Photograph by Alfred Heinicke 

 WEIGHING THE ONE-POUND LUMPS FOR THE FARMER: OPIUM CULTIVATION 



SHIRAZ, PERSIA 



"Opium in February last had jumped to $19.05 a pound as compared with $8.05 in 1913 

 and $11.05 i n I 9 I 5- • • • The tremendous use of anodyne medicine to relieve the pain of 

 the millions of wounded Has undoubtedly had a stimulating effect on the price of opium and 

 morphine" (see text, page 234). 



to $2 the pendulum oscillated. Now it is 

 cheap once more at about 75 cents a 

 pound, not more than 200 per cent higher 

 than in 19 14! 



The war bore heavily on bald-headed 

 and nervous people. Practically all hair 

 tonics nowadays contain resorcin — a coal- 

 tar product we have always allowed Ger- 

 many to make for us, and another cousin 

 to carbolic acid. From $2 to $32 rose 

 the price of a pound of resorcin, putting 

 a sudden damper on the enthusiasts of 

 intensive scalp culture. And the bald 

 found it costly to be nervous over this 

 advance, since bromide of potassium, 

 long used to calm excited nerves, ad- 

 vanced from 50 cents to several dollars, 

 and at one time it touched $12 a pound! 

 These excessively high prices were spec- 

 ulative phenomena, and did not hold at 

 the maximum level, though bromides are 

 still $1.20 a pound and resorcin $24 a 

 pound. 



Practically all remedies for the round- 



worm of children contain santonin. San- 

 tonin ballooned to dizzy heights in a few 

 months — from $13 to $75 a pound. It 

 is now relatively cheap at about $50 a 

 pound. But as a pound would supply 

 about 11,000 doses, we do not need this 

 drug in carload lots ! 



ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL 



Some chemicals have advanced more 

 recently for indirect reasons. For in- 

 stance, a rise in sulphuric acid is attrib- 

 uted to the fact that iron pyrites come 

 largely from Spain, and the war has had 

 a sinister effect upon Spanish commerce. 

 As pyrites are used to manufacture sul- 

 phuric acid, their price and the price of 

 the acid rose proportionately to the ef- 

 fectiveness of the underseas boats. The 

 rise in copper had an indirect effect on 

 certain phases of the chemical industry, 

 as copper and sulphuric acid were largely 

 used to generate sulphuretted hydrogen, 

 a very valuable reagent in the laboratorv. 



231 



