556 
Pure  Drugs  and  the  Public  Health. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
December,  1914. 
of  peppermint,  and  spirit  of  nitrous  ether  have  been  found  to  be 
adulterated  or  below  standard. 
Some  additional  argument  for  more  adequate  control  of  the  iden- 
tity, purity,  and  strength  of  materials  used  as  medicine  is  offered  by 
the  table  including  a  compilation  of  data  showing  the  variability  of 
well-known  and  widely  used  drugs  which  can,  in  a  measure  at  least, 
be  controlled  by  assay  and  analysis.  Preparations  of  these  drugs, 
on  assay,  are  less  frequently  found  to  be  above  than  below  standard, 
and  even  a  standardized  preparation  is  far  from  being  perma- 
nently so. 
Table  Showing  Variations  in  the  Active  Principles  of  Drugs  Reported 
During  the  Calendar  Year  Ending  December  31,  1912. 
[A  compilation  of  data  included  in  Hygienic  Laboratory  Bulletin  No.  pj.] 
Num- 
Num- 
Mini- 
Maxi- 
ber of 
ber  of 
mum 
mum 
U.  S.  P.  requirements. 
re- 
sam- 
per 
per 
porters 
ples. 
cent. 
cent. 
Belladonna  leaves. . 
S 
144 
0.175 
0.563 
0.3  per  cent,  mydriatic  alkaloids. 
Belladonna  root .  .  . 
6 
US 
.11 
.780 
0.45  per  cent,  mydriatic  alkaloids. 
3 
41 
3.720 
5.16 
3.5  per  cent,  alkaloidal  principles. 
Hydrastis  
8 
114 
2.3 
4-85 
2.5  per  cent,  hydrastine. 
Hyoscyamus  
4 
120 
.043 
.234 
0.08  per  cent,  mydriatic  alkaloids. 
10 
253 
1.24 
2.75 
1.75  per  cent,  ipecac  alkaloids. 
6 
173 
3.67 
21.76 
7  per  cent,  total  resin. 
Stramonium  
4 
127 
.14 
.470 
0.25  per  cent,  mydriatic  alkaloids. 
As  is  well  known,  all  pharmaceutical  preparations  and  many 
drugs  and  chemicals  deteriorate  on  keeping,  and  this  deterioration 
is  not  so  much  dependent  on  time  alone  as  a  number  of  accompany- 
ing factors,  as  light,  heat,  atmospheric  conditions,  and  the  general 
lack  of  care  or  technical  knowledge  in  storing  the  various  substances. 
All  in  all,  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  no  matter  how  excellent  a  drug  or 
preparation  may  be  when  it  leaves  the  producer  there  are  many 
possibilities  for  it  to  become  worthless,  if  not  positively  dangerous, 
through  carelessness  or  neglect  before  it  reaches  the  consumer. 
The  general  subject  of  changes  produced  in  a  drug  because  of  de- 
terioration due  to  improper  keeping  has  received  altogether  too  little 
attention  and  it  is  not  generally  recognized  that  many  of  the  formerly 
well  known  drugs  have  probably  been  discredited  because  of  their 
failure  to  accomplish  the  object  for  which  they  were  administered, 
a  failure  perhaps  largely  due  to  some  form  of  contamination  or  to 
decomposition  not  recognized  by  the  dispenser. 
In  addition  to  the  changes  in  drugs  that  may  be  produced  by  heat, 
