Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-01-11
FAMINE IN DRUGS.
Shortage in Plant and Root Crops
Creates Scarcity.
Extracts and Essences VIII BE High
Priced - The Cod Liver OIL
supply Has Likewise
Fallen On.

Inc west is the great peppermint-pro-
ducing section of the country. In Hi
nois and the neighboring states a larger
quantity of this plant is raised, some OF
| which is devoted to domestic uses, a con-
siderable amount is used in bars for the
compounding of iuleps, but the greater
| portion of which is demanded by the
manufacturers of oils and essences.
There was a shortage in this crop last
year and as a consequence prices rule
high. There is likewise a decided short
age in other plants needed in the manu-
facture of medicines and a famine in
drugs is threatened, reports the Wash
ington Star.
1t is not often that a general famine
ccurs in medicine. When there is a
scarcity of any particular drug 1t is gen.
orally the result of spectators attempt
ing to corner the article by purchasing
all available supplies and starving the
market until the price has risen to suit
them.
But occasionally a true famine occurs,
and at the present moment one is hap
pening in such an important and widely
used article that it is no exaggeration to
say 1t is a public calamity. We refer to
the scarcity of that most useful medi-
cine, cod liver oil.
Owing to the almost total failures OF
the cod fisheries last spring, the supply
is not nearly equal to the normal de-
mand and the price of the best medicine
oil has gone up 500 per cent. Oil which
some little while ago could be bought on
the wholesale market for $3.50 or $40
a barrel can now scarcely be obtained for
$135.
The best cod liver oil is obtained from
the Norwegian fisheries, and hundreds
of fishermen depend on the result foi
their living. The failure of the oil sup
ply, with its greatly enhanced price in
consequence, has also been a most Sc
rious thing to thousands of poor folk in
this country whose pockets have not
been deep enough to bear the increased
cost. Through the coming winter the
effects will be still more severely felt.
Even the London hospitals for on
sumption have been compelled to dis.
continue the supply to patients in all
but a very few cases. All kinds of sub
~stitutes are being tried, but so far moth
ing has been found equal to the genuine
oil.
Some years ago, when the mahdi was
devastating the Soudan and all the sur
rounding country, there was almost a
total failure of the supply of gum acacia,
or gum arabic, as it is. often called. This
essential ingredient in the compound
ing Of many medicines and especially in
the making of medicinal ~lozenges, and
the inconvenience and loss caused by
this famine was great.
There was any quantity of gum in the
country waiting on the trees to be pick
ed, but all the natives had either been
driven off or were soldering with the
mahdi, ard it was not until about a year
after Lord Kitchener had finally
smashed him up that regular supplies
began to come through.
AS an example of a scarcity caused by
speculation we may quote the attempt
made a few years ago to corner the sup
ply Of camphor. The late Col. North
was the moving spirit in this enterprise
and for some considerable time 1t
looked like being successful. But sew
eral causes combined to knock the bot
tom out Of the corner.
In the first place the stocks in hand
held out much longer than the c%onspira-
tors had anticipated. Next, new sources
OF supply were discovered, notably in
the island of Borneo; and, finally, cam
phor is not an article that can be kept
Indefinitely, except with the greatest care
and precaution. So, although the colonel
caused a temporary scarcity and a great
rise in price, in the end he was beaten
and lost thousands of pounds over the
deal.
Another way in which a medicine fam
Inc may be caused is by a failure in the
crop, brought about by bad weather or
other circumstances, as already stated.
Owing to the wet season there will be
a great shortage in this years supply OF
peppermint and the prices of oil dis
titled from the plant and for menthol
obtained from the oil are sure to adj
vance. The bulk of the finest pepper
mint oil Is produced by the firm Of H.
G. Hotchkiss, in the state of Michigan,
and this one firm practically controls
the market in the best qualities.
Another valuable drug that will prob
ably be very scarce and dear for the next
year or two is cascara bark. One small
district, that of Corvallis, Ore, practi-
cally controls the worlds supply of cas-
cara. Reports from there are most un-
favorable, and the price is rapidly adj
vancing. A curious fact about cascara
bark is that 1t does not yield its greatest
virtues until 1t has been taken from the
trees and stored for at least q year.
Mark Twain's Inventions.
Among Mark Twain's many gifts a
faculty for invention is perhaps the least