i88 
Drugs  and  Food  Products. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1902. 
"Unfortunately,"  continues  the  writer,  "  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
the  applied  chemistry  of  the  digestive  ferments  is  such  that  obvi- 
ously incompatible  and  inert  preparations  are  persistently  offered, 
the  peculiar  physiological  nature  and  relations  of  these  ferments 
being  either  ignored,  or  not  at  all  well  understood.  If  you  take  up 
the  diastasic  enzyme,  for  instance,  you  will  find  products  which  are 
represented  to  contain  diastase  and  « ptyalin '  in  solution  with  other 
ferments,  to  be  devoid  of  starch-converting  power.  Elixirs  of 4  pep- 
sin and  bismuth'  are  quite  generally  manufactured  and  used,  and 
are  even  found  in «  formularies,'  whilst  the  fact  remains  that  bismuth 
in  solution  destroys  pepsin,  that  no  permanent  solution  (elixir  or 
other)  can  be  made  which  contains  pepsin  in  conjunction  with 
ammonio-citrate  of  bismuth  in  any  form  in  which  it  is  commonly 
used  in  these  prescriptions."  In  the  case  of  manufactured  drugs, 
such  as  fluid  extracts,  pills,  tablets,  etc.,  we  find  that,  through  no 
fault  of  the  manufacturer,  the  drug  or  combination  of  drugs 
deteriorates  in  time  and  becomes  either  deficient  in  its  physiologic 
activity  or  entirely  worthless.  Organic  matter,  especially  alkaloids, 
are  bound  to  deteriorate  on  keeping,  and  even  if  no  visible  changes 
take  place,  owing  to  some  special  form  of  preservation,  certain 
intrinsic  changes  undoubtedly  do  occur.  Is  there  any  one  here  who 
will  affirm  that  a  preserved  pear  or  peach  tastes  exactly  like  the 
fresh  fruit  ?  Every  one  of  you  has  observed  the  changes,  even  visi- 
ble to  the  naked  eye,  which  take  place  in  your  fluid  extracts  and 
tinctures.  As  to  pills  and  tablets,  they  are  often  mere  mummies 
of  the  original  drug.  They  have  been  driven  through  boards 
and  passed  uninjured  the  alimentary  tract,  and  I  am  sure  that  many 
of  them  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  fresh  drug  as  the  Indian 
mummy  at  the  Washington  Museum  does  to  the  original  Indian. 
"  A  ready-made  pill — to  coin  a  new  definition — is  a  powdered  drug 
embalmed  in  sugar  and  so  coated  as  to  remain  impervious.  It  may 
be  used  in  time  of  war  instead  of  bullets."  Many  of  the  official  pills 
have  been  found  deficient  in  alkaloidal  strength.  Thus,  the  New 
York  State  Board  of  Health  found  that  quinine  pills,  stated  to  con- 
tain 2  grains,  only  had  vf,  0  9,  1-3,  r6,  1-8  ;  3-grain  pills  showed  2> 
2-5,  17,  27,  2-5  ;  5  grains  3-4,  4-4,  4-5  and  2-4. 
My  paper  will  not  be  complete  without  mentioning  still  another 
form  of  sophistication  which  is  really  a  simple  fraud.  I  allude  to 
patent  medicines.    I  may  state,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that 
