318 
Sophistications . 
f  Am.  Jour.  Phaem. 
t    July  1,  1871. 
same,  upon  various  complaints  of  the  character  mentioned,  forced  upon 
us  the  conclusion  that  Hirsh's  Extract  of  Malt  bears  a  very  distant, 
if  any,  relation  to  barley  ;  that  the  bulk  of  it  is  glycerine,  and  of  such 
a  cheap  quality,  as  ought  not  to  be  used  in  pharmacies, — not  even  for 
liniments. 
It  is  difficult,  as  it  generally  is  with  organic  bodies,  to  give  an  exact 
test  for  the  purity  and  general  quality  of  the  Extract  of  Malt,  but  it 
may  be  considered  a  good  criterion  if  a  small  quantity,  heated  and 
burnt  in  a  platinum  or  iron  spoon,  over  a  spirit  lamp,  issues,  as  it 
turns  brown,  the  agreeable,  toast-like  odor  of  roasted  grain,  followed 
by  that  of  caramel.  In  Hirsh's  extract,  the  offensive  smell  of  impure 
glycerine  takes  the  place  of  the  absent  odor  of  the  grain. 
It  may  be  necessary  or  advisable  to  add  to  the  extract,  during  the 
warm  season,  a  small  quantity,  say  one-eighth,  of  glycerine  to  prevent 
fermentation  ;  but  it  ought  to  be  pure  glycerine,  and  if  so,  it  will  not 
interfere  with  the  palatability  or  the  efficacy  of  the  extract,  nor  with 
the  criterion  mentioned. 
If  pharmacists  would  prepare  this  extract,  they  would  easily  over, 
come  all  the  difficulties  of  manufacture,  and  would  furnish  themselves 
with  a  standard  preparation  to  judge  by,  whenever  they  find  it  after- 
Avards  more  convenient  to  buy  it.  The  proper  formula  for  making  the 
Extract  of  Malt  having  been  published  by  Mr.  Albert  E.  Ebert,  in 
No.  11,  Vol.  III.  of  The  Pharmacists'^  it  may  be  here  suggested  that 
the  manipulations  can  be  somewhat  shortened  if  the  pulpy  mass,  as 
soon  as  all  the  starch  has  been  converted  into  dextrine  and  glucose,  is 
thrown  into  a  percolator  of  proper  size  with  a  layer  of  gravel  at  the 
bottom  ;  only  a  small  quantity  of  the  liquid  has  to  be  returned  before 
it  runs  perfectly  clear.    So  much  for  Malt  Extract. 
The  second  article  of  fraud  is  a  "  Strictly  pure  Cream  of  Tartar, 
ground  from  the  crystals  expressly  for  the  drug  trade,"  offered  by  a 
man  who,  for  a  number  of  years,  has  been  a  dispenser  of  pure  drugs 
and  medicines,  which  business  he  abandoned  for  the  sake  of  manufac- 
turing baking  power  and  the  pure  cream  of  tartar.  His  confiding 
nature  has  probably  never  permitted  him  to  doubt  the  purity  of  any- 
thing he  dispensed,  and  judging  others  by  himself,  he  thinks  it  an  easy 
matter  to  palm  off  the  product  of  his  manufacture  on  the  profession, 
there  being  the  strong  inducement  that  he  knows  exactly  what  is 
needed  in  the  drug  trade,  having  been  in  it  himself.    This  cream  of 
*  See  page  33  of  January  number  of  this  Journal. 
