Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-15
DRUGGISTS HEAR
OF OLDEN DAYS
SAN FRANCISCO PHARMACIST
HARKS BACK FIFTY YEARS
PAPER SHOWS PROGRESS MADE
SINCE DAYS OF ARooNAUTs
State Association Closes Annual Meet
ing at Session That Was Held
Yesterday Afternoon In
Symphony Hall

The final days session of the Call
fornia Pharmaceutical association
closed yesterday at Symphony hall
with the installation of office Is, read
ing of papers and "round table" dis
cussion of facts interesting to membefs
of the organization. Cooperation and
unity of purpose were strongly ad-
Vised and the benefits to be derived
from a uniform price schedule We're
discussed
OF interest to those who like to watch
the progress of pharmacy and compare
its present day status with It's posi-
ton of the past was the paper read
by James G.. Steele of San francisco,
entitled Pharmacy in San Francisco
in the Late Fifties.'
James G.. Steele is one of the phar-
maceutical veterans of the Pacific
coast and came to San Francisco short
ly after the discovery of gold in Cali
fornia in 1S49.
The speaker naively related the man
ner of conducting the drug business in
the early days and read list of old
settlers who began business in San
Francisco prior to 1856. There were for
ty-four drug concerns in the Gate city
in 1856 but the business does not ap-
pear to have at first flourished, for, in
1860, there were only forty-one pharma-
cies, although the population OF the
city had more than doubled.
The speaker gave q carefully tabu-
lated record of the city OF san FRAN
cisco as it was in 1860.
Harks Back Fifty Years
The population OF San Francisco in
1860 was 900 and there were 1928
structures composing the dwellings and
business houses of the city, of which
% Of
sheet iron, 81 of stone and of adobe.
The drug stores of the rapidly
growing city were in nearly all cases
situated on the corners so that the
old-fashioned window light displays,
which shone through glass vessels OF
colored water could be seen for somo
distance in three directions and the
windows of the drug stores bore leg
end suitable to the foreign popula-
ton which read, "Pharmacie Fran
caise," "Deutsche Apotheke," "Pharma-
cia Italiana," "Botica Espanola," etc,
while the windows bore notices In vari-
Gus languages, informing the public
that there were clerks who could IN
swer their questions and needs in suit
able foreign parlance.
The store of William b. Little, es-
tablished in 1855 at 1874 Montgomery
street, was at that time the most
elaborately fitted store west OF st.
Louis, and the natives always took
visitors to have look at the place
which was said to have had $4,000 ex-
pended upon fittings aside from the
cost of the stock carried.
The soda fountains which began to
make their appearance at about this
time were described as very simple
affairs and it was admitted that most
81 the syrups retailed were of the
druggists own manufacture. No two
men had the same recipe fon a given
flavor and the owners of the various
soda dispensing stands took grave
liberties at times with the stomachs
of their customers. Sarsaparilla was
the favorite drink as the settlers of
that day believed that 1t was an In
valuable cure-all
Practice an Old One
That a practice still In vogue in cer-
tain temperance towns was not un-
known in the early sos was evidenced
bv the statement, when, brandy or
whisky was mixed with plain soda
q charge of 25 cents was made. The
public did not like too much 'fzz' and
was quick to complain OF what was
termed 'shenanegin,'
The patent medicine business re-
ceived great impetus shortly after the
civil war and every steamer brought
vast cargoes of marvellous mixtures
which would cure anything from in
growing toenails to galloping consump-
ton, Hair restoratives and liniments
were big sellers. and sarsaparilla COM
pounds led the vanguard. A compound
known as Sands Sarsaparilla seems to
have had the elixir of life backed off
the boards. for it would, according to
the legend on the bottle, cure all dis
eases which the flesh and body are heir
to. There was q picture of a Phoenix
bird on the label, and this weird speci-
men of the feathered tribe was spring
ing from a circle of flames, and under
the picture was the following remark
able statement: LAS the Phoenix
arises from the ashes of it's fires, so
does the system, rejuvenated by the
use of Sands Sarsaparilla, arise VIC
torious DER all the Ills that flesh is
heir to-"
Then followed a narrowing list of
diseases to be cured by the liberal use
of this most estimable medicine" and
a few statements which nowadays
would make member OF the pGS9 food
and drugs commission have cata-
leptic fit
Many strange medical practices were
recorded and the speaker dealt at