Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-09
CORNERS IN DRUGS.
History Recalled by the Short Allow
ance Of Cod in the Fisheries.

owing to the almost total failure of the
cod fisheries last spring. the supply is not
nearly equal to the normal demand and the
price of the best medicinal oil has gone up
JOO per cent. The best cod liver oil Is OBJ
tanned from the Norwegian fisheries and
hundreds of fishermen depend on. the result
for their living. The failure of the fishing
last season. due to the migration of the
Goldfish. has been most serious thing for
them and their families. The failure of the
Oil supply, with it's greatly enhanced price
III consequence, has also been most seri-
Gus 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 hos
pitfalls for consumption have been COM
PEELED to discontinue the supply to patients
in all but a very few cases. All kinds of
substitutes are being tried, but so far moth
Ing has been found equal to the genuine oil
Some few 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 1T is often called. This Is an es-
sential ingredient in the compromising of
many medicines. and especially in the MAX
ing of medicinal lozenges. and the incon-
venience and loss caused by this famine
were great.
There was any quantity of gum in the
country waiting on the trees to be picked,
but all the natives had either been driven
of or were soldering with the Mahdi and
1t 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 may be mentioned the attempt
made a few years ago to corner the supply
OF camphor. The late Col. North was the
moving spirit in this enterprise and for
some considerable time dt looked like being
successful But several causes combined to
knock the bottom out of the corner.
In the first place. the stocks In hand held
out much longer than the conspirators had
anticipated. Next, new sources of supply
were discovered, notably in the Island Of
Borneo; and finally. camphor Is not an
article that can be kept indefinitely. except
with the greatest care and precaution. So,
although the colonel caused temporary
scarcity and great rise in price. in the
end he was beaten and lost thousands Of
pounds over the deal.
Another way In which medicine famine
may be caused is by a failure In the crop
brought about by bad weather or other cir
cumstances. Owing to the wet season there
will be great shortage in this years sup
ply of peppermint. and the prices of oil
distilled from the plant and for menthol
obtained from the oil are sure to advance.
Another valuable drug that will probably
be very scarce and dear for the next year
or two is cascara bark. One small district,
that of Corvallis, in the state of Oregon,
cascara- Reports from there are most I'M
favorable and the price is rapidly advanc-
ing A curious fact about cascara bark Is
that it does not yield its greatest virtues
until it has been taken from the trees and
stored at least a year.