Alcohol | 8.37 | per cent. by volume. |
Anilipyrine | 16.00 | grains per fluid ounce. |
| Guaranteed under the Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906. | ||
Substitution of anilpyrine for somnalgesine gives little more information. Chemists may recognize this as a name applied to a mixture said to be formed by the fusion of two molecules of antipyrin and one molecule of acetanilid. To physicians, however, the name carries with it the same mystery as did somnalgesine. Attention is directed to the fact that by publishing the guarantee under the pure food laws the company presumes to disperse all doubt and criticism, assuming that the majority of physicians will be satisfied with the guarantee as it stands. Inasmuch as the preparation contains acetanilid and antipyrin, however, the manufacturers are disregarding that part of the Food and Drugs Act which requires that the name of the parent substance—in this case acetanilid and antipyrin—be put in parenthesis. The laws are so well defined that physicians appear to be content to do nothing, firmly believing that they are safe from the defrauding methods of unscrupulous manufacturers.—(Abstracted from The Journal A. M. A., March 7, 1908.)
Proprietary House Insolvent—and Physicians Lose?
The Pas-Avena Chemical Company, whose product, Pas-Avena, was exposed in The Journal a few months ago, has recently failed, according to our pharmaceutical exchanges. In recording the fact, one journal says:
“It is reported that considerable stock of this company had been sold to physicians.”
At this time, when physicians are importuned daily to invest money in various wildcat pharmaceutical concerns, this sentence might well be used “to point a moral or adorn a tale.”
PERTUSSIN
Dr. L. A. Roberts, Dorchester, Mass., writes: “Please tell me what the composition of Pertussin is.”
Pertussin is a proprietary whooping-cough remedy manufactured by the Kommandantan Apotheke, Berlin. A “physician’s sample” bottle of this preparation sent out by Lehn & Fink bears a label on which appears the following: