224  Adulterations  of  Drugs  and  Chemicals.  \^S^§S?m' 
SANGUINARINE  NITRATE. 
Of  the  commercial  variety,  sold  as  sanguinarine  nitrate  without 
qualification,  we  found  one  sample  to  assay  only  51-4  per  cent.,  one 
6i-2  per  cent.,  and  another  75-3  per  cent,  pure  sanguinarine  nitrate. 
The  highest  assay  ran  89' 5  per  cent.  This  commercial  salt  is  not 
supposed  to  run  100  per  cent.,  but  the  great  variation  in  the 
strength  makes  it  necessary  to  assay  each  individual  lot,  thereby 
enabling  one  to  use  the  right  proportions  of  the  salt  in  preparations. 
Manufacturers  of  this  salt  should  put  the  percentage  of  the  pure  salt 
on  their  labels,  or  should  state  on  their  labels  that  so  and  so  much 
pure  crystalline  sanguinarine  nitrate  is  present  in  the  respective 
preparations,  because  the  mere  labeling  "  sanguinarine  nitrate"  is 
misleading.  The  retail  druggist  is  hardly  in  a  position  to  test  this 
product. 
RESIN  PODOPHYLLUM. 
Very  few  of  the  samples  we  tested  lately  came  up  to  the  U.  S.  P. 
requirements.  "Most  of  them  contained  about  10  or  more  per  cent, 
of  alcohol  insoluble  matter.  We  manufactured  some  pounds  in  our 
own  laboratories  according  to  U.  S.  P.  method  and  had  no  difficulty 
in  getting  a  product  which  was  strictly  U.  S.  P. 
POWDERED  CASTILE  SOAP. 
A  large  percentage  of  samples  sold  as  "  pure  olive  oil  soap  "  were 
found  to  contain  large  amounts  of  animal  fats. 
ZINC  PERMANGANATE. 
During  the  last  few  months  we  were  unable  to  get  a  zinc  perman- 
ganate which  was  entirely  soluble  in  water.  As  this  product  is  used 
not  only  for  injection  but  also  for  eye  washes,  it  would  be  evidently 
dangerous  to  use  a  product  containing  insoluble  matter,  the  latter 
causing  irritation  of  the  membranes  to  which  the  solution  is  applied. 
The  best  sample  we  got  hold  of  contained  8  per  cent,  insoluble 
matter ;  one  sample  submitted  to  us  by  a  prominent  house  con- 
tained even  32  per  cent,  insoluble  matter.  As  we  all  know,  the  salt 
decomposes  very  rapidly  if  exposed  to  light  and  air,  but  the  once 
decomposed  salt  is  certainly  unfit  for  medicinal  purposes. 
