On the adulteration of certain Medicines. 11 
Recollecting that anhydrous sulphate of lime becomes solid 
when mixed with water, I suspected that the magnesia em- 
ployed by the apothecary was adulterated with it, and my 
suspicions have been confirmed by subsequent experiments. 
I made several mixtures according to the above recipe and 
added to each a quantity of calcined sulphate of lime in va- 
rious proportions, and in two or three days the mixture at 
the bottom became quite hard. 
By these experiments I have arrived at the conclusion that 
the magnesia employed by the apothecary must have been 
adulterated with a large quantity of sulphate of lime. 
We would probably have the same result by mixing pure 
lime with the magnesia and adding to the mixture a small 
quantity of sulphuric acid. It is probable, therefore, that if 
the magnesia of the apothecary was not adulterated with sul- 
phate of lime, it contained pure lime, and the vinegar em- 
ployed in making his syrup of scfuills must have been largely 
contaminated with sulphuric acid. 
ART. Ill —ON ADULTERATIONS OF CERTAIN MEDICINES. 
By Oliver Hull. 
Read before the Board of Trustees of the College of Pharmacy, of the city of 
New York, Feb. 6th, 1835. 
The sophistication of the materials used in medicine is a 
species of fraud of the most culpable kind. The purchaser 
is not only deprived of a portion of his property unjustly, 
but the health and life of the patient is endangered or destroy- 
ed. This evil however exists to a very alarming extent. 
Among a number of instances which have recently come to 
my knowledge are the following : — Equal parts of alum and 
tartaric acid have been ground together, and sold as powder- 
ed tartaric acid. Equal parts of rhubarb and American Co- 
lombo root, with a little gamboge, have been powdered to- 
