ADULTERATION OF DRUGS. 
223 
trashy, and frequently worse than useless extracts, are in re- 
gular use. With this view of the subject we recently got a 
vacuum apparatus fitted up, and in the preparation of extracts 
with it, we ascertained that the inferiority of the ordinary ex- 
tracts must arise from something in addition to that arising from 
the way in which they are usually prepared; probably in some 
way equally ingenious with that of the drug-grinder men- 
tioned in Dr. Thomson's evidence, who, out of two chests of 
Peruvian bark, manufactured twenty. After thoroughly ex- 
hausting a quantity of Indian rhubarb with water, we obtained 
4j ounces of extract from every pound of the root, after due 
evaporation of the liquid. The price charged for the extract, 
according to the wholesale London price list, is 10,9. per 
pound; the root itself is 5s. 9d. per pound: now, it is evident 
that if a genuine root is used for the preparation, it ought to 
be 20s. per pound, without allowing a single penny for profit or 
expense incurred in making it. From 15 ounces Peruvian 
bark we obtained I5 ounces of extract; however, we may 
say 2\ ounces, as by our method there is about an ounce of 
inert resinous matter separated in the course of preparation, 
leaving a perfectly transparent extract. The present price 
charged for the extract is, at a maximum, 14s. per pound; 
the bark was 3s. per pound some time since ; now, at such a 
price, without allowing anything for the trouble of preparing 
it, the extract should be 19s. per. pound; but as there has 
been a considerable rise in the price of bark, the difference 
must be much more striking; we will make no comment, as 
the facts speak for themselves. 
Another circumstance came to our knowledge which shows 
strikingly the evils that may arise from ignorant individuals 
getting into the drug trade. We employed an herb collector 
to procure us some belladonna for the preparation of the 
extract, for which she brought us a quantity of Solarium 
dulcamarum, instead of the belladonna; on informing 
her* that she had not brought the proper plant, she expressed 
* Women are in the habit of collecting' medical plants for the drug-gists 
in Scotland, 
