360 
Pharmacopceial  Requisition. 
/ Am.  Jour.  Pharru. 
\       July,  1894. 
Number  six  was  purchased  recently,  and  when  complaint  was 
made  that  it  did  not  meet  with  Pharmacopoeial  tests,,  the  seller  pro- 
posed to  exchange  it  for  better  quality. 
CUBEBA, 
the  Pharmacopoeia  says,  is  the  unripe  fruit  of  Piper  cubeba.  The 
oleoresin  is  official,  and  when  prepared  from  the  unripe  fruit  it  is  of 
a  greenish  color.  Recently  an  Eastern  firm  sold  powdered  cubebs, 
the  color  of  which  was  of  a  lighter  shade  than  is  usually  met  with. 
Upon  examination  it  produced  1 8  per  cent,  of  oleoresin  of  a  brown 
color ;  this  fact  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  seller,  who  made 
the  following  reply :  "  the  Pharmacopoeia  requires  the  unripe  fruit, 
but  that  is  rarely  found  in  the  market ;  the  regular  article  of  com- 
merce is  the  ripe  fruit,  which,  of  course,  has  less  chlorophyll  or 
green  color  than  the  unripe  berries  should  have.  We  consider  the 
cubebs  which  we  carry  in  stock  of  as  prime  quality  as  can  be  found 
in  the  market." 
FERRI  PYROPHOSPHAS. 
A  pharmacist  got  himself  into  quite  an  unpleasant  controversy 
through  being  unable  to  produce  a  clear  mixture  from  the  following 
prescription : 
R       Ferri  Pyrophosphates,  3  iv. 
Acid.  Phosphorici  Dil,  f  ^  i. 
Syr.  Calcii.  Hypophos.,  f  %  iii. 
This  combination  the  physician  claimed  always  produced  a  clear 
mixture  when  compounded  by  the  pharmacist's  competitor,  this 
pharmacist,  it  appears,  used  iron  pyrophosphate  of  a  different 
maker,  and  when  this  pyrophosphate  was  used  no  difficulty  was 
experienced.  Upon  examination  of  two  samples  of  iron  pyrophos- 
phate, both  contained  iron  phosphate  and  one  of  them  contained  an 
ammonium  salt,  possibly  the  citrate. 
Upon  whom  rests  the  responsibility — the  jobber,  because  he  does 
not  take  due  precaution  to  supply  drugs  of  pharmacopoeial  standard, 
or  the  retailer,  because  he  does  not  examine  his  purchases  and  insist 
upon  having  them  comply  with  official  tests  ? 
