A^'c?ober,PiKm'}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  487 
carried  on  under  the  law  of  1849,  and  said  that  the  department  is 
using  standards  no  longer  official.  He  said  that  we  seem  to  have  no 
way  to  cope  with  this  question,  as  a  drug  rejected  in  one  port  may 
be  admitted  at  another.  He  then  recommended  that  the  matter  be 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Legislation,  which  was  approved. 
The  Adulteration  of  Chemicals.  By  L.  F.  Kebler.  In  order  to 
arrive  at  a  proper  understanding  of  the  amount  of  adulteration  in 
chemicals,  it  is  necessary  to  clearly  define  what  is  meant  by  adultera- 
tion. Gross,  deliberate  sophistications  of  chemicals  by  manufactur- 
ers, jobbers  and  brokers  do  not,  in  the  experience  of  the  writer, 
amount  to  1  per  cent.  If,  however,  those  chemicals  are  classed  as 
adulterated  which  do  not  conform  to  well  recognized  standards  of 
quality  or  which  fall  below  the  professed  standards  under  which 
they  are  sold,  approximately  25  per  cent,  are  adulterated.  Such 
adulterations  are  due  to  a  deficiency  in  strength  in  some  cases,  and 
more  often  to  the  failure  of  the  manufacturer  to  sufficiently  purify 
his  chemicals. 
Dr.  Eccles  remarked  at  the  close  ot  the  paper  that  by  using  the 
word  "  adulteration  "  a  false  impression  is  given;  that  adulteration  of 
drugs  in  the  eyes  of  the  public  is  an  entirely  different  question. 
Benjamin  T.  Fairchild  said  that  Dr.  Eccles  had  referred  to  an  im- 
portant matter,  and  that  something  should  be  done  to  remedy  it. 
He  said  that  nearly  all  drug  laws  read  that  when  a  drug  falls  below 
a  standard  it  is  adulterated,  which  is  not  the  case. 
Drug  Plant  Investigations  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  By 
R.  H.  True.  These  consist  of  field  and  laboratory  investigations. 
Field  work  includes  the  working  out  of  practical  methods  of  growing 
drug  plants  and  of  curing  the  product.  It  also  includes  (1)  plants 
and  products  now  imported  from  other  countries  for  which  our 
country  furnishes  suitable  conditions ;  e.  g.}  opium  poppy,  camphor, 
licorice,  belladonna,  etc.  (2)  The  utilization  of  plants  now  neglected, 
especially  weeds;  e.  g.,  stramonium,  burdock,  yellow  dock,  etc.  (3), 
The  domestication  and  cultivation  of  valuable  wild  drug  plants  now 
becoming  commercially  rare  ;  e.  g.,  golden  seal,  which  was  stated  to 
be  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  the  problems  presented. 
Field  work  is  carried  on  in  Vermont,  District  of  Columbia,  South 
Carolina  and  Texas. 
Laboratory  work  at  Washington,  D.  C,  embraces  histology, 
chemical  plant  physiology  and  pharmacology. 
