ADDKESS. 
197 
England  and  France;  thus  affording  to  the  pharmaceutical  chemist 
an  unfailing  criterion  for  detecting  this  fraudulent  substitution, 
when  other  than  occular  evidence  is  needed. 
The  natural  causes  of  deterioration  in  drugs  are,  therefore, 
sufficiently  obvious  to  require  the  watchful  care  of  the  apothe- 
cary to  avoid  their  hurtful  influence ;  but  when  to  these  are  ad- 
ded the  results  of  a  wicked  trade  in  adulterations,  applicable  to 
nearly  every  valuable  item  of  the  Materia  Medica,  the  utmost 
prudence  and  acuteness  is  called  for  to  avoid  imposition.  Cream 
of  tartar,  the  pure  acid  salt  of  grape  juice,  is  mingled  with 
alum  and  vitriol ;  chalk,  gypsum  and  barytes  have  been  admixed 
with  calomel ;  and  the  oil  of  lemons,  so  delightful  for  its  fra- 
grance, is  reduced  with  the  spirit  of  turpentine.  In  the  means 
of  recognising  genuine,  and  detecting  adulterated  and  spurious 
drugs,  there  is,  Gentlemen,  an  ample  field  for  the  exercise  of 
your  experimental  talents,  and  I  trust  you  will  enter  it  with  en- 
thusiasm, and  partake  of  the  pleasure,  as  well  as  reap  the  honors, 
which  accrue  to  the  successful  prosecutor  of  this  important  and 
interesting  branch  of  pharmaceutical  investigation. 
The  conversion  of  drugs  into  efficient  and  uniform  medicines, 
fitted  for  administration  to  the  sick,  requires  the  skill  derived 
from  practical  experience ;  hence  the  importance  placed  by  our 
College  on  a  regular  four  years'  apprenticeship,  to  acquire  the 
details  of  the  business.  The  purest  and  best  drugs  may  become 
inert  and  valueless  by  unskilful  preparation ;  compounds  of  safe 
and  efficient  powers  may  become  poisonous,  and  changed  in  cha- 
racter, by  careless  manipulation  and  ignorance.  The  physician 
may  have  his  faith  in  remedies  destroyed  by  the  use  of  ill-pre- 
pared samples,  wholly  unconscious  of  the  short-coming  of  the 
apothecary  upon  whom  he  relied.  It  is  the  pride  of  the  able 
pharmaceutist  to  render  his  preparations  efficient  in  power,  and 
beautiful  in  appearance  ;  the  contrast  of  the  adept  and  the  pre- 
tender is  so  perceptible  in  this  department  of  the  business,  that 
the  public  eye  will  draw  the  distinction,  in  the  transparence  of 
syrups,  the  fineness  of  powders,  and  the  creamy  smoothness  of 
ointments,  when  unable  to  judge  of  their  medicinal  power.  If 
it  is  so  important  to  attend  to  these  visible,  though  not  always 
essential  evidences  of  care,  how  much  more  necessary  is  it 
to  scrupulously  effect  the  accurate  combination  of  ingredients  in 
the  officinal  preparations  ?  By  neglecting  this  care,  precipitated 
