DRUG TRADE. The American drug trade is largely a modern development, although America's part in the history of drugs dates from the days of the first explorers. When from the Americas travelers returned to the Old World bearing with them specimens of the various products of this new world, the learned men of Europe greeted their arrival with interest and science hastened to affirm that the chief advantage to be derived from the discovery of the new continent would lie in the introduction of new and more potent drugs. From that moment scientists began to devote their attention to the study of American plants and herbs, and all the old chronicles show a considerable space devoted to a recital of the health-giving qualities of these products of the American soil. Nothing that grew in the New World was neglected by the experimenters. Everything was tested, and many things were found to be of great value. For a long time tobacco, Jesuits' bark, and sassafras, were among the most frequently used medicaments, and, from time to time, the medicinal proper ties of other herbs were discovered and utilized.
The drug trade itself has no such ancient record to which one may revert. A century ago the stock of every wholesale druggist in cluded such articles as glassware, oils, paints, putty, indigo, madder, etc., and sometimes even commodities still more foreign to the trade. Since the early part of the 19th century, how ever, the wholesaler has improved his commer cial position by restricting his stock to such articles as may be classified as true drugs or medicines. These articles, of course, include many °patent° medicines, and will probably do so as long as the demand for such preparations continues to make them one of the most im portant items in the drug trade.
From the beginning of the history of medi cine and pharmacy the people as a mass have been conspicuous for their faith in the efficacy of the *patent,* or more properly, the secret, medicine and the makers of patent medicines have always flooded the market with their nostrums, depending upon this credulity of the people for financial success. Aside from these articles of commerce, however, the staples of the drug trade, the legitimate drugs and medi cines, were gathered from all quarters of the globe and widely distributed long before the discovery of America with its new drug sources became an important aid to the progress and development of the trade. Since the early days of the country's history, drugs, such as jalap, ipecac, sarsaparilla and balsams, have been im ported from Mexico, as well as from Central and South America. As early as 1820, through the investigations of the French scientists, the separate alkaloids in cinchona bark were de termined and Pelletier soon began their manu facture. It was at about the same time that John Farr started the first quinine factory in Philadelphia and the popularity of the drug was so immediate that John Currie soon fol lowed by building a similar factory in New York.
In the early days the supplies of cinchona bark were imported through Spain, but the opening of the ports of South America to our commerce enabled us to secure the necessary shipments direct from those countries. In the beginning of the industry in America the Gov ernment placed an import duty upon foreign made quinine, and as long as such duties re mained in force, the American manufacturers had a practical monopoly of the home trade. In 1879, however, quinine. was placed on the free list, and since that time the foreign makers who are able to produce the drug at a much lower cost than that at which we can make it, have not only shipped their surplus stock to this country, but have secured such a firm foot hold that they now control nearly half of the American quinine market.
Stone-oil, or Seneca-oil, the substance which is now known as petroleum, was discovered in West Virginia, where it had long been popularly regarded as a most efficient liniment. It was found at several places in that State, where it rose to the surface of the ground, a heavy and dark substance, the true character of which was not recognized until many years later. In 1829, a similar supply was found in Cumberland County, Ky., and upon a well being drilled, a phenomenal quantity of oil was obtained. Owing to the fact that no ample provisions had been made to save the oil, the bulk of it was wasted. Some of it was preserved, however, and having been bottled, was sold in Europe under the name of *American Oil.' The device on the label, a derrick, first suggested the means by which a sufficient quantity of the crude oil could be ob tained to pay the cost of refining it, a process which resulted in the discovery of such valu able filtered paraffin residuums as petrolatum, vaseline, etc., preparations which have since become important articles of export It is believed that the first historical mention of the manufacture of drugs in this country is that in the instructions given to Sir Francis Wyatt, governor of Virginia, in 1621. In this document he was requested to invite atten tion to the industrial possibilities to be found in the making of oil of walnuts, and he was au thorized to employ such apothecaries as might be necessary to assure its proper production. The colonists were also requested to search for gums, dyes, and new drugs. In 1785, the South Carolina Agricultural Society offered special premiums for the cultivation of such drug plants as senna, cassia, hops, madder, rhubarb and figs. It is useless to attempt to describe the various articles known to the drug trade of that day, or to enumerate the uses to which they were put, but in even so brief a review as this, a word or two must be said about the old time business conditions.