HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1950-01-12, Page 7tin fx
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"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.
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