%ar°chr;iP9irm"}  Applied  Pharmacognosy.  115 
not  have  it  correct.  A  formula  may  state  the  grains  or  minims  in 
each  fluidounce  and  for  practical  purposes  it  must  be  calculated  to 
the  proper  quantities  to  make  100  liters. 
As  many  liquids  are  bought  and  sold  by  weight  and  it  is  also 
more  practical  to  handle  them  by  weight  the  minims  must  be  con- 
verted into  grammes  and  kilos.  The  specific  gravity  of  the  liquids, 
therefore  must  also  be  considered.  Calculating  many  liquids  to 
weight  is  absolutely  necessary  for  figuring  costs. 
The  quantity  to  be  made  is  primarily  governed  by  the  demand 
but  there  is  to  be  considered  among  other  things  cost  of  raw 
material.  This  is  particularly  to  be  considered  with  crude  drugs 
which  at  times  offer  about  as  much  opportunity  for  speculation  as 
stocks  in  Wall  Street.  With  such  drugs  as  ergot,  jalap,  ipecac, 
hydrastis  and  opium  varying  in  price  from  50  cents  to  $10.00  per 
pound  and  the  price  fluctuating  with  the  season  or  crop  it  is  neces- 
sary to  keep  an  eye  on  the  market  and  your  stock  and  sales. 
The  buying  of  crude  material  and  selling  of  the  finished  products 
are  of  course  taken  care  of  by  separate  departments,  but  the  manu- 
facturing comes  in  between  and  requires  some  knowledge  of  the 
buying  and  selling.  The  buying  and  selling  departments  offer 
good  inducements  to  college  trained  men,  the  selling  in  particular 
to  men  who  are  more  inclined  to  the  commercial  side  rather  than 
the  scientific  side  of  pharmacy. 
If  a  fluidextract  or  some  drug  preparation  is  to  be  made  and 
there  is  no  stock  of  crude  drug  on  hand  the  purchase  of  drug  is 
taken  up  with  the  buying  department.  The  buying  department  asks 
for  quotations  and  samples  of  the  drug  offered,  especially  if  the 
drug  is  one  that  has  some  official  standard.  The  samples  are  care- 
fully examined  for  freedom  from  foreign  drugs  and  assayed  for 
alkaloidal  or  extractive  content. 
The  analytical  reports  are  compared  and  the  price  also  taken 
into  consideration  for  selecting  the  lot  of  drug  to  be  purchased. 
With  assayed  drugs  for  example  the  price  may  not  vary  very  much 
but  the  alkaloidal  content  may  vary  as  much  as  100  per  cent. 
Since  most  drug  preparations  are  made  by  extracting  the  drug 
with  an  alcoholic  menstruum  varying  in  strength  from  10  to  95 
per  cent,  absolute  alcohol,  and  alcohol  costs  about  $2.50  per  gallon 
by  the  barrel,  means  must  be  employed  for  carrying  out  the  opera- 
tions to  prevent  loss  in  handling,  evaporation  and  final  recovery 
from  the  exhausted  drug. 
