The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-08-18
TRICKS OF DRUGGISTS.
A startling Exposure Of tho Methods
Of SOn,e ApOtbecaries.
tFrom the Philadelphia Pressl

tFrom the Pailadelphis 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 ut fault that their prescriptions have
been juggled, and either We lkened 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-
ual conversation upon topics relating to
his professional experience.
Zone of the most common frauds
have already mentioned-the substitu-
ton of cinchonidia and cinchona for
uuinine. Authorizations of the most
familiar drugs are almost universal.
Citrate of msgnesia is made with only
ne.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
suici les. 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 q
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. L have here
a number of documents which tell their
own stories" and the physician took a
package of duplicate prescriptions from
a pigeon hole. "These bits of paper
expose the delinquencies of more than
dozen Philadelphia drug stores, and
represent similar irregularities in scores
of others. Here is the copy of tho 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 il is strictly accurate, and the drug
oists. whose names | have In each case,
are all registered and graduates from
schools of pharmacy. Here Is one that
calls for fifteen grains of 10 lofoim, one
dram balsam of Peru, and one ounce of
cosmoline. 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, IL grains; citrate
caffeine, 6 grains. 1t was filed thus /:
Saccharated pepsin, % grains; citrate
caffeine, 2 enthusiastically adheres to the
weight, you will notice, but is somewhat
irregular as to ingredients. This one
calls for two drains OF potassie perman-
ganate to two ounces of water. The
pharmacist wasn't miserly with the
water, but evidently concluded that half
dram of the permanganate would
suffice. 'Cinchonia sulphate, thirty
grains ;strychnia sulphate, three fourths
of grain arsenious acid, three-fourths
of a 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 SUBJ
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 Of soda in the
blue paper, when the Rochelle salts
should constitute three-fourths of the
mixture"