Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-09-22
TRICKS OF DRUGGISTS.
A Startling Exposure of the Methods
Of Some ApOthecaries.

A Startling Exposure of the Methods
Of Some ApOthecaries.
From the Philadelphia Press.l
"People often wonder why their
physicians prescription doesn't take
effect They protest that the bottle has
been we'll shaken before using; that
the three times-a-day injunction had
been religiously followed, and that every
caution about diet and sleep has been
observed to the letter, and yet their con-
dition is not one whit improved. They
begin to suspect that their ailment has
not been properly diagnosed, and some
times throw out hint to that effect. 1t
never occurs to them that the druggist
is at fault; that their prescriptions have
been iuggled, and either we akened be-
yond any possibility of doing any good,
or transformed into something entirely
different"
A prominent Philadelphia physician
made use of the above language in cas-
uaI conversation upon topics relating to
his professional experience.
"One of the most common frauds l
have already mentioned-the substitu-
ton of cinchonidia and cinchona for
uuinine. Authorizations of the most
familiar drugs are almost universal.
Citrate of magnesia is made with only
one. half or three-fourths its wonted
strength; tincture of iodine, one-fourth
to three.fourths laudanum, half to
three-fourths. The laudanum of the
stores is exceedingly unreliable, the
cheaper preparations being weak in pro-
portion to the price. There may be
some connection between this fact and
the lack of success of SO many would-be
suicides. Paregoric is very commonly
diluted one-half, and often contains no
benzoic acid and but one-fourth the
standard proportion of opium. Aqua
ammonia, sweet spirits of nitre, and a
long catalogue of others are similarly
MANIPULATED. The various oils-rose,
lemon, bergamot, orange, rose ger
anium, etc., are nearly one-half alcohol.
"But to come down to the actual
alteration of prescriptions. [ have here
number of documents which tell their
own stories," and the physician took a
package of duplicate prescriptions from
q pigeon hole. "These bits of paper
expose the delinquencies of more than a
dozen Philadelphia drug stores, and
represent similar irregularities in scores
of others. Here is the copy of the pre-
scription as written by the physicians.
On the same slip Is the pharmacists
revision Of it. [ need not explain how
this information came into my possession,
but it is strictly accurate, and the drug
gists, whose names I have In each case,
are all registered and graduates from
schools of pharmacy. Here is one that
calls for fifteen grains OF 20 loform, one
dram balsam of Peru, and one ounce of
cosmolne. The compromising druggist
followed instructions accurately, with
the trihing exception of substituting two
grains of iodine for the fifteen grains of
idoform. Iodine acts as an irritant,
while the effect Of idoform is quite
different. The physician was not slow
in discovering the irregularity and
promptly returned the prescription.
Another reads: Malto peptine, IL
grains lacto peptine, II grains citrate
caffeine, 6 grains. It was filed thus
Saccharated pepsin, % grains; citrate
caffeine, 2 grains strictly adheres to the
weight, you will notice, but is somewhat
irregular as to ingredients. This one
calls for two drains of potassic perman-
ganate to two ounces OF water. The
pharmacist wasn't misery with the
water, but evidently concluded that half
a dram of the permanganate would
suffice. 'Cinchonia sulphate, thirty
grains ;strychnia sulphate, three-fourths
of grain arsenious acid, three-fourths
of grain : under the wizard hand of
the prescription clerk loses two of its
ingredients, and comes out plain Gin
chona sulphate, and the druggist from
whose file this was taken universally
fills it in the same simple way.
Bread crumbs play conspicuous
part in this next one. The physician
wrote Citrate caffein, twenty grains
bromide lithium, twelve grains The
inscrutable wisdom of the druggist sub
stituted one grain for the twenty, two
grains for the twelve, and made up
for all deficiencies with twenty-nine
grains of bread crumbs. Seidlitz pow
ders are made to cost just half what they
should by using equal parts of Rochelle
salts and bi-carbonate IF soda in the
bme paper, when the Rochelle salts
sb.onld constitute e-fourths of the
M ixture."