Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Sept.  1, 1874.  J 
Abuses  of  Elegant  Pharmacy. 
411 
very  conveniently  prepared,  without  that  method  of  continued  rub- 
bing so  generally  employed. 
R.  Assafoetida,  select,      .  .  .  grs.  256 
Glycerin,    .  .  .  .  f^ii 
Alcohol,  95  per  cent.,  .  .  f^iii 
Oil  of  Gaultheria,  .  .  .  gttxv 
Oil  of  Cinnamon,         .  .  .  gttv 
Oil  of  Bitter  Almonds,  .  .  .  gtti 
Dissolve  the  assafoetida  in  the  glycerin  by  the  aid  of  a  gentle  heat, 
and  strain  if  necessary.  Dissolve  the  essential  oils  in  the  alcohol 
and  add  to  the  above,  after  which  add  simple  syrup  sufficient  to  make 
the  whole  measure  one  pint  and  incorporate  thoroughly.  Each  flui- 
drachm  will  represent  two  grains  of  the  gum  resin. 
This  is  a  perfectly  stable  preparation. 
A  sample,  which  I  made  over  two  years  ago,  does  not  seem  to  have 
deteriorated  in  the  least,  and  is,  I  think,  as  palatable  as  any  syrup  of 
assafoetida  can  be  rendered  of  such  strength. 
Wilmington,  Del.,  August,  1874. 
THE  ABUSES  OF  ELEGANT  PHARMACY. 
By  Richard  V.  Mattison,  Ph.  G. 
The  attention  of  the  writer  has  recently  been  a  number  of  times 
called  to  new  improvements  in  pharmaceutical  science,  some  justly 
meriting  the  favorable  consideration  of  pharmacists,  while  others  can- 
not but  be  disapproved  ;  among  the  latter  class  as  one  of  the  most 
recent  improvements,  tending  to  almost  utterly  destroy  the  thera- 
peutic value  of  several  well-known  officinal  preparations,  let  us  notice 
the  recent  extensive  use  of  the  alkaline  citrates  as  an  adjuvant,  thought 
peculiarly  suitable  to  the  elegant  administration  of  the  higher  salts 
of  iron. 
Robiquet,  in  experimenting  with  ferric  pyrophosphate,  accidentally 
discovered  that  a  solution  of  ammonium  citrate  would  render  the  fer- 
ric salt  soluble,  thus  giving  birth  to  a  new  idea,  the  advent  of  which 
was,  without  further  investigation,  heralded  forth  to  the  world  as  an 
important  chemical  discovery,  and  was  at  once  recognized  as  a  desid- 
eratum long  sought — a  soluble  phosphate  of  iron.  Though  a  salt  of 
pyrophosphoric  acid,  the  therapeutic  value  of  which  is  certainly  ques- 
tionable, such  was  its  apparent  elegance  that  the  fact  was  overlooked 
