i6o 
Wafer  Ash  Bark. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
<■     March,  1918. 
the  normal  retail  prices  and  so  actually  benefit  the  buying  public 
while  assuring  to  the  dealer  only  a  moderate  profit  which  in  some 
instances  has  been  criticized  as  inadequate. 
It  would  appear  to  us  that  there  is  here  no  evidence  of  intent 
to  restrain  trade.  The  effort  of  Colgate  and  Company  appears  to 
be  to  standardize,  to  stabilize  prices  in  the  interest  of  all  concerned. 
The  effect  has  been  the  very  opposite  of  a  restraint  of  trade.  This 
plan  has  stimulated  the  interest  of  dealers  and  gained  the  confidence 
of  the  consumers  and  the  actual  result  has  doubtless  been  an  in- 
creased consumption  of  the  products  of  Colgate  and  Company. 
That  such  a  ,plan,  which  is  essentially  a  plan  for  "  fair  trade," 
working  to  the  benefit  of  all  the  interests  concerned,  should  be  con- 
strued as  a  violation  of  any  law  enacted  in  the  interest  of  fair  trade 
appears  to  us  as  inconsistent  and  untenable. 
G.  M.  B. 
WAFER  ASH  BARK  AS  AN  ADULTERANT  FOR 
EUONYMUS. 
By  Heber  W.  Youngken,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Within  the  past  few  months  the  writer  received  four  lots  of  a 
bark  purchased  as  and  labelled  "  Wahoo  Bark."  Upon  examination, 
one  of  these  was  found  to  be  entirely  wafer  ash  bark,  while  the 
other  three  contained  varying  proportions  of  wahoo  (euonymus) 
and  wafer  ash.  Just  recently  the  writer  has  been  apprised  by  a 
local  wholesaler  that  something  is  wrong  with  his  supply  of 
euonymus.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  condition  of  euonymus  on 
the  market  has  been  far  from  staple  for  some  time.  With  this 
thought  in  mind  and  with  the  view  toward  aiding  drug  collectors 
and  pharmacists  in  distinguishing  between  the  genuine  and  spurious 
articles,  the  writer  presents  the  important  diagnostic  characteristics 
of  the  plants  and  barks  yielded  by  them. 
Wafer  ash  bark  is  the  bark  of  Ptelea  trifoliata  L.,  a  small  ruta- 
ceous  tree  attaining  the  height  of  from  20  to  25  feet  with  a  straight 
trunk  6-12  inches  in  diameter,  or  a  low-spreading  shrub.  It  grows 
in  rich  moist  soil  from  Lake  Ontario  to  northern  Florida  and  west 
to  Minnesota  and  Colorado.  Its  branchlets  bear  alternate,  rarely 
opposite  trifoliate  leaves,  each  of  which  consists  of  a  fairly  stout 
petiole  2}^  to  3  inches  long,  bearing  upon  its  extremly  3  subsessile, 
