THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
OCTOBER,  igoo. 
SEIDLITZ  POWDERS. 
By  Joseph  Huntingdon.  » 
Seidlitz  powders,  though  seemingly  prosaic  and  commonplace, 
have  had  quite  a  fair  share  of  discussion. 
Articles  are  frequently  published  in  pharmaceutical  journals  in 
which  seidlitz  powders  are  treated  of  from  different  points  of  view, 
either  with  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  they  are  weighed, 
measured  or  divided,  or  as  to  their  chemistry,  their  medicinal 
action,  or  the  methods  of  dispensing  them. 
Druggists  and  writers  sometimes  collect  samples  from  neigh- 
boring druggists  and  examine  them  to  ascertain  if  they  are  of  the 
standard  required  by  the  Pharmacopoeia.  Although  it  maybe  that 
considerable  pains  are  taken,  and  a  considerable  amount  of  figuring 
resorted  to,  they  seem  to  depend  invariably  upon  the  weights  of 
the  powders,  and,  by  examining  several,  to  gauge  the  average 
weight  of  the  powders  of  each  druggist. 
No  attempt  is  made  to  ascertain  if  the  ingredients  are  sufficiently 
pure,  or  if  they  have  been  mixed  in  the  proper  proportions,  or  even 
if  they  contain  those  ingredients. 
They  might  consist  almost  entirely  of  worthless  or  nearly  worth- 
less materials,  and  this  might  be  intentional  or  unintentional.  One 
of  the  first  things  the  beginner  learns  is  that  seidlitz  mixture  con- 
sists of  three  parts  of  rochelle  salt  and  one  part  of  sodium  bicar- 
bonate. He  has  in  his  mind  the  figures  3  to  I,  and  unless  his 
preceptor  be  watching  him,  he  would  possibly  reverse  the  order 
and  put  in  three  parts  of  sodium  bicarbonate  and  one  part  of 
rochelle  salt.    Simply  weighing  the  powders  would  not  indicate 
(461) 
