Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-10-30
ABOUT MEDICINES.
A Talk with Q Druggist About the
AduIteration OF Drugs.

this city, yesterday after nOVh'A h
the assertion that adulteranon OF drugs
was very prevalent in nearly all Sections
he said:
"You ask me to tell you some OF the adul'
tarations and snbstitutions that are made
by some dishonest and INSCRIPTIONS drug
oIsts and / might, Yankeelike, ask you to
Tell me some that they don't make. There
"a nothing within the range OF human
EnouIedge in the way of drugs that cannot
he adnlterated, and there is scarcely drug
that has not a substitute that will DEFY any
thing but o practical eye or the test oil
chemical analysis. Under the present sys.
tenn of carrying on the business there Is
Nothing like fair competition. Inc laGt
IL that chemical science has TAKEN sucn
mighty strides that the art oil SUBSTITUTING
is now as familiar 70 certain sraaes ~ urug'
gists as the simplest formulas N the books.
These, hope and believe, are few and lar
between, and yet there are enough OF them
10 iDiure the trade and the reputation OF
honest dealers, and TO perple& and worry
the physicians. Among certain class
of people, not the very poor especially.
there Is a rage for cheapness, OF which
the charlatans of the drug trade have not
been slow TO take advantage. With
these people to be we'll served is TO be
cbeaply served, and they go home chuck
ling 10 themselves when they have saved a
penny or two, never thinking that perhaps
their search after economy would result
eventually in a loss both OF money and
health. Sometimes just before retired
from business, a man would come into my
office and ask. What would you fill this
bottle with laudanum for| 'Seventy-tive
cents | would answer. oh, l can get 1t
filled for So cents ] never argued the
point, bat let him get his laudanum as
cheaplv as he could. All l knew was that
| could not sell il for that price. Probably
he got it OF less than half strength.
"My experience of drug stores leads me
10 believe that those which are always sell
ing out and changing hands had better be
avoided. The odds are that their stocks are
never complete, and that their ability 10
fill even ordinary prescriptions IS tar oelo"
par. You remember Sawyer, late Nocem,
erf, in the Pickwick Papers, don't you, ana
the rows OF empty drawers with their git
Isbels? Well, there are some of that sort,
have no doubt, in this city. Young men,
fresh from the schools of pharmacy, want
to start in life for themselves and most
generally begin on capital IQQlc-
rously disproportioued to their
store. A drug store is not Ike a gro
Gerry. 1t needs finer and more elaborate hit
tings, and thus by the time the yonng man
has made his shop presentable his money
is so nearly exhausted that he can buy hit
tie or No stock. Then his temptations be-
gin. He is dealing mostly with ignorant
people, and seeing how easily he can I'M
pose upon them he does it persistently,
and soon becomes an adapt in adulterauon
and substitution. Meanwhile the honest
druggist in the neighborhood suffers. To
put up good drugs he must charge good
prices. But he lives in spites Of his cheap
er fellow.tradesman, for some how the peo-
ple sooner or later discover that he sells
what they call for. Then the ambitious but
cheap druggist puts up his shutters and de-
camps.
"Once in a while one feels like taking
bottle of citrate of magneSia, and II is a
good thing if one buys it at the right
place. But ii is not pleasant to know that
some of the druggists make it out OF ep-
som salts, which can be bought for mere
trife The process is very simple one.
They dissolve the salts in water, add a lit
tie Citric acid TO give the necessary sour
taste. and throw in the biCarbonate OF pO-
tassium to produce effervescence. There
YOU are, prime article of citrate OF mag
nesia; and will venture to say that this
deCoction is daily palmed off on the public
BY men who would diSdain to pick your
pocket. don't know that there is any
tremendous profit in this preparation for
most of those who use it get it from drug
gists of established reputation; but | am
certain that it is quite extensively made.
Zone of the COmmoneSt and most profit
able of the tricks praCtiCed by the drug.
gists is the manufacture Of so-called fruit
Sirups from acids. Vanilla you will gen.
orally find pretty pure, for it is hard TO imi-
tate, and raspberry, strawberry, pineapple,
and lemon are generally pure, although
citric acid makes very good imitation of
lemon strip. Ginger is also genuine, pos
sibly because it is cheaper to use the root
than to initiate its peculiar pungency.
Orgeat and nectar are two OF the most pop
ular syrups, and yet it is safe to say that in
the majority of instances they are made,
not from the kernel of the bitter and sweet
almond, as they should be, but from the
oil of almond, which contains a COnsdera-
BILE infusion of prussic or h.'drOcyanC acid.
do not say these Sirups are highly inju-
rious-in fact, do not think they are-1
only mention them 10 show the ease with
which tlavOrs are initiated.
pineapple, banana, pear, apple, straw.
berry, and raspberry Sirups can be very
readily made from the artificial fruit eS.
senCe, which is composed of fusil-Oll, sui
phuric acid and acetate of potash. BY
varying his proportions the clever manipu-
ulator produces the strip he requires, and
so skillful has he become that he can at
will give his strip the flavor of the berga-
mot or jargonelle pear, the sweet taste of
the strawberry, or the slight and peculiar
acid of the pineapple. There Is, in fact, no
end to his ingenuity.
"Digitalis, made from the foxglove, said
a physician, lis used as heart sedatiVe but
instead of making it by infusion of the
leaves Of the plant, in which the full power
snd freshness of the remedy are preserved,
druggists make it from the extract. This
is sometimes, hewever, the fault OF the pa.
tient, who dislikes to wait for the hour or
more that the making of the infusion re-
quires. When have to prescribe podOphy-
lin (the resin of the May applet, which is
used as a catbartiC as well as liver stimu-
liant, I always write for an eighth OF a
grain il know that the patient patronzes
a frst-class druggist f,on the other hand,
know that he gets his drugs from a drug
gIst who is not strictly Al, | double the
amount. The powder of podophylliu is
less expensive than the resin, and not so
effective, and is often substituted tor it.
Chlorine water, which is largely used,
should have strong Odor, but it is often
served without any odor at all. 1t should
always be fresh, and / am careful in pre-
scribing it TO know whe the druggist is
who puts it up. More than once have
prescribed bOraciC acid as an astringent,
but have found it to expand the pupil like
atropia. do not know what was subst
tuted for it in these cases believe many
druggists look upon boraX as q good subSti-
tute for bOraCic acid