AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION.  505 
During  the  past  year  your  committee  have  met  with  very  many  instances 
of  fraud  and  deception  in  drugs  ;  some  of  these  are  very  curious,  and  are 
worthy  of  a  place  in  a  report  of  this  kind. 
During  the  past  year,  in  a  wood-turner's  shop  in  Boston,  was  seen  more 
than  a  barrel  of  East  India  rhubarb,  which  was  being  turned  down  into 
C{  true  Turkey." 
This  rhubarb  was  sold  for  genuine  and  real  Turkey  rhubarb. 
A  druggist  was  applied  to  by  a  man  for  a  situation  as  porter  in  his  store  : 
"What  can  you  do?  What  have  you  been  doing  at  your  last  place,"  were 
the  questions  asked. 
{COh,"  replied  the  man,  u  I  have  done  every  thing  about  the  store  that 
was  needed,  until  the  past  year.  I  have  worked  up  stairs  in  the  room  mak- 
ing Turkey  Rhubarb." 
u  Making  Turkey  Rhubarb;  what  do  you  mean  by  that?" 
u  Why,"  replied  the  man,  u  we  used  to  take  the  East  India  and  file  it 
and  bore  it  into  true  Turkey." 
The  man  was  not  engaged. 
Both  of  these,  it  may  be  remarked,  are  merely  instances  grateful  to  those 
who  urge  that  "most  of  the  adulterations  are  harmless,"  but  they  must  ap- 
peal with  considerable  force  to  those  who  are  sensitive  as  to  the  mere  value 
of  an  article  in  dollars  and  cents,  for  East  India  Rhubarb  at  90c.  per  lb., 
transformed  into  "  true  Turkey"  ar  $4  50  per  lb.,  is  certainly  a  touching  in- 
stance of  the  mutability  of  earthly  things,  especially  drugs. 
There  is  one  more  aspect  in  which  this  snbject  of  adulterations  is  to  be 
considered,  and  that  is  the  moral  bearings  of  the  practice,  ft  is  not  possible 
for  an  adulterator  to  be  a  strictly  honest  man.  The  practice  not  only  makes 
those  guilty  of  it  dishonest,  but  it  also  causes  distrust  on  the  part  of  those 
who  buy;  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the  seller  is  lost  by  those  who  pur- 
chase, and  not  only  do  the  guilty,  but  the  honest  traders  suffer :  in  fact  the 
standard  of  morality  and  business  integrity  is  lowered,  and  the  innocent 
suffer  with  the  guilty. 
The  truly  upright  man  who  cannot  conscientiously  adopt  the  practice  of 
his  competitors,  how  fares  it  with  him  % 
He  struggles  alone,  selling  pure  articles  at  a  smaller  profit  than  those  who 
are  less  scrupulous  he,  is  discouraged,  and  well  he  maybe  oftentimes; 
and  were  it  not  for  the  proud  consciousness  of  right  doing,  he  would  be- 
come disheartened,  less  honest,  and  finally  adopt  the  practices  he  formerly 
condemned. 
The  practice  of  adulteration,  then,  is  one  deserving  condemnation,  be- 
cause prejudicial  to  public  health,  honesty  and  morality,  and  in  a  pecunia- 
ry view,  as  occasioning  a  loss  to  the  public  and  the  government. 
If.  we  admit  the  truth  of  the  statement  of  Dr.  Normandy,  and  very  few 
will  question  it,  we  can  see  to  how  great  an  extent  the  practice  has  ad- 
vanced. He  says  :  "  Adulteration  is  a  wide-spread  evil,  which  has  invaded 
every  branch  of  commerce.  Everything  which  can  be  mixed  or  adulterated, 
or  debased  in  any  way,  is  debased." 
Your  committee  submit  herewith  a  brief  list  of  drugs  found  to  be  adul- 
terated, and  the  articles  used  for  the  purpose. 
Many  of  the  substances  referred  to  in  this  list  are  taken  from  11  Cheva- 
lier's Dictionary  of  Alterations  and  Falsifications." 
Acetate  of  Morphia,  is  adulterated  with  acetate  and  phosphate  of  lime. 
Benzoic  acid,  with  asbestos,  carbonate  and  sulphate  of  lime,  hippuric 
acid  and  sugar. 
Citric  acid,  with  oxalic  and  tartaric  acids,  and  sulphate  of  lime.  It  often 
contains  sulphuric  acid  and  salts  of  lead  or  copper.  In  1850  M.  Penne^ 
discovered  the  presence  of  lead  in  this  acid,  obtained  of  three  highly  res- 
