Am.  Jour.  I'harm.'l 
December.  1901.  / 
Editorial. 
597 
A  worker  in  making  microscopical  examinations  for  physicians  ob- 
serves [Pediatrics,  loc.  cit.)  that  his  patrons  may  be  divided  into  three 
classes,  of  which  the  largest  class  are  "  those  who  know  neither  how  to 
prepare  their  specimens  nor  what  help  the  microscope  can  possibly 
afford  them  in  a  troublesome  diagnosis.  These  men  send  ferment- 
ing urine  in  dirty  bottles  to  be  tested  for  'typhoid  bacilli;'  plump 
and  blooming  boys  to  '  have  their  red  cells  counted,'  patients  who 
have  not  had  a  chill  or  an  elevated  temperature  for  months  to  be 
examined  for  «  malaria,'  or  bits  of  tough  beefsteak  passed  per  rectum 
as  probable  specimens  of  '  carcinoma  of  the  colon.'  *■  *  #  Perhaps 
these  men  last  named  have  the  ultimate  motive  of  impressing  the 
patient  with  a  notion  of  their  own  omniscience ;  but  there  is  no 
honest  word  to  be  said  for  such  performances  except — quackery y 
Modern  methods  of  research  have  thrown  a  wonderful  light  on 
not  only  diagnosis  in  medicine,  but  the  valuation  of  economic  pro- 
ducts in  general.  As  in  medicine,  so  in  these  fields :  the  newer  bio- 
chemical methods  have  complemented  the  old  in  a  manner  that  is 
beneficent,  and  there  is  no  ground  for  supposing  that  all  five  senses 
with  the  man  of  common  sense  cannot  be  turned  advantageously  to 
account. 
In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  reading  of  a  paper  on 
"  Spanish  Saffron  "  at  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association 
(Proa,  1898,  p.  109),  M.  N.  Kline  said  that  the  English  women  who 
used  saffron  know  good  saffron  when  they  see  it.  He  said  that  they 
know  from  practical  use  how  to  select  the  best  quality,  even  though 
no  one  might  be  able  to  assign  the  reason  how  they  determined 
this. 
It  is  well  known  how  "  many  large  importers  of  tea,  coffee  and 
cacao  employ  a  taster  or  tester  to  determine  the  grade  of  the  mate- 
rial imported.  Long  experience  enables  these  men  to  detect  by 
taste  very  slight  variations  in  quality.  Manifold  repetitions  of  the 
operation  enables  them  to  become  familiar  with  every  shade  of 
agreement  between  the  taste  of  a  sample  and  the  appearance,  feel 
and  smell  of  it.  In  this  way  all  the  senses  become  able  to  share  in 
the  work  ot  determining  the  quality  of  the  sample,  the  presence  of 
adulterants,  facings,  etc.  The  determination  of  the  kinds  of  adul- 
terants is  largely  a  matter  for  chemistry  and  microscopy.  In  grad- 
ing wool,  cotton,  etc.,  dealers  depend  upon  the  length  of  staple, 
amount  of  dirt,  fineness  of  fibre,  strength  of  fibre,  uniformity  of  the 
