EDITORIAL.

THE CONVENTION.

“NOTICE.—The Annual Meeting of the U. S. Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Convention, will take place in Philadelphia, on Wednesday, the 6th of October next.

It being a matter of much importance that this meeting should number as many of our Druggists and Chemists as possible, I deem it proper to suggest that not only all regularly incorporated and unincorporated associations of this kind should see that they are fully represented, but that where no associations exist as yet, the apothecaries should send one or more of their number as delegates to the convention,—such will, no doubt, be cheerfully admitted to seats in the convention.

This meeting it is to be hoped, will either take the necessary steps to the formation of a regular and permanent national organization, or possibly effect such organization during its sittings.

We trust all who feel an interest in this important subject, will remember the time and place, and give us their assistance in person or by delegate.

C. B. GUTHRIE, President of Convention.”

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY.

COMMENTS ON “COMMENTS.”—The American Journal of Pharmacy (Philadelphia), for July, contains “Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal notices, being extracts from various articles in the New York Journal of Pharmacy, with comments by the editor,” in which {253} our friend Procter, criticises, rather severely, some of the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal formulæ and suggestions that have been offered in this Journal. With full respect for the great acquirements and high character as a practical pharmaceutist, to which my friend Procter is justly entitled, I should have been glad if the articles, upon which he comments, had met his approval; and I know of no one that I would rather should set me right, if anything that I have offered does not find acceptance with him. With the greater part of his comments, I do not think there is occasion for controversy,—matters of fact readers can judge for themselves, and it certainly is of little consequence, who may be found in error, compared with the elucidation of truth.

In respect to the consistence of Syrup of Gum Arabic, he is probably nearer right, (during this hot weather, at any rate) than I was, and still, I think he is not right. My experience with the present officinal formula, had been in the cold season, when I found the syrup decidedly too thick for convenient use, especially by itself; a large proportion of it crystallized in the temperature of the shop, and the mouth and neck of the bottle choked up with candied syrup every two or three times it was used. I had found the former syrup to answer very well in regard to consistence and flavor, though, it certainly could not be considered permanent; it had to be made in small quantities and frequently; indeed, I do not suppose that any liquid combination of gum, sugar and water only, can be made of a permanent character. Since reading Mr. Procter’s comments, I have made this syrup again by the present formula, and it does keep decidedly better at this season, than that made in the other proportions, yet not perfectly; and there is considerable cry­stal­li­za­tion, even in the very hot weather we have had lately. I infer that syrup which crystallizes at this season, has an excess of sugar in it, the crystals formed tending further to reduce the remaining syrup, and thus sooner promote acidity than if a proportion of sugar had been used which could remain in solution. Perhaps, a medium between the two formulæ could be hit upon, in which the proper balance might be better attained.

In the formula offered for Compound Syrup of Squill, in our Journal for April, there is an error of four ounces in the quantity of honey, which should have been twenty-two ounces. Whether it was made by the printer or not cannot be ascertained, as “the copy has been destroyed.” I had not noticed it until my attention was called to it by Mr. Procter’s comments. The quantity of sugar used by me in making this syrup was, for convenience, one pound avoirdupois weight; that of honey, one pound and a half, same weight. In transcribing the formula for a medical Journal, I thought I must, per custom, render it in troy weights; so as 15 oz. troy are 200 grs. more than one pound av., I set down 15 oz., and intended to set down 22 oz. of honey, as being only 60 grs. more than one pound and a half av. I think this addition of 4 oz. of honey will make the whole come up to Mr. Procter’s measure of “56 fluid ounces before the ebullition,” &c., and a little over. The boiling can be continued only for a few minutes. I was formerly in the practice of boiling to three pints, and adding 48 grs. tartar emetic, but finding that I had to evaporate more than half a pint, and judging that {254} the strength of the resulting preparation was rather lessened than increased thereby, I concluded to stop at three and a half pints. As to the proportion of sugar and honey, they amount together to 21⁄2 pounds av., which with two pints of an evaporated menstruum, containing the extractive matter soluble in diluted alcohol of 8 oz. of the roots, furnishes a syrup of good consistence. It may be observed, that solution of sugar in a menstruum so charged, is quite different from that in water. Perhaps, however, an equal amount of sugar with that of the honey, would be preferable. I can only say, that I employed the same quantity a number of times, but reduced it several years since, because it appeared to be too much for some reason, the particulars of which I do not recollect. And as this formula has always given me a satisfactory preparation, I have thought no more about it, until now. Or perhaps, it would be better to continue the evaporation to three pints, with the advantage of producing a more symmetrical result, corresponding, at the same time, with the quantity of the Pharmacopœia. But, is not the officinal formula “almost as far out of the way” the other way? Forty-two oz. of sugar in forty-eight fluid oz. of syrup! Can such an amount remain in solution twenty-four hours at any ordinary temperature? If mine is an “anomaly,” is not this an impossibility, “in point of consistence”? In reference to the alcoholic objection, it may be remarked, that the evaporation in the case commented upon, is not “from 4 pints of tincture to 2 pints,” but from 43⁄4 pints to 2 pints. The small portion of alcohol, that may remain after this evaporation and the continued heat to the end of the process, can scarcely be of serious consequence in the doses in which it is prescribed; it may have some influence in preserving the syrup, and also in promoting its medical action. Be all this as it may, so far as taste is a criterion, this preparation appears to be of at least double strength in the qualities of both roots, of the officinal syrup carefully made by the second process given,—the first being, as I suppose, with all apothecaries of the present day, “an obsolete idea.”

G. D. C.

REMARKS ON THE COMMENTS MADE BY THE EDITOR OF THE PHILADELPHIA JOURNAL OF PHARMACY, ON SOME EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS ORIGINAL ARTICLES, PUBLISHED IN THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY

After giving the formula for preparing Stramonium Ointment, as modified by E. Dupuy, the editor of our contemporary adds, “the objection to the officinal formula on the score of color, is hardly valid, and if it was so, it would be better to color it with extract of grass, than to substitute a preparation which will constantly vary in strength and appearance or with the age of the leaves. The officinal extract of stramonium, is easily incorporated with lard, and produces a brown colored ointment of comparatively uniform strength.” We do not pretend to have furnished a formula vastly superior to that received in our officinal guide. But as we were writing for our locality chiefly, and knowing the general expectation {255} and usage of furnishing stramonium ointment of a green color, we have given a formula which does furnish an ointment having a proper strength, requisite color, without the loss of time and material necessarily incurred in manufacturing a color ad hoc as suggested by W. Procter, Jr., which from the contamination of the decomposed chlorophylle of the extract, would never compare favorably (not­with­stand­ing all that useless waste of trouble,) so far as its appearance is concerned, with the far readier mode proposed for transforming at once by a few short manipulations the dry stramonium into an alcoholic extract and ointment without liability to alteration during the process. Respecting the keeping of both ointments, we can affirm that the one prepared by the modified formula, will keep as well if not better and longer, than the other, and as the color is a point of some importance for our public and practitioners, we are satisfied that it will be preferred on the score of economy of time as well as for its color, which is desirable at least within our circle of custom.

EMPLASTRUM EPISPASTICUM WITH CAMPHOR AND ACETIC ACID.—Mr. Procter, objects to the addition of acetic acid to the officinal blistering cerate, and seems to smile at the idea of fixing by it the volatile principle of the cantharis, which, by the way, he gratuitously makes the author to say is a neutral substance, when he says not a word about it. He quotes the authority of Mr. Redwood, who in the Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Journal, October, 1841, speaks of acetic acid as not being a good solvent for cantharidine. The reason is, in all probability, from the fact of his using the London standard strength, which is but 1.48. For Messrs. Lavini and Sobrero, (Memoire lu a l’academie des sciences de Turin, 9 Mars, 1845,) state that “concentrated acetic acid,, dissolves cantharidine, but more readily under the influence of heat.” Respecting the volatility of cantharidine, these same chemists have stated in the same paper “that while manipulating with but 52 grammes of flies, for the researches they were making on cantharidine, one of them suffered from blisters produced on the face and lips, by the emanations from these insects.” Besides their authority, Soubeiran, in his Traite de Pharmacie, and Dorvault in the Officine, both state that cantharidine is a very volatile substance, even at ordinary temperature, and if that is, as it appears to be, the ease, what reliable information have we that only 1-30th of a grain was volatilized in the experiment mentioned by W. Procter, Jr., made with 100 grs. of powdered cantharides? Is it not very probable, that in removing the hygrometric water, much more was lost?

Whatever may be the changes which take place by the addition of acetic acid in a concentrated state, it is a fact, proved by experience, that the blistering plaster thus prepared, keeps better—that is, retains its power longer than the officinal one even exposed to the air in thin layers. As an example of the stability of this combination, we have Brown’s Cantharidine which, to all appearance, is made from an etherial extract of cantharides additioned with concentrated acetic acid and incorporated in melted wax. We find such a mixture, although spread on paper and but imperfectly protected from the air, retaining for a long period its vesicating properties. Is this advantage produced by a simple acid {256} saponification of the cerate, without reaction on the active principle, but that of protecting it from atmospheric influences? We think it probable that there is a modification taking place, both on the cantharis and other components of the cerate.

E. D.

THE RICHMOND PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY.

At a full meeting of those who had signed the constitution, the following gentlemen were elected officers of the society, for the next twelve months, viz:—

President,ALEXANDER DUVAL.
1st Vice President,JAMES P. PURCELL.
2nd Vice President,J. B. WOOD.
Recording Secretary,CHAS. MILLSPAUGH.
Corresponding Secretary,S. M. ZACHRISSON.
Treasurer,W. S. BEERS.
Librarian,JOHN T. GRAY.

After which, several nominations for members and associate members having been made, the society adjourned to Monday, 13th instant, that the President might, during the recess, appoint the standing committees, as required by the constitution.

The Society having assembled on the 13th instant, the following committees were reported:—

Committee on Admission—J. Bum, John T. Gray, E. J. Pecot.

Committee on Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Ethics—O. A. Strecker, S. W. Zachrisson, A. Bodeker.

Committee of Finance—Peyton Johnston, Benjamin F. Ladd, Edward McCarthy.

Committee on Library—Andrew Leslie, James P. Purcell, William M. Dade.

Executive Committee—John Purcell, W. S. Bum, R. R. Duval:—

After which, several nominations were made. Appropriations were placed at the disposal of the library committee for subscriptions to various periodicals, and for the purchase of books, after which, the meeting adjourned.

{257}

NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. SEPTEMBER, 1852.

ON THE OIL OF GRAIN SPIRIT, OR FUSEL OIL. BY EDWARD N. KENT.

The oil of grain spirit, has recently attracted considerable attention from the fact of its being the basis of a number of artificial perfumes or essences, one of which has been extensively used under the name of banana or pear essence.

The crude oil, as is well known, consists principally of hydrated oxide of amyl, mixed with more or less alcohol, and small quantities of other substances, the nature of which is not generally known, though it has been asserted that œnanthic ether and œnanthic acid may be found among them. To obtain the latter articles was a desired object, and that which led to the subject of this paper.

Crude fusel oil, (or oil of grain spirit) when distilled in a glass retort, commences to pass over at about 190° Fahrenheit, and a considerable portion is obtained below 212; which consists mostly of alcohol and water, with a small quantity of the hydrated oxide of amyl. By changing the receiver and continuing the operation to about 280°, a large product is obtained, consisting principally of hydrated oxide of amyl, but contaminated with a little alcohol and water, and a trace of less volatile oil, which may be found in larger quantity in the residue remaining in the retort. This residue is small, of an agreeable odor, and consists of several substances among {258} which may be found, an oil having the intoxicating smell, but not the chemical properties of œnanthic ether, other than a similarity in its boiling point.

To obtain a more perfect separation of the substances contained in the crude oil, a small copper still was constructed, on the principal which is now so successfully used in the manufacture of high proof alcohol, and which proved highly useful for the above purpose. This still is so arranged, that the vapor which is evolved by the boiling liquid, passes through a series of bent tubes, each of which is connected with a return pipe for returning vapors less volatile than boiling water, back to the still. These tubes are enclosed in a copper funnel filled with cold water, which becomes heated as the operation proceeds, and finally boils; the less volatile vapors are thus prevented from passing over, and the alcohol and water are almost perfectly separated from the oil remaining in the still.—If the water is then drawn off from the vessel containing the serpentine tube, the distillation may be continued till it ceases spontaneously.

The product thus obtained, when rectified from a little dry caustic potash to remove coloring matter and acetic and valerianic acid, and again rectified from dry quick lime to remove water, gives pure hydrated oxide of amyl.

The residue left in the copper still is most easily obtained by distillation with water, containing a little carbonate of soda to neutralise the free acids contained in it. A small quantity of a yellow oil is thus obtained, having an agreeable vinous odor similar to œnanthic ether, but unlike that ether it yields fusel oil, instead of alcohol, when distilled repeatedly from caustic potash. It is consequently an amyl compound, while œnanthic ether is known to be the œnanthate of oxide of ethyle.

The residue remaining in the still after the above distillation with water, consists of acetic and valerianic acids in combination with the soda, and the solution holds in suspension a considerable quantity of byrated oxide of iron, which formerly existed in combination with the acids. {259}

From the above statement it appears that crude fusel oil contains the following substances, viz:—

And an amyl compound, analagous to œnanthic ether.

EASY METHOD TO MAKE HYPOSULPHITE OF SODA. BY JOHN C. TALLON.

Happening to inquire the price of hyposulphite of soda of a wholesale druggist, it appeared to me that the cost of its production is greatly under the wholesale price, I therefore suggest to apothecaries who may wish to make it pure, for their own consumption, the following: Through a saturated solution of sal soda (ascertained to be free from sulphate) pass sulphurous acid gas until a small quantity, taken out of the solution after agitation, on the end of a glass rod, gives a white precipitate with nitrate of silver; then put the solution into a beaker glass, and boil it with sulphur (about one-twentieth of the weight of the soda in solution) until a little of the liquid, put into a test glass, gives, with a few drops of hydrochloric acid, a precipitate of sulphur, and another portion with nitrate of silver a white precipitate, immediately turning yellow and then black, when the liquid is to be filtered and evaporated quickly, until the salt be crystallized quite dry. The crystals are to be put into a closely stopped bottle, and kept well secured from the atmosphere. The advantage of this process over the common one is that it can be made in the store without any annoyance from the stench of melted sulphur; it costs but little and does not require the continued attention of the operator.

709 Greenwich Street, New York, August 12, 1852.

{260}

NOTES IN PHARMACY, No. 4. BY BENJAMIN CANAVAN.

TINCTURA BESTUSCHEFFI.

DECOMPOSED CHLOROFORM.

SUPPOSITORIA.

EDITOR AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY.

{264}

GENERAL REPORT UPON THE RESULTS AND EFFECTS OF THE “DRUG LAW,” MADE TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. BY C. B. GUTHRIE, M. D.

The act of Congress, approved 26th of June, 1848, entitled “an Act to prevent the importation of spurious and adulterated drugs and medicines,” having now been in existence and enforcement almost three years, the working of the law and its effects, immediate and remote, have become necessarily matters of fact, and are no longer left to conjecture and speculation.

At the time of the passage of this law by congress, no inconsiderable fears were entertained by its friends, and great hopes by its enemies, that it would be found impracticable to carry out its requisite provisions without great injury to that portion of our citizens engaged in the importation of this class of merchandize, in which event its repeal would, of course, have been urgently solicited.[23]

[23] Strong prima facie evidence of the popularity of this law may be found in this significant fact that not a petition for its repeal has ever been presented to Congress.

In entering upon the duties of the commission, which I had the honor to recieve from the department, I was fully impressed with the importance of the information sought for, and the necessity of a candid, impartial and unbiassed examination of facts bearing upon the subject, and in making, to the department, this report, I have divided my results and facts into immediate and remote; the reasons for which, will appear in the detail. Under the general terms drugs and medicines, are embraced all articles intended for the treatment of the diseases of the human system, and though they admit of many subdivisions, these terms, included under the two heads of chemicals and compounds, and crude drugs, are all that is necessary for my {265} purpose in speaking of the effects and applications of the law.

First, with regard to the effect upon chemicals and compound medicines.: Previous to the passage of this law, no restriction was laid upon any class of medicines coming in under this head. If the importer paid the requisite duty, no questions were asked, no limit was fixed as to quality or condition. It needs no argument, but merely a mention of the fact, to show that any compound medicine or chemical preparation may be so made as to deceive the unsuspecting and uneducated, and even very often the druggist, apothecary, physician, and all, because they were not in the habit of analysing their articles, and were deceived by their external, often times very fine appearance. Under the combined influence of competition and avarice—two strong temptations, the manufacture of articles of this class had become systematised, and on purpose to supply the United States market.

The immediate and positive beneficial results of the law may be seen in the fact that now very few, if indeed any, spurious or sophisticated chemical preparations, for phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal purposes, are even offered at our ports, or by any possibility find their way into our markets. Manufacturing chemists and importers of this description of medicines, finding it impossible to get such goods through our custom houses, will, of course, not risk the loss of bringing them here, but in their stead will import such as are known to come up to our required standards. Under this general head of chemicals, may be included a large majority of the manufactured and compound medicines used in practice by the medical faculty, and all the most important usually purchased by others for domestic uses, more especially in the great west and south, where every man, almost, is obliged to learn the uses and doses of calomel, blue mass and quinine, &c. The certainty of purity in these articles alone, is a matter of no small moment to the community at large; of the probabilities of their home adulteration I shall also refer to elsewhere.

A few articles of this class may now and then, either through {266} culpable negligence on the part of the inspector, or by being entered under a false name, be imported, but they must be few, and are daily growing less. An instance of this kind has occurred in New York, where a large lot of sulphate of lime was offered in market, under the name of precipitated chalk. The New York College of Pharmacy, standing very properly as the guardians of the public health, and protectors of this act, for which they had petitioned and which they had agreed to support, by committee, reported the fact, and warned the holders of the consequences of continuing to sell the article as a medicinal preparation, upon which they very readily withdrew it. How it came into the city that committee have never been able to ascertain, whether imported under the head of plaster of Paris, and thus escaping the eye of the inspector, or whether passed by him, or at some other port, without due test and examination, I am not able to say. That it was imported under a false name, is, to my mind, the most likely of all.

If our Colleges of Pharmacy in the different cities, as I have no doubt they will, continue to thus watch the articles offered them and the public, and act with the independence that has characterised them thus far, no deception of this kind will go long unexposed, and it will soon cease altogether.

No manufactured article, susceptible of adulteration, ought ever to be suffered to pass by the Examiner of drugs without being sampled and tested by analysis, and no matter what its appearances, or what its label; neither the one or the other are guarantees of its purity, for both may alike be counterfeits. The more popular the maker, the higher his name and reputation, the more likely his name, label, bottle and article to be counterfeited, as has Pelletier’s name to the article quinine, others to iodide of potassium, &c. &c.

Secondly. The effects of the law upon crude drugs and medicines, such as leaves, barks, roots, gums, gum resins, &c. Upon these articles, the effect has been the same as upon chemicals and compound goods. Greater variations must of, course occur in their qualities, as many of them cannot be {267} tested with accuracy; and of the rest, very imperfect standards are to be found in any of the works on pharmacy or materia medica now extant. This was heretofore left entirely in the hands of the examiner at each port, who has been obliged to fix his own standards when there were none laid down in the works referred to in the instructions of the department. Such has been the case with many of our most valuable and important articles of crude drugs, gums, and gum resins,—such as opium, scammony, &c. Such also has been the case with many of the roots and barks, as rhubarb and the cinchona and all its varieties. One may have fixed upon five per cent. of morphine, and another upon eight, another ten, as the standard for opium. Again, the same might occur in admitting or rejecting scammony. One requiring sixty or seventy per cent. of resin, another admitting or rejecting, merely from the physical appearance of the article.

So again with regard to barks, especially the cinchonas—one refusing to admit any except the true medicinal article; another admitting Maricaibo and other false barks usually sold in market as pale bark, or used to adulterate that article.—But, upon the whole class of crude drugs, the effect has been highly beneficial. Greater care is taken in their selection and preparation for market, and a vast quantity of many kinds of barks and roots heretofore finding daily their way into market either in their simple worthlessness or mixed with purer and different articles, are now scarcely, if ever found; and if seen, they are about the last of their kind.—Now and then, an article may get through our ports, by some adroit means of deception, or be slipped in at a port where there is no examiner, but this must be but seldom.—But recently, in New York, I saw several casks of gum guaic, the heads of which, for about six inches, were filled with a fair article, while the remaining portion of the cask was made up of the vilest trash imaginable. This is but a shallow trick that could not be often repeated, for though it might decieve the examiner (as it did not), it would meet detection in {268} the hands of the jobber, who would not fail to claim damages from the importer at once. Another mode of evading the law, is by sending sample packages to the examining office, or such cases as are known to be all right, and getting the whole invoice passed by them. This can only be guarded against by the examiner being always upon the alert, and where there is the least doubt, refusing to pass anything except what he sees and knows to be correct as to quality. The facility with which this fraud may be practised, led the convention of the Colleges of Pharmacy to recommend that every package should be examined; an opinion, I then and now fully concur in. Many similar instances, both in regard to chemicals, chemical preparations and all sorts of crude drugs, might be given, but they have no bearing upon the object of this report, only as they point to a necessity for the law’s continuance.

Another immediate result of the law is the exclusion of damaged drugs. Heretofore no state of damage or decay, whether little or much, prevented an article, either manufactured or crude, being thrown into market and sold for whatever it purported to be, whether calomel half oxydyzed, iodide of potassium one-third deliquesced, rhubarb one-half rotten, senna in a similar or worse condition from being soaked with salt water—they each sold under their original names, and found their way into the bands of the buyers of cheap goods, either in that state or powdered or re-bottled, re-labelled, and done up good as new. The importer got his drawback of twenty-five, fifty, and seventy per cent. of duty. The insurance company sold the goods and paid the difference; bargain getters purchased; the physician prescribed; the apothecary dealt out, and the patient, suffering under the pains and ills of lingering disease, swallowed; all but the last got their pay, while the poor man who bore the unrighteous accumulation of the whole, cursed his physician for not understanding his complaint, and perchance turned his face to the wall and died. This is no fancy sketch, but true, every word of it, and more than once acted out in the dream of every-day life. {269}

Under the proper construction and ad­min­i­stra­tion of the law, all this will and is now mostly prevented. It must be evident that any article of medicine essentially damaged, is not fit to be given to the sick as a remedy. This is a very important point, and all examiners should be careful to enforce it strictly, regardless of the specious plea of interested insurance companies or individuals, for any other construction for their general or especial benefit or relief.

In few words then, may be summed up the immediate effects of this law: A purer and better class of chemicals and compound preparations, a material improvement in the quality of crude drugs imported, such as gums, barks, roots, leaves, and an almost entire exclusion of damaged and decayed drugs from our markets.

These results are, in themselves, sufficient to mark the law as one of great value, and to entitle it to a sure claim for perpetuity, and its provisions to a steady enforcement. But they are by no means all that it has accomplished. Its remote or secondary effects, which I propose to point out, are equally important, and they are found in the influence upon our home manufactures and trade.

It has often been claimed that the law was a tariff for protection to home adulteration, and while we shut out the evil in one way, we were equally exposed to it in the shape of home preparations; were this even true, it is no argument against the law for keeping out foreign adulteration, as it is very evident that if both are equally bad, no pure medicine can be had by those who require them, while if we are certain the foreign are pure, we have a choice between the pure and the sophisticated. But I am satisfied that the amount of home adulterations have been over estimated, and that under the effect of this law they are decreasing daily, and perhaps mainly because the demand is decreasing.

I have never believed, though it has been again and again asserted, that our medical gentleman to any great extent, who buy and use most largely of this class of goods, have desired {270} to buy and use inferior medicines, because they were cheap, and my own direct intercourse and observation, as a druggist for five years, aside from a six years’ experience in the profession, has satisfied me of the correctness of my views. I speak of the country at large. Wherever it has been the case, it has been the result of ignorance, as to the appearance and physical properties of drugs that has led them into this error, an error in which, from a like ignorance, they have been kept by their druggist, who has been imposed upon by the bland assurance of the importer or jobber, which led him to take all things of a like name as of the same quality. There are those who buy because cheap, and prescribe, and perchance hope for success in the use of such remedies, but they are not found among our medical gentlemen of education and character and entitled to the respect and confidence of the community at large. The flood of light thrown upon this subject of adulterations of medicines by the reports to Congress; by the report of Dr. Bailey, special examiner for the port of New York; reports to the American Medical Association, and by various other writers in our phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal and medical journals, through the newspapers of the day, and various other means to the people, has worked, and is working a revolution in the drug trade at large. By a desire and growing necessity for a proper education of phar­ma­ceu­tists and druggists, a man is no longer considered competent to sell, dispose and deal out medicinal articles affecting the health, life and happiness of his fellow-beings, simply because he can calculate a per centage, or make a profit.

The reform in this department is, I know, but just beginning, though long needed, but it will progress, for public opinion demands, and will continue to demand it.

Physicians, professors of materia medica, and teachers of practical pharmacy and chemistry are feeling it, and the whole course of teaching upon this and kindred branches, has received more attention from both professor and pupil within the two past years, than ever before in the same length of time in the United States. From these combined sources will continue to {271} flow a light that must shine upon and enlighten that ignorance which was permitting men to tamper with the life and health of the community. This has also had the effect to create a demand for pure medicines. Rhubarb is no longer rhubarb unless the quality is such as to commend it to the unfortunate consumer, and calling a thing by a good name is no longer sufficient to redeem it from its lack of curative properties and consequent worthlessness.

Again, the endeavor to come up to the law’s standard for chemicals, the competition with the imported article, the increasing demand for good medicines, together with a commendable emulation among our chemists, has produced an improvement in this class of goods, sufficiently visible to refute all charges of home adulteration because protected from foreign competition; besides this, they are our fellow citizens, within reach of our complaints, with no intermediate dealer to shift the blame of impurity to the other side of the ocean, and thus wash his innocent hands at our cost. With this and the spirit of inquiry as to what we are selling, what we are buying, what we are administering, what we are swallowing with hopes of relief, that is abroad, no man can long escape detection, exposure and consequent loss of business, if engaged in the manufacture or sale of spurious goods.

These opinions are the result of the concurrent testimony of the different examiners, of various dealers in drugs throughout the country, from whom I had before and since my appointment to this commission been in receipt of information, and are fully borne out by my own extensive observation in almost every state in the union.

Without inquiring or pointing out the cause, the testimony to this effect, that the quality Of drugs in general has improved much within the two past years, is almost universal; and a style of drugs and chemicals, and of medicinal preparations, may now be found on sale in our great commercial emporiums, of a quality and purity never before found, certainly not in the United States, and I question if any wherelse. {272}

These are the results of my observations, both as to the remote and immediate, or special and general effects of the law. And I feel that the friends of the law have great reason to congratulate themselves and the community at large, upon the fullest realizations of their hopes as to the good accruing from this sanitary measure.

Those who were reaping an iniquitous harvest either through a desire to do evil for the purposes of gain (if any such there could have been), or through ignorance of the extent of such evil, must themselves feel that the law has worked no wrong to them even though it may have forced them into a different channel of trade. The only ones from whom we shall hear any complaints while the law is carefully and judiciously executed, or from whom we shall hear the plea for “unrestricted commerce,” and the potency of the great laws of trade as in themselves sufficient for the protection of life and health, are those whose prototypes aforetime cried out “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”

The value of their opinions may be measured by the sincerity of their professions, and the weight of their testimony calculated by the per centage of their gains.

I have pursued my enquiries among drug importers and jobbers, meeting both friends and enemies of the law, among retail apothecaries, professional men and their patients, and my conclusions are that no more popular act, stands upon our congressional record.

I have only to add my sincere wish, that it may long stand as a mark of the enlighted wisdom of the age and nation.

The above report is but the general report upon the working of the law.—It was, we understand, accompanied by a second private and detailed one, regarding the manner in which, at different localities, the law has been carried out.—EDITOR.

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