The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-06-08
pnplIlAR COSMETICS.
What n Professor of Pharmacy Knows
About Powders and Creams,

ybat n Professor of Pharmacy Knows
About Powders and Creams,
Cosmetics" was the topic of an in
tetesting paper read by Prof. Albert
L. Ebert, president of the Illinois Board
OF Pharmacy. at the annual meeting OF
the Woman's Physiological Institute.
The professor laid out before his hear
ers small drug store stock of cos
metics, consisting OF box or bottle
of almost every noted make, and then
proceeded to tell what they were made
OF, and what they actually cost, and
what they sold for at retail, proving
that the whole business was an out
rageous swindle as regards price, to
say nothing of palming off on con-
fiding public as an innocent and harm
less lotion, or powder, nostrum made
of dangerous and hurtful drugs. The
component parts of the most widely
known face powders are chalk, starch,
magnesia, .bismuth and oxide of zinc,
some of them being a combination of
two or more ingredients, while others,
and by long odds the most of them, are
nothing but French chalk pure and
simple. What the professor said was
not so much in condemnation Of tho
use of cosmetics as it was an eXplana-
nation of the swindles practiced by
manufacturers.
There are ten thousand of these
preparations, he said, land one firm
alone in this city lists four thousand
of them" Then he read seven simple
formulas and gave the names OF a half
dozen elements, and said that every
compound sold, under whatever name,
contained nothing he had not named.
"This little pot" he said, holding up
q "cream," "has at present wonder
full reputation on the strength of the
secret formula, said to have been the
secret of a famous Frenchwoman's
beauty. What is itp Common zinc
oxide ground in equal parts of water
and glycerine and perfumed with rose.
/ will give you the formula" and he
did so. ut has a pretty ribbon about
it, and sells for S1.50 or $1S dozen.
What does it costp Ten cents" Then
he showed the ladies what they were
buying when they purchased another
cream of wide reputation. "You pay
81. 80 for it; it is pretty bottle and
holds eight ounces; seven of them are
pure water; the other is calomel. Cost
of calomel for dozen bottles, 80 cents;
cost of bottles, 25 cents; filling and
corking, cents; total 66 cents; retail,
S1S."
Magnesia, the professor stated, is
not nearly so commonly used as is
generally supposed; it is too fluffy and
lacks adhering properties. One name
for face powder is '.hake white" and
if lady goes into drug store asking
for that article she gets nothing but
the ordinary white lead, made from
zinc. In chalk, lime is a predomina-
ting feature and can not help but be
injurious to the skin. He produced a
box of popular powder that sold at re-
tail at $1.50, and then said it was moth
ing but French chalk, pure and simple,
and that one cent would be an extor-
tionate price for the amount contained
in the box.
"The danger arising from the use of
cosmetics said the doctor, sis greatly
overdrawn. Face preparations have
a Legitimate use, and properly used are
no more harmful than perfumes. Zinc,
when present in powders, possesses
some curative powers, and bismuth is
only slightly injurious. The principal
trouble is the continued application of
powders and the stopping up of the
capillaries of the face. Most face
powders are only zinc, bismuth, mag
nesia and chalk. Lead and mercury
seldom enter into them. These are
more frequently found in washes, which
get their only merit from the glycerine
or oil in which the elements are
ground. In all of them there is no diff
ference except as to name.
DIR. Ebert had some figures which
showed that $62, 200, 600 were spent in
America each year for cosmetics. of
which 1926, 100000 were reinvested in
advertising, and that the remainder,
$37, 600, 900, was profit. Her
aid