378-       Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {^^4°usrt,i907.rm 
so  as  to  describe  them  and  to  recognize  unlabeled  specimens ; 
knowledge  of  solubilities  and  an  acquaintance  with  dangerous 
incompatibilities ;  maximum  doses  of  poisons  ;  knowledge  of  poison 
laws  ;  proper  antidotes  for  poisonous  substances  ;  percentage  content 
of  potent  remedies;  the  active  constituents  of  various  crude  drugs; 
how  to  care  for,  handle  and  dispense  substances  that  are  volatile, 
inflammable  and  easily  decomposed ;  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
various  systems  of  weights  and  measures  ;  how  to  read  and  cor- 
rectly interpret  signs,  symbols  and  abbreviations  ;  how  to  compute 
doses  and  calculate  and  prepare  percentage  solutions. 
Examinations  should  be  prepared  upon  this  basis,  and  should  be 
well  adapted  to  proving  if  the  candidate  has  mastered  the  practical 
facts  necessary  to  the  trust  imposed  by  the  certificate  given,  and  if 
a  safe  person  to  be  licensed  to  practice  as  a  qualified  assistant 
pharmacist. 
A  Hand-me-down  Conscience. 
B.  E.  Pritchard. 
Attention  is  called  to  the  radical  and  complete  change  which  sud- 
denly manifested  itself  on  January  I,  1907,  in  the  consciences  of 
men  engaged  in  purveying  drugs  at  first  hand.  The  same  drugs 
which  previous  to  that  time  were  claimed  to  be  absolutely  pure, 
chemically  pure,  and  U.S.P.,  after  that  date  were  found  to  be  correctly 
labeled  with  the  percentage  of  such  contaminating  substances  as 
were  required  to  be  stated  under  the  law.  The  blame  for  the  former 
condition  is  not  laid  upon  the  producer  alone,  the  primary  cause 
being  that  the  jobber,  goaded  continually  by  his  customers'  cry  for 
lower  prices,  was  forced  to  pass  the  demand  up  to  the  source  of 
supply,  and  those  responsible  for  production  were  in  turn  compelled 
to  adulterate  and  sophisticate  in  order  to  meet  competition.  Now 
that  lying  as  a  factor  in  trade-getting  exacts  a  severe  penalty,  it  is 
no  longer  popular.    Moral  :  do  not  shop  for  cheapness. 
Ash  Determinations  of  Asafetida  and  Other  Common  Drugs. 
Albert  F.  Judd. 
A  number  of  analyses  of  asafetida,  aloes,  capsicum  and  black 
pepper  are  tabulated  as  regards  ash.  In  asafetida,  samples  were 
found  in  which  the  ash  was  as  high  as  76-6  per  cent.,  containing 
gypsum  as  an  adulterant.    In  the  aloes  one  sample  was  found  to 
