In 1850 Haskell & Merrick put upon the market a select line of drugs, including mor phine, chloroform, ether, galenical extracts, opodeldoc, mercurial and some other salts. At that time Philadelphia was the centre of trade for English chemicals, Boston for East India drugs, and New York for Spanish, French, Ger man and Italian drugs and preparations. In the decade following many fluid extracts and some glycerine extracts were added to the list of ready made supplies. One of the pioneers in the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations was Dr. E. R. Squibb, a past assistant surgeon in the United States Navy, who organized and ran the United Naval Laboratory from 1854 until 185• The enormous demand caused by the Civil War was the incentive for the es tablishment of his remarkable laboratory: Among the other pioneer manufacturers are the Tilden Company, of New Lebanon, N. Y.; Bil lings, Clapp & Company, and the E. L. Patch Company, of Boston ; Sharp & Dohme, and the Burroughs Brothers Manufacturing Company, of Baltimore; Henry Thayer & Company, of Cambridgeport, Mass.; William R. Warner & Company, John Wyeth & Brother, and the H. K. Mulford. Company, of Philadelphia; Parke, Davis & Company, and Frederick Stearns .& Company, of Detroit, Mich.; the William S. Merrill Chemical Company, of Cincinnati; Eli Lilly & Company, of Indianapolis, and Charles S. Baker & Company, and the Searle & Hereth Company, of Chicago. The pioneer manufac turer of druggists' balances, or fine scales, was Henry Troemner, who came to this country from Marburg, Germany, in 1836, and, two years later, started business in Philadelphia. Prior to this time the scales which were required by druggists had been made to order by jewelers.
The present volume of the drug trade in the United States can only be approximately esti mated, as the data are inextricably tangled with those of the chemical industry (q.v.). The most accurate survey to be made is with the aid of the figures recorded by the United States Census of Manufactures for 1914, which gath ered separate statistics relating to the manufac ture of °druggists' preparations,) °patent and proprietary and °perfumery and cos Reports were received from 4,082 es tablishments whose combined products were valued at $172,008,946. Of the total number, 850 were located in New York, 391 in Illinois, 353 in Pennsylvania, 267 in Ohio, 234 in Mis souri, 179 in Massachusetts, 155 in Michigan, 142 in California, 134 in New Jersey, 107 in Minnesota, and the remaining 1,109 scattered among 34 other States.
The manufacture of druggists' preparations was reported by 438 establishments with prod ucts valued at $48,624,966. Liquid preparations, such as tinctures, fluid extracts, and medicinal syrups, were valued at $13.900,402; and of pills, tablets, powders, etc. at $10,903,056. The manu facture of alkaloids and their derivatives, such as cocaine, codein, morphine, quinine and strych nine, was reported by 142 establishments, with products valued at $11,493,168. The production of synthetic medicinal preparations, such as acetanilid, saccharin, methylsalicylate, etc., was reported by 72 establishments, with an output valued at $1,384,996. Medicinal metals and their
salts, bromides, citrates, bismuth, etc., were pro duced at 47 establishments, their output being valued at $732,307. Serums, vaccines, toxins, and other biological products were prepared at 93 establishments, their output being valued at $6,223,475.
The manufacture of patent and proprietary medicines and compounds, including household ammonia, insecticides, fire extinguisher com pounds, etc., was reported by 3,085 establish ments, with products valued at $105,665,611. These figures show an increase in the number of establishments since 1909 of 8.7 per cent, and an increase in the value of products by 26.1 per cent. The larger part of this business was car ried on in New York State by 617 establish ments—as compared with 300 in Illinois, 275 in Pennsylvania, 209 in Missouri, and 156 in Ohio.
Perfumery and cosmetics, including cologne and toilet waters, face powders, cold cream, etc., were made by 559 establishments, their output being valued at $17,718,369. These figures show a large increase in both the number of estab lishments engaged and the value of the prod ucts, amounting to 30.3 per cent in the first in stance and 24.7 per cent in the second. New York claimed the largest share in this industry with 175 establishments, followed by Illinois with 67, Pennsylvania with 45, and Ohio with 34.
The enormous increase in the consumption of medicines in the United States is indicated by the fact that while the population of the coun try from 1880 to 1910 increased 83.3 per cent, the value of the patent medicine manufactured in the same period increased 740.5 per cent. Practically the whole of this production passes through the medium of the drug trade. These figures, however, represent but a small part of the actual consumption of medicines by the American people at the present day. As but one instance available of the dissemination of drugs outside of the patent medicine class, it may be mentioned that in the fiscal year ended 30 June 1916, an amount of quinine was im ported into the United States sufficient to make 2,200,000,000 average doses — an equivalent of 22 doses for every man, woman and child in the population. The importation of opium and its alkaloids amounted to the equivalent of 1,200,000,000 average doses of morphine. It is worthy of note that in the case of morphine the importations are less than one-third of their normal voltime before the war. A much larger effect is shown in the importations of °medicinal preparationso which in the year quoted amounted to a value of but $181,643, while in 1913 their value was $1,621,520.
One of the interesting features of the Amer ican drug trade has been the introduction of the Chinese drug store, with the identical drugs carried in stock in the Orient. A few of these are very closely allied to the drugs of the Amer ican store, and with practically the same medic inal value. Most of the °remedies,* however, are the grotesque collection of triturated deer horns, ginseng roots, curiously sculptured gourd seeds, and magical charms of various kinds and alleged potencies.