The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-02-07
Druggists Profits.

kansas City Star.J
81 wish you would give neon the
square, you know-an idea of the
profits of prescription druggists"
"Well, it's hard to figure it out eX
actly or even to average it. You see,
the time consumed in making up
prescription the cost of the drugs,
ETC., vary greatly, and, besides, drug
gists have different ways of charging
for them; but I'll give you an actual
occurrence and you may judge for
yourself. l was selling some goods to
a druggist, an old customer of our
house, one day in town not thou
sand miles from this city, when man
came in for a prescription
which he had previously ordered.
How much is it p he asked. Sixty
five CENTS answered the druggist.
Isn't that pretty steep?' asked the
man. %, no, we couldn't afford to
put it up for cent less, answered the
druggist, with every appearance of
frankness. After 1 had finished my
business with the druggist, said 1,
smiling: Say, Smith, just for fun,
let's figure up what that 65-cent pre-
scription cost you All right said
he, smiling also. So we figured it up
carefully, including every possible
item-his time at the rate of SIS day,
the cost of the drugs, bottle, label.
cork, twine, wrapping paper, etc. The
calculation was rather difficult at
times, seeing that the labels cost but
% cents per 1000, the corks "a cents per
| gross, etc., but we stuck to it, and
the most We could make that 65-cent
prescription cost was 625 cents. 1t
happened to be one that required no
mixing, and the component parts
sample all the same. By the way, did
dom charges %, 81 or Is cents for a
prescription ? He charges 20 or 80,
45 or 55, 70 or 80 cents. 1t looks as
though he was charging upon a fixed
scale, instead of guessing at it, with
liberal margin for profit, you see. 1t
looks better, too, especially if the
before announcing the price. Drug
| charge accordingly, with an extra
dime or quarter added if the customer
is unfortunate enough to be trifle
| green"
The Speed of Thought.
Some recent Investigations on the
subject are thus summed up in the
American Journal of Arts and Sci
| enceS:
Sensations are transmitted to the
brain at rapidity of about $50 feet
per second, or at one-ffth the rate of
sound, and this is nearly the same in
all individuals.
"The brain requires one-tenth Of a
second to transmit its orders to the
nerves, which preside over voluntary
action; but this amount varies much
in different individuals, and in the
same individuals at different times, ac-
cording to the disposition or condition
at the time, and is more regular the
more sustained the attention.
"The time required to transmit an
order to the muscles by the motor
nerves is nearly the same as that re-
| quired by the nerves of sensation to
pass sensation; moreover, it passes
nearly one-hundredth of second be-
fore the muscles are put in motion.
"The whole operation requires one
and one-fourth to twO-tenthS of a sec
ond. Consequently, when we speak
of an active, ardent mind, or of one
that is slow, or apathetic, it is not a
mere figure of rhetoric, but an abso-
lutte and certain fact that such a dis
tinction with varying graduations
really exists"