EDITORIAL. 
81 
—must  have  a  homoeopathic  idea  of  its  value,  and  plenty  of  faith. 
The  analyses  of  many  specimens  of  ash  show  only  grain  of 
potash  per  ounce.  Others,  with  Dr.  Tanner,  and  I  think  with 
more  reason,  rely  on  the  citric  acid  as  the  chief  means  for  cur- 
ing scurvy. 
The  molecules  of  citric  acid  are  very  remarkable  for  their  ten- 
dency to  change,  especially  when  sugar  or  gum  is  present.  As 
remarked  before  with  regard  to  lemon-juice,  so  a  solution  of 
crystallized  citric  acid  cannot  be  evaporated  to  dryness  without 
decomp^osition,  even  with  a  very  gentle  heat. 
Like  all  seaport  towns,  a  great  many  cases  of  scurvy  are 
present;  in  Bristol,  and  I  have  the  authority  of  several  of  our 
leading  physicians  for  saying  that  they  find  the  crystallized 
citric  acid  as  efficacious  as  lemon -juice  (especially  with  fresh 
meat  and  vegetables)  in  curing  that  disease. 
But  as  this  question  is  more  in  the  sphere  of  physicians 
than  the  pharmaceutist,  it  had  better  be  left  in  their  hands  for 
solution. — Lond.  Pharm.  Journ.^  Oct.,  1868. 
^Mtorial  department 
Bad  Drugs — Want  of  uniformity  in  Officinal  Preparations  : — Shop 
Inspection  by  the  Board  of  Health  proposed  as  a  Remedy. — To  the 
pharmaceutist  and  physician  who  has  tHe  true  interests  of  pharmacy  and 
medicine  at  heart,  the  present  methods  of  supplying  the  demand  for 
officinal  preparations  are  calculated  to  create  grave  doubts  of  their 
adequacy  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  practitioner,  or  to  enable  the  pharma- 
ceutist to  do  his  just  duty  as  the  custodian  and  dispenser  of  the  prepara- 
tions of  the  Pharmacopoeia. 
Among  the  causes  which  lead  to  this  opinion  are  a  tendency  to  the 
relinquishment  of  the  business  of  making  preparations  in  the  shop  ;  ex- 
cessive competition  among  "  manufacturing  pharmaceutists,"  by  which 
uniformity  is  invaded  in  the  strife  for  lowness  of  price  ;  ignorance  on  the 
part  of  physicians  of  the  remedies  they  prescribe  ;  and  ignorance  and 
unscrupulousness  on  the  part  of  a  large  number  of  dispensers  in  reference 
to  the  quality  of  the  medicines  they  sell.  When  a  pharmaceutist  makes 
his  own  preparations  he  knows  what  they  are,  and  is  responsible  for  their 
quality;  he  graduates  the  supply  to  the  demand,  and  thus  renews  his 
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