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EDITORIAL. 
stock  as  often  as  it  is  needed.  But  when  once  he  leaves  this  true  stand- 
point and  abandons  his  proper  business  as  a  preparer  as  well  2,^  dispenser 
of  medicines,  he  is  at  the  mercy  of  circumstances  over  which  his  control 
is  very  limiied.  The  pharmaceutist  who  is  daily  engaged  in  preparing 
the  medicines  he  vends,  becomes  so  intimately  acquainted  with  their 
properties  that  he  can  form  a  fair  judgment  of  their  quality  when  made  ; 
but  when  he  foregoes  this  duty,  and  depends  on  the  druggist  and  manu- 
facturer for  all  the  more  important  preparations  of  the  Pharmacopoeia, 
he  blunts  this  power  of  judgment,  if  once  possessed,  to  a  large  extent; 
and  when  he  has  never  acquired  it  practically,  he  cannot  trust  his  senses 
to  the  same  degree,  even  supposing  he  sets  out  with  a  supply  of  good 
preparations.  This  evil  applies  most  largely  to  the  extracts,  fluid  ex- 
tracts, powders,  sugar-coated  pills,  and  the  so-called  concentrated  reme- 
dies of  eclectic  origin,  some  of  which  are  getting  into  use. 
The  fixed  and  well-marked  properties  of  chemicals,  organic  as  well  as 
inorganic,  afford  criteria  for  determining  their  quality  always  within  reach 
of  the  qualified  pharmaceutist ;  but  the  other  classes  of  preparations 
mentioned,  together  with  tinctures,  wines  and  other  galenical  prepara- 
tions, are  much  more  difficult  to  assay.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  have  reliable  processes  in  the  PharmacopoBia,  but  of  what  avail  are 
they  if  not  followed.  The  formulje  of  that  work  are  gotten  up  for  the 
use  of  the  pharmaceutist — in  his  shop  or  laboratory — on  a  moderate 
scale,  and  are  hence  often  not  so  well  suited  to  large  manufacturers. 
This  is  a  constant  source  of  alterations  in  manipulation  and  in  solvents, 
so  that  the  time  may  be  shortened  or  the  expense  decreased ;  rarely  is 
the  plea  to  make  a  better  preparation.  Unfortunately  the  formulae  of 
the  present  Pharmacopoeia  were  made  when  alcohol  was  worth  fifty  cents' 
a  gallon,  which,  after  the  war-tax  was  placed  upon  it,  rendered  its  use  in 
the  proportion  required  almost  an  impossibility  by  manufacturers,  who, 
in  order  to  keep  down  the  cost  of  their  preparations,  resorted  to  all  sorts 
of  modifications  of  the  methods  of  extraction.  The  consequence  is  that 
hardly  any  two  of  the  large  manufacturers  of  fluid  extracts  adopt  the 
same  process,  and  preparations  of  the  same  name  vary  exceedingly  in 
sensible  properties,  specific  gravity  and  medicinal  power,  as  made  at  one 
and  the  other  laboratory.  Another  objection  is  the  working  up  of  in- 
ferior drugs  into  extracts  and  fluid  extracts,  the  manufacturer  resting 
satisfied  if  he  puts  in  the  quantity  of  the  drug  called  for.  Then  the 
deterioration  arising  from  long  keeping,  exposure,  due  to  excessive  pro- 
duction, etc.  As  to  the  remedy  for  all  this  we  see  none  but  the  adoption 
of  means  to  insist  on  the  authority  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  on  the  one 
hand,  and  to  provide  legal  aid  in  demanding  qualification  from  the  dis- 
pensers. It  appears  to  us  that  the  medical  profession  are,  to  a  large 
■extent,  accountable  for  the  evils  we  have  pictured,  in  so  far  as  they  have 
encouraged  these  departures  from  authority  on  the  part  of  wholesale 
manufacturers.    It  is  proverbial  how  easily  physicians  are  influenced  by 
