Amsipt.?Sarm'}  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  449 
facts  ?  How  can  he  vouch  for  the  quality  of  a  preparation,  or 
rather  the  quality  of  its  contained  drug,  unless  he  has  made  that 
preparation  himself? 
Further  granting  that  manufacturers,  as  a  class,  use  the  proper 
quality  of  drugs  in  making  fluid  extracts,  is  it  true  that  they  always 
follow  the  directions  of  the  official  standard  in  the  procedures  and 
menstrua  directed?  Or,  is  it  true  that  the  official  standard  is 
adopted  in  part  as  regards  percentage  of  drug,  etc.,  and  procedures 
and  menstrua  are  used  as  suits  the  manufacturer  ?  Manufacturers, 
generally,  lay  stress  upon  the  fact  that  their  fluid  extracts  are 
"  strictly  U.  S.  P.,"  but  do  they  all  follow  the  official  standard  in 
the  procedures  and  menstrua  directed  for  different  fluid  extracts? 
That  is  the  question.  Some  are  frank  enough  to  admit  that  they 
use  methods  of  their  own  devising  for  drug-exhaustion,  and  then 
evade  the  question  of  menstrua  used,  holding  that  their  preparations 
represent  those  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  if  the  drug  has  been  exhausted 
of  all  the  proximate  principles  soluble  in  the  particular  menstruum 
they  employ,  despite  the  apparent  intention  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  to 
have  a  preparation  of  a  certain  alcoholic  strength  holding  in  solution 
certain  proximate  principles,  some  of  which  are  soluble  in  that 
strength  of  menstruum  only. 
So,  as  regards  the  preparation  of  tinctures,  the  only  right  practice 
for  the  pharmacist  lies  in  his  buying  the  best  quality  of  drugs,  and 
making  his  own  preparations.  In  this  way  there  is  safety — safety 
for  the  doctor  who  prescribes,  the  druggist  who  dispenses,  and  last, 
but  most  important  of  all,  the  patient  who  swallows  the  medicine. 
ABSTRACTS  FROM  THE  FRENCH  JOURNALS.  * 
Translated  for  The  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
The  soluble  ferments  present  in  Penicillium  glaucum  were  extracted 
by  E.  Gerard  by  the  following  process :  The  matured  fungi  were 
triturated  with  sand  and  macerated  with  the  smallest  possible 
quantity  of  distilled  water.  The  aqueous  solution  is  concentrated 
in  a  vacuum,  filtered,  and  precipitated  with  absolute  alcohol;  the 
flocculent  precipitate  obtained  is  a  very  impure  mixture  of  ferments 
which  are  separated  by  taking  up  the  coagulated  albuminoid  matter 
with  a  little  water,  filtering  and  again  precipitating  with  absolute 
alcohol.    The  product,  washed  with  ether  and  dried  in  vacuum,  is  a 
