170  Adulteration  of  Oil  of  Peppermint,  etc.  {^Tjm™ 
medicines,  and  preparations  for  external  application,  but  the  shape 
has  always  corresponded  with  those  of  white  glass,  and  the  distinc- 
tion has  not  been  sufficiently  marked.  I  have  used  for  medicines  for 
external  use,  a  three-sided  black  glass  bottle,  which  has  answered  an 
excellent  purpose.  I  have  improved  on  this  by  having  on  each  side 
a  number  of  small  projections,  and  having  the  bottles  of  transparent 
blue  glass,  This  will  render  them  totally  unlike  any  other  bottle  in 
use,  and  even  in  the  dark  they  cannot  be  mistaken  for  another  bottle. 
A  leading  firm — manufacturers  of  glassware — will  soon  be  ready  to 
supply  these  bottles  to  the  trade,  and  I  think  they  will  be  appreciated 
by  pharmaceutists,  as  a  valuable  addition  to  the  dispensing  depart- 
ment, and  secure  a  corresponding  appreciation  from  the  public,  as  an 
effectual  means  of  protecting  them  from  accidental  poisoning.  The 
contrast  of  the  bright  red  label  on  this  singular  shaped  bottle 
is  very  conspicuous,  and  carries  with  it  a  caution  which  will  not  fail 
to  arrest  attention. — Proceedings  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1871,  p. 
436-438. 
ON  THE  ADULTERATION  OF  OIL  OF  PEPPERMINT  WITH 
CASTOR  OIL  AND  ALCOHOL. 
By  E.  B.  Shuttleworth. 
During  the  last  three  months  a  large  quantity  of  American  oil  of 
peppermint  has  been  disposed  of  in  Canada,  which,  the  writer  has 
been  led  to  believe,  is  adulterated  to  an  extent  hitherto  unrecorded. 
At  the  last  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  Mr. 
W.  Saunders  referred  to  a  case  of  adulteration  of  this  kind  which  had 
been  brought  before  his  notice,  in  which  the  oil  of  peppermint  con- 
tained 25  per  cent,  of  castor  oil.*  From  the  following  circumstances 
it  would  appear  that  the  adulteration  is  carried  much  further  than 
this  : 
A  wholesale  house  having  purchased  a  small  quantity  of  American 
oil  of  peppermint  was  led  to  believe  that  it  contained  an  admixture 
of  fixed  oil.  This  supposition  was  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  a  little 
of  the  oil  when  dropped  on  filtering  paper  and  exposed  to  heat,  left  a 
permanent  greasy  stain.  As  it  was  undesirable  to  vend  an  article 
which  gave  evidence  of  adulteration,  the  sample,  amounting  to  55 
pounds,  was  sent  for  distillation  to  the  writer.    The  oily  destillate 
*Canad.  Pharm.  Journ.,  Vol.  v,  No.  3,  p.  110,  and  Proceed.  Amer.  Pharm. 
Assoc.,  1871,  p.  62. 
