Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1889. 
Pharmaceutical  Assaying. 
337 
balsam,  one  of  these  also  contained  turpentine  ;  the  fourth  sample  was 
of  a  character  that  indicated  adulteration,  without  one  being  able  to 
determine  exactly  the  nature  of  the  admixture. 
A  sample  of  Yellow  Wax  was  found  to  contain  50  per  cent,  of  paraf- 
fin, thus  indicating  that  this  old  trick  has  not  been  forgotten. 
The  adulteration  of  certain  kinds  of  Cream  of  Tartar  has  nearly 
come  to  the  point  of  being  a  recognized  business.  A  sample  from  Al- 
toona  consisted  largely  of  calcium  phosphate.  It  scarcely  charred 
when  heated,  thus  indicating  the  absence  of  an  organic  substance  like 
tartaric  acid.  Two  samples  from  Pittsburgh  did  not  char  on  heating, 
and  were  found  to  consist  of  calcium  sulphate  and  phosphate. 
One  of  the  most  glaring  examples  of  willful  substitution  was  some 
Blue  Ointment,  which  by  private  information  as  well  as  chemical  ex- 
amination was  found  to  be  lard  colored  with  Prussian  blue. 
Seventy-seven  samples  of  Laudanum  representing  all  parts  of  the 
State  as  well  as  New  York  City  and  Baltimore  were  assayed.  Four 
were  of  full  officinal  strength.  Nine  more  were  near  enough  to  come 
within  the  limits  of  reasonable  error,  and  five  failed  to  yield  a  weigh- 
able  amount  of  morphine.  The  remaining  fifty-nine  may  be  classified 
as  bad.  Nearly  all  the  poor  samples  were  either  the  bottled  prepara- 
tion from  country  stores,  or  from  manufacturers  who  supply  this 
trade. 
Henry  Trimble,  Philadelphia. 
Chas.  D.  Lippixcott,  Titusville. 
T.  W.  Lascheid,  Pittsburgh. 
Committee. 
ON  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSAYING. 
By  August  Drescher,  Ph.  G. 
Read  before  the  New  Jersey  Pharmaceutical  Association  at  Bridgeton,  May  22. 
It  had  been,  originally,  the  intention  of  the  writer,  he  well  recogniz- 
ing the  importance  of  this  branch  of  pharmacy,  to  contribute  a  series 
of  papers  on  the  subject  of  assaying  crude  drugs  and  their  prepara- 
tions, and,  in  this  spirit,  work  was  forthwith  begun  in  his  own  labor- 
atory, regular  notes  of  personal  observations  being  made  and  kept, 
the  current  literature  on  the  matter  being  at  the  same  time  duly  recog- 
nized, appreciated,  and  utilized,  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  subject 
was  to  be  treated  of  in  regular  classic  order,  and  the  first  to  be  consid- 
ered was  to  be  "  Narcotica  et  similia."    I  had  the  pleasure  at  our 
