The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-02-11
PROFIT IN
Immense Fortunes Built Up by the Use
of Face Powders.

Cosmetic" was the topic of an inter
esting paper read by Prof. Albert E..
Ebert, President of the Illinois Board of
Pharmacy, at the annual meeting of the
Woman's Physiological Institution at No.
40 Randolph street yesterday afternoon.
Unfortunately for the public good, and
especially for the good of womankind,
there was but a small audience of some
fifteen or twenty ladies'. The professor
laid out before his hearers a small drug
store stock of cosmetics, consisting of a
box or bottle of almost every noted make
and then proceeded to tell what they
were mace of, and what they actually
cost, and what they sold at retail, prov
ing that the whole business was an out
rageous swindle as regards price, to say
nothing Of .palming off on a contiding
public as an innocent and harmless lotion,
or powder, a nostrum made of dangerous
and hurtful drugs. The common parts OF
the most widely-knoWn face powers are
chalk, starch, magnesia, bismuth and oxide
of zinc, some of them being a cOmblna-
ton 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 profe ssor said was
not so much a condemnation of the use
of cosmetics as it was an explanation Of
the swindles practiced by manufacturers.
"There are 10000 of these prepare
tions," he said, land one firm alone in
this city lists 1000 of them" Then he
read seven simple formulas and gave the
names of a half dozen elements, and said
that every compound sold, under what
oo-E~oI -@A11-~ hn haS not
named. "This little pot" he said, hold
ing up a "cream," has a wonderful repu-
tation on the strength of the secret form
ula, said to have been the secret of a
famous Frenchwoman's beauty. What is
it? Common zinc oxide grounds in equal
parts of glycerine and perfumed with
rose, 1 will give the formula" and he did
so. at has a pretty ribbon about it, and
sells for $3.50, 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. "You pay $3.50 for it. It
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, IS cents cost of bottles, 25 cents.
filling and corking, 6 cents; total 66 cents;
retail, $18.
Magnesia, the professor said, is not
nearly so commonly used as is generally
supposed; it is too fluffy and lacks adher-
ing properties. One name for face powder
is "fake-white," and if a lady goes into
a drug store asking for that article she
gets nothing but the ordinary white lead,
made from zinc. In chalk, lime is a pre-
dominating feature and cannot help but
be injurious to the skin. He produced a
box of popular powder that sold at retail
at $3.50, and then said it was nothing but
French chalk, pure and simple, and that
one cent would be an e~xtortionate price
for the amount contained in the box. He
was very sarcastic over the recommends
tons from noted chemists and printed on
the labels and over the testimonials from
actresses and singers, and while on this
subject elected applause as he mentioned
the name of a well-known and popular
downtown clergyman.
1.-THE danger arising from the use of
cosmetics" said the doctor "is greatly
overdrawn." Face preparations have q
legitimate use, and properly used, are no
more harmful than perfumes. Zinc, when
present in powders, possessed some cura-
tive powers, and bismuth is only slightly
injurious. The principal trouble is the
continued application of powders and the
stopping up of the capilIaries of the face.
Most face powders are only zinc, bismuth,
magnesis 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 difference except
as to name"
DR.. Ebert has some figures which
showed hat $62, OOO, 900 were spent in
America each year for cosmetics, of which
$25, 600, 900 were r~e-invested TOR adver-
Using, and the remainder, S37, 0OO, 900,
was profit Chicago Herald.