The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-02-05
MORE VALUABLE THAN GOLD
Some Drugs Cost Over Their Weight iu
the Yellow Metal

Some months ago. at an exhibition
of the American Public Health Asso
citation ip Brooklyn, one manufactur
ing chemist handed in medicines the
total value of which amounted tt
some $50. 900. The most costly drug
in the collection was that labeled
'Hom-atrorine hydrobromate, cryst.
In all six pounds Of it were contained
in single lar, and the price thereof
was S12, 900, or So, 100 per pound.
This expensive remedYis an alkaloid,
lrtiacially prepared from atropine, a
preparation Of belladonna.
Another costly medicine shown was
an aconite alkal0id in the form Of an
amorphous powder, prepared from
aconitum napelius. Three pounds o!
this was valued at S48a.50. A three
and one-Quarter ounce bottle OF
anemonia was priced Sl9l.45. OF
caffeine there were thirteen different
preparations in small bottles, rang.
ing in price from S16 to S2S bottle.
A small vial Of a letter wart prepar-
alton called chelidomine alkaloid was
marked SS8. Cocaine is another ex.
pensive medicine, four pounds OF 1t
being there valued at s420. A new
form Of cantharidin crystals was
priced S143 a small vial.
a fifteen-ounce bottle OF prepara
tion of morphine, called codeine phos.
phate, stood for s1S5. Digitalis
germaine, the great heart remedy,
costs about $40 per pound. A 6ve.
ounce bottle Of 'true cotoin" sells at
$40 an ounce. The South American
indian arrow poison, as prepared in
the form of crystals and used as a
medicine in hydrophobia and lockjaw,
costs S35 an ounce. A still more eE.
pensiVe form Of crystals named hyo'
seine hydrobromate, is valued al
81. l6e. IS per ounce. Certain other
drugs varied in price all the way from
Il2 to S35 per ounce.
Papaine alkaloid, a vegetable pep
sin obtained from the juice of the
melon tree in tropical America, sells
for $3.50 pound. a solvent for dip.
theric membrane is valued at S14. 81
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
SI0s. So rer ounce. Another prepara.
tion Of the same costs something over
S5l3 an ounce A special form OF
nitrate crystal, prepared from the
leaves Of the jarborandi, pilocarpus
pennati folius, and used in consump-
lion. is priced at S37, ounce value.
The list might be indefinitely ex
tended, for the number of new and
costly drugs is on the daily increase.
1t 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 phar-
macopeia IF the United States must
not only be studied, but those also Of
Germany and Great Britain, them
selves vast complications Of scientii'
saily assorted facts.
Out uf this great number Of rene.
dies, however. but few are In actual
use, and the task Of the practical
pharmacist is, therefore, not so hope
lessly bewildering as it would seem.
To the cost of the drugs he manipu.
lates must, moreover, be added a Ger
tain per centum of the cost Of his own
trainiag-let alone that Of the pre-
scribing physician Putting all this
and that togethey, it would seem a
matter Of wonder, not that it costs so
much, but that it costs so little for
the luxury Of being i'll Pittsburgh
DlSDatch.