Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-26
DSUGS AND
Con fessions of an Apotheeary-Row tc
Test the Purity of Medicines.

thereby rendering the prescription in
effective asked a Cleveland PAIN
Dealer reporter of a local druggist.
Certainly" he replied. Il would
not care to say hat you could go to
any drug store and have a prescription
filled with pure drugs, but | will
say that there is 40 necessity for a
drug store to be stocked with i'm
pure drugs. There is a test for all
medicines, and if druggists were only
careful in testing their goods before
Offering them t the public a great
many more physicians prescriptions
would do the patients more 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 a little further.
"Well, how can a druggist know his
drugs are pureP"
"All drugs" replied the a~pothecary,
fare derived from the animal, vegetable
or mineral kingdom. Those derived
from the vegetable kingdom may be
purchased by the druggist in theil
original form and pulverized, ground
or reduced to another form by his own
hands. This is the only way of posi-
lively knowing whether the article is
unadulterated or not, for in powder
form it is an easy matter for some
worthless substance to be mixed in
without any apparent change. Here
is a piece of Virginia snake root. 1t
looks very much like pink root, which is
poisonous. | take this piece of Vir-
ginia snake root, slice off a thin cross
section. soak it in glycerine and water
and put it under the microscope. If
it is the genuine article [ will see thai
the 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 a seneca root.
Treated in the same way it shows a 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 is very poisonous. Under
the microscope you will see in the
center the form of a star, with a little
spot at each point. Black snake root
is marked with a perfect Maltese cross.
By purchasing medicines in this form
a druggist can easily tell whether he
h1o OiAN SSAINlL - vi hOOs q
delion is often counterfeited bv chicory.
Dandelion root has a yellow center
with rings of milk ducts around it,
while chicory has a yellow pith with
milk ducts radiating from it.
"Yes, 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 medicines, mostly by old Ger
mans who had heard of them from
some old granny in the fatherland
Spirits of antsP You didn't know that
the industrious insects contained a
valuable medicinal property, ell? Well,
they do; it is formic acid. Formerly
formic acid used to be obtained entire
ly from ants, but now it is obtained
better by chemical If you
want to find the formic acid in ants
lay a piece of litmus paper on the
ground and let them crawl across il.
The paper is blue and the formic acid
turns it red. AS the ants crawl across
it they will leave a red trail behind
them.
"There's a cockroach on your sleeve"
brought it from the Office, l sup
pose." replied the reporter; 1--WE are
oyerrun with them"
"Gatuer them up and make tincture
of blatta of them," the chemist sug-
gested.
.'Tincture of blatta of cockroachesP"
Certainly. Excellent remedy for
kidney troubles. 1t is now obtained
more easily by other means, but the
risky c%ockroach first gave it to the
world. The active principle of tie
c%ockroach is anti-hydropian in a
crystalline form, and it was discovered
ia 1876. Tell you how tincture of
blatta was first obtained. C~ockroaches
were caught, but in a bottle, and after
they were dead they were digested in
alcohol, which extracted their medi-
cinal properties. Yes. the medicine
was taken internally for kidney
troubles. Oh, you get a good many
d~isagreeable things served up as
medicine.
Look at that" said the druggist
pointing to a bottle filled with a very
dark fluid. THAT is cod-liver oil. 1t
is made from putrefied cod livers and
other decomposed livers which it would
have made you sick to smell of. That
went down many a poor fellows throat.
Some years ago there was so much of
1t on the market that it had to be got
rid of some way, and so druggists sold
1T tor Internal use in preference to get
ting pure cOd-liver oil. Now it is used
only for mechanical purposes, and
pure cod-liver oil is sold. 1t is a clear
amber color, and a valuable remedy for
consumption.
You know what that is?" setting a
bottle of small reddish globules before
the reporter. ''All tina remains of a
lot of poor little cochineal bugs from
Mexico. From it carmine is made.
The poor bugs little thought as they
frOlicked ~ 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. 1t is what Is
called mosaic gold, and is made by
ANAL gamating tiE with mercury, add
ing s~alammoniac and sulphur and heat
ing IL to redness in a crucible for three
hours until white fumes cease to be
evolved. 1t is the kind of gold used
for decorating picture frames.
Just glance at that prescription,
can you read it?"
The pres ription was an unintelligi-
BILE scrawl t o The uninitiated.
1.-The doctor writes the worst of any
of our customers. We have to learn
to read them. though. Yes, / some
times get stuck on a prescription. For
instance. here is one that says acid
hydro. dill Now that may mean either
dilute h~YdrocYanic acid or .dilnte