42 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



obtained a stock of this material from a well- 

 knoAvn chemist named Potasch, who kept a 

 small shop in a by-street not far from Picca- 

 dilly Circus. The worthy druggist was himself 

 a keen devotee of angling, and while waiting 

 for my change I would constantly engage him 

 in conversation upon the subject. It did not 

 take me long to discover that he possessed all 

 those moral qualities which are as useful to the 

 fisherman as to the chemist: he was a philoso- 

 pher, took a cheerful view of life, and had that 

 happy knack of procuring the maximum amount 

 of profit with the minimum of expenditure 

 which is as much the key to success on the 

 river-bank as behind the counter of a druggery. 

 I remember being particularly struck on one 

 occasion by his business methods. A rather 

 seedy-looking individual entered the shop while 

 I was there, and asked to be supplied Avith 

 something that would cure indigestion. The 

 chemist at once proceeded to concoct a pink 

 mixture from the numerous large bottles that 

 stood in a row on a long shelf behind him. To a 

 little of the contents of a vessel labelled " Gro- 

 belia Inflata " he added a few crystals of 

 " Hyp. Phos. Sod.," poured in two or three 

 drops of " Aq. Pur." and a dash of " Tinct. 

 Amm.," measured out a dozen grains of 

 "Potass. Chlor." and "Tart. Ac," emptied 



