Evening star., 1936-12-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

bottles, instead OF permitting them TO
remain on The shelves year after year.
~ -
There can be little doubt that no one
ought to keep an old bottle Of any medi-
cine very long after the use for 1t is over.
There simply is no telling what chem
tcal changes may 60 on.
Also there is no recalling the exact
symptoms of any illness. so that the
self prescription of an old bottle OF
medicine, although the disease may
seem the same, is fraught with danger,
since the new symptoms may vary
slightly.
One Of the reasons why such bottles
are kept, no doubt, is that the average
household does not know exactly what
TO do with them.
Just AS the average man rather Shrinks
from disposing Of old razor blades, so
the careful housewife will not know
what to do with old bottles Of medicine.
The man Of the house pictures those
sharp bits OF steel being swallowed by
pigs in garbage or trash, and he does
not altogether like the picture. Though
those blades will not cut his whiskers.
they still are sharp enough to slice
through linoleum-and fingers-and the
like
Many an old bottle Of medicine would
be thrown away long before 1t is If the
lady Of the house could think up some
good way Of getting rid Of 1t without
running the risk of harming anybody.
X +
Templeton Jones, looking over his
medicine cabinet realized that what the
man had said In the article was true,
that many of the articles were far too
old.
There were no poisons In the list, he
was glad to note, except such as would
be formed from oYerdoSes OF otherwise
harmless things.
There can be little doubt that most
old medicines or lotions, antiseptics,
even toothpastes and the like, undergo
uncertain changes over the year. Often
one purchases a new brand, for some
reason goes back to the old, and permits
the bottle or other container to lie in
the cabinet for many months, then at
last goes back to it. Often enough there
seems to be little if any change, but in
some cases the change is very evident,
If the bottle has been standing long
enough untouched There may be a
sediment at the bottom of the container,
or the color has changed from light to
very dark, and so on.
Here one is dealing with subtle chem
ical changes which may or may not
mar the contents, and the point is that
the average person has no way in the
world Of knowing which is the case.
Perhaps the easiest solution, Jones
was beginning to see. was 10 keep the
medicine cabinet fairly well cleaned
out except of such standard articles as
absorbent cotton, bandages and so on,
which might be kept indefinitely with
out change Soaps. Of course, are good
for years, even If the color does change,
as it often does. The soap experimenter,
if there is one in the house, seems to
be hopeless creature. His motto, evi-
IDENTIFY, is that of the old gambler, who
said, Il hope for the best and expect the
worst" This is one article which may
be purchased in quantity and stored for
future use. Even If color, and often
fragrance, fades away, the basic soap is
Just about the same after many years.
One popular article used to paint throats
will not retain its strength and benefits
beyond few weeks. Yet this particular
article is one most often found months,
even years, old in the average medicine
cabinet.
Templeton Jones started something
when he decided to get rid of the old
and retain only the new, and even then
to keep the cabinet cut down to fourth,
or better, of its former contents.