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SOME REMARKS UPON" SHELLAC, WITH AN ESPECIAL RE- 

 FERENCE TO ITS PRESENT COMMERCIAL POSITION * 



BY JOHN MACKAY. 



We have now and then rapid and unexpected changes in the drug 

 market. At times there are certain premonitory symptoms of such changes, 

 of which those resident in London and Liverpool, and even some at a 

 distance, not unfrequently take advantage. Immediate purchases are made, 

 or contracts for forward delivery entered into, which very often result in 

 large gains to the successful buyer. Or, again, there have been instances 

 of a millionnaire stepping into the market and purchasing all that could be 

 had of a certain article, holding the same, and only selling at an advanced 

 price. Such instances are comparatively rare, because there is in all trans- 

 actions of this kind, not only an almost unlimited command of capital 

 required, but such a course is necessarily accompanied by considerable risk. 

 A very successful and notable instance of such a case occurred some years 

 ago, when a well-known banking firm bought up all the mercury that could 

 be got, either at home or abroad, stored it up, and held until the price 

 advanced so considerably, as to yield a very large and handsome profit, at 

 the expense, of course, of those who were in the habit of using this valuable 

 metal in medicine or in the arts. More recently a house abroad gathered 

 together all the fine Vanilla pods which could be obtained, and in like 

 manner kept this market so bare, that most extravagant prices were paid 

 for the article. So thoroughly was this game played, that at times large 

 tins of Vanilla were consigned to certain parties in London, and if these 

 individuals failed in realising an- increased price, their 'instructions were 

 quite definite — to return the whole to Paris, there to be stored up, or sold 

 at a limit previously determined upon. At other times a real scarcity may 

 be cited as the cause of an advance, and this frequently owing to circum- 

 stances over which no one can exercise any control ; such as ungenial and 

 unfavourable weather during the season of vegetation, of which we have at 

 the present time very good examples in the scarcity and consequent high 

 price of belladonna, peppermint, and lavender, or in the cream of tartar 

 market, where the continued high price is owing to the effects of the o'idium 

 or vine disease interfering with the production of wine, and thus reducing 

 the quantity of deposit from which this article is procured. But to go still 

 further from home, and to come more especially to speak of the article it is 

 my intention now to introduce to your notice, I may at once refer to 

 the extraordinary position which shellac holds at the present time in the 

 commercial world. This substance is known to us all, for although not 

 used in medicine, it is extensively employed in the arts. Thus, it is the 

 principal ingredient in our finer kinds of sealing-wax, while in that very 

 important manufacture, hat-making, it is not only largely employed, but 



* From the Pharmaceutical Journal 



