The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-09-17


smong the interesting reports read ut the present
,oeetiuo Of the American Pharmaceutical Association
vas ono by Professor c. b. Guthrie, of New York, on
tb home aduleration of drugs, which attracted much
attention On account OF the general interest felt in the
sublect we herewith give synopsis OF this document
After abiding TO previous reports this topic, the
mort proceeds as follows
because we have only the class of facts to re-
MORT because we before this body of educated and
Intelligent apothocaies gathered from 80 many sections
OF our country representing so many interests and feel
;ngs and say To them again what we have said be-
fore that in this enlightened and land this mat
ter of adnteration has become 30 rmy rootedso does
II perneae all avenues and channels OF business and
tso gigantic are all its hideous proportions that
one and all decline the hazard Of encounter do not
therefore conclude that there Is nothing to be said
We have before reported the common authorizations
Of daily use, and To which we are all accustomed
Shall we reiterate them telling you again how
much alum YOU get mixed with your OF tar
Tar how p,uch brckdust with carbonate Of iron,
loQwood with pulverized cayenne, sawdust with pull
yerzed jalap pulverizd liquorice root with ipecac
sal nite with hydr. poassa, mantle with qunine
mon clay with blue pill Barbary rhubarb with Tur
KEY or worm eaten, half rotten ground up with East
India Maracaibo bark with true yellow pale bark,
with the color regulated by yellow ochrewhch by the
way is a common ingredient in pull Rhei. Shall we go
over the list of ne chemicals and show how often their
neciency the hands Of the medical man is attrbuta
bic to their imperfect manufacture for the purpose OF
cheapenng the product? Shall rehearse again the
history of essential oils and tell you what every boy in
your shop knows full we'll that nine tenths OF them arc
mixed and improved otherwise adultcratedi Shall
We point out the manner which the valuable gums
sophisticated or deprived of their proxmate principles
and thus resold For what purpose or to what end shall
we do this II would be sorry record of dssracefn
facts alike dalnnng TO the active agent and his know
ingly guilty participants
The report goes to say that this evil is universally
admitted and accounts for this state Of things follows
From the earliest recollection of the child in almost
NIL the walks of lfe he familiar with the gossip Of the
nurse about remedies for this and that ailmcnt
plant than likely hears discussions upon the pro-
nriey of dispensing with dsagreeable remedy the
nbvec,n has advised, and wonders in his childish way
whether the the medical really knows BEST
and as yehenence and voluby carry great weight with
children decides that nurse is the better As his
sphere of observation extends, old woman of the
neghborhood to be his oracuat upon the subject
OF his childish diseases little further he takes up
the newspaper and whether it be religious secular,
city village, large small of great circulation linz
tied influence, of political faith of another, OF
no faith at ALL in the North and the South and all
without exception, feed his inqurng mind with histo-
ries of wonderful performed by yet wonder
full remedies attested to by d. d., NJ d. Rev, IL ID.
Judges esquires colones majors, &C.. &c. Is it not
wonderful how many Of these certificates come
to be given by men of hgh-sounding titles These
advertisements have been common for long
a time that they hardly arrest attention now,
unless they in some unusual form contain
some new device Thus these sellers of patent hum
bug suborn the press or what il equal to the same
thing they pay for the insertion Of thei advertise
meats in such form and shape to lead the
pecting to suppose they really editorials Instances
are cited to illustrate this point and numerous quak
tices are copied -laedcines to consumption female
disorders, &c. These pills should not be used by mar
ried ladies at certain times results would follow which
would disnppont fond hopes Such is the language of
Of these advertisements; and the report asks Can
editors have conscences families in whose minds they
have any desire that purity should reign 0 Q
After he has progressed thus far what do you expect him
to believer Where is his faith in mcdicne Its mixed
mp with nursery tales and crude remembrances of child
hood and recent perusas of newspaper pus which
he in his verdancy has often taken for editorial truths
In this state he approxmates enters upon mature e
Some serious illness, wcll-developed educational
process less perfect, may sweep away this rub
bsh and he may replace it by the proper and legitimate
value OF the materia medica But, in the mass, how
many come this ponti Nay look at the of mind
thus perverted in judgment and often kept from light by
prejudice interest," and you wonder that the facts
of adulteraon startling they may be, fail to call out
such responses had expected fail to produce that
to the question Of home authorizations Of medicine by any
means. 1t reaches to what eat and what we drink
yea and what Begin again, back at infancy, and
see how much of life is sacrificed to this evil IT,
unfortunately denizen Of any Of larger cities land
desire here to speak with due caution and tenderness
having the fear and due to municipal authority
and wisdom exhibited by the committee the New York
aldermen moreover being also duly impressed with the
facts elected from that learned body the Academy of
Medicine of New York, when this subject of swill-fed
milk under discussion having wholesome fear of
the law of libel and due love and for science
to restrain uswhat will probably be his early diet The
socalled pure country milk, extracted from fed
with stilslop, and than likely suffering second
dution diluted with water at that. If more blessed
and having country habton though he escapes swill
milk when he comes to some of the most arti-
ces of childhoods dietas tapioca sago starch,
&C.. &cthe chances decidedly in favor of his get
ting the mixngs of potato starch and spoiled corn and
oatmeal ground kndred and nicely put up in inviting
looking bundles, with promising wrappers telling of
their health giving virtues and value AS life progresses
he gets mixed ccory, split peas dandelion root with
his coffee and various substances with bis teas green or
black while his baker takes good that his bread
shall have various Ingredients in it besides the legitimate
needul Not only this but the meat he eats, be it
beef or pork more than likely il ftted upon this same
stlsIop and slaughtered before it dies and cured into
bulk, or prime side meat susar-cured HAMS while
coned beef and dry get each their share of the uxu-
rous diet which the aldermen before alluded to must
pardon for not believing to be the very best offered in
the market
Not only the necessaes but the uxuries of his day
have their share and his wines and bpndes share
largely in the general depreciation that 1t is absolutely
dangerous to prescribe them remedial agents. however
carefully they bought This is alike of foreign
and American made mixed in this and in the
country from whence imported; ull however, mixed,
mixed oentes first by the importer because the obber
requires cheaper article than he has hand mixed
by the obber because of like reason and that his
toner's vatcd taste will fail to recognise anything but
the doctored material as the wine the brandy he wants;
often mixed again by the retailer because honestly his
profits thus increased that by the time it
consumer and positiye poison Rut