02$ THE ADULTERATION OF DRUGS. 
129 
applied, — which, it may be well to add, was not the case in 
any other instance. In the instance of No. 5, however, acci- 
dent could scarcely account for the defect; for the laudanum 
from the same shop was twice found defective at an interval 
of six months; and besides, it evidently contained some ex- 
traneous coloring matter. No. 20 also contained a large 
quantity of adventitious coloring matter, which, when the 
morphia was removed by ammonia, gave the liquid a dark 
crimson tint. 
II. Having mentioned these examples of adulteration, — 
which have been purposely chosen from among the drugs 
most in use, and which it would be easy, if necessary, to mul- 
tiply to a far greater extent, — I may proceed to the next head 
of this inquiry, namely, to point out the sources of the prac- 
tice in question. Under this head, those circumstances will 
be indicated in the commercial history of drugs, which may 
lead to their adulteration, together with the several quarters 
where it seems to originate. 
Here it will be necessary to apprize those who are not con- 
versant with the commercial history of drugs, that they pass, 
most of them at least, through a considerable variety of hands 
before they are finally distributed in the retail trade. Arti- 
cles of home produce, such as indigenous plants with their 
preparations, and chemical compounds of domestic manufac- 
ture, frequently pass at once into the possession of the retailer; 
but often, too, they are obtained by retailers, especially the 
smaller retailers of towns and villages, through the medium 
of wholesale druggists, and not directly from the herbalist or 
chemical manufacturer. Articles again of foreign produce 
accomplish their passage more indirectly still. The producer 
disposes of them to the foreign merchant, by whom they are 
consigned in general to an English drug-broker at some of 
our great sea-ports, and particularly at London. By the 
drug-broker they are sold at certain stated sales, usually by 
sample, and while in bond; and the principal purchasers are 
VOL. IV. — NO. II. 17 
