^"''jiT.^iSyT'^'}       Liquor  Selling  by  Pharmacists.  13 
What  is  the  origin  of  this  bark  ?  It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  it 
is  derived  from  the  root  of  a  tree,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  it  must 
be  referred  to  one  or  more  species  of  Populus^  several  of  which  are 
popularly  knovi^n  as  cottonwood^  on  account  of  the  cotton-like  filaments 
found  in  the  fruit.  This  name  is  more  particularly  applied  to  the  fol- 
lowing three  species  ;  Populus  angulata^  Alton,  the  western  cotton-tree 
which  is  found  from  Pennsylvania  to  Wisconsin,  and  further  southward; 
Pop.  monilifera^  Alton,  Cottonwood  or  necklace-poplar,  from  Western 
Vermont  to  Illinois  and  southwestward  to  Louisiana  ;  Pop,  heterophylla^ 
Lin.,  cotton-tree  or  downy  poplar,  found  in  about  the  same  localities, 
though  rarer  than  the  preceding  in  the  New  England  States.  The 
three  species  grow  along  river  banks  and  in  swampy  localities,  and  it 
does  not  seem  unlikely,  tha(  one  or  all  three  yield  at  least  a  portion  of 
the  so-called  cotton-root  bark  of  commerce. 
I  am  not  aware  that  authentic  specimens  of  the  bark  of  Gossypium  or 
of  these  species  of  Populus  have  been  submitted  to  analysis,  but  as  far 
as  can  be  judged  from  the  taste,  and  other  sensible  properties,  I  am 
inclined  to  the  belief  that  at  least  a  considerable  portion  of  the  commer- 
cial fluid  extracts  of  cotton-root  bark  have  not  been  made  from  the 
officinal  Gossypii  radicis  cortex,^  but  from  this  substitute. 
The  question  then  presents  itself  to  which  cotton-root  bark  must  be 
ascribed  the  reputed  emmenagogue  properties,  upon  the  strength  of 
which  Gossypii  radix  and  afterwards  Gossypii  radicis  cortex  was  admitted 
into  the  Pharmacopoeia  ?  The  writer  would  be  thankful  to  manufac- 
turers of  fluid  extracts,  to  wholesale  druggists,  and  particularly  to  physi- 
cians and  pharmacists  of  the  Southern  States  where  cotton-root  bark 
appears  to  be  principally  used,  for  authentic  specimens  of  the  plant  and 
of  its  root,  to  which  the  medicinal  properties  are  ascribed. 
LIQUOR  SELLING  BY  PHARMACISTS. 
BY  HENRY   S.  WELLCOME,   PH.  G, 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
held  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  Sept.  last,  a  member  proposed  that  the  Associ- 
ation take  some  action  to  influence  a  repeal,  or  at  least  a  modification, 
of  the  present  laws,  requiring  the  druggist  to  pay  license  for  the  sale 
of  liquors.  The  objection  was  at  once  raised  that,  if  the  druggist  was 
not  required  to  pay  liquor  license,  every  saloon  keeper  would  put  out  a 
