What was going on when I was born?

Procter & Gamble announced today that it had agreed to acquire the pharmaceutical division of Morton-Norwich Products Inc., the Chicago-based chemical and household products manufacturer, for $371 million in cash. ''This is an important step for Procter & Gamble,'' the company's president, John G. Smale, said in a statement. ''It provides an entry into categories of a growing business in which we do not currently compete.''

For years, the two oddly ornate flintlock pistols were stored in the New York City police property warehouse, resting among the Saturday night specials and other illegal handguns. The weapons, overlaid with ivory and intricate gold floral patterns, were seized in a drug raid in the South Bronx almost 10 years ago. They were stored in the police warehouse in Queens until recently, when they were marked for destruction along with hundreds of other illegal handguns. But the police decided the lovely old pistols might be unique, and instead of having them melted down, they had them inspected by arms experts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

When the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously last month to narrow a new rule bitterly opposed by Morgan Stanley & Company, an affiliate of the investment banking firm was in the process of retiring a $7.8 million debt it owed the commission's chairman, John S.R. Shad, according to public records. The $7.8 million debt reflects a three-year installment note in payment for E.F. Hutton Group Inc. stock that the Morgan Stanley affiliate bought from Mr. Shad and immediately resold in the open market. Mr. Shad, a former vice chairman of E.F. Hutton, was required to sell the stock when he became S.E.C. chairman last year. In addition, Morgan Stanley is the custodian of Mr. Shad's assets while he is in office, and Barton M. Biggs, a prominent Morgan Stanley executive, is trustee, public records show. Opinion Obtained Before Vote Before taking part in the vote affecting Morgan Stanley, Mr. Shad sought, and obtained, an opinion from the agency's ethics counsel that these financial ties did not pose a conflict of interest or otherwise bar him from participating in the decision.

Faced with a loss of confidence, capital flight, political uncertainty and outright destruction, the economy of El Salvador is surviving only through the international aid, most of it American, that will be pouring into the tiny nation this year. The economic assistance - an anticipated $232.5 million in grants and long-term loans from the United States and some $160 million from international lending institutions - has the modest goal of maintaining the economy at zero growth for 1982. The bail-out is keeping El Salvador from going broke, explained Alberto Benitez Bonilla, president of the Central Bank. ''If we didn't have this aid,'' he said in an interview, ''almost all our industries would stop, and we would have at least a 20 percent negative growth.''

The five guerrilla groups that are fighting to topple El Salvador's civilian-military junta are headed by Marxists who now say they are ready to accept a negotiated settlement instead of holding out for a socialist revolution. In recent weeks, they have drawn up a peace plan that is more moderate than any previous leftist platform. It includes an offer to preserve the ''institutionality'' of the Salvadoran armed forces and to form a broad-based government that would lead the country to ''democratic'' elections. In scores of interviews in Mexico and Nicaragua, senior rebel commanders have denied that their objective is to install a Marxist-Leninist regime. Arms Supplied by Cuba Yet the guerrillas acknowledge that, in the past, they received arms from Cuba through Nicaragua, as the Reagan Administration maintains.

If the Carlton Group of business lobbyists could do so, it would return to the anonymity that cloaked it before its smashing success of last summer - enactment of accelerated depreciation tax write-offs. The dozen or so men, and two women, who breakfast in a private salon at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel every other Tuesday to trade political intelligence on tax legislation had cherished their low profile. One of them even persuaded a reporter last year to refer to them as the ''No-Name'' group, although ''Carlton Group'' was the working shorthand among members. ''Getting the Carlton Group out of the headlines,'' was the reply of Cliff Massa 3d, the 32-year-old tax lawyer who runs the meetings, when asked to identify the group's next goal.

A chilling rain and police precautions transformed St. Patrick's Day in the city yesterday into the least rowdy of recent years, though possibly not the cheeriest and certainly not the sunniest. While a meager turnout of spectators for the annual parade up Fifth Avenue huddled under each other's umbrellas, and the tens of thousands of marchers and 194 bands pranced doggedly by in sodden uniforms, the 3,700 police officers on duty were kept busy confiscating spirits from revelers. While complaints of vandalism and troublemaking fueled by drink had temporarily shifted the emphasis of the holiday, there was still the avenue to be filled with music and the Irish hearts to be filled with pride. It was the 1,521st anniversary of the death of Ireland's patron saint and, according to parade historians, the 220th consecutive year that New York's Irish have taken to parading to mark the day.

International A Caribbean basin aid bill that includes a request for $128 million in emergency economic assistance for El Salvador was sent to Congress by the Reagan Administration. The request would bring the total of projected economic assistance for El Salvador this year to $232.5 million. (Page A1, Column 6.) The five Salvadoran rebel groups that are trying to topple the civilian-military junta are headed by Marxists who now say they are ready to accept a negotiated settlement instead of pressing for a socialist revolution. They have drawn up a peace plan that is more moderate than any previous leftist program. (A1:3-5.)

Legislative negotiators have agreed to more than $50 million in cuts in Governor Carey's proposed budget, to some increases in professional licensing fees and to a number of other proposals to increase state revenue. The agreements came as negotiators for the Republican-led State Senate and the Democratic-led Assembly continued late-night sessions. The decisions signaled limited concessions from the State Senate on the need for new state revenue. The Senate has insisted that Governor Carey underestimates how much the state will raise in taxes next year. Thus the Senate contends that the state can afford some new spending initiatives without substantial increases in taxes and fees.

In a move to obtain critically needed cash, Braniff International announced today that it plans to turn over most of its South American routes to Pan American World Airways for the next four years. Braniff would immediately receive $7 million in cash from Pan Am, an additional $13 million if the Civil Aeronautics Board approved the plan and at least $10 million more in 1983. The two airlines asked for authorization to make the transfer in April. Braniff said the routes would be turned back after four years, when it ''returns to financial health.'' But obstacles quickly arose. A spokesman for the Civil Aeronautics Board said the transfer of Braniff's Latin routes might not be legal and Air Florida contested it. Air Florida, which flies to some Central American cities, asked the C.A.B. for permission to take over the extensive Latin American routes instead of Pan Am.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced a reversal today of its three-week-old decision to permit burial of drums of toxic liquids in landfills designated for disposal of hazardous wastes. Instead, the agency is establishing an interim rule that prohibits the burial of any container in which toxic liquids are standing in observable quantities. The new rule becomes effective as soon as it can be published in the Federal Register, probably Friday. In another environmental reversal today, the Administration decided after a year's delay to put into effect a rule requiring labeling of chemical products to protect workers. (Page A22.)

The Reagan Administration sent to Congress today a Caribbean basin development assistance bill that includes a request for $128 million in emergency economic aid for El Salvador. That figure represents an increase of about 25 percent over the amount of emergency aid planned by Administration officials when the Caribbean initiative was formally proposed by President Reagan in a speech to the Organization of American States on Feb. 24. The request would bring the total of projected economic aid for El Salvador in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to $232.5 million. Congress had appropriated $104.5 million for the same period.