THE ROMANCE OF TRADE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6132, 19 March 1898, Page 5

THE ROMANCE OF TRADE.

It is singular what an amount of ignorance prevails concerning some of the commonest necessaries of life. We use them, and after a fashion appreciate them ; but as for saying where they come from, what their exact properties are, or in what manner they are prepared for the market —these things are as much beyond us as explaining the reason for the spots on the sun, or why the magnetic needle invariably points to the north. Take the familial 4 and much-used Friar's Balsam, for example. Who, off-hand, can give an intelligible account of the product, either in the original form of its ingredients or in the prepared article, which find 3 a place in every household ? Tet the romance of trade has few more attractive chapters than that which concerns the active ingredient of this preparation — Benzoin, or Benjamin Gum. Prom its earliest use in the remote ages of the past until its latest appearance in the scientific cough remedy of the present-day chemist it has had associations which lend to it a peculiar interest. In ancient Egyptits antiseptic and aromatic qualities ensnred to it an important place in the processes of embalming, which have preserved to ottr own times the mummified retnains of the long-forgotten Pharaohs. Later on its virtues were recognised by the ancient Romans, who highly valued the extraordinary healing qualities of the article. Still more recently the alchemists and friars of the Middle Ages made wide use of Benjamin Gum in many of their mysterious remedies. But curious as these circumstances in the history of Benjamin Gum may be, they are comparatively insignificant to us in point of interest beside the astouishittg development in the utilisation of the medicine amongst ourselves, for the cure of pulmonary maladies. This is being effected by Mr Spencer Vincent, who has now an important pharmaceutical store at 214, High Street, Christchurch, ahd whose existence, although the business is only twelve months old, has iuade itself known throughout the colony, to the great benefit of the public at large. Mr Vincent, working methodically on solid business lines, entered upon a career of uninterrupted prosperity^ until to-day his turn-out of the Benjamin Gum Cough Mixture has reached a fabulous number Of bottles. This remarkable result has been largely brought about by the care exercised in the execution of the elaborate process through which the article has to pass before it becomes the palatable medicine which we know. But something also is due to the diffusion of a wider knowledge of the virtues inherent in the Gum Benzoin or Benjamin. Formerly it was the custom to regard it as a mere healing application for wounds ; but now, by efficient extractive appliances, Mr Vincent has succeeded in removing its objectionable taste, and in rendering it so palatable that it may be taken inwardly without aily Unpleasantness. In the sphere of medicines for the respiratory orgkns and air passages, no medicine that has ever been made public can compare with Mr Vincent's preparation for healing qualities. Some of the household remedies are hard to beat, and Benjamin Gum is one of them. We reconiM&nd all person^ who suffer from Coughs and Colds, whether chronic or recent" to try Spencer Vincent's Benjamin GUnt. , tt&