May 1908.] 



458 



Drugs and Medicinal Plants, 



cription of a qualified medical practi- 

 tioner. A licensee who makes a sale on 

 a prescription is required to retain the 

 original prescription, or a copy, and to 

 note on it, as well as on the copy, if 

 there is one, every sale made according 

 to it; and he is forbidden to repeat a pre- 

 scription except on the order of a quali- 

 fied medical practitioner. A difficulty 

 has been felt about the trade in pro- 

 prietory articles containing cocaine or 

 its substitutes, but it has now been 

 decided that they may not be sold ex- 

 cept by licensed persons, and that 

 licensees may sell them only if the 

 articles show plainly on the labels what 

 quantities of cocaine, eucaine, and nova- 

 cocaine etc., are in them. — The Chemist 

 and Druggist, No. 1,468 Vol. LXXII, 

 March 1908. 



TRADE REPORT ON DRUGS. &c. 



London Markets. 

 Acid, Citric — In the absence of any 

 demand whatever the market has further 

 declined, English or foreign being quoted 

 at Is. 4d. per lb. 



Benzoin.— Sales privately last week 

 ex auction include fair Sumatra seconds 

 at £7,, and middling at £6. 10s. per cwt. 



Camphor.— Chinese crude is lower, 

 with spot sales at 100s. per cwt., being a 

 reduction of 10s., at which price there 

 are sellers for March-May shipment. 

 Refined is slow of sale, English bells 

 offering at 2s. 9d. in cwt. lots ; for ship- 

 ment from Japan 2s. Id. c.i.f. is quoted 

 for 1-oz. tablets, and 2s. c.i.f. for slabs. 



Capsicums, — were dearer at auctiou, 

 eight, bags of Nyassaland realising 68s. 

 for good bright red off-stalk. 



Cloves.— At auction forty-nine cases 

 Peuaug were bought in at 10d. to Is. per 

 lb. for fair picked; fifteen cases fair 

 Ceylon sold at 7|d. Privately Zanzibar 

 on spot are offmed at 5d., to 5£d. and 

 for delivery prices have advanced, the 

 sales including March-May at 4}|d. to 

 5d., June-August at 5 ? ' 3 d. to 5|d., and 

 August-October at 5,'cd., closing on 

 Wedneday with buyers. For arrival 

 March-May has been sold at 5d. c.i.f., 

 and September-November at 5|d. c.i.f. 

 d/vv. 



Cocaine.— As the result of a sharp 

 fight between the makers there have 

 been two substantial reductions of Is. 2d. 

 and 10d. per oz. in the price of hydro- 

 chloride since our last issue, the ba. r :is 

 price for 175 oz. lots now standing at 

 6s. per oz. The above reductions, the 

 second of which was announced to-day 



(Thursday), have been the cause of con- 

 siderable comment. At the decline a 

 fair amount of business has been done, 

 and the balance of opinion is that it is 

 now a favourable time to contract, as 

 agents are offering with the falling 

 clause, which fully protects buyers for 

 delivery over the next nine months. 

 The ruling prices for hydrochloride, 

 which are unprecedentedly low, leave a 

 very small, if any, margin of profit for 

 makers, and if a large business should be 

 done, as is expected, then the present 

 prices will be of short duration. As we 

 have previously stated, the makers are 

 now no longer united, although several 

 of the leading manufacturers have poss- 

 ibly an understanding in regard to the 

 tactics to be adopted towards the makers 

 who brought about the dissolution of the 

 convention, and are now competing 

 among themselves. In regard to the 

 falling clause on contracts, Messrs. 

 Domeier&Co., state in their circular :"If 

 during the life of your contract you can 

 prove being able to buy cocaine equal in 

 quality to the B. & S. brand from another 

 reliable manufacturer, at a low price, 

 our principals will either reduce the 

 price for the undelivered portion of the 

 contract correspondingly, or, in case 

 they are not willing to do so, you will 

 be at liberty to cancel the balance of the 

 contract." This, of course, applies also 

 to several other makers. 



Cocoa Butter.— At auction 60 tons of 

 Cadbury's A. sold at from Is. 3£d. to Is. 

 4$d., the average price being Is. i 4 s d. At 

 tlie Amsterdam auction 75 tons Van 

 Houtens sold at the average price of 

 80 30c. against 86, 15c. at the previous 

 auction. 7| tons deJong sold at 77|c. to 

 77|c. 10 tons Mignon and 10 tons Suchard 

 at 77c. to 77£c, per half kilo. 



Ginger. — Jamaica ginger was steady 

 at auction, 33 packages being disposed of 

 out of 267 offered, comprising fair small 

 washed at 61s. and ordinary small at 57s. 

 6d. to 58s. A moderate supply of Cochin 

 and Calicut was offered, but only small 

 sales were made, iucludiug limed cut 

 tips at 44s. Small, plump, washed Cochin 

 was taken out at 37s. 6d., and medium 

 and bold limed Calicut at 43s. 



Ipecacuanha-— fifteen bales of East 

 Indian have arrived per Nile from Singa- 

 pore, and six bales of Matto Grosso have 

 also come to hand. 



Mace. — West Indian at auction sold 

 at higher prices, 40 packages realising 

 Is. lOd. for fine pale, Is- 4d. to Is. 5d. for 

 fair to good pale and reddish, Is. 3d. to 

 Is. 4d. for fair to good red, and lOid. to 

 Is. per lb. for broken. 



