62 POWDERED VEGETABLE DRUGS 



information regarding the exact influence of climatic conditions, culti- 

 vation, etc. 



3. Ignorance on the part of the practicing pharmacist. The phar- 

 macist who does not have an adequate pharmaceutical training is 

 wholly at the mercy of unscrupulous jobbers, who will sell him their 



, worthless material, reserving the first quality drugs for the intelligent 

 pharmacists who cannot be duped so readily. The ignorant pharma- 

 cist will frequently purchase a cheap drug, especially powdered drugs 

 and spices, under the impression that he is getting a first-class article 

 at a bargain. The ignorant pharmacist is also liable to use and sell 

 material which has become worthless through age, exposure to moisture, 

 contamination with bacteria, hyphal fungi and other parasites. 



4. Exaggeration and untrustworthy work of analytical chemists 

 who claim to have discovered medicinal substances which do not exist 

 at all, or only in small quantities. This is usually the case when some 

 new remedy is vaunted. This form of sophistication is often unin- 

 tentional and is primarily due to inherent human enthusiasm which 

 naturally leads to more or less exaggeration. Opposed to the inherent 

 tendency to make more or less exaggerated claims for new remedies 

 is the equally inherent skepticism towards the new. The enthusiast 

 as well as the skeptic are often in the wrong and they act as checks 

 upon each other. In this connection it is well to mention the work 

 of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical 

 Association. This council has a most wholesome checking influence 

 upon the manufacture of fraudulent remedies. 



2. Intentional or Criminal Adulteration. 



This form of adulteration is due to an utter lack of conscience. 

 Foreign substances are added to the drugs with a view to deriving a 

 pecuniary profit above that which comes from dealing in the pure 

 article. Every housewife knows that powdered spices, as pepper, 

 cinnamon, allspice and cloves, are subject to adulteration. This is of 

 such common occurrence that it is advisable to purchase the whole 

 spice and grind it at home. The pharmacist should apply this sug- 

 gestion to vegetable drugs, in so far as that is possible. The following 

 are the common methods and sources of criminal adulteration : 



1. Intentional adulteration by collectors. The prime motive 

 may spring from a scarcity of the drug; an effort is, therefore, made to 

 bring the quantitative supply to the normal by adding worthless 

 material or inferior grades. Again, the quantitative supply may not 

 be deficient, but inordinate greed on the part of the collector leads to 

 the addition of some adulterant for the purpose of increasing the bulk. 



