Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1892. 
Mullein  Oil. 
3 
ing  of  648  per  cent,  of  mucilage;  5-76  per  cent,  of  glucose  ;  i-6o 
per  cent,  of  saccharose,  and  2-30  per  cent,  of  a  peculiar  substance 
resembling  tannin,  as  it  was  precipitated  by  gelatin  and  alum  and 
gave  a  dark  color  with  ferric  chloride. 
Dilute  sodium  hydrate  extracted  from  the  remaining  drug  5-40 
per  cent,  of  pectin  and  albuminoids,  and  the  remainder  of  the  drug 
was  found  to  be  composed  of  3-91  per  cent,  of  lignin  and  19  67  per 
cent,  of  cellulin. 
MULLEIN  OIL. 
Editor  of  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  : 
The  December  number  of  your  Journal  contains  an  article  on 
"  Mullein  Oil  "  in  which,  our  firm,  under  cover  of  the  words  "  A 
prominent  homoeopathic  pharmacy,"  is  charged  with  "  petty  decep- 
tion to  introduce  an  article  at  exorbitant  prices."  This  charge  is 
grossly  unjust,  uncalled  for  and  libellous,  and  in  common  fairness 
we  ask  you  to  publish  our  reply  to  Mr.  George  M.  Beringer's  attack 
on  our  business  and  pharmaceutical  honor.  The  best  reply  we  can 
make  is  the  plain  facts  of  the  case,  which  are  as  follows  : 
About  eight  years  ago  Dr.  A.  M.  Cushing,  of  Springfield,  Mass., 
published  a  paper  in  the  United  States  Medical  Investigator,  of  Chi- 
cago, on  the  subject  of  Mullein  oil.  We  had  numerous  calls  for  the 
preparation  and  wrote  to  Dr.  Cushing  to  ascertain  how  it  was  made. 
His  reply,  in  substance,  was  that  mullein  oil  is  made  by  putting 
the  freshly  gathered  mullein  blossoms  in  a  dark  colored  bottle,  and 
exposing  the  bottle  to  the  sun  for  four  or  five  weeks.  By  this  pro- 
cess, a  sort  of  dry  distillation,  a  dark  colored,  aromatic  liquid  is 
obtained,  miscible  with  either  alcohol  'or  water,  that  is  called 
"  mullein  oil"  by  the  country  people,  which  name  neither  Dr.  Cush- 
ing nor  ourselves  saw  fit  to  change.  We  may  also  state  that  to  this 
liquid  is  added  about  15  per  cent,  alcohol  to  prevent  fermentation. 
We  are  quite  well  aware  that  the  article  is  not  an  "  oil "  and  have 
repeatedly  explained  what  it  is,  and  how  made,  in  the  journal  pub- 
lished by  us,  i.  e.,  the  Homoeopathic  Recorder.  We  also  know  that 
the  Dispensatory  mentions  a  "  mullein  oil"  made  by  the  country 
people  of  Germany,  but  as  it  is  not  an  officinal  preparation,  nor  as 
good  a  preparation  as  the  one  prepared  according  to  Dr.  Cushing's 
method,  we  cannot  see  that  it  is  entitled  to  the  name  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  better  article,  and  this  especially  as  the  German  prepara- 
