52  The  Importance  of  Garbling  Drugs.  {Am^e°bur'i8P76arm' 
pared  from  the  bark  of  Liquidambar  Orientale"  which,  upon  being 
treated  with  hot  petroleum  benzin,  yielded  a  copious  deposit  of  crys- 
tals of  styracin  upon  cooling.  The  residue  upon  the  filtrate  was  then 
examined,  and  found  to  consist  almost  entirely  of  bark  and  charred 
ligneous  matter,  amounting  to  nearly  n  per  cent,  of  the  drug. 
The  high  price  of  this  article,  at  present,  leads  us  to  be  careful  in 
the  selection  of  this  drug,  the  sample  under  inspection  costing  $3.90 
per  ft),  and  consisting  in  greater  part,  about  75  per  cent.,  of  charcoal 
and  a  drug  costing  less  than  a  tenth  of  the  price  of  Balsam  Tolu. 
The  moral  it  points  is  two-fold  :  First,  that  wholesale  druggists 
should  be  careful  in  selecting  drugs,  which  afterward  go  to  the  retail 
trade  or  manufacturers,  with  their  label  attached.  Second,  that  the 
retailer  must  not  rely  implicitly  upon  any  house  offering  drugs,  but 
examine  for  himself  such  articles  as  may  be  offered  from  time  to  time, 
before  they  are  allowed  to  go  into  the  preparations  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia. Indeed,  a  wholesome  system  of  drug  garbling  is  sadly  needed 
before  such  drugs  as  are  to  be  found  generally  averaging  the  market, 
are  fit  for  the  dispensing  counter. 
In  the  present  instance,  the  extreme  price  only  makes  it  more 
aggravating  to  the  consumer,  yet,  doubtless,  makes  this  particular 
article  more  tempting  to  the  importer. 
Philadelphia,  First  month  \%th,  1876. 
THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  GARBLING  DRUGS. 
BY  J.  J.  BROWN. 
(Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  Jan.  i$th,  1876.) 
Among  the  multitude  of  little  things  that,  in  the  aggregate,  form  our 
profession,  none,  I  believe,  are  so  generally  overlooked  as  that  of  the 
garbling  of  our  drugs.  That  this  is  an  important  duty,  I  think  anyone 
who  doubts  will  find  a  convincing  proof  in  going  over  his  own  stock  of 
goods,  and  carefully  separating  the  good  from  the  bad,  for  no  matter 
what  precautions  we  may  take  in  the  selection  of  drugs,  sophistications 
and  impurities  are  bound  to  creep  in.  As  a  student,  I  have  found  this 
kind  of  employment  particularly  interesting  and  instructive,  as  it  affords 
a  means  of  becoming  familiar  with  the  appearance  of  drugs  and  their 
adulterants  that  could  not  be  obtained  by  any  number  of  observations 
of  an  isolated  specimen.  The  impression  among  pharmacists  often 
is,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  to  feel  that  after  having  made  purchases  from 
