AD4cimber,Pi9i™'}    Pure  Dru9s  and  the  Public  Health.  553 
Tennessee  (Am.  Food  J.,  1912,  v.  7,  July,  p.  9),  showing  the  number 
of  States  in  which  food  and  drugs  laws  are  actually  being  enforced, 
the  number  of  employees  in  each  State,  and  the  number  of  samples 
analyzed  in  one  year.  This  table  states  that  no  less  than  44  political 
divisions  of  the  United  States  makes  some  attempt  to  enforce  laws  of 
this  type.  The  total  number  of  employees  recorded  is  465,  an  average 
of  but  10  to  each  State.  The  total  number  of  samples  examined 
during  one  year  is  given  as  83,498,  and  from  a  study  of  several  annual 
reports  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  not  more  than  from  20  to  25  per  cent, 
of  these  samples  represent  drug  products  or  products  used  as  drugs. 
When  one  remembers  that  in  the  United  States  alone  there  are  no 
less  than  40,000  retail  drug  stores,  and  that  each  one  of  these  stores 
has  in  stock  from  1000  to  20,000  separate  articles  used  or  offered 
for  use  as  medicine,  the  futility  of  endeavoring  to  control  or  even  to 
seriously  influence  the  nature  and  purity  of  products  sold  as  medi- 
cines by  an  occasional  examination  of  one  or  more  preparations  is  at 
once  apparent. 
That  the  present-day  method  of  enforcing  food  and  drugs  laws  is 
efficient  in  some  directions  must  be  admitted,  and  the  possibilities 
in  this  line  are  well  indicated  in  the  above  table.  Given  a  product 
that  is  more  or  less  easily  examined  by  chemical  means  and  for  which 
a  reasonably  high  standard  has  been  established  by  the  Pharmaco- 
poeia, by  statute,  or  by  regulation,  little  or  no  difficulty  is  encountered 
in  materially  improving  the  conditions  under  which  such  an  article 
is  marketed,  and  thus  securing  for  the  consumer  a  reasonably  reliable 
product  if  he  will  but  exercise  ordinary  care  in  making  his  purchases 
from  reputable  dealers. 
One  instance  of  this  type  is  olive  oil,  which  up  to  a  comparatively 
few  years  ago  was  considered  to  be  among  the  most  adulterated  of 
all  commercial  products.  This  oil,  though  largely,  if  not  preponder- 
atingly,  used  as  a  food  product,  is  also  of  value  as  a  medicine  and  can 
now  be  classed  among  the  generally  pure  articles  used  for  medicinal 
purposes. 
Another  article  that  has  been  materially  improved  through  sys- 
tematic examination  and  accompanying  publicity  is  "  solution  of 
hydrogen  peroxide."  This  preparation  is  also  used  quite  exten- 
sively in  the  arts  as  a  bleaching  material,  and  formerly  it  was  quite 
common  to  find  the  comparatively  impure  and  usually  weak  technical 
product  on  sale  in  drug  stores  for  medicinal  purposes.  Improved 
methods  of  manufacture,  the  use  of  preservatives,  and  the  exercise 
