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   REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
ADULTERATIONS AND SOPHISTICATIONS
DRUGS,  MEDICINES, CHEMICALS,  ETC.
PRESENTED TO THE
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION,
AT ITS THIRD ANNUAL MEETING, HELD IN CINCINNATI,
MAY, 1850.
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MW
           PHILADELPHIA:
T. K. &. P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS TO THE ASSOCIATION.
                 1850. 
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REPORT  ON
ADULTERATED  DEUGS,  MEDICINES,
               CHEMICALS,  ETC.
The Committee  on " Adulterations and  Sophistications  of Drugs,
        Medicines,  Chemicals, <fc," present the following

                         REPORT:

  The resolution of the Association under which the committee is
constituted instructs the members to "note all the facts that come
to their knowledge, with regard to adulterations and sophistications
of drugs, medicines, chemicals, &c," and to report them at the next
annual meeting.
  Although the terms "drugs," "chemicals," &c, properly compre-
hend substances used in the arts, as well as in the treatment of dis-
eases, the  object of the Association, it is presumed, was to inquire
after such  merely as are employed for therapeutic purposes, and the
committee  have restricted their investigations accordingly.
  That many of the articles used as medicines are of very inferior
quality, and a source of much vexatious disappointment in practice,
is the physician's daily experience; and that the more energetic and
costly are  frequently sophisticated, no one doubts;—but to obtain a
sufficient number of "facts" properly avouched, and not  contained
in publications already familiar to the profession, to form a report
of much value, or one likely to satisfy the expectations of the Asso-
ciation, has not been found an easy task  by those to whom the duty
has been assigned.
  In appointing so large a committee, composed of delegates from
most of the  States of the  Union, it was doubtless expected that
many facts would be collected, and that information on the subjects
referred would be obtained, from every  part of the country; but,
although eight months have elapsed since the members of the com-
mittee  were  informed  of their appointment, and their active  co-
operation  requested by the chairman, not a fourth of them have
responded, nor have one-half  of the States been heard from.   This 
4
REPORT ON
  seeming negligence should not be ascribed to any want of interest in
  the subject, or disinclination to promote the laudable objects of the
  Association, but to the inherent difficulties of the investigation.  In
  fact, many of the communications received by the chairman contain
  little else than expressions of this kind.
    The special examiners of drugs  appointed by the  government,
  when called upon, have in every instance manifested a zeal and readi-
  ness in communicating such information as they were possessed of,
  highly creditable to them  and  satisfactory to the members of the
  committee.   Although, in  some instances,  dealers  in  drugs  have
  shown an indisposition to answer questions, or in  any way promote
  the objects of the Association, there  have been  many honourable
  exceptions among them, and it is to these that we are chiefly indebted
  for what we know of domestic adulterations.  Still,  it must be con-
  fessed that  less assistance has been  derived from  that  source  than
 was anticipated.   They who fabricate  and vend  spurious articles
 are cautious not to criminate themselves; whilst honest dealers know
 but little of the trickeries of those who  are engaged in the discredit-
 able business, and are naturally averse to embroiling themselves by
 becoming informers.   Nor are physicians, as a general rule, capable
 of giving the desired information.   Although often disappointed in
 the effect of the remedies they administer, the circumstances which
 influence these results are too numerous, and  the  conclusions to be
 drawn from such failures too uncertain, in most instances, to author-
 ize any positive deductions as to the qualities of the articles em-
 ployed.  And, withal, comparatively few have enjoyed the  requisite
 opportunities  for becoming critically acquainted  with the  sensible
 properties of drugs, and still fewer are sufficiently skilled in analysis
 to be able to detect fraud in their composition.
   These circumstances  will account, in part, for the limited charac-
 ter of this report, and also for the fact, which it is proper should be
 stated, that nearly all of the information contained in it is derived
 from the larger cities.  To Doctors Jackson and Bowditch, of Boston •
 Reyburn and Johnston, of  St.  Louis;  Frost,  of  Charleston, and
 Upshur, of Norfolk, especially, the Association is  largely indebted
 for their zealous efforts  in the  prosecution of these inquiries.  It is
 a subject of regret, however, to the chairman of the committee, that
most of their reports came into his possession at a period too late to
enable him to do justice to their authors, or to  the subject.
  The information obtained by the committee may be appropriately
 considered under two general heads: viz., First, as it regards foreign
and secondly, domestic adulterations. 
ADULTERATED DRUGS, ETC.
5
  1st. Of Adulterated Drugs imported from abroad.
  For a large number of our most useful medicines we are, and ever
must be, indebted to foreign countries.  Such are camphor, Peruvian
bark,  opium, ipecacuanha, columbo, jalap, rhubarb, &c,  and, until
a few years back, nearly all our chemicals were likewise imported.
  Our druggists either order their supplies through the  agents of
parties residing in the countries where they are produced, or, which
is more generally the case, purchase them from those  to whom they
are consigned, the greater number of these being denizens of the city
of New York.  These agents, or  consignees, are mere factors, whose
business it is to forward orders, and dispose  of whatever  is sent to
them  to sell.  They seldom have much knowledge of the qualities of
the articles that pass through their hands,  and have no interest be-
yond  the  commissions they receive for their  negotiations.  So long
as the market in this country was open for inferior or sophisticated
drugs, it was the interest of those abroad to send hither whatever
could not be sold at home.  Hence, previously to the passage of the
law for the inspection of drugs, the importations were  of the  most
heterogeneous  character.   Good and bad, adulterated  and  pure,
separate  and  mixed, according to the interests of dealers, deluged
our market and filled our shops.
  The operation of this law, although in some instances  productive
of  inconvenience,  has in many respects been beneficial.
  Importers are admonished by it of the impropriety of trafficking in
adulterated and spurious drugs and medicines, as well as discouraged
by  the forfeiture it works.  It has stamped the practice with the seal
of  public condemnation, and, by calling  attention to the matter, has
awakened a wholesome jealousy in the minds of physicians and apo-
thecaries, and thus improved the general tone of feeling on the subject.
The American market is no longer flooded with foreign adulterated
medicines, and even those of inferior quality, although unadulterated,
are in a great measure excluded.   By shutting out all such, a demand
has sprung up for prime articles, which were previously unknown in
our drug  stores;  so that, already, a  sensible improvement is  per-
ceptible.
  The inconveniences to which the law has given rise  relate mainly
to manufacturing  purposes, and proceed  from the difference in views
and qualifications of the officers  appointed to administer  it.  Thus,
articles,  good of their kind, often differ in their relative value; and
the modes of  ascertaining their  value, pursued  by different investi-
gators, may differ so much as to  cause great contrariety  in results. 
6
REPORT ON
Peruvian bark, for instance, which will yield one or two drachms of
quinia to the pound, may be deemed sufficiently good to be passed
by one inspector, and condemned  by another, because  it does not
contain half an ounce.   Opium, the product of the same soil  and
climate, and prepared with the same care, will vary greatly in the
per centage of morphia it will yield, in different seasons, and accord-
ing to the  amount of water contained in it.   When recently made
from the poppy, it contains a large amount of water, much of which
is lost when kept some time, although unchanged  in  other respects.
The article varies, too, as it is produced in different countries, from
the influence  of soil and climate—East Indian  from European;
Turkish from Egyptian, &c.—and yet each of  these may be  advan-
tageously imported for manufacturing the salts of morphia, although
not suitable for galenical preparations.   Now, according to the views
of different inspectors, one variety may be admitted at one port and
rejected at  another;  and the same variety, or  even samples of the
same  parcel, may be differently disposed of, according to the greater
or less accuracy of different analysts.  In fact, the argument is not
altogether hypothetical.   An invoice, condemned at one port as below
the proper  standard, after being sent out of the country, has been
re-imported into other districts, and passed as good.   Iodine, not
sufficiently  purified for  ordinary  pharmaceutical  purposes, may be
well adapted for manufacturing iodide of potassium  and other che-
mical preparations, in consequence of its lower price.  And so like-
wise of other things.
  These remarks are important from their bearing upon the domestic
manufacture of some of our most valuable chemical  remedies.   In no
part of the world, at the  present  time, are the  various chemicals
employed in medicine prepared of better quality than in the United
States ; and, when we  consider the guarantee we  have for  their
purity in the  responsibility of manufacturers residing  among us
alive  to  their reputation, and  interested in  exposing and putting
down fraudulent imitations and adulterations, no impediments should
be thrown in the way of, but every encouragement given to, our home
manufacturers.  Some  modification of  the present  law, to obviate
the difficulties  referred to, is believed to  be necessary by several of
the special  examiners, and it is to be hoped  that those more  imme-
diately interested will be able to procure such changes, either in the
terms of the law or its construction, as will remove all just causes of
complaint, without interfering with the humane objects for which the
law was enacted. 
ADULTERATED DRUGS, ETC.
7
   In proof of  the salutary operation of the law of Congress on this
subject, it is only necessary to state that the inspectors for the ports
of  Boston, New York, and Philadelphia all say that the amount of
impure drugs,  and those of inferior quality, which has come under
their notice within the last twelve months, is far less than during the
preceding year.   In a letter from  Dr. Bailey, special examiner for
the  port  of New  York, dated on the  29th  ult., addressed to the
chairman, he says :  "Of medicinal chemical preparations, the quan-
tity condemned (within the last year) has been small.  The present
law seems to have put an effectual check  to the  importation of im-
pure and  spurious articles of  that  description.  The  importation of
impure opium  has greatly fallen off.  I have not condemned  one-
quarter the quantity during the past twelve months that I did  dur-
ing the nine months previous; and the  same  may be said of many
other  important  articles.   As  far  as this port is concerned, the
standard  of drugs has been materially raised by the operation of the
present drug law."   The same observation applies to the other large
importing cities.
   2d.  Of Home Adulteration.
   Being  protected,  in a great  measure,  from the introduction of
adulterated medicines from abroad, it becomes interesting  to know
whether cupidity,  aided by science and the characteristic ingenuity
of our countrymen, will not soon supply,  if not  exceed,  the abuses
from former sources.
   The attention of several members of the committee has been  par-
ticularly directed to this subject, and it is  satisfactory to  learn that,
thus far, there  does not  appear to be  any increase, but, probably, a
diminution, in the domestic  sophistication of drugs.   Certainly, if
we leave out those whose chief business consists in the  scandalous
fabrication and sale of nostrums, adulterated medicines are not com-
monly vended in our large cities, except under the particular circum-
stances presently to  be mentioned.
   To determine this point, some of the physicians of Boston  had
" an analysis made  by a competent chemist  of a few articles pur-
chased from various  druggists and apothecaries in that city.  Thir-
teen specimens were procured, from,  1st, the  wholesale  druggists;
2d, the superior apothecaries;  3d, minor apothecaries.   The results of
this analysis were more favourable than could have been anticipated.
Only four out of the thirteen articles failed of being of the standard
purity, viz., Turkey rhubarb and bitartrate of potassa,  bought of the
first class; yellow  cinchona procured from one of the second class; 
8
REPORT ON
and ipecacuanha from one of the third.  The rhubarb was one-half,
the cinchona one-eighth, of its proper strength; the bitartrate of
potassa contained ten parts of foreign matter, and the ipecacuanha
was half the strength it should have been."
  A  member  of the committee from Missouri undertook  similar
investigations  in  the city  of  St. Louis, but  with  results less satis-
factory,   lie analyzed  various  samples of mercurial ointment sold
there, and generally purchased in the eastern cities, and " in every
instance," found ua large deficiency of mercury;" and he was told,
by reliable authority, that the ointment was  sometimes prepared m
St. Louis "by mixing a small portion of the  genuine ointment with
cerate,  and giving  it the requisite  blue shade by the  addition of
crude antimony."   An  examination of fifteen samples of blue mass
discovered great inequalities in strength, with deficiency of mercury
in all.   " One-third only gave an approximation" to the officinal pro-
portion of the metal.  " In some of the samples, it was evident that
materials not known to the officinal  formulae had  been intermixed."
Among the samples tested were some, noticed  in  the druggist's
catalogues as "English mass in bladders," bearing a label with the
English arms,  and simple title, "English blue mass."
   The same gentleman ascertained that the powders  of the  roots
and barks sold in  the  shops  were largely adulterated in many in-
stances, and that of these ipecacuanha was  especially inert.   " The
roots, leaves, barks, seeds,  and flowers," he found to be "generally
far inferior in quality to the same articles kept for city sale by east-
ern druggists."   The alkaloids  and their salts, as quinia, strychnia,
morphia, &c, manifested less of intentional fraud.  Nitrate of silver
was of various degrees of purity and  of corresponding price.   The
vegetable extracts were  exceedingly variable in quality and effects ;
and a like inferiority was noticed in the essential oils, as  well as
various other articles.
  Although this is  certainly an unfavourable account of the quality
of the medicines sold in a large section of the country, it affords no
evidence  of an increase in the practice of  adulterations since the
foreign were excluded.
   Extensive observations  in  Philadelphia, and some inquiry in the
city of New York, by the chairman, have satisfied him that adultera-
tions  are looked upon with greater disfavour,  and actually less prac-
ticed, than  formerly.   The same is  believed to be true in  Boston
and probably also of all parts of the country.  In the latter city  a
respectable  druggist, in conversing on the subject with a member of 
ADULTERATED DRUGS, ETC.
9
the committee, said " that he did not believe  that  home adultera-
tions  had augmented since the passage of the law, and the reason
he gave was, that the fact that Congress had passed  such a law had
drawn public attention to the whole subject  in such a manner that
home adulterations could not be practiced with so much impunity as
formerly."
   A practice seems to have grown up amongst druggists of  respect-
able character, in many parts  of  the country, without  intention of
fraud, of making  and vending some of the most important officinal
articles of different grades.  It is sufficient to  mention  two  or three
examples to show  the gross impropriety and danger of the custom.
   One of the least important of these is the  spirit of  nitric ether,
which may be purchased wholesale  at prices varying from eight
cents the pound up to twenty-five, according to the  demands of the
purchaser.  The chief constituent is water, with just  as much alcohol
and nitric ether as the price will warrant.  Nitrate of silver is made
and sold regularly by our best chemists  of two grades, No.  1, or
pure,  and No. 2, containing but sixty per  cent, nitrate of silver,
the remainder being  nitrate of potassa.  In  some instances, both
in this country and in the  cities of Europe,  the  article contains as
much as seventy-five per cent,  of  the latter salt.   There is no
attempt at concealment in these  cases  ; on  the contrary, the  adul-
teration is frankly stated in the advertisements of the  chemists and
druggists.
   A still worse instance is the variable strength of laudanum.  Many
apothecaries, in making it, are not careful to follow the directions given
in the Pharmacopoeia.   Instead of using Turkey opium, in poivder,
inferior varieties are employed; and  too frequently, in the recent
state, and consequently, containing a good deal of water, and there-
 fore a less per centage of the  alkaloids.  Others are in the practice
 of making two kinds: one, of the strength directed in the  Pharma-
 copoeia, called Physicians Laudanum, which is used in making up
 physicians' prescriptions ; and the other, of about half that  strength,
 either made from the dregs of opium remaining after preparing the
 officinal, alone, or with an additional quantity of the drug, but still
 causing the tincture  to be  of greatly reduced  strength.  The  latter
 preparation is sold at the counter to the non-professional and  coun-
 try storekeepers, under the name of  Customers' Laudanum.   The
 dangerous consequences  of this outrageous practice  must, one would
 think, be apparent to any one of common  understanding, and yet
 men  of  respectability are guilty of it continually.  Numerous in- 
10
REPORT ON
stances of death have occurred, mostly in children, from the use oi
the stronger article, in the doses to which  the individuals had been
accustomed of laudanum procured from  other apothecaries.  Such
consequences must inevitably result  where  preparations  differing
greatly in their properties are sold under a common name.
  Great complaint is  made, and with justice,  of the frequent adul-
teration of powdered drugs.   Retail  apothecaries, physicians, and
country storekeepers generally buy their supplies of these from the
wholesale druggists in the large  cities; and whatever adulterations
are perpetrated occur, therefore, either with the drug merchants or
those who follow the business of grinding and powdering.  Consider-
able inquiry has led to the conviction, however, that, in the majority
of instances, when the quality is bad, it is in consequence of the crude
article, from which the powder is made, being deteriorated or of infe-
rior quality, rather than from the  admixture  of foreign substances.
  Generally,  the wholesale druggists purchase their roots, barks, &c,
in the  crude state, and have them ground under their own direction,
and, consequently, have the articles pure.  But  sometimes dealers
even on a large scale are not so scrupulous; at least, they manifest
no repugnance to providing low priced articles for those whose only
care is to buy them cheap.
  An amusing anecdote was told to one of the committee of a drug-
gist in a large city who sent  some ipecacuanha to be ground.  Not
being returned as expected, an explanation was asked, when he was
reminded that he had not sent the liquorice root!   In another case,
a grocer, when bargaining for making cream of tartar out of the crys-
tals, inquired of the grinder how  many  barrels of flour he should
send !   Although the grinders and powderers  probably mix only the
substances sent to them for the purpose by those  who employ them,
they are, at least some of them, but too  willing instruments in  the
detestable business.   One of them avowed to  a member of the com-
mittee  that he had no scruples on the subject; that it was his busi-
ness to grind what was  sent to him;  and that the responsibility in
regard  to the objects for which they were to be  employed  did  not
belong  to  him.   With the  knowledge  of  these things,  frankly
admitted, it is incumbent on the members of  our profession to look
more closely to  the  quality of their powdered drugs, and  either
purchase them in the crude  state, or procure them of druggists of
undoubted  respectability,  without expecting, however,  that  the
manufactured article will be supplied to them at  less than the cost
of  the crude material. 
ADULTERATED DRUGS, ETC.
11
  A brief account of the adulterations still to be found in the market
will afford some idea of the present extent of the evil.
  1st. Of Roots.
  Jalap, in the root, is abundant and  of  good quality, and, when
mixed with bryony and other roots, is easily distinguished; in powder,
it is largely adulterated, mostly with the  spurious or  false jalap
roots,  or, as the committee have ascertained, with liquorice root.
In several samples  purchased from respectable drug houses in New
York, by some of the physicians in Virginia, the odour and taste of
the liquorice  were very perceptible, and treble the usual quantity
was required to produce catharsis.
  Rhubarb.—Excellent samples, both  of  Turkey  and East  India
rhubarb, may be  found in most of our drug shops; but, in powder,
it is greatly adulterated.   Either  the  mouldy and  spoiled pieces in
good lots are  picked  out for the purpose, or  the English is ground
with small portions of the better quality, or else alone and coloured
with turmeric, to give it the proper hue.
  Ipecacuanha, in the root, is readily known by its peculiar annulated
appearance, and  is not apt to  be adulterated in that state;  but, in
the condition of  powder, it is extensively adulterated.   Frequently
it consists of only ten or fifteen per cent, of genuine  ipecacuanha,
mixed with liquorice or sarsaparilla.  Sometimes, the powder of one of
these, mostly the  sarsaparilla, with tartrate of antimony and potassa,
without  a  particle of ipecacuanha,  is sold  under that name.   This
is a vile  fraud, and one liable to produce dangerous consequences.
  Peruvian  bark.—In the state  of powder,  the  Carthagena  and
other inferior barks, either alone, or in large  proportion, are regu-
larly sold for the best Calisaya and crown  barks.   These of course
contain little or none of the valuable alkaloids.
  The powders of  ginger and mustard are very rarely sold in the
pure state.
  Extracts.—In former years, it was difficult to get the various vege-
table  extracts of good  quality, sometimes from  their fraudulent
adulteration, but more frequently, perhaps, from  lack of skill  and
care in their preparation.   Scarcely any could be  relied on except
some imported from Germany, and Apothecaries' Hall, in London.
Now, however, we have them prepared of excellent quality at home,
particularly by some of the principal druggists of Philadelphia,  and
by Messrs. Tilden & Co. of New York.  The latter have embarked
largely in the business, and manufacture them of very fair quality.
Still,  the committee hear much complaint from various parts of the
country  of the inefficiency of this class of remedies. 
12
REPORT  ON
   Extract of colocynih is  extensively adulterated.   In  some  in-
 stances, it is alleged, not a particle of colocynth is employed in mak-
 ing it, but the whole consists of the inferior qualities of aloes, with
 some other worthless ingredients.
   Grums and Gum-resins.—Clum Senegal \& sometimes bleached and
 sold as gum acacia, alone or mixed;  sometimes in lumps,  but more
 commonly in powder; and occasionally wheat flour and arrowroot are
 mixed with the powdered gum in large proportion.
   Scammony.—This drug is almost universally adulterated.   There
 is no reason for believing  that this is done in the  United States, and
 we may therefore hope, when  the stock at present on hand is ex-
 hausted, that the inspection law will guard us from further imposi-
 tion.   Of the samples examined, instead of from sixty to ninety per
 cent, of resin, many contained but fifteen or twenty,  the remainder
 being made up  of chalk, starch, &c. &c.  Some specimens abounded
 in fecula, and were  actually worm-eaten.  The sole reason why we
 have not scammony  of good quality in our market arises  from the
 penurious disposition,  too  commonly  evinced  in the purchase of
 medicines, of buying at low prices.  Virgin scammony readily com-
 mands six to eight dollars a pound, while the trash usually found in
 the shops is bought  for two and a half  or three dollars!  In fact,
 very little of good quality has  been in the markets of this country
 for the last twenty or thirty years, notwithstanding it  is to be had at
 all times in the large cities of Europe by paying a fair price for it.
   Senna.—In this country, we are chiefly supplied with the Tripoli
 and  India varieties  of senna.   The first of these, although much
 broken and unsightly, operates very well,  and  therefore should not
 be rejected.  Alexandria or Egyptian senna is   exceedingly rare,
 although the leaflets of several kinds  are frequently sold under that
 name.
   Castor oil, which is a product of our own country,  and abundant
 and  cheap, is, nevertheless, occasionally adulterated  with lard oil.
 This, although  not  positively  injurious, increases the  dose, and is
 fraudulent.
   Croton  oil, being an expensive article, and readily adulterated is
 often found  impure and  comparatively inert.   The  adulteration
 generally  consists in mixing with it a large proportion either of olive
 oil or oil of almonds.   Both the ingredients being fixed vegetable
 oils,  the fraud  is only  discovered by  the  want  of activity of the
medicine in the usual dose, as well as when applied to the skin.
   The essential oils are, nearly all of them, frequently adulterated. 
ADULTERATED DRUGS,  ETC.
13
 The process is to mix a small portion of pure oil with alcohol, oil
 of turpentine,  &c.  Lately, it is  said, a  very ingenious method
 has been  adopted of mixing castor  oil with chloric  ether in such
 proportions as to make the fluid of the specific gravity of the particu-
 lar oil to be sophisticated, and  then adding a fourth of the genuine
 oil to give to the mixture the peculiar odour and taste required.
   Cod-liver oil, which has become a favourite of late, is  extensively
 adulterated with other fish oils.  In fact, hardly a tenth, it is believed,
 of what is  sold  under that name,  is  genuine, being either  refined
 whale or sea elephant oil.
   Copaiba  is an article which is likewise much  adulterated; gene-
 rally, by mixing  it in various proportions with Venice turpentine, oil
 of turpentine, or flax-seed oil mixed with a portion  of  oil of turpen-
 tine.   It is surprising that an article  so  cheap, and when the fraud
 can be so readily detected by merely solidifying the copaiba  in the
 compound,  should be adulterated; but there is no doubt of the fact.
   Cantharides, in powder, are  frequently adulterated with some  of
 our native  beetles; but, in other instances, with inert  substances,
 with the addition of black pepper and euphorbium, to give activity.
   Musk is  rarely sold entirely genuine.  That which is generally
 vended under this name is  a mixture, in variable proportions, of dried
 blood  with  catechu, and even chocolate, scented with a little pure
 musk.   Of course, such a preparation is quite inert.
   Bitartrate of potassa, besides the  tartrate of lime which it is natu-
 rally associated  with in variable proportions, is adulterated by the
 admixture of  sulphate of  lime, alum, and wheat flour; and in this
 state it is sold extensively by grocers in the Eastern cities to bakers,
 to mix with bread.
   Nitrate of potassa is adulterated with crystallized  Turks Island
 salt.   A provision merchant in  Baltimore mentioned  to  a member
 of  the committee that he found it required one-third more of what
 he purchased  in  that place,  to colour his pork, than of some  which
 he procured from London.   The difference he ascribed to the com-
 mon salt mixed with it.
   Spirit of nitric  ether, as  already remarked,  is adulterated with
 alcohol and water, and frequently with water alone, and may be
purchased at any price above that of water itself.   In some places,
the officinal, or "first quality," as it is called, is never dispensed ex-
cept when specially called  for, not even in prescriptions.
   Iodine.—This  being in  great demand  from its use in the arts as
well as in medicine, and withal  an expensive  article,  is very com- 
14
REPORT ON
monly adulterated.   The substances most employed for the purpose
are plumbago, charcoal,  and oxide  of  manganese.  An  excess  of
water, too, amounting  sometimes to fifteen or twenty per  cent., is
often  met with, and is, doubtless, purposely added to  increase its
weight,  especially when  charcoal is present.  For manufacturing
objects, these impurities  are of  little moment, as the chemists who
buy it are good judges, and know how  to  regulate both their pur-
chases and their processes to meet the  case; but for medicinal pur-
poses,  it is of more consequence;  and hence,  before  using it, it
should always be resublimed to free it from impurities.
  The salts of  iodine are frequently imperfect from bad manufac-
ture ;  but it is presumed they  are  seldom adulterated, except the
iodide of potassium, in regard  to which there is  more  fraud at the
present  time  than almost any other article.   From its general em-
ployment  for all the objects for which  iodine is administered, and
its extensive  demand in the arts, it has become an article of great
request; hence, and from the facility with which it is  adulterated,
its purity cannot be  depended on, unless procured from  some of our
best manufacturing  chemists, or druggists who  obtain it  directly
from them.   The best specimens generally contain from five to ten
per cent, of carbonate of potassa, particularly if much care is not
taken in its manufacture ; and in this proportion its crystalline cha-
racter is not affected.  But frequently the proportion is so great as
to render it certain that fraud is intended.  Dr.  Christison says  he
has "sometimes found 74.5 per  cent, of carbonate  and 10 of water
along with it, so that there was only 9.5 per cent, of pure salt."  It
is sometimes adulterated too with nitrate of potassa,  and  the chlorides
of potassium and sodium.
   Great frauds are perpetrated  in the preparations of mercury.
   Blue pill, which should contain one-third mercury, is openly sold
by wholesale druggists  having  only one-fourth;  and  in  some in-
stances it scarcely contains any mercury at all, its place being sup-
plied  by various foreign matters, as plumbago, animal charcoal  &c •
and the same remarks apply to mercurial ointment.
   Red  oxide of mercury is frequently  adulterated  with red oxide of
lead,  in large proportion ; ammoniated mercury, or white precipitate
with  carbonate of lead and sulphate of lime.
   Calomel is reported by some  of  the  physicians in  the  Western
 States  to be adulterated with corrosive sublimate; when this happens
it is owing to its not having been well washed, which, it is presumed
is seldom the case.   The manufacture of it  in  all its  details is  so 
                  ADULTERATED  DRUGS, ETC.               15

 well understood, and the tests of its purity are so simple and certain,
 that the most inexcusable carelessness must exist where it is sent
 forth contaminated in  this way.   It  is  also said to be sometimes
 adulterated with the subnitrate  of bismuth.   Generally,  however,
 the calomel of commerce is admitted to be good.
   Hydrargyrum cum cretd.—This preparation, made in the ordinary
 way by simple trituration, has always been regarded as a very certain
 and  mild medicine, and especially adapted to irritable conditions of
 the stomach and bowels, as in  the summer complaints of  children.
 The process for making it being a tedious one,  especially when per-
 formed by the hand, many experiments have been tried to facilitate
 the extinguishment of the globules of the metal without altering the
 character of the preparation.  By Dr. Stewart, of Baltimore, it was
 proposed, a few years  ago, to  accomplish  this  by  triturating the
 mercury first with resin, and then with the chalk, by which means
 considerable time  and  labour  are saved.   The  resin is removed,
 when the trituration is completed by  washing the  powder  with
 alcohol.  This process, having received the sanction of some of our
 best pharmaceutic chemists, has been  practised to  a considerable
 extent, without any suspicion, until  lately, that  an important change
 occurs in the  character of  the preparation, and one liable to pro-
 duce the most  serious consequences.  In the American Journal of
 Pharmacy  for April, 1850, there is an interesting  article on this
 subject by Professor Procter, of the Philadelphia College of Phar-
 macy, from which we  derive the following information:—
   Mr. Procter, having observed a reddish tinge in a portion of the
 hyd. cum creta, prepared  by this process, about  a year  and a half
 previously,  was struck with  the departure of the medicine from the
 usually bluish colour; and, recollecting that several instances had
 occurred, within a few years back, in Philadelphia and Baltimore,  of
 unlooked-for effects  following its  exhibition, it occurred  to him that
 " some unknown  circumstances had caused the peroxidation of the
 mercury."  To determine this point, he subjected the preparation to
 analysis, with the following results:—
                             Per cent.
Deutoxide of mercury,        22.80      equal to 21.25 of metal.
Protoxide of mercury,         4.21               4.05
Metallic mercury,            10.83              10.83

  Mr. Procter, with such  evidence  before his  eyes,  very properly
rejects the process of Dr. Stewart, and suggests the inquiry, whether 
16
REPORT ON
a similar  change may not, although more gradually, take  place in
the preparation made in the  ordinary way.   So large a per centage
of deutoxide as 22.80 very well accounts for the severe  effects which
have been found, in some  instances, to follow the exhibition of this
article, and  it is worthy of attention to discover whether any such
change occurs in that made by the common process.  If it shall be
found that it takes place ever so gradually or slowly, that mode of
preparing mercury must be abandoned  entirely,  or it must be done
in small quantities and at short periods.
   In the blue mass, which is an analogous preparation, the saccha-
rine matter, it is presumable, exercises a preservative influence over
the preparation.
   Opium.—Large quantities of inferior and adulterated opium have
been excluded from our market, as already mentioned, by the opera-
tion of the present law of Congress, which would otherwise have been
imposed upon us; but in place of it, adulterations to some extent have
been noticed in morphia and its salts.  It is not improbable, however,
that these are attributable to want of care in their  preparation.
   The valerianates, of late  years, have been the  subjects of con-
siderable  attention, and,  being  highly expensive, they have  also
become objects of  adulteration.   It is asserted,  by good authority,
that the  articles of this  class generally sold in  the shops consist
merely of the bases, scented with a little of the oil of valerian.
   It  has  always been  remarked that the most costly medicines, and
those in great demand, are  the most  commonly adulterated.  Sul-
phate of  quinia comes  under both these heads,  and  accordingly
complaints  are made continually, especially in the South and West,
where it  is  most  required, of  its  inefficiency  and uncertainty  of
effect.  There can be no doubt  that the fault is generally attribut-
able  to  its  adulteration.   Various articles  are employed for this
purpose.   Sometimes  the less  costly  alkaloids,  as salicine; but
most generally mannite, from  its cheapness, and the strong resem-
blance it  bears to the  beautiful, needle-like crystals of  the  sulphate.
Very recently, a large drug-house in Boston,  of  unsullied character
sold five hundred ounces, to be sent to California,  and, after it had
been shipped, it was ascertained that it was adulterated with twenty-
five per  cent, of mannite.  The article bore the label of a distin-
guished  French chemist,  and is believed to  have been pure when
imported, but, in its progress through New York, it is supposed to
have imbibed the  mannite by a kind  of endosmose ! That there is
 no exosmose in these cases is pretty evident,  for  the  quantity  is 
ADULTERATED DRUGS, ETC.
17
always increased, as must be inferred from the price growing less!
Thus,  sulphate of quinia sells  at a price varying from  four dollars
an ounce, at which it is  sold by the manufacturers, to  two dollars.
At the latter rate, it can be purchased of peddlers, small retailers,
and  a certain class of large drug-dealers ; and  this never could be
afforded, if it were not for  this remarkable  property of  attracting
foreign substances.   It may be  well to mention that the best yellow
bark employed for the  manufacture  of the  article  sells in  large
quantities  at  a dollar and fifty cents, and  upwards, the pound, and
that, by the best ascertained process, it requires two pounds, at the
least, to obtain an ounce of the salt.  With a knowledge of  these
facts, can there be any mystery in the accounts we frequently hear
of enormous doses being given with impunity?
  Extensive  inquiries  among  physicians,  manufacturing  chemists,
and  druggists have led to the following conclusions :—
  1st. That the wholesale druggists in the  large cities, equally in the
South and West as in the Eastern States, who are not specially engaged
in selling  nostrums,  either as proprietors  or  agents, conduct their
business on fair and honourable principles.  As a general  rule, they
buy  their choice chemicals  from those who manufacture them, and
either  import other articles, or get them directly from those who do,
and  are always disposed to  supply good articles to customers  who
are willing to pay a remunerating price.   At the same  time, many
of this class keep inferior articles, which they dispose of  for a cor-
responding  price  to physicians  and  storekeepers who  insist on
buying at reduced rates.
  2d.  That the inferior  and adulterated drugs are chiefly disposed
of in the southern and western portions of the United States—to
the physicians and people residing in the small towns and villages, and
sparsely populated districts.   That in  the large cities, particularly
in the Atlantic States, bad  drugs  are, as  a very general  rule, dis-
pensed only by inferior apothecaries.
  There is ground to hope that  we shall hereafter be protected from
the introduction of spurious drugs from abroad; and, if effectual means
can be devised to  prevent their  sophistication and  sale at home, a
<rreat boon will be conferred  on the community.  It is not probable
that this can be fully accomplished; but the evil may certainly be
very much limited.  How shall  this be  done ?   Various plans have
been suggested, of which the following may be considered as the
most important:—
  1st.  To apply to the State legislatures to pass laws authorizing the
       o 
18
REPORT ON
 appointment of inspectors, and making it a penal offence to deal in
 adulterated drugs and medicines.
   It  is difficult to understand  why fraud in the manufacture and
 sale of medicines, which have so important an influence on the health
 and lives of the people, should not be punished with the same severity
 as  debasing  and counterfeiting money,  which merely affects their
 pecuniary interests.  The past history of State legislation, in relation
 to  the practice of medicine, affords little hope,  however, that any
 salutary laws on this subject  can be procured in many or all of the
 States of  the Union; and without a general concurrence of action,
 no  good will be accomplished.   It is to the members of our own pro-
 fession, therefore,  in conjunction with the respectable druggists and
 apothecaries, that  we must look for whatever reformation is to be
 accomplished.
  2dly. It has been suggested that physicians should feel it to be their
 duty to inspect the medicines in the drug stores from which they are
 in the habit of obtaining supplies for themselves or their patients. This
 would exercise a wholesome influence, if submitted to by the  apothe-
 cary,  and  frequently performed by the physician, neither of which,
 however, is very probable.  A  more effectual plan, because of its
being more likely to be  carried out, would  be for the various State
medical societies annually to  appoint a board  of  examiners, who
 should procure samples of different articles from  the drug stores
within their limits, analyze and otherwise examine them, and publish
the results.   If this were impartially and  skilfully done, it would
excite  the ambition  of  the  meritorious and control the less scru-
pulous.
  Properly to carry out this  plan, as well as for their own security
in making purchases, physicians should  become better acquainted
with the physical characters of drugs, and be able, with the assistance
of  a good treatise on chemistry,  to analyze the various chemical
 articles recognized in the Pharmacopoeia.   The requisite apparatus
for  this purpose, which need not be costly, should be in every physi-
 cian's office, and good specimens of the various articles of the materia
medica, with samples of the inferior or adulterated.  This is especially
 desirable in offices into which students of  medicine are received.
  3dly. The co-operation of the druggists and apothecaries in dis-
 countenancing and putting down the traffic in inferior and adulte-
 rated medicines should be solicited.   For this purpose, they should
 be encouraged to institute pharmaceutical associations in every con- 
ADULTERATED DRUGS, ETC.
19
siderable town throughout the country, which, more than anything
else, would tend to elevate  the  professional and moral  standing  of
their craft.   Men who are in the habit of meeting together for laud-
able purposes are far less liable to plunge into  bad practices than
the isolated being whose better  feelings are  not warmed by  associa-
tion.   The establishment of such societies has always been salutary.
In Philadelphia, the institution  of the College of Pharmacy,  with its
cabinets, its lectures, and excellent  quarterly Journal, which is pub-
lished  regularly, has  raised the character  of the apothecaries  to an
enviable height; and  in the city of New York, where a like organiza-
tion has been more recently formed, similar effects  are observable.
  4thly. In making their purchases of medicines, physicians should
be willing to pay fair  prices, and be careful to procure them only
from the most respectable druggists.  Men of this  character, selling
in large quantities, never demand exorbitant profits, and it is not to
be expected that they will sell good articles at a loss.
  A large amount of the inferior qualities of drugs passes through
the hands of country storekeepers, who deal in dry goods, groceries,
hardware, &c.  With people  who are such indifferent judges, arti-
cles are selected that afford the largest  profits, and the quality is
pretty certain not to exceed the price.
  A class, worse even than  this, of  whom to  purchase medicines,
are druggists whose  advertisements are chiefly filled with nostrums
and secret preparations.   They who  deal with men of this  descrip-
tion, besides exposing themselves to the risk, amounting almost  to
certainty, of being cheated, may be regarded as active supporters of
the worst kinds of quackery.
   In conclusion, the  committee beg leave to offer the following  Reso-
lutions for the consideration of the  Association:—
   1st.  Resolved, That the various  State and local medical societies
be  requested annually to appoint boards  of examiners, whose duty
it shall be to procure specimens of drugs from the stores within their
limits, for examination, and report upon the same to their respective
societies, at least once in every year.
   2dly. Resolved, That the respectable druggists and  apothecaries
throughout  the United States be requested to take active measures
for suppressing the  fabrication and sale of inferior and adulterated
drugs, and that it be respectfully suggested to them, Avhenever prac-
ticable, to form themselves into societies or  colleges for the promo-
tion of pharmaceutical knowledge and general improvement in their
profession. 
20         REPORT ON ADULTERATED  DRUGS, ETC.

  3dly. Rcsolrcd,  That a committee be appointed, consisting of one
member from each State here represented, whose duty it  shall be to
collect information in regard to adulterated and spurious  drugs, and
report the same at the next meeting of the Association.
                                 E.  M. HUSTON, Chairman. 
 
 
 
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