Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-08-08

Costly ingredients Omitted or Us.a
ScantiIy in Compromising pr-scrip-
lions.
lFrom the Philadelphia Timesl
There are plenty of honest druggists, but
they are brought in direct competition with
these INSCRIPTIONS compounders, and the
majority of people, in their medicines as in
their beef and their calico, go where they
can buy the cheapest They look askance at
physician who recommends a particular
drug store, and often talk mysteriously about
percentages, forgetting that their physician
has some opportunity of knowing the differ
ence between honest and a crooked pre-
scription desk
One of the most common frauds is the
substitution of cinchonidia and cinchona for
quinine. Authorizations of the most familiar
drugs are almost universal. Citrate of mag
nesia is made with only one-half three
fourths its wonted strength tincture of 10
dine, one fourth to three-fourths laudanum,
half to three fourths. The laudanum of the
stores is exceedingly unreliable, the cheaper
preparations being weak in proportion to the
price Paregoric is very commonly diluted
one half, and often contains benzoic acid
and but one fourth the standard proportion
of opium. Aqua ammonia, sweet spirits of
nitre and LONG catalogue of others are SINH
larly manipulated. The various oils, rose,
lemon, bergamot orange, geranium, etc, are
nearly one half alcohol But to come down
to the actual alteration of pre- 'criptions
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 physicians pre-
scription. On the same slip is the pharma-
cist revision. Here is one that calls for if
teen grains iodoform, one drachm balsam
Peru and one ounce of cosmoline. The com.
pounding druggist followed instructions &C
curatey, with the trifling exception of sub
shutting two grains of iodine for the fifteen
grains of iodoform Iodine acts as an irri.
tant, while the effect of iodoform is quite
different Tho physician was not slow in
discovering the irregularity and promptly re-
turned the prescription. Another calls for
two drachms of potassic permanganate to
two ounces of water. The pharmacist wasn't
miserly with the water, but evidentl, conclu-
ded that half drachm of the permanganate
would suffice. "Cinchona sulphate thirty
| grains; strychnia sulpkate, three-fourths of
grain arsenious acid, three fourths of
| grain, under the wizard hand of the pre-.
scription clerk, loses two of it's Ingredients
| and comes out plain cinchona sulphate, and
the druggist from whose file this was taken
universally fills it in the same simple way.
| Broad crumbs play conspicuous part in this
next one. The physician wrote: 'Citrate
caffeine, twenty grains; bromide hthium,
twelve grains" The druggist substituted
one grain for the twenty, two grains for the
twelve, and made up for all delinquencies
with twenty nine grains of bread crumbs.
Seidlitz powders are made to cost Just halt
what they should by using equal parts of
| Rochelle salts and bi-carbonate of soda in
| the blue paper, whom the Rochelle salts
should constitute three fourths of the mix
ture,