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REPORT  ON  HOME  ADULTERATIONS. 
Cod  Liver  Oil. — All  kinds  of  fish  oil  may  be  found  neatly 
bottled  and  carefully  labelled  as  the  genuine  article. 
Sulphate  of  Quinine. — Samples  have  been  detected  with  the 
old  adulteration  of  mannite,  and  one  gentleman  reports  quinine 
mixed  up  with  fine  picked  raw  cotton,  adding  to  the  bulk  so  as 
to  fill  the  vial  without  using  the  requisite  quantity  of  this  valuable 
chemical. 
Ipecacuanha  in  powder  and  Jalap  in  powder,  each  mixed  with 
spurious  matter,  and  English  rhubarb  in  powder,  put  up  for  fine 
powdered  Turkey,  are  not  uncommon  in  all  the  markets. 
Of  crude  materials,  Nitre,  or  Saltpetre  is  one  of  the  most 
commonly  sophisticated,  being  adulterated  with  common  salt  and 
nitrate  of  soda  largely. 
These  are  some  of  the  reports  made  to  us,  all  from  reliable 
sources. 
The  Committee  have  endeavored  to  establish  points  of  obser- 
vation in  different  sections  of  the  United  States,  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  to  obtain  the  names  of  houses  from  whom  these  various 
sophistications  have  been  obtained.  Such  information  they  deem 
it  best  to  withhold  from  publication  at  present,  lest  they  might 
do  injustice  to  parties  ignorantly  sending  out  such  drugs ;  but 
they  also  intend  from  time  to  time  to  compare  notes,  and  when 
satisfied  of  continued  practices  of  this  kind,  will  report  such 
names  to  the  Association. 
In  the  meantime,  they  cannot  too  strongly  urge  retail  apothe- 
caries, especially,  to  be  cautious  of  whom  and  what  quality  of 
medicines  they  purchase.  It  is  to  the  dispensing  apothecary 
that  medical  men  and  the  community  look  for  such  medicines  as 
are  pure,  not  only  "good  of  their  kind,"  but  of  the  best  kind. 
C.  B.  Guthrie, 
Geo.  D.  Coggeshall, 
E.  S.  Wayne, 
A.  J.  Matthews. 
Proceed,  of  Amer.  Fharm*  Association,  1855. 
