Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-10-09
DRUGS AND CHEMICALS.
A Reporters Interesting Talk with
an Apothecary.
How to Test the Purity Of Medicines-An
Acid Procured from Ants and
Tincture Furnished by the
Ubiquitous COcIkroach.

"If have prescription put up at drug
store, is there any liability of the lngre IL
ents being impure or worthless, thereby
rendering the prescription ineffective"
asked Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter of
local druggist.
"Certainly," he replied 81 wouldn't care
to say that you could go to any drug store
and have prescription filled with pure
drugs, but will say that there is no neces-
sity for drug store to be stocked with i'm
pure drugs. There is a test for all medi-
cines, and if druggists were only careful in
testing their goods before Offering them to
the public, great many more physicians
prescriptions would do the patients some
good"
AS no less a matter than human life itself
depends on the efficiency of drugs used in
doctors prescriptions, it was thought worth
while to inquire into the matter little
farther.
"WeH, how can druggist know his drugs
are pure ?"
Gan drugs" replied the apothecary, fare
derived from either the animal, vegetable
or mineral Kingdoms. Those derived from
the vegetable kingdom may be purchased
by the druggist in their original form and
pulverized, ground or reduced to another
form by his own hands. This is the only
way OF positively knowing whether the
article is unadulterated or not, for in pow
der form it is an easy matter for some
worthless substance to be mixed in without
any apparent change Here is piece of
Virginia snake root 1t looks very much
like pink root, which is poisonous. / take
this piece of Virginia snake root, slice off a
thin cross section, soak it in glycerine and
water and put it under microscope. If it
,-wr1w. As,l<a A..
pith Is at the edge of the root, with sprays
running out from it. 1t is the only known
root with the pith near the edge. Here is
seneca root. Treated in the same way it
shows lot of wood bundles with a
triangular sectional hollow. Only the
bark Of it is useful Aconite comes in
the form of a root, and it is very poisonous.
Under the microscope you will see in the
center the form of star, with little spot
at each point. Black snake root is marke
with a perfect maltese cross. By pur-
chasing medicines in this form druggist
can easily tell whether he has the genuine
article or not. Dandelion is often counter
fsited by chickory. Dandenon root has
yellow center with rings of milk ducts
around it, while chickory has a yellow pith
with milk ducts radiating from it.
Eyes, we have calls for some very odd
remedies. have been asked for dog fat,
cat fat, rabbit fat, skunk Oil, snake oil,
spirits Of ants and the like queer medi-
cines, mostly by old Germans who had
heard Of them from some old granny in the
fatherland Spirits Of antsl You didn't
know that the industrious insect contained
valuable medicinal property, eh? Well,
they do; 1t is formic acid. Formerly
formic acid used to be obtained entirely
from ants, but now it is obtained better by
chemical means. If you want to find the
formic acid in ants lay a piece of htmus
paper on the ground and let them crawl
across 1t. The paper is blue and formic
acid turns 1t red. AS the ants crawl
across it they will leave red trail behind
them.
''There's cockroach on your sleeve"
Drought it from the Office, 1 suppose"
replied the reporter; "we are overrun with
them"
"Gather them up and make tincture of
blatta of them," the chemist suggested.
"Tincture of blatta OF cockroachesf'
| Certainly. Excellent remedy for kidney
| troubles. 1t is now obtained more easily
by other means, but the frisky cockroach
| first gave it to the world. The active
principle of the cockroach is anti-hydropian
in crystalline form, and it was discovered
| in 1875. Tell you how tincture of blatta
was first obtained. Cockroaches were
caught, put in a bottle, and after they were
dead they were digested in alcohol, which
extracted their medicinal properties Yes,
the medicine was taken internally for
kidney troubles. Oh, you get a good many
disagreeable things served UP as medicine.
"Iook at that" said the druggist, point
ing to bottle filed with a very dark fluid.
! THAT Is cod-liYer oil. 1t is made from pu.
trified cod ivers and other decomposed
liyers which 1t would have made you sick TO
| smell of. That went down many a poor fell
low throat Some years ago there was Sc
much Of it on the market that it had to be
got rid Of some way, and so druggists sold
it for Inlernal use in preference to getting
cure cod liver OIL Now it is used only for
mechanical purposes, and pure cod-liver oil
Is sold 1t is clear amber color, ana a
valuable remedy for consumption.
"You know what that is % setting bottle
of small reddish globules before the re
porter. s:All that remains of a lot OF poor
little cochineal bugs from Mexico. From il
carmine is made. The poor bugs little
thought as they frolicked on their native
cactus that some day they would be giving
color to fair ladies' cheeks.
81 made some gold the other day. Wish
you could have seen it. 1t is an interesting
process. II is what is called old mosaic
gold, and Is made by amalgamat,ng tin witt
mercury, adding salimoniac and sulphur
and heating to redness in a crucible fol-
three hours until white fumes cease to BIZ
evolved. II Is the kind of gold used fol-
decorating picture frames
"Just glance at that prescription. Car
you read itl'
The prescription was an unintelligiblt
scrawl to the uninitiated.
''That doctor writes the worst Of any O
or customers. We have to learn to reaC
them, though. Yes, sometimes get stucl
on a prescription. For instance, here IL
one that says sacid hydro. dill Now tina
may mean either dilute bydrocyanic acid
or dilute hydrochloric acid One is for tn,
stomach and the ether is q nerve sedative
In such a case have to telephone TO th'
doctor and find out which he means before
1 can fill the prescription.
"But the funniest notes one gets ar,
from people who send their children ate
medicine. Here is one boy handed to M
and said he wanted ten CENTS worth of it.
reads 'garibaldigaset,' and is meant for car
: bolic acid. Please admit to bearer bottl
. of pain killer We receive hundreds O
r such queer notes"