Ano*ctober,Ii9Sm'}    Advance s  in  Pharmaceutical  Manufactures.  465 
Alkaloids  and  organic  compounds  were  few  and  were  used  in  very 
limited  quantity.  Morphine  and  quinine,  chloroform,  alcohol,  ether 
and  collodion,  besides  acetic,  tartaric  and  oxalic  acids,  were  the 
chief  ones. 
But  in  1852  the  opening  of  the  Hudson  River  and  Erie  Railroads, 
followed  by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  in  1854,  made  it  possible  for 
the  druggist  to  get  his  preparations  more  quickly  than  he  could 
make  them,  and  at  no  greater  cost ;  while  the  consolidation  of  fifty 
different  telegraph  companies,  which  began  in  185 1,  enabled  him  to 
send  his  orders  instantaneously. 
The  Civil  War,  with  its  demands  for  medical  supplies,  stimulated 
the  manufacturers ;  the  need  of  large  quantities  of  pure  extracts 
led  Dr.  Squibb  to  establish  his  laboratory,  and  the  abilities  of  that 
great  man  were  devoted  to  perfecting  the  processes  of  pharmaceu- 
tical manufactures. 
His  many  researches  and  improvements,  freely  published  in  the 
EphemeriSy  take  the  lead  in  importance  and  value,  and  he  must  be 
counted  among  the  benefactors  of  humanity.  • 
His  process  of  preparing  fluid  extracts  by  cold  repercolation  may 
be  put  at  the  head,  and  his  suggestions  on  the  valuation  of  drugs 
and  the  assay  of  opium,  on  the  manufacture  of  ether,  acetone  and 
cocaine,  and  of  acetic  extracts,  should  not  be  forgotten. 
Among  those  who  have  passed  away  and  who  should  be  remem- 
bered with  honor  and  gratitude  for  their  services  to  scientific  phar- 
macy in  America,  are  Procter,  Maisch  and  Rice.  These  men  made 
the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  the  most  perfect  book  of  its  kind 
in  the  world. 
The  Pharmacopoeia,  with  its  formulae  constructed  on  a  scale 
intended  for  the  convenience  of  the  retailer,  became  nevertheless  a 
guide  to  the  manufacturer,  and  the  retailer  found  it  advantageous  to 
buy  his  standard  pharmaceuticals  ready  made.  The  reasons  for  this 
are  truer  to-day  than  they  were  then  ;  they  are  as  follows : 
(1)  The  retail  pharmacist  cannot  devote  the  time  to  manufactur- 
ing. 
(2)  Making  fluid  extracts  in  small  quantities  is  uneconomical 
because  of  the  loss  of  the  alcohol  which  is  recovered  in  a  large  way ; 
the  cost  of  labor,  which  would  be  about  the  same  for  one  litre  as  for 
200  litres ;  and  the  forming  of  a  deposit  in  many  extracts  which 
would  never  have  time  to  clarify  if  used  at  once  for  dispensing ; 
