twen- tieth century civilization, and in a world plagued with shortages it is almost the only essential commodity of which there is an ab•indant sup- ply. One can hardly count its present uses, or set bounds to its possible future use, so fast are we finding new ways of employing it. During the war alone, several hun- dred new uses were discovered, ranging from "pliofilni," which pro- tected aircraft engines sent to dis- tant battlefields, to conveyer belts now used by the mite in up-to-date mines, The United States uses well over a half of the whole world's produc- tion, for natural rubber is one of the few commodities she has found it impossible to produce herself. The rubber plant is not a native of British Malaya. It came originally from the New World—ozie of the first products of America to be noted by explorers and one of the lass: to be exploited. Columbus, himself, during his sec- ond visit there, was astonished to see native Indians amusing • them- selves by playing with heavy black balls made from vegetable gum. In 1740 a French sciefttist, Charles Marie de la Condamine, sent back specimens of this amazing "bouncing guilt." He called it "caoutchoue," a variation of the Indian name for "weeping tree," and caoutchouc it still remains in the French diction- ary, Then in 1770 Joseph Priestley, an Eglish chemist invited attention to a material which he, found to be "excell'ently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the marlcs of a black -lead pencil." Englishmen tried it and promptly gave it the name "rubber." Its or- igin they indicated by the prefix "India" (meaning from the West Indies), and thus the label "Indian rubber" carate into being. Samuel Peal patented a process for making waterproof fabric by using rubber dissolved in turpentine then in the 1820's Thomas Hancock and Charles "Let's See You Do 'Chis" •- Fritz, the daelishund of the RoN Miller fatint'ily trig.; c. ogg'�edlt• to lttal t (rielids wil.h the lickv china litilldog bank belonging to ollr of the Miller oltildrell. The itard-hettdea bttlldog just sh.s. When the roadway is a skidway, beware of rapid accelerwilon, pule,: stens and sudden swerves. Also deadly ;acre excessive oile':d, efinacially on turns, and uneven braking. To siow down, pump the brake gently, don.'t holt, it dawn steady. Under skid conditions, never try to stop suddenly, but cheek yourP speed a little at a time" " Macintosh established rubber fat- bark and setting a cup to catch the tories in London and Glasgow. white latex which runs between Everyone to -day associates the bark and wood. At the end of the Scot's narne with waterproof gar- day he collects these cups and pours ments. their contents into a large tank—a "The tree that weeps" became the primitive form of labour which can most precious timber in the world, in 'no way, be znecttanized or hurried. and Brazil, where it had been first discovered, still held the monopoly of supply. But in that country the Calcium Spars natural rubber forests had been ruthlessly exploited. Many millions j� Production of trees had been "bled" to death, and the price of rubber rose steadily as it became necessary to penetrate A 46 per cent. increase in milk deeper and deeper into the Amazon production as 'a result of supplying forests to tap new supplies. The Brazilians hung ort grimly sufficient calcium in the ration of and refused to allow the precious dairy cows is reported in a 16 -year seeds to be taken from the country study of R. B. Becker, dairy hus- so that plantations could be laid ba -rid -man of the Florida Experi. down elsewhere, mental Station. Cows given rations Several unsuccessful attempts; containing too little calcium pro - diced an average of only 4 ,856 were made to smuggle seeds out. pounds of milk in 218 lactation$, Finally it was left to the resource of as cows getting sufficient alt Englishman, Henry Wickham ciumwher 092 sum ylelded,.:':au average of 7,09;1 (who was afterwards knighted), to pounds of iritic in 73 lactation$• Eo througli'with it in the good Did Florida apd other states "bele lizabethan way. He undertook to procure by hook pastures and other feed crops tors by crook a sufficient number of grown on acid, satidy soils may be seeds to ensure the future of rubber, se inadequate in lime, which supplies Chartering a steamer, lie succeeded calcium. its struggling 70,000 seeds out of the To overcome the shortage, Beck - country }lacked between leaves of er and his co-worker, P. T. Dix the banana tree, He reached Liver- Arnold, added two per cent. of pool, where a special train was wait- finely ground steamed bonenteal to ing to rush the seeds to Kew. There the dairy concentrates. In addition, some of 'them germinated and the the heavy milk producers received ? plants were sent out to India, C'ey- a limited amount of alfalfa hay. loll, and Malaya, These supplements afforded enough f( ..f'otal cost of Wickman's expedi- calcium for Jersey cows in comsner- tion was 21,500 Out of it have sial herds More recently, however, grown 700 million trees, producing one percent each of boneireal and i 800.000 tons of rubber annually. kalsite (marble dust) replaced the , Even to -day %%(, :are far front erg- I two per cent, of bonemeal. 1 hau$ting the possibilitiesof latex or � Deficiency of calcium ntay be ; rubber "milk." Apart from its well- !oilint- corrected by spreading lune o I known uses, patents are out for its proved pastures. 'Chen, too, lately, use as a per wrvative for eggs, fruit, manufacturers of mixed dairy feeds in the Southeast are malting and plants. It is alo extensively employed for upholstery. flooring, up for the lack of calcium b , in - 3 road surfacing, walipaperirtg• eluding bonenteal and fineh, grotttid limestone in their feecivt,t TZ. L'ha tapping of- the rubber o'er.. I C'attnuy r;entlernau, for this precious latex still renuainh a simple process carried out by man `-j tial labour. it 6 useful to reflect haws i many of our great industries, which r�1r,• Brown: "Nor utuuthl 1 1 1 in later, stages depend almost en, I couldn't discover where my Imshaud { tirely on giant, complicated mach- � ,pent his evening's." , i ines, rely in the first plane on tilt Mrs. Sillith: "I -low did fou find work of one mail file mrskilled I crus?' ' r Malay labourer, for wcllotu there can 1 he no mrrhanlral snbstituiw. II "VGeli, one evening I "vent home ills work ruitsia,3 of ruttiuu the and there he was." NOW ltrr ON THAT $root. Ti" T 66'Nh YOU Where "Holy Cow"' Isn't Slang "Holy cowl" exclaimed my Amer - !can friend casually, not realizing that in India thia expression would not sound funny, for to most Hin- dus the cow is a sacred animal. Yet it is surprising how quickly a young Hindu, when away fromhome, starts eating beef and thinks nothing of it. Miles away from the influence of his orthodox elders, he views the cow as a very useful animal, but fails to see the halo about its head, writes Chatur! Vas- wani in The Christian Science Mon- itor. 1n America, the cow is pastured on farms and dairies. In India, it has as much right to walls on the crowded streets of a city as any person. It is not uncommon to see a cow holding up traffic while it nonchalantly crosses the street or forces pedestrians to detour off the sidewalk while it gazes at the store displays — window shopping as it were. The cow even wvauders into the crowds at the foot} market and helps itself to the food. Now, why does the, cow in ln- dia have p.rivile;;es that even a human being cannot claim in any country' Jaywalking, food steeling, and becoming a hindrance oil the man street are illegal acts, However, these man -trade laws do not affect the cow in India. But there, the cow is "sacred" and the than is not, Economically, the cow and the bull are the two most valuable ani- mals in India. The cow furnishes milk and all its by-products. Farm- ers harness the bull to plow• the land. India, therefore, depends en- tirely on the cow for its food supply and so treats the cow with a rever- ence due to the mother who pro- vides food for her children. In fact, the cow is often called' `mother COW." However, the idea of reverence has in some cases been carried too far. Temples have been built for the worship of the cow. Many religious ceremonies include the feeding of the cow as one of the important items of the ritual. Hindu women often start their day by feeding the cow. Any stray cow is welcome in their back yards. The real motive behind this rever- ence has been forgotten, Being a useful animal, the cow has to be perserved for its practical value. Reverence is one way of protecting the animal from physical harm by men who might kill it for meat. That is why beef is taboo among the Hindus, most of whom do not sat any kind of meat anyway. But to believe that it is sacri- legious for a Hindu to use anything of the cow, including the tains, is a misconception. Mille is widely used when available, the cow's skin is used for leather, and its horns are carved into beautiful figures for living -room decoration, * � m The. only real offense against tht cow is killing it for food or= for anything, In some parts of India the penalty for killing a cow, even by accident, is a few years in jail. People have established homes for the aged cows where they are well taken care of. That is more than they done for human beings. But the times have changed xn4l the old customs cannot continue for long. The population of the cows„ as of people, has increased inimeu- sely in India. Not enough fodder io grown. Moreover, the modern ma- tsrialistie Indian works his animal to the bone and tries to get as muA out of it as possible. One criticism levied against this Hindus is; Why can't they let sr�ari of these ntiscrable-looking ereaturrts be slaughtered and fed to millions of starving people? The answer to this criticism is that it is hard td change traditions, For a people brought up in thw tradition of respecting the cow, it will be years before any Change of attitude is brought about. However. some daring young niea have broken away. *They have seen better cattle and better farming ore- thuds its other countries arad swish India would adopt similar practices. Thcy no longer consider the cow a sacred animal. Their prejudice against beef -eating has rani lied, too. for they eat beef au. Milirigly as any other meat when awa% frwo home. poi- this they lace tr, ac- count to their elders oil returning to India. But they get *mak by saying. "We were ening Aniericaar er,1w"5. Thew aren't -carred. 'art then' Expert Advice Visiting the farm for the firs time in her city -bred life, little eight-year-old Rebecca, the d,au',h- tet• of a falling station operator, was thrilled by the many things her grandfather showed her. The big turkey gobbler, soon to be killed for Christmas dinner, frightened her: and she was astonished to dis- cover that the ice on the pond was thick enough to bear her weight. Most of all, however, she was fascinated by the cow. Several afternoons she went with her grandfather to the barn and stared wide-eyed as lie milked. On a nippy December day when she was anxious to return to the warmth of the farm house, she ventured to tap him on the shoulder and suggested, "Grandpa, if you'd put alcohol in her radiator, you wouldn't have to drain her faucets every night," "Fool" from flocks 10 British geologists engaged in re- search work in the Hawaiian Islands found a fluffy fiber made of the•-�• same substance as the rocks on tho slopes of the volcano. fiber was; •p;,o4afily produced from lava"iffi lig a volcanic eruption, tha British scientists concluded that; "wool" could be made from other rocks too, -After two years of a -- periments at the Matlock, England, works of a British limestone firm, a method has been evolved whereby ;lirnvntona and other silicious rocks are transformed into :. flits wooly substance which is a first-cla'ss`ih art . T - 4114 ygund ills�latt95 >:ni tl alt ZZ' ;'.... proof anrveiinati-pta f. Thtt. wool will be used primarily in heat in- sulation, but it is probable that It will also be used as a heat oonservoc in all building construction. 1 An infallible way of impressing people favourably is to let them seat how much they impress you. Boy Electrifies Farm --•-After running the gamut of 16 -year-old Johtlny XViilianis' dusting and cotintivig machine, gladiolus bulb% Farr* tarried tip bbelt coiiveyor and dumped onto rise screen jn foregrcnrnd. Tohnny, was one of 35 wintiers in the "Beffer Method"" electric sourest. ta-1 Trl- 5F •t -r'. FIREY fir; roca�ttt�ittat#,.., e