320 
Cheap  Drugs, 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1902. 
keeping  it  in  a  closely  sealed  jar.  Others  grind  the  fresh  ergot  and 
preserve  with  chloroform  in  paraffin  paper,  while  others  first  extract 
the  oil  with  alcohol  or  ether.  Lately  it  has  been  proposed  to  keep 
the  drug  by  the  use  of  formaldehyde.  As  to  what  influence  the  lat- 
ter has  on  the  therapeutic  value  of  the  drug  has  not  been  stated. 
In  the  preservation  of  vegetable  drugs  it  is  necessary  to  consider 
the  influence  of  temperature,  air,  moisture,  the  attacks  of  insects  and, 
possibly,  light. 
It  is  of  the  first  importance  that  the  temperature  in  the  room  or 
part  of  the  store  devoted  to  the  storage  of  dry  drugs  shall  be  not 
more  than  6o-yo°  F.  and  nearly  uniform  throughout  the  year. 
Drugs  containing  volatile  principles  require  to  be  kept  in  air-tight 
containers,  as  the  labiate  and  composite  herbs  and  wild-cherry  bark. 
Air-tight  tin  cans  are  probably  the  most  economical  and  satisfac- 
tory containers  for  the  purpose,  and  Lloyd  has  suggested  painting 
the  edges  of  the  cans  with  melted  beeswax.  Drugs  are  sometimes 
stored  in  wooden  boxes  or  in  drawers.  This  method  is  objection- 
able, not  only  because  they  are  liable  to  deteriorate,  but  because  the 
odors  are  communicable  from  one  to  the  other.  The  storage  of 
drugs  in  parcels  is  the  worst  form  of  preservation,  particularly,  as  is 
usually  the  case,  when  the  different  parcels  are  stored  together. 
Those  drugs  that  are  difficult  to  dry,  as  the  inulin-containing 
drugs,  should  be  kept  in  containers  having  a  number  of  apertures,  to 
allow  evaporation  to  take  place.  Unless  provision  of  this  kind  is 
made,  molding  of  the  drug  may  develop.  From  experiments  that 
I  have  made  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  spores  of  ustilago  will 
develop  on  any  drug,  the  reserve  materials  of  which  are  chiefly 
carbohydrates. 
The  preservation  of  drugs  against  the  attacks  ot  insects  is,  unfor- 
tunately, overlooked.  Most  drugs  are  subject  to  their  depredations, 
and  are  usually  attacked  by  the  insects  in  the  larval  stage.  These 
insects  belong  chiefly  to  the  Lepidoptera,  Coleoptera  and  Diptera. 
The  Lepidoptera  are  the  most  destructive,  and  include  principally 
Tinea  zea,  or  cornmeal  moth,  which,  during  its  larval  (the  cater- 
pillar or  grub)  stage,  is  known  to  attack  aconite,  capsicum,  ergot, 
lappa,  linum,  rheum,  taraxacum  and  many  other  drugs.  Among 
the  Coleoptera  may  be  mentioned  various  members  of  the  Ptinedae, 
as  Ptinus  brunneus,  Anobium  paniceum  and  Lasioderma  serricorne, 
which  attack  the  spices  chiefly,  as  capsicum,  cinnamon  and  pimenta. 
