Omaha daily bee., 1884-04-03
A RUN ON BLUE PILLS.
Queer Habits of Men and Women
Who Patronizc tho Apothe-
carries.

Queer HaD1tS OF wen anu WOElen
Who Patronize the Apothe-
carries.
Philadelphia Times.
"Gimme a good big dose of mercury"
said a traveller, dropping his valise on
the counter of a Chestnut street drugstore
last night.
Show much, five or six grains2" in
quired the clerk.
"Do 20 call that a dose2"
eyes"
"Well, then, give me about double that
quantity"
"But-" interposed the pill COM
FOUNDER.
"Young man," interrupted the bilio us
traveller, II don't want your advice. I've
got to bolt this pill, and want it to be big
enough"
Every WELL" answered the clerk, and
he brought a five-grain pill.
Chow many grains2" asked the travel
Ter, eyeing the mercurial morsel.
''Twelve and a half, replied the clerk,
unhesitatingly, as he filled a tumbler with
water.
The travellers face assumed a martyr
like expression. He threw his head back,
fixed his eyes on the ceiling, opened his
mouth and cast the pill into the cavern.
Then he washed it down with water, paid
ten cents to the clerk, grabbed his valise
and departed.
800 yeu have many such callers2" in
quired the reporter.
"Well, 1 should say 80. Why, you've
no idea how many people have a mani
for taking pills. We have customers that
come here regularly once a week and take
a pill or two. We sell more pills between
nine o'clock at night and two in the NOR
ming than we do all day. About this time
of the year we have a run on blue pills.
Men who take cathartics all winter get it
into their heads that they become bilious
in the spring and must doctor their livers
with mercury. There's a hotel clerk
who comes here regularly once a week in
March and each time swallows a dose of
mercury.
DOSING OF II SLY.
"Another man drops in here every
other night and bolts a single cathartic
pill each trip. l said to him the other
night, why don't you buy a box of those
pills and take them home with you? No.
he replied, if l did that every n about
the house would think l was breaking
down. and he took the pill and went
away. He'll he here tomorrow night be-
tween. nine and ten o'clock. Oh, he's
taken so many pills that he don't seem to
mind swallowing them. Most people.
however, never grow to like pills. Last
night a man and a woman came in and
asked for two sugar-coated quinine pills.
l put them in a box, and he said: Never
mind the box, Wen take them here He
swallowed one and she dropped the other
into half a tumblerful of water and drank
it. The water went down all right, but
the pill remained in her mouth, and she
chewed it up, and with awful grimaces
swallowed the bitter particles. Women
and children almost invariably chew pills
before swallowing them.
ga man dropped in the other evening
and asked for castor oil in gelatime cap
sules. He took three capsules from the
box, sat down in that chair, called for a
glass of soda-water, and put the globules
into his mouth, but was unable to get
them down without chewing them. Yes,
4 U iaoc hill NOIJ DUN, pub hS biaiSitchOu
up on some soda-water and two cathartIC
pills.
"Most people take water with theirpills
but there are many who insist on having
lemon juice, or honey, or candy, or sugar,
or coffee, or beef tea to take the flavor OF
the pellets III of their mouth. If a mar
would just walk in and get his pill, swal'
low it without feeling and examining
and thinking of it, they would not make
rs many wry faces as they do. l have
seen a man tumble and fool with a pill
for ten minutes before he mustered uI
courage enough to put it in his mouth
No, it isn't pleasant to look at the face Of
a man who is struggling with a pill in his
throat"
RHUBARB AND HONEY.
A mild -looking old man entered an6
interrupted the conversation. "Rhubart
pill' said the new conner. As it wal
handed to him he said: snow a spoonful
of honey" The honey was brought in q
measuring glass. Into it the old man drop
ped the pill and swallowed the mass with
a sbudder.
He comes here every few days" ex
planned the clerk, as the old man went
out. ~ never saw him take any buI
rhubarb pills. He told me he had beer
taking them for twelve years. Every now
and then there will be a great run on som
pill made according to a physicians pre-
scription. Last year We had a pill of tina
kind for rheumatism and neuralgia, anc
after they became known we sold from
one to two hundred a day. Fifteen year
ago old DIR. Gross compounded a liver pill
that made a great deal of money for an
Eleventh street druggist who had the
prescription, and hundreds Of people still
buy these pills at the same place. Ever,
prominent physician at II time or an
'ther prescribed pills that become popular
with ailing people.
IL cannot say exactly, but ] think W.
average forty pill-takers in this stors
every night. Yes, drop in some nigh
between eleven and twelve o'clock ant
you will see me dealing out pills by thu
dozen. Business is a triae du thii
evening"