272 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [September 30,1871 
attention to this fact, and raised some doubts as to 
appropriateness of the recommendations awarded to 
these specimens of “ elegant pharmacy.” A medical 
journal, the Practitioner, stated that the amount 
of cod-liver oil contained in tliis cod-liver oil jelly 
was not much more than half what it was repre¬ 
sented to he. In a subsequent number of that 
journal, attention was called to a statement of facts 
respecting the circumstances connected with a former 
analysis of cod-liver oil jelly, and also to the results 
of a further anatysis as follows : — 
“ Our analyst, after making the first examinations, pri¬ 
vately communicated their general result to Dr. Attfield, 
who had certified that a sample of the jelly analysed by 
him contained 75 per cent, of oil, Mr. Agnew at the same 
time certifying that all samples supplied to the agents 
should contain the same proportion of oil. Dr. Attfield, 
having completely verified our analyst’s statement as to 
the serious deficiency in oil exhibited by various samples 
actually sold by several respectable London agents of the 
maker, immediately communicated the fact to Mr. Ag¬ 
new, and remonstrated with him. The latter gentleman, 
without waiting for the appearance of our condemnatory 
report, put forward the following somewhat misleading 
statement in the weekly medical journals (dated May 19, 
1871) :—‘Dr. Attfield has drawn my attention to a de¬ 
ficiency in the percentage of oil in recent parcels of my 
“ cod-liver oil jellyin justice to the Professor, I beg to 
say that the deficiency has arisen through a miscalcula¬ 
tion on my part, and that the error has been corrected.* 
“ It will be observed (1) that there is no mention of the 
fact that the error was originally discovered by an out¬ 
sider (ourselves); (2) that the mistake is spoken of only 
as occurring in ‘ recent parcels,’ whereas our analyst 
had detected the same deficiency in parcels of various 
dates, and also in the small samples of the jelly which 
were originally sent round to members of the profession; 
3) that Mr. Agnew had himself published a formula 
sent round with the small specimen samples), according 
to which the proportion of' oil that should have been 
present was 83 volumes per cent., thus making the de¬ 
ficiency detected by us still more serious. We are thus 
reduced to the following awkward dilemma: either Mr. 
Agnew supplied a sample of the jelly to Dr. Attfield, for 
analysis, which did not at all represent the jelly actually 
in the market, or the latter gentleman made a mistake 
in his original analysis of from 15 to 20 per cent. Be 
that as it may, it is quite evident from the above detailed 
facts that such general certificates as those which were 
published by the maker of the jelly are absolutely value¬ 
less as a protection to the public, and that analytical 
chemists would do well altogether to refuse to give such 
testimonials. 
“ In consequence of the above declaration of the maker, 
we have thought it our duty to analyse samples of cod- 
liver oil furnished to the London agents, from the fac¬ 
tory, several weeks after the date of that document. We 
regret to say that we still find a deficiency of 15 to 16 
per cent., as the analytical details given below will suffi¬ 
ciently show. We leave the profession, the manufac¬ 
turers of drugs, and the analytical chemists of this 
country to their own reflections and conclusions on the 
matter. We make no comment whatever on the motives 
of any persons concerned ; but we must distinctly point 
out that but for the interference of the Practitioner a 
very serious and misleading manufacturing error might 
have been continued for an indefinite period.” 
* We think it only just to ourselves to state that the 
paragraph referred to was sent to us, and that we declined to 
publish it otherwise than as an advertisement.—E d. Phaeai. 
Jo vex. 
To these remarks were appended the following 
report of the results of analyses of two samples 
of the preparation purchased of wholesale dealers 
in London:— 
Cod-livek Oil. 
SUGAB. 
Per cent, 
by weight. 
NTim- 
Per cent, by 
Per cent, by 
Specifio 
ber. 
volume in 
volume. 
weight in 
weight. 
gravity. 
I. 
58-73 
50-29 
31-22 
1081-4 
II. 
61-84 
52-93 
29-69 
10S0-8 
“The jelly, if made according to declaration, should 
just about float in water; whereas the above readily 
sinks down in it, and floats only in a syrup containing ^j 
of sugar to ^iv of water.” 
The August number of the Practitioner contains 
a letter in which Mr. Agnew endeavours to defend 
himself by suggesting that the foregoing results 
were arrived at, not by analysis, hut by calculation 
from the specific gravity. Tills is repudiated by the 
Editor, of the Practitioner. 
MORE ABOUT CONDURANGO. 
Tiieue appears now to he but small probability 
that the great expectations once entertained that 
condurango would prove to be a remedy for cancer 
will be realized. The British Medical Journal, in a 
recent number, remarks:— 
“All that we hear of the results of the trials given to 
the condurango bark furnished by our Government to 
the Middlesex and St. Bartholomew’s hospitals, through 
the College of Physicians, confirms the fear that any 
hope which might have been entertained, of a confirma¬ 
tion of the statement of its utility as a remedy in cancer, 
must be entirely dismissed. Physiologically, it appears 
to be practically inert, and its therapeutic effects in the 
treatment of cancer to be nil. It furnishes a slightly 
bitter extract of feeble characters. A detailed thera¬ 
peutical report will be made by Mr. Ilulke, and a care¬ 
ful examination of its physiological action by Dr. Brun- 
ton, but this mainly in deference rather to the official 
sources from which the small supply has been furnished, 
and to set at rest the excitement caused by the some¬ 
what scandalous claims which have been set up in its 
favour.” 
To judge by the following extract, the editor of the 
Chicago Pharmacist, too, has arrived at a somewhat 
. similar conclusion, though the style of composition 
in which his opinion is announced slightly varies 
from that of the English journal, and the language 
is rather more racy of the soil than we are accus¬ 
tomed to meet with in our American contemporary:— 
“ It can hardly fail to cause the heart of the American 
pharmacist to bound for joy to know that Dr. Bliss, 
from blissful Washington, has announced the blissful 
intelligence that a cargo of cundurango has arrived in 
New York, which will be furnished to the profession at 
the highest possible prices. ‘ See, the conquering hero 
comes!’ The very name cundurango has a high and 
mighty conquering sound—sweetly blended of high 
Spanish, Guinea Nigger, Fijii, and Whang Doodle. 
Dr. Bliss has taken steps to Helmboldize the drug at 
once. We will soon see it marching on across the Con¬ 
tinent, side by side with the other heroic names which, by 
the magic of paint and cheap blacking, blazoned on every 
! bridge, fence, and crag, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
j have been stencilled upon the great American heart.” 
