Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  1890. 
Pharmacy  in  the  South. 
629 
It  is  the  odd  customs  peculiar  to  this  place  that  make  it  so  charming  a  stop- 
ping-place to  the  Northern  tourist,  it  seeming  to  such  a  foreign  country.  Its 
large,  airy  houses,  its  lovely  rose  gardens,  its  peculiar  and  far-famed  institution, 
the  Carnival,  are  too  well  known  for  description  here  (besides  not  entering  into 
the  subject  of  this  paper)  ;  but  the  odd  customs  extend  also  into  the  province 
of  pharmacy,  and  of  them  the  most  peculiar  is  the  institution  known  as  Lagni- 
appe  (pronounced  Ivan-yap).  Ivagniappe  is  something  given  to  the  purchaser 
in  a  retail  store,  a  bribe  to  secure  his  future  patronage.  It  is  a  custom  extend- 
ing back  to  time  immemorial,  its  origin  being  accounted  for  by  the  following 
legend,  which  is  given  for  what  it  is  worth  :  Years  ago,  in  the  old  French 
Quarter,  there  lived  an  old  lady  who  had,  as  a  pet,  a  monkey,  glorying  in  the 
high-sounding  name  Iyagniappe.  The  monkey  was  a  well-known  character  in 
the  neighborhood,  and  had  a  decided  taste  for  sweet  things  ;  so,  when  the  old 
lady  went  to  market  or  to  the  grocery  or  drug- store  she  would  always  ask  for 
an  orange,  cake  or  candy,  "  for  Ivagniappe."  Then  the  children  in  the  neigh- 
borhood took  it  up,  although,  it  is  feared,  the  monkey  obtained  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  good  things  given  "in  his  name,"  for,  after  he  had  been  gath- 
ered to  his  fathers,  and  even  to  this  day,  we  are  asked  to  give  gum  and  candy 
"for  Iyagniappe."  The  custom  is  so  firmly  fixed,  that  there  seems  no  danger 
of  its  ever  being  abolished,  despite  the  opposition  of  store-keepers.  It  is  a 
practice  entailing  considerable  expense  upon  the  merchant,  personal  observa- 
tion showing  that  in  our  establishment  the  cost  of  Iyagniappe  daily  given  away 
is  about  one  to  two  per  cent,  of  the  gross  sales.  Still,  there  is  no  objection  to 
humoring  the  children  ;  but  when  a  man  buying  five  cents'  worth  of  Castor  Oil 
wants  "Ivagniappe  "  for  the  baby,  or  a  greasy  urchin  says  "  gimme  Iyagniappe  " 
after  paying  ten  cents  for  five  two-cent  postage-stamps  that  have  been  neatly 
wrapped  up  for  him,  it  seems  time  to  call  a  halt. 
Then  the  negro — that  never-failing  source  of  interest  and  amusement  to  a 
student  of  human  nature.  Not  the  indolent,  insolent  young  ones,  born  since 
the  war,  and  given  just  enough  education  to  ruin  them  ;  but  the  respectful, 
illiterate,  ante-bellum  negroes,  with  their  quaint  ways  and  quainter  sayings. 
Alas  !  they  are  a  type  fast  passing  away. 
The  old-time  negro  is  well-learned  in  "yarbs,"  and,  coming  to  the  drug- 
store for  such  panaceas  as  Sampson  Snake  Root,  Jimson  Weed  and  Dogwood, 
regards  the  presiding  genius  of  the  place  with  the  same  degree  of  awe  and 
respect  as  was  accorded  the  alchemists  by  the  ancients. 
Then,  too,  the  drug-store  is  invested  with  an  air  of  magic  to  them,  as  it  is 
the  repository  of  infallible  Voodo  charms.  Voodooism  is  a  relic  of  African 
barbarism,  not  entirely  eliminated  even  by  centuries  of  Christian  influence. 
Almost  every  old-time  negro  is  a  firm  believer  in  black  art,  in  charms,  and  in 
philters  (not  the  kind  of  which  Professor  Remington  has  told  you,  but  those 
exerting  potent  influence  upon  the  affections).  Superstition  remains  in  spite 
of  all.  Chief  among  the  voodo  charms  is  Lodestone  with  a  little  steel  dust; 
"She  Lodestone "  is  preferred,  the  difference  in  gender  being  entirely 
unaccountable  to  me. 
Next  in  "saving  grace"  comes  Grains  of  Paradise,  those  pungent  seeds 
comiug  to  us  from  Guinea,  popularly  supposed  to  possess  almost  as  much 
virtue  as  a  grave-yard  rabbit's  ear  ;  and  of  these  three  great  charms  at  least 
one  can  be  found  in  the  pockets  of  every  old-time  negro. 
