NATIONAL  PHARMACEUTICAL  CONVENTION. 
9 
and  on  the  same  grounds  he  considered  that  the  inferior  varieties 
of  barks  and  of  rhubarb  should  be  admitted,  although  some  per- 
sons may  use  them  for  adulteration. 
At  the  request  of  the  President,  Professor  Carson,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  addressed  the  Convention  on  the  subject 
before  it.  He  coincided  generally  with  the  views  of  Dr.  Stewart, 
as  regarded  the  value  of  the  barks  in  question.  He  expressed 
the  opinion  that  numerous  varieties  of  the  so  called  Carthagena 
and  Maracaibo  barks  possessed  decided  medicinal  virtue,  that 
several  kinds  of  European  rhubarb  were  of  much  value  in  medi- 
cine, especially  in  times  when  the  officinal  varieties  are  scarce, 
and  that  these  drugs  should  all  be  admitted  when  not  deteriorated 
or  adulterated. 
Mr.  Haskell,  of  New  York,  advocated  the  same  views,  more  es- 
pecially as  related  to  English  rhubarb,  bringing  forward  the  tes- 
timony of  Dr.  Pereira,  to  the  effect  that  some  specimens  of  Ban- 
bury rhubarb  were  almost,  if  not  fully,  equal  to  the  Chinese  drug, 
and  even  of  rather  higher  price.  He  also  stated  that  a  large  de- 
mand existed  in  this  country  for  yellow  Carthagena  barks.  That 
the  house  of  which  he  was  a  member,  sold  large  quantities  in 
powder,  and  that  the  parties  purchasing  it,  did  so,  knowing  its 
origin.  He  was  not  aware  of  the  use  to  which  it  was  put,  but 
presumed  that  it  was  employed  legitimately. 
Mr.  Fish,  of  Connecticut,  stated  that  through  the  part  of  New 
England  that  he  represented,  considerable  quantities  of  the  barks 
in  question  were  used  legitimately  as  a  tonic  ;  and  that  no  instance 
of  their  being  used  as  an  adulteration  of  the  Peruvian  barks  had 
come  to  his  knowledge. 
Mr.  Coggeshall,  on  the  other  side  of  the  question,  called  the 
attention  of  the  Convention  to  the  item  in  Dr.  Bailey's  report, 
showing  that  three  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  these  barks  had 
been  rejected  at  the  port  of  New  York  in  about  two  years  and  a 
half.  He  argued  that  this  bark  was  not  consumed  there — that  it 
was  not  used  in  the  manufacture  of  the  alkaloids — that  the  alle- 
gation that  it  was  used  for  making  tooth  powders  would  hardly 
account  for  the  great  consumption  of  it,  and  the  question  naturally 
arose,  for  what  purpose  was  it  imported  ?  Mr.  Coggeshall  be- 
lieved that  it  was  used  extensively  to  grind  with  the  Peruvian 
barks  as  an  adulteration,  to  make  an  inferior  extract,  which  could 
