Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-02-16
MORE vALvAsLE THAN GOLD.
ssms Drugs csst ovsr Thslr Wslsh'
In che Yellow Metal.

ing chemist handed in medicines the
total value Of which amounted to
some $50, 600, The most costly drug
in this collection was that labeled
"Hom-atropine hydrob ,cryst." !"
In all, says the Pittsburg Dispatch, six
pounds Of it were contained in q single
jar, and the price thereof was $12, 600,
or g, 100 per pound. This expensive
remedy is an alkaloid, artificially pre-
pared from atropine, preparation Of
belladonna. Another costly medicine
shown was an ac0nitine alkaloid in the
form Of an amorphous powder, pre-
pared from aconitum napelius. Three
pounds of this were valued at $4S9. so.
A three and one-quarter ounce bottle
Of anemonia was priced $191. .45.
OF caffeine there were thirteen differ
emit preparations in small bottles,
ranging in price from $16 to &2S .
bottle. A small vial of tetter wart
preparation called chelidomine aka
loid was marked $88. Cocaine is
another expensive medicine four
pounds Of it being valued at $420. A
new form Of cantharidin crystals was
priced $148 a small vial. "A fifteen
ounce bottle Of q preparation Of NOR
phine, called codeine phosphate, stood
for $185. Digitalis germaine, the great
heart remedy, costs about SO per
pound. A five-ounce bottle CT s'true
cotoin" sells at SO an ounce. The
South American Indian arrow poison,
as prepared in the form of crystals and
used as medicine in hydrophobia and
lockjaw, costs $85 an ounce. A
still more expensive form Of crystals,
named hyoscine hydrobromate; is
valued at 81, 166,60 per ounce. Ger
tain other drugs varied in price all
the way from $12 to $85 per ounce,
Papaine Alkaloid, a vegetable pepsin
obtained from the juice Of the melon
tree in tropical America, sells for
$120 a pound. A solvent for diph-
theric membrane, is valued at $14,57
an ounce, The calabar bean comes
in for very costly preparations, chiefly
used in diseases Of the eye and lock-
jaw, One Of these, physostigmine
alkaloid, is valued at the sum Of
$1O9, IS per ounce, Another prepar-
UlOu OI G00 same COSCS CS6OmoG0lnRO OV0c
$818 an ounce, A special form Of
nitrate crystal, prepared from the
leaves Of the jarborandi, pilocarpus
pennati folius, and used in con-
sumption, is priced at $s7, ounce
value.
The list might be indefinitely ex-
tended, for the number of new and
costly drugs is on the daily increase,
It would be hard, indeed, TO find the
druggist who is familiar with all Of
those now on the market, To pro-
cure anything like accurate knowl-
edge on this point, the immense
pharmacopmia Of the United States
must not only be studied, but those
also Of Germany and Great Britain,
themselves vast complications Of
scientift iftcally assorted facts. Out Of
this great number Of remedies, how
ever, but few are in actual use, and
the task Of the practical pharmacist is,
therefore, not 80 hopelessly bewirder-
ing as itwould seem. To the cost Of the
drugs he manipllates must moreover
be added . certain percentum Of the
cost Of his own training-let alone
that Of the prescribing physician.
Putting all this and that together, it
would seem q matter Of wonder, not
that it costs so much, but that It
costs 30 little to pay for the luxury
Of being III.