428 
Sale  of  Poisons. 
[Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
I  September,  1902. 
one  of  the  reasons  why  it  is  not  easily  exhausted  by  the  U.S.P. 
process.  Another  reason  is  because  maceration  is  not  recommended. 
Mr.  W.  S.  Spickler  (at  one  time  in  the  employ  of  the  writer) 
suggested  a  process  which  might  be  termed  "  percolation  by  install- 
ments," as  follows:  The  powder  is  packed  as  directed  in  the  Phar- 
macopoeia and  menstruum  poured  on  to  saturate  the  drug  and  leave 
a  stratum  above  it.  When  the  liquid  begins  to  drop  from  the  per- 
colator the  orifice  is  closed  with  a  cork  and  left  to  macerate  for 
forty-eight  hours.  Percolation  is  then  allowed  to  proceed  slowly 
until  one-fourth  of  the  percolate  is  obtained.  The  orifice  of  the 
percolator  is  again  closed  and  the  contents  allowed  to  macerate  for 
twelve  hours.  Percolation  then  is  allowed  to  proceed  until  another 
fourth  of  percolate  is  obtained.  This  last  operation  is  twice  repeated 
until  the  whole  of  the  percolate  is  obtained. 
The  finished  percolate  is  then  removed  and  more  menstruum 
poured  on,  and  percolation  is  continued  until  the  drug  is  practically 
exhausted.  This  weak  percolate  is  put  aside  and  used  to  start  the 
operation  the  next  time  the  tincture  is  to  be  prepared. 
LAWS  REGULATING  THE  SALE  OF  POISONS. 
By  Joseph  L,.  L,emberger. 
The  query  to  which  I  have  consented  to  give  attention  appeals  to 
me  from  the  viewpoint  of  duty  to  the  Commonwealth.  We  know 
that  from  peer  to  peasant,  from  the  most  cultured  to  the  most  igno- 
rant, danger  threatens  their  existence  by  voluntary  resort  to  the 
use  or  abuse  of  poisons,  the  sale  of  which  may  not  be  sufficiently 
safeguarded  by  law.  All  of  us  who  have  been  in  the  active  drug 
business  have  met  with  the  habitual  user  of  opium  or  morphia  or 
cocaine,  and  would  gladly  have  taken  refuge  from  responsibility  in 
a  rigid  law,  and  have  helped  our  fellow  mortals  as  they  gratified  an 
abnormal  desire  which  must  hasten  physical  wreck.  It  may  be  con- 
sidered a  deprivation  of  personal  liberty  to  offer  this  suggestion,  but 
in  the  writer's  judgment,  after  years  of  observation  and  the  knowl- 
edge of  misery  entailed  by  the  abusive  use  of  poisonous  drugs,  he 
feels  persuaded  that  a  more  stringent  law  making  the  indiscriminate 
purchase  less  easy,  would,  in  a  large  measure,  serve  as  a  protection 
against  their  too  free  use.  We  have  taken  pains  to  examine  our 
relation  to  the  laws  in  the  sisterhood  of  States  to  discover  whether 
