The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-02-14
WHAT COSMETICS COST,
American Women Spend Millions
for Them Every Year.

Behind a little table, on which were
arranged bottles, pots, and boxes OF
washes, lotions, pastes, and
powders, DR.. Albert E. Ebert, Presi-
dent Of the Board OF Pharmacy, talked
to the members of the Women's Physi
illogical Institute at Ethical Hall on
Cosmetics He talked very plainly,
too. fixing his points as he proceeded
by exhibiting samples of most OF the
preparations popular with women.
What he said was not SO much in con-
domination of the use of cosmetics as 1t
was an explanation of the swindles
practised by manufacturers.
There are 10, 900 of these prepare
tions,n he SAID, land one firm alone
in the city lists 1000 of them" Then
he read seven simple formulas and
gave the names of a half dozen ele-
ments, and said that every compound
sold, nnder whatever name. contained
nothing he had not named. This
little pot,n he said, holding up a
cream, s'has at present q wonderful
reputation on the strength of it's secret
formula. What is it2 Common zinc
oxide ground in equal parts OF water
and glycerine, and perfumed with
rose. | will give you the formula
| and he did SO. 1T has a pretty rib
bon about it, and sells for $3.50 or $1S
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. You pay $1.50 for it. 1t
is a pretty bottle, and holds eight
ounces. Seven of them are pure
water. The other is calomel. Cost of
calomel for a dozen bottles, SO cents;
cost of bottles, 20 cents; filling and
| corking, 6 cents; total, &c cents. Re-
tail, $18.
1.-THE danger arising from the use Of
cosmetics said the doctor, lis 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 powders, and bismuth
is only slightly injurious. The prin-
cipal trouble is the continued appli-
cation of powders and the stopping
up of the capillaries of the face. Most
face powders are only zinc, bismuth,
magnesia and chalk. Lead and mer-
curry 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
difference except as to name"
DIR. Ebert had some figures which
showed that 500, 00O, 900 was spent in
America each year for cosmetics, of
which $25, 900, 900 was r~einvested in
advertising, and that of the remainder
$50, 000, 900 was profit.-Ghsodgo ifistsf-
Ocean.
Interest in Feminine Athletics.
To show the interest taken by New
Workers in feminine athletics it is
only necessary to state that 1,250 peo-
Pile by actual count passed into the
Berkeley Ladies' Athletic Club, which
was formally opened recently. Most
of these people were well known soci-
ETY. folks. There was Mrs. Whitney,
small, plain, ladylike, in dark green
with q white vest. There was Mrs.
Cleveland, who looked rather pale, in
an exquisite pearl-gray cloth costume
and bonnet. There was aesthetic An
ME Jenness-M Miller in black, and her
charming sister, whose pretty face
looked out from under an enormous
hat loaded with feathers. There was
DR.. Mary Putnam jacob, small, in
tellectual of face, the smartest woman
doctor in New York. There were Rus
sell Sage and Mrs. Sage, Mr.. and Mrs.
Louis Tiffany and scores of others.
Graceful girls, erect, 1.-the, with the
glow of health in their faces, received
the guests and pointed out the vari-
Gus attractions.
A committe of ladies received the
guests at the door of the reception
room and passed them on to these de-
lighted guides. Trim, dark eyed Mrs.
White, wife Of the president OF the
Berkeley Lyceum; graceful Miss
Elliott, the teacher of all these won
derful sports; DR.. Mary L. Bissell, the
physical director, and jolly. bustling
Molly Hawkins, the secretary of the
club, made every one at home. The
reception room was beautifully decor
ated with ferns and plants, and is
furnished in Terra Gotta and old rose,
There is a splendid swimming bath
done in English tiles. There are bowl
ing halls and billiard ooms, and all
the modern athletic improvements
with which the swaggcr New York
girl will emulate her brother or her
admirer. Chicago Herald.