Zurich Herald, 1950-01-12, Page 9to
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"Green Flies, Powdered Rhubarb,
round Cuttlefish Bone"
Students at the Ontario College
11 of Pharmacy live in a world of
4glossy green flies, powdered rhu-
°M barb, ground cuttlefish bone, and
aonlle 8,000 other items which are
the tools of their profession,
� The flies, laboriously colleeted
1""`r in Spain, are for blistering pias-
�';' ters. The rhubarb is for tonics, the
atuttlefi5h bone for canaries,
Tfi The undergraduate must become
fatmiliar with the Chinese beetle
and many another insect; tree bark
' sunk as.cascara wood and cinchona
i, (which yields quinine); and a wel-
ter of liquids, oils and chemical
salts from which pills, ' emulsions,
tinctures and infusions are made.
9 So complex has pharmacy become
that the course now demands four
years of intensive effort instead of
„ the three tlnontits considered long
enough lit 1882.
j The College of Pharmacy is ai-
filiated with the University of Tor-
onto. , Curricula, admission stand-
ards, and examiners are under the
jurisdiction of the University Sen-
ate, Matey lectures are given by
Varsity professors,
Located near the junction of
Geraard and Church, the three-
storey College is in a one-tiame
"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 n'onths in
a store or a plant as "interns"
(usually during the summer
months). After they graduate
many will spend seven or eight
years in retail stores before they
oan afford to start in business for
themselves.
Women who guaduated from the
College in 1906 are still among
Canada's 4,000 practising pharma-
cists annd 50 women are enrolled
this year, t'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 ra-
quirenlent is junior matriculation,
In Ontario it is third class hotlours
in senior matriculation,
Students in pharmacy spend half
-their time in University buildings
taking such subjects as botany,
pharmacology. chemistry, physics,
zoology and English. At the Col-
lege itself they tale various courses
in pharmacy, pharmaceutical chetn-
istry and materia inedica, The last
is a grouping of courses in physiol-
ogy, first aid, the .study of animal
slid plaint sources that yield crude
drugs, and tihe study of biological
products.
Also taught, of course, is the ab-
breviated Latin that makes up the
language of the prescription. The
scrawled note a Canadian doefor
hands his patient makes easy. Aea-d
ing for a druggist- lsecause there
are only about 200 abbreviations to
memorize.
Orders from overseas aren't so
sinpple. A good many people in
Central Europe are sending pre-
scriptions 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 a,t $1,50 a leech
from one store alone. The leeches
(bloodsuckers) are used to reduce
the swelling in black eyes,
1"har,macists fill prescriptions that
may range in price from less than
a cent to $4 for a. single pili.
Ingredients conte from all over the
world and students are taught to
Pick therm out at sight, "No two
humans look exactly' alike and
neither do any two of the sub-
stance, we use.' phar.niacists say,
though to the layuhati titarty of dlto
bottles carefully stacked side by
side seem to contain the saline mat-
erial. After fit••st becoming familiar
with their Materials, pharmacy stu-
dents work in a larb where the
bottles are numbered. If a student
isn't sure, he call cross to the other
side of the room where a list iden-
tifies the substances, However, tile
number system trains his power of
observation and after a while lie
knows at a glance what a bottle
contains,
The College Museum Inas a fas-
' cinating display of old utensils,
prescription books and preparations.
For instance, there's a packaged
commercial product of tine early
part of tine nineteenth century
known as "Electric Beans". The
lcgend on -tile package says beans
Create Ricin 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 hand, is bine sig-.
nature of Sir John A. Macdonald.
The first Father of Confedera-
tion bought all eyewash solution,
one ingredient .of which was a
poison,
-Froul Varsity Graduate
`Frees That Weep
Priceless Tears
Perhaps the greatest dollar -earn-
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 connniodity
of which there is an ab•ludant sup-
ply. One call 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 "plioftlnn," which pro-
tected aircraft engines sent to dis-
tant battlefields, to conveyer belts'
now used by the mile! 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—oile of the
first products of America to be
noted by explorers and one of the
last to be exploited,
Columbus himself, during his see-•
and visit there, was astonished to
see native Indians amusing them-
selves by playing with heavy black
balls made from vegetable guns: In
1740 a French sciefitist, Charles
Marie de la Condamine, sent back
specimens of this amazing "bouncing
gum." He called it "eaoutchouc," a
variation of the Indian name for
"wveeping tree," and caoutchouc it
still remains in the French diction-
ary.
Then in 1770 Joseph Priestley, an
Rglish chemist invited attention to
a material which he, found to be
"excellently adapted to the purpose
Of wipltng from paper the manes of
a black -lead pencil,"
Englishmen tried it and promptly
gave it the name "robber." Its or-
iglu they indicated by the prefix
"India" (meaning from the West
Indies), and thus the label "Indian
rubber" cattle 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 This"—Fritz, the dachahmid of thtt Rn\
llliller falllilti tries dog—gedly to ill,tke friefids with the tie^w"
drilla hrllidog• bank bV'1tM1Qiii- tip 011e Of thea JMillut oltilltra.ti.
Tile bulldog jttafi sits.
W ben the roadway is a skidway, beware of rapid acceleration,
quirk stoats and sudden swerves. Also deadly are excessive opo nl,
esvecially on turns, and uneven braking,.
TO aluw ,down, pump the brake gently; don't hold it down steaalyp.
Under skid conditions, never try to stop su4denly, but elieak your
speed a little at a time.
Macintosh established rubber fac-
tties,
bark and setting a cuff 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 name 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•llo.way be,.nleclhanized or hurried.
and Brazil, where it had been first
discovered, still held the monopoly
of supply. But in that country the
Calcium Spurs
natural rubber forests had been
ruthlessly exploited. Many millions
,Milk Production
of trees had been "bled" to death, ,
and the price of rubber rose steadily
as it became necessary to penetrate
deeper and deeper into the Amazon
A 46 per cent. increase in milk -
forests to tap new supplies,
production as a result of supplying
The Brazilians hung on 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
bandanan of the Florida Experi-
down elsewhere,
mental. Station. Cows given rations
Several unsuccessful attempts;
containing too little calcium pro -
were made to smuggle seeds out.
duced an average of only 4,856
pounds of milk iln 218 lactation.,
Finally it was left to the resource of
all
an Englishman. Henry Wickham
whereas cows. getting sufficient cal
was afterwards knighted), to
ciutm yielded;;an average of 7,093
pounds of milk in 73 lactations,
o throthatiughwiah it in the good old
lit way,
Florida alld other states whera
He e undertook
utook to by hook
pastures and other feed crops are
.procure
or by crook a sufficient number of
grown on acid, sandy soils may be
seeds to ensure the future of rubber.
inadequate in time, which supplies
Chartering a steamer, he succeeded
Calcium,
in smuggling 70,000 seeds out of the
To overcome the shortage, Back.
country packers between leaves of
er and his co-worker, P. 17. Dix
the banana tree. He reached Liver-
Arnold, added two per cent. of
pool, where a special train was wait-
finely ground steamed bonemeal to
Ing to ruse: the seed;; to Kew, There
the daily concentrates. In addition,
some of them germinated and the
the heavy milk producers received
plants were. sent out to India, Cey.
a limited amount of alfalfa hay,
Ion, and Malaya.
These supplements afforded enough
Total cost of Wicktiian'e expedi-
calcium for Jersey cows in comaner•
tion was 21,500. Otit of it have
cial ;nerds. More recently, however,
700 million trees, producing I
one per cent. each Of b011etnleal and I
800,000 tons of ruhher annually,
K0,000
kalsite (marble dust) replaced rhe
Even to -day ll r are far from e,_
two per cent. of botioneal.
haunting the possibilities of latex or
Deficiency of calciuul ilia), he
rubber "milk." Apart from its ww•eli- i
corrected by spreading little oil in'- I
icnowlt uses, patents are, out for its I
proved pastures. Then, too, lately,
use a, a perservative for eggs, fruit,
manufacturers of mixed dairy
slid plants. It is also extensively:
feeds in the Southeast are making !
ettlployed for upholstery, Flooring,
up for the lack of calcium by in..
road surfacing, ww•allpaperiiig.
eluding boueuleal and finely g•ronud
Tfit.. tapping of- the ruhbvr tree,
limestone in thein' feedkn,H'a.
for this precious latex still rrhnlains !
l'onrtty s;entiematl.
a simple process carried ottt I utan
tial labour. It is useful to reflect lloww
litany of alt• great ilidllat,res, wl•hirh I
Mrs. Brown: "Nor mulitha I t
it later stag vs depend almost en I
couldn't discover where my husband 1
tirely on giant, complicated loath- I
,l,cnt his evenings."
frit' ill the first place Oil the '
MI's. Sillith: "ilow dill yuu fink r
work of out, roan the unskilled j
Malay labourer, for wwhonl there ran
le no nlrchtlnical substitute.
"w'ell, ono evening I wvent Monne 9
iii, worl, Toll.,i»ts of rutting the
and there he was." I
Where: "Hol Cow"'
Isn't Slang
"lfuiy cowl" exclaimed my Anter•
iean friend casualty, not realizing
that in India this expression would
not sound funny, for to most Hill.
duothe cow is a sacred animal.
Yet it is surprising how quickly
a young Hindu, when away from
home, starts eating beef and thin6
nothing of it. Miles away from the
influence of his orthodox elders,
lie views the cow as a very useful
animal, but fails to see the halo
about its head, writes Chaturi Vao-
wani in The Christian Science Mon-
itor.
1n A'uerica, the cow is pastured
on farms and dairies, In India, it
has as Much right to walk 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 shoppieg• as it
were. The cow even wanders into
the crowds at the food market awl
helps itself to the food.
Now, why does the tuw in Irt-
dia have privileges that even a
human being cannot claim in any
country: Jaywalking, food steeling,
and becoming a hindrance on the
mart street are illegal acts. However,
these man-made laws clo not affect
the cow in India. But there, the cow
is "sacred" and the mail 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 oil 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,
tine 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
met' who might kill it for pleat.
That is why beef is taboo among file
Hindus, most of whom do not eat
any kind of meat anyway.
But to believe that it is sacri-
legious for a Hindu to use anything
of the cow, including the milk, is
a misconception. Milk is widely used
when available, tine cow's skin is
used for leather, and its horns are
carved into beautiful figures for
living -room decoration,
The only real offense against the
cow is killing it for food oil 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 welt
taken care of, That is more that,
they done for human beings.
But the times havo a4anged t pili
that old customs cannot continue for
long. The ;population of the cows,
as of people, has increases itnmeu•-
sely int India. Not enough fodder is
grown. Moreover, the modern ena-
terlalistie Indian works his aniinul
to the bone and tries to get as much
out of it as possible.
One criticism levied against tete,
Hindus is: Why can't they let 6Qot¢
of these miserable -looking ereafurern
be slaughtered and fed to millions
of starving people?
The answer to this criticism is
that it is hard to change traditions.:
For a people brought up in thr
tradition of respecting tilt: cow, it
will be years before any change of
attitude is brought about.
However, some daring young; ruler
have broken away. They have seen
better cattle and better farming we.
thods in other countries'and wish
India would adopt similar practices.
They uo longer consider the cr.,w
a sacred aniunai. Their prejudive
against beef -rating Ila,, vani lied,
too, for they cat beef a: wvilling;ly
as any other meat when -ma% fr•orct
home. For this they hawr to :ac-
count to their elder, on returning
to India. But they get away by
saying. '•iv'e ww•ere ;ltnrricall
C(, I%,. The} arell.I '.agree+l.' 'tire
tllew :'
Expert Advice
Visiting the farm for the tiny
time in her city -bred life, little
eight -pear -old Rebecca, the daugh-
ter of a filling station operator, tvaG
thrilled by the many things her
grandfather showed her. The big
turkey gobbler, soon to be killed
for Christmas dinner, {tightened
her: and she was astonished to dis-
cover that the ice on the pond was
thick enough to bear her weig-itt.
I\los,t of all, however, she was
fascinated by the cow. Several
afternoons site went with her
grandfather to the barn and stared
wide-eyed as he milked. On a nippy
December day when she wast
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!"
":Wool" from Mocks,
British geologists engaged in re-
search work in the Hawaiian Island,
found a fluffy fiber made of the.-
same
he« -same substance as the rocks out thla
slopes of the volcano, S ,rile .Hies
fiber wax ,prabably produced fronx
tava`6M ig a volcanic eruption, the
British scientists concluded that
"wool" could be made from other
rocks too,- After two years of ei -
perinlents at the Matlock, England,
works of a British limestone firer,
a method has been evolved whereby
:lirnmstotle and other silicious rocks
are trausforrned into a fills wooly
substance which is a first-classih%ht
and squad iln5ulatog anj is fiewil veC•inirt-pr`ob6. 'I hit Ivo
wilt be used primarily in heat in-
sulation, but it is probable that &
will also be used as a heat aonserv+s
in all building construction.
An infallible way of impressing
People favourably is to let thorn eft
how much they impress you.
S.>1 q,���w" ��$`��:��� � � ata a �!•�, at 3 � " �..�
Boy Electrifies Farm—After rtltitliug• thea gailtat oi' 16 -year-old
Jolinny \Villianis' dusting and counting ill achine, gladiolus btilba
rise carried tip by belt coliveyor and dumped onio tele sere, -Aa
int forctirollnd. fohnny, was oils of 35 xvinllvr� ill the "Ruler
Methods"( I ..&,
JAITER
SAy Arthur Pointer f
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