108  Digestive  Power  of  Commercial  Pepsins.  |  ^MkJcM,  mi*"' 
matter  to  reduce  it  to  so  fine  a  state  of  division,  even  by  the  aid  of 
the  appliances  of  the  best  arranged  drug  powdering  establishments, 
yet,  by  proper  treatment,  it  can  be  done. 
At  the  time  I  was  engaged  with  my  experiments  I  found  it  impos- 
sible to  obtain  any  powdered  nux  vomica  in  this  market  that  even 
came  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  to  procure  the 
very  fine  (No.  80)  powder  I  desired,  I  was  obliged  to  send  to  Dr. 
Squibb,  in  Brooklyn. 
There  was  but  one  or  two  of  our  wholesale  drug  houses  that  had 
any  powder  finer  than  from  No.  30  to  No.  40.  Now,  as  pharmacists 
have  to  depend  almost  exclusively  upon  the  commercial  powder  to 
prepare  their  tincture  from,  this  w^ould  seem  to  indicate  that  it  is 
nearly  all  made  from  powder  entirely  too  coarse,  and  must  necessarily 
often  be  of  very  deficient  strength.  To  this  cause  may  be  attributed 
the  frequent  failure  of  physicians  in  deriving  the  desired  therapeutic 
effects  from  the  administration  of  the  tincture.  It  is  not  uncommon 
to  hear  medical  men  remark  that  they  have  lost  confidence  in  the 
virtues  of  tincture  of  nux  vomica,  and  many  have  ceased  to  employ  it 
in  their  practice.  But  I  believe  that  if  it  be  carefully  and  properly 
prepared  it  is  as  efficient  and  reliable  a  preparation  of  the  drug  as 
any  that  is  made. 
Phila.,  Pa.,  Feb.,  1871. 
ON  THE  DIGESTIVE  POWER  OF  COMMERCIAL  PEPSINS. 
By  J.  S.  Hawley,  M.  D. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy: 
In  a  recent  number  of  your  Journal  an  article  appeared,  by  E. 
Schcffer,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  which  not  only  impeaches  my  veracity, 
l)ut  is  likely  to  do  me  serious  harm  pecuniarily. 
This  article  contains  an  account  of  an  experiment  to  test  the  diges- 
tive power  of  several  varieties  of  pepsin,  among  others  one  made  by 
the  author  of  the  article  and  one  made  by  myself. 
Of  Mr.  SchefFer's  pepsin  I  have  no  knowledge,  and  am  not  disposed 
at  present  to  question  his  statements  concerning  it.  But  in  respect 
to  the  other  varieties,  I  have  made  frequent  tests  of  their  strength, 
some  of  wMch  I  have  published.  To  vindicate  the  truth  of  my  state- 
ments I  have  performed  a  digestive  test,  following  the  method  pur- 
sued by  Mr.  Scheffer,  and  will  thank  you  to  do  me  the  justice  to  give 
