AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION.  501 
lieved  from  subsequent  enquiry  that  this  was  too  generally  the  case  throughout 
the  country. 
Mr.  Procter,  of  Philadelphia,  took  the  ground  that  all  legitimate  medicinal 
substances  good  of  their  kind  should  be  admitted,  (defining  the  term  good  to 
mean  the  standard  of  quality  adopted  by  general  authority,)  and  that  where 
articles  were  imported  solely  for  purposes  of  adulteration,  as  has  been  alleged, 
their  exclusion  might  be  effected  by  special  action  of  the  proper  authority  and 
not  left  to  the  opinion  of  the  Examiner.  Much  had  been  said  about  the  worth- 
lessness  of  the  Cinchona  barks  from  Northern  South  America.  However  true  this 
character  may  have  been  formerly,  or  even  now  in  regard  to  some  varieties  of 
that  kind  of  barks,  it  is  an  ascertained  fact  that  since  the  monopoly  of  Bolivian 
Cinchona  the  agents  of  merchants  and  manufacturers  in  Europe  had  searched  the 
New  Grenadian  Andes  and  had  discovered  other  varieties  of  Cinchona  bark  of 
such  superior  quality  as  to  render  them  profitable  for  the  manufacture  of  sulphate 
of  quinia.  Quite  recently  bark  of  this  kind  was  refused  admittance  because  it 
it  was  not  officinal!  He  had  seen  some  of  these  barks  in  Philadelphia,  that  had 
yielded  from  one  and  a  half  to  nearly  three  per  cent  of  crystallized  sulphate  of 
quinia  ;  their  app3arance  sometimes  was  by  no  means  in  their  favor,  often  much 
broken  up,  and  so  as  to  readily  give  an  idea  of  inferiority,  whilst  in  other  cases 
they  were  in  handsome  pieces.  Now,  adopting  the  standard  of  the  late  Treasury 
circular,  (viz  r  1  per  cent  of  quinia  or  two  per  cent  of  alkaloids)  these  barks  are 
not  only  good,  but  very  good  varieties  of  their  kind,  and  should  be  as  they  now 
are  admitted,  whilst  the  inferior  varieties  of  these  barks,  and  other  barks  falsely 
sold  as  Cinchona,  should  be  excluded. 
In  relation  to  Banbury  Rhubarb,  which  is  certainly  the  best  variety  of  the 
European  kind,  if,  as  has  been  so  positively  asserted  by  Mr.  Coggeshall,  it  is 
solely  used  in  this  country  for  adulteration  or  a?  a  sophistication,  let  it  be  ex- 
cluded, because  as  yet  no  legitimate  demand  for  it  has  been  made  by  physicians — 
they  do  not  know  it — and  the  supply  of  both  kinds  of  Asiatic  Rhubarb,  which  is 
more  active,  and  better  understood,  is  ample.  If,  however,  a  legitimate  demand 
for  this  or  any  other  article  peculiar  to  P^urope  should  arise,  from  the  influx  of 
European  practitioners,  they  certainly  should  be  allowed  to  pass  the  Custom 
House  if  good  of  their  kind,  even  if  they  are  sometimes  used  for  purposes  of 
adulteration. 
Previous  to  taking  the  final  vote,  Mr.  Procter  remarked,  that  last  year  he  had 
voted  against  a  resolution  similar  to  that  now  before  the  meeting,  but  that  since 
then  he  had  had  occasion  tp  investigate  the  subject  in  its  various  bearings,  and 
was  convinced  that  it  was  the  true  ground  to  act  upon  in  admitting  all  legitimate 
medicinal  substances. 
Mr.  Ellis  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity,  before  taking  the  vote,  of  making 
some  remarks  upon  the  subject  before  the  Association — as  the  debate  had  already 
taken  a  wide  range,  and  remarks  had  been  made  that  might  lead  to  the  impres- 
sion that  there  existed  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  many  members  of  the  body  to 
relax  in  some  degree  their  efforts  to  sustain  the  law  of  Congress  in  relation  to 
imported  drugs.  Such,  he  felt  satisfied,  was  not  the  case — all  were  aiming  at 
the  same  object — to  use  our  utmost  endeavors  to  discountenance  the  use  of  infe- 
rior and  sophisticated  drugs. 
It  was  due  to  himself  and  his  friends  who  might  vote  for  the  resolution  author- 
izing the  introduction  of  all  drills  that  were  good,  or  superior,  of  their  kind,  to 
disclaim  all  idea  of  diminishing  the  conservative  features  of  the  law.  A  great  deal 
had  been  said  against  the  introduction  of  a  class  of  barks  from  the  Atlantic  coast 
of  South  America.  These  barks,  it  was  well-known,  contained  appreciable 
quantities  of  the  Cinchona  alkaloids,  and  sufficient  quinia  to  make  it  an  object  to 
manufacture  the  sulphate  from  them.  He  would  state  for  the  information  of  the 
Association  that  a  lot  of  sulphate  of  quinia  recently  imported  into  Philadelphia, 
had  been  rejected  on  the  ground  of  its  not  being  manufactured  from  Calisaya 
bark.  It  was  from  the  highly  respectable  house  of  Howards  &  Kent,  near  Lon- 
don, and  he  had  understood  that  these  gentlemen  were  mortified  to  hear  that 
sulphate  of  quinia  manufactured  by  them,  had  been  refused  admittance  into  an 
American  Port.    They  admit,  of  course,  that  they  use  Bogota  and  Maracaibo 
