THE  AMERICAN   ^ 
JOURNAL  OF  PHABftl6Y\ 
 7?    ^  d 
WHAT  IS  RICE  POWDk^j^]^^ 
By  Charles  H.  LaWall. 
If  the  average  purchaser  of  the  toilet  powder  commonly  known 
as  "Rice  powder,"  often  labelled  "  Poudre  de.Riz"  or  "  Fleur  de 
Riz,"  were  to  be  asked  the  question,  What  is  rice  powder?,  the 
answer  in  the  majority  of  cases  would  be,  "  Why,  rice  powder  is  a 
powder  made  from  rice." 
Not  one  of  the  users  of  the  product  knows  or  realizes  that  for 
years  the  greater  proportion  of  brands  of  toilet  powder  either  labelled 
directly  as  rice  powder  or  in  a  manner  implying  the  presence  of  rice 
as  a  preponderating  constituent  contain  but  a  small  proportion  of 
rice,  and  many  of  them  contain  none  at  all. 
What,  then,  are  the  other  constituents  used  in  place  of  rice? 
Are  they  harmful  ?  *  Why  tins  deception  in  an  article  which  costs  so 
little  to  put  up? 
To  answer  the  last  question  first,  I  have  found  no  reason  for 
the  deception  except  that  it  is  a  matter  of  custom.  The  constituents 
used  in  place  of  rice  are  not  harmful ;  some  are  cheaper  and  some 
are  dearer  than  rice  would  be ;  they  are  chalk,  talc,  zinc  oxide,  bis- 
muth subnitrate,  and  corn  starch. 
Chalk  is  a  well-known  natural  mineral  substance  sold  and  used 
in  the  purified  form  for  various  toilet  purposes  under  its  own  name. 
Talc  is  also  a  well-known  natural  mineral  substance  sold  in  the 
purified  and  perfumed  condition  under  the  name  talcum  or  talcum 
powder. 
Zinc  oxide  is  a  compound  of  zinc  made  by  burning  the  metal  and 
collecting  the  resulting  white  powder,  which  is  the  oxide.  It  is  used 
largely  in  painting  and  is  known  as  zinc  white.  It  is  used  in  medicine 
and  also  sometimes  as  a  cosmetic  under  its  name  zinc  oxide. 
1  Read  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
June,  1915. 
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