16 ADULTERATED DRUGS AND CHEMICALS. 



and " Strictly chemically pure, free from N. and S." The marking of 

 chemicals as free from certain impurities is certainly a step in the 

 right direction, but the great difficulty is that many of these chemicals 

 are free from these impurities only on the label. A recent consign- 

 ment of copper sulphate to be used in sugar analysis, delivered to the 

 Bureau of Chemistry on the specification that it must be strictly free 

 from iron, was so labeled, but nevertheless contained this impurity in 

 appreciable quantities. A purchase of magnesium oxid guaranteed 

 to be free from sulphur and so labeled contained over 2 per cent of 

 sulphur calculated as anhydrous sodium sulphate, and goods labeled 

 "Chemically pure sulphuric acid, arsenic free," frequently contain 

 this impurity. 



In view of the above facts it is quite evident, first, that "C. P," or 

 " Chemically pure," with all its qualifying adjectives, at present means 

 nothing, and its fraudulent use should be prohibited; second, that no 

 chemical should be accepted as free from a certain impurity simply 

 because the package is so labeled; and, third, that certain specific 

 standards for chemical reagents should be established. Such reagents 

 should be free from all undesirable or detrimental contaminations, 

 and this fact should be set forth on the label. It is well known that 

 many original packages are not marked at all except by the private 

 mark of the manufacturer. A Federal law requiring that every 

 package of chemicals be properly labeled as to name and quality would 

 remedy this practice. V. Coblentz, in this connection, well says: 

 "The indiscriminate labeling of chemicals without qualification as to 

 degree of purity should by all means be discouraged as being a loose 

 practice through which legal responsibilities may be evaded." 



ADULTERATIONS RESULTING FROM ARBITRARY STANDARDS. 



The argument is occasionally advanced that arbitrary standards are 

 direct incentives to fraudulent dealings. Fluid extract of nux vomica 

 prepared from a bean containing 2.5 per cent of total alkaloids is 

 diluted, to conform to a standard, so that it contains only 1.5 per cent 

 of alkaloids. Milk dealers reduce milk containing 5 per cent of fat, 

 so as to pass a 3 per cent standard. The former is considered right, 

 the latter reprehensible to a high degree. In reality the one does not 

 appear to be any worse than the other. 



The United States Pharmacopoeia prescribes an upper and a lower 

 limit of morphine for powdered opium, but no provisions are made to 

 reduce an opium containing more than 15 per cent of morphine, the 

 highest amount permissible, so as to conform to the proper require- 

 ments. It is not uncommon to meet with powdered opium containing 

 over 15 per cent of morphine, and dealers are compelled in self-defense 

 to reduce it to the proper strength by mixing it with opium of a lower 



