Auction sales are very unsatisfactory affairs at all times, and we fear that there was no exception to the rule in the case of Lowden, Paton & Co., who got rid of most of their stock the last week in July through the assistance of Suckling, Cassidy & Co., the Toronto trade auctioneers. When people buy at auctions, if they are well posted in values, they rarely bid above half the value of the goods and if the quantities are large they are not content unless they obtain decided bargains. At the Lowden-Paton sale plush goods were sold in large quantities at prices that would scarcely pay for the fittings, while rubber goods and extracts simply brought no value at all. This sale is but another reminder of the fact that a stock and business are not in themselves of any more value than they will bring under the hammer, but are merely means to an end—an annual income. When taking stock this fact should not be forgotten and a liberal discount should always be made on fixtures and such goods as are considered poor or dead stock.

The wise druggist: “Well, sonny, what is it?” asked the drug clerk, peering over the counter at the 3-feet mite of humanity. “Mamma sent me to get a piece of soap—cast-iron, I think she said.” “We don’t keep any summer hotel soap here,” returned the clerk; “you must have mistaken the metal. Wasn’t it Castile?”—[Life.

FORMULAE

DR. FLINT’S TONIC.

Dr. Austin Flint gives (N. Y. Med. Jour.) the formula of a saline and chalybeate tonic which is now prepared by several leading drug houses in New York city in the form of tablets. It is used with success in loss of appetite, etc., and is also said to be an excellent remedy in Bright’s disease. The following is the formula:—

Sodii chloridi3 ij
Potassii chloridigr. ix.
“ sulphgr. vj.
“ carbgr. iij.
Sodii carbgr. xxxvj.
Magnes. carbgr. iij.
Calc. phos. præcip ℨss.
“ carbgr. iij.
Ferri redactigr. xxvij.
“ carbgr. iij.

Mix and divide into 60 tablets, two of which may be taken three times a day after eating.