Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-08-14
PROFIT COSMETICS.
Immense Fortunes Built Up by the
Use of Face Powder

Cosmetics was the topic of an in
terestlng paper read by Professor Al
bert f. Ebert, president of the Illinois
Board of Pharmacy, at the annual
meeting of the Women's Physiological
Institute. at No. Al Randolph street,
recently says the Chicago Herald. Un-
fortunately for the public good, and es-
| pecially for the good OF womankind,
there was but small audience of some
fifteen or twenty ladies. The professor
laid out before his hearers a small
drug store stock of cosmetics, consist
ing of box OF a 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 outrageous swindle as
regards price, to say nothing of palm
ing off on confding public as an ill.,
nocent and harmless lotion, or powder,
nostrum made of dangerous and
hurtful drugs. The common parts of
the most widely-known face powders
are chalk, starch, magnesia, bismuth
and oxide of zinc, some of them being
combination of two or more ingredl-
ents, 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 a
condemnation of the use of cosmetics
AS it was an explanation Of the swindle
practiced by manufacturers.
There are 10000 OF these prepara-
tIons," he said, land one firm alone in
this city lists 1900 of them.'' Then he
read seven simple formulas and gave
the names of 4 half dozen elements,
and said that every compound sold, un-
der whatever name, contained nothing
he had not named. "This little pot, -
he said, holding up ''cream," '.has at
present a wonderful reputation on the
strength of the secret formula, said to
have been the secret of 4 famous
French woman's beauty. What is 1t?
Common zinc oxide, ground in equal
parts of water and glycerine and per-
fumed with rose. L will give you the
formula" and he did so. sit has a
pretty ribbon about it, and it sells for
Sl.50, or SIS a dozen. What does it
cost? Ten cents" Then he showed
the ladies what they were buying when
they purchased another cream OF wide
reputation. "Y ou pay 81. so for it. 1t is
pretty bottle and holds eight ounces;
seven of them are pure water, the
other is calomel. Cost of calomel for a
dozen bottles, 30 cents; cost of bottles,
% cents; filling and corking, cents;
total, sc cents; retail. SIS.
Magnesia, the professor stated. is not
nearly so commonly used as is gener-
ally supposed; it is too fluffy and lacks
adhering properties. One name for a
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 predomInatlng rea-
ture, and cannot help but be injurious
to the skin. He produced box of pop
ular powder that sold at retail at SI.50
and said IL was nothing but French
chalk, pure and simple, and that one
cent would be an extortionate price for
the amount contained in the box. He
was very sarcastic over the recommen-
dations from noted chemists and
printed on the labels and over the testi-
monials from actresses and singers,
and while on this subject elected a
laugh as he mentioned the name of a
well-kLown and popular downtown
clergyman.
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 narInluI tndE 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
Mesa and chalk. Lead and mercury
seldom enter into them. These are
more frequently found in washes,
which get their merit from the glycer-
inc or oil in which the elements are
found. In all of them there is no diff
ference except as to name"
DIR. Ebert had some figures which
showed that S62 900, 600 were spent in
America each year for cosmetics, of
which SO, 900, 900 were reinyested for
advertising, and the remainder $780,
900 was profit.