A MILLION PILLS A DAY.

Bruce Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 21, 17 March 1913, Page 1

A MILLION PILLS A DAY.

£IOO,OOO A YEAR IN ADVERTISING Sir Joseph Beecham, proprietor of the world-famed pills bearing his name, gave evidence lately before the Select Committee inquiry into the sale of patent medicines. Sir Henry Norman (the chairman): Have you a box of your pills you could give the committee? Sir Joseph handed to the chairman a larg9 and a small box, both of which, ho said, had been bought casually at a shop near by. Sir Joseph also handed up the chemist's cash ticket. He inherited the formula from which the pills were made up, he told the committee. Mr Lynch: Your father was a druggist. Did he make any special therapeutical discovery ?—Not that I know of.

Mr Harry Lawson: Ho discovered money. (Laughter.) Sir Joseph said that his firm sold about one million pills a day. The Chairman: What is the weight of a million pills? '(Laughter.) The Witness: I can tell you that the approximate weight of our'pills sold in a year is 50 terns. The Chairman: How much do you spend on advertisements in a year?— Speaking generally, it is a little over £IOO,OOO a year. That is for all over fcho world. Mr Lawson: Has the formula for the pills been changed from time to time since first used?— The formula is just the same since I remember it first. Asked whether good manufacturers could not from the published formula make the samo pill at a lower price and sell it at a reasonable rate of proftl fife JOWJS ,F°#«4 $W tfo formula

was handed to several chemists at Manchester, Glasgow; and. Liverpool, and the prices charged were is, Is yd, and 2s ticl. The analysis of tne pilla given in "Secret Remedies" omitted several important ingredients. "The Chairman: is there so little morphia in your pills that a man might take all that was in a whole box without any danger of poisoning—Well, X don't think anyone could take a whole box at a time. (Laughter.) The committee adjourned. MUCH-IMPRISONED MARY. Lecturing at the Camera Club in Loudon, Mr E. iiellingham said there were 53 castles in which Mary Queen of Scots was said to have been imI prisoned. ' Jtiven if the terras of her ' reputed imprisonment in each weie consecutive, tiie last term could not have ended until tho 19th century. He had not been able to get the exact number of old houses in which it was recorded that. Queen Elizabeth had slept, but she must have slept in soma at the rate of two a night. - THE OFFICIAIT "CHATTERER." .hollowing the criticism of' the installation of an "electric chatterer" at Eweil (Surrey) Post Uflice and a petition by tho inhabitants to be again, supplied with a telegraph instrument, the postal.authorities have sent down a special official to inquire into the matter. It will be recalled that a few weeks ago the telegraph instrument was removed and an arrangement .made for the sub-postmistress to telephone all messages to Epsom for transmission, and to prevent customers overhearing what was being telephoned, there was placed outside the telephone cabinet an electric bell which rings while anyone is inside. LABOR EXCHANGE "CURATE." A recent advertisement for a "curate" at the Cowes Labor Exchange is explained by the vicar of East Cowes (llev, F. C. Learoyd), who states in the parish magazine: "Inquiry lias elicited the information that the particular labor in demand lias to do with the tanning industry, and that the person concerned is to have the curing of hides and not tho cure of souls! So ends the joke." 80 YEARS OF MARRIED LIFE. The oldest married couple in Germany named Feddersen live on the Island of Sylt, off the coast of Schleswig, Both husband and wife are 107 years old. Formerly a forester, the husband is now an inspector of the dykes along the coast, and lie works every day. The couple, who enjoy good health, recently celebrated the 80th anniversary of their wedding. HORSE OMNIBUS FUNERAL, A cjore of motor cars and motor omnibuses, .with their headlights cov- v ered with crape, followed the last horse omnibus in Paris in its filial journey on January 11. The obnibus, which started its journey to the strains of Chopin's funeral march, was crowded with people carrying huge wreaths. The men along the route took off their hats as the procession passed, and girls threw bunched of flowers to the genial, rcd-faced driver. At the end of the journey a crowd danced round the omnibus.

A lady at the Tolaga Bay faces had an unpleasant experience (says an exchange). She was wearing a dress made' of fine material. A lighted match thrown to.the ground by a smoker came . ; n contar.t ; with the dress.. Instantly •hero was a flare-up. and before the firig •oukl be extinguished the dress- waff •completely destroyed. The lady, fortunately, was not severely burned, m &h$