The Chairman: I believe I express the wishes of the Section in this regard, that we thank Dr. Rusby for his kindness in presenting the subject to us in such an instructive manner.

I also have the honor of introducing a gentleman very well known to you, but who very seldom presents or does anything on the floor. He thinks his work as Secretary is enough for him to do. But on this occasion for the Commercial Section he is willing to tell you what he knows about the Preservation of Galenicals.

The General Secretary: When the Chairman of this Section asked me to join some other members in the presentation of this subject from a commercial standpoint, I could see some good points about it, and some that did not appeal to me. In the first place, I thought I would be attempting to tell you things you already know. It is presumed that the pharmacist in business is familiar with the teachings of the schools in regard to the preservation of galenicals. It is as a rule taken up carefully there. At the same time the subject is a broad one, and commercial success may lie in this question of whether galenicals shall be allowed to deteriorate and then be used, or kept in their original pure condition. It will only be possible to take up a few isolated cases to give force to the point I make. If we divide the galenicals into aromatic waters, syrups, elixirs, extracts, fluidextracts, tinctures, ointments, pills and powders, we have covered the ground as to classification. I am going to begin with the aromatic waters, because they are so simple that a great many unfortunately think they are not deserving of particular attention, being merely solutions of oil in water. The only suggestion I have is to avoid the exposure of these waters to low temperatures, for the reason that the solution of the oil in water having been made at the ordinary temperature of the room, when the temperature is lowered a cloudy liquid is produced. Some pharmacists assume that the water has deteriorated, overlooking the fact that it is only a physical phenomenon caused by the reduction of temperature. As soon as it is brought back into the store the solution will return to its clear condition again, and hence we should avoid at all times exposure of these waters to low temperatures. Tinctures and fluidextracts are susceptible to similar changes of high and low temperatures. You all know that in going into a drug store you sometimes find a row of bottles of tinctures on a shelf near the ceiling, where the temperature is 10 or more degrees higher than in the lower parts of the room. Let us not overlook the fact that the tinctures were made at the ordinary room temperature, and the solvent took out of the drug what it could hold in solution at that temperature, and when you change the temperature the tincture will change. It may cause the vaporization of some of the alcohol or the temperature may have lowered materially. This accounts very largely for precipitation in tinctures and fluidextracts. It is recognized by all pharmacists. I am sure you have all heard it in the schools from which you have graduated.

It is the disregard of such little rules, if we may so term them, that very often causes damage to the preparation and carries with it commercial loss. We often wonder why a preparation gelatinizes, overlooking the fact that this change may be caused by exposure to light, and sometimes by heat; possibly, by evaporation of the alcohol which holds the astringent principle in solution. Light is in many cases as detrimental as extremes of temperature. We can see it by changes occurring in tinctures exposed to direct sunlight, when precipitation occurs. I might add in order to lessen the apparent danger somewhat, that fortunately in the majority of cases the precipitation is usually of inert matter and does not carry with it the potent constituents. That is a fortunate provision of nature. Then again the exposure of tinctures in bottles having a large air space above the liquid is a cause of deterioration which a well-filled bottle is not subject to. Fluidextracts, being more concentrated solutions than tinctures, require even greater protection against direct sunlight and extremes of temperature, and are best preserved in small bottles kept in dark and moderately cool places.

The preservation of syrups is one of the most important subjects I think, and it is safe to say that the pharmacist who pays due attention to the proper location and preservation of his syrups and ointments will reap direct commercial benefit, inasmuch as they will keep very much better. I should like to suggest, in this connection, that every drug-store should be provided with a dumb-waiter, which can be lowered into the cellar, on which the syrups and ointments should be kept.

An additional point is this: In the preparation of syrups, before putting the newly made syrup into a bottle, pharmacists should satisfy themselves. as to the condition of the bottle. A great deal lies in that. It is not sufficient to rinse the old container with water, because in many syrup-bottles little fungous growths are found on the surface of the glass. Now if that bottle be simply rinsed with water a good deal of the fungus will remain and the fresh syrup being poured in, fresh food is offered these fungi and they will multiply. I would suggest washing the bottle with hot water and lye and draining it well before putting the syrup into it. If considerable water remain in the bottle it will dilute the upper layer of the syrup; and that upper layer, being deficient in sugar, is liable, of course, to undergo fermentative change, which change is progressive and will contaminate the larger quantity of syrup within the bottle.

Ointments likewise upon exposure to extremes of temperature undergo change; not so much when exposed to extreme cold as to extreme heat. The exposure of ointments to the high temperature of summer is detrimental. And also in winter when the furnace or stove is in use considerable attention should be paid to the location where ointments are to be kept. I have had occasion to notice once or twice the condition of an ointment jar in a store where I hap, ened to call. The jar was open and

the ointment was not uniformly mixed but contaminated with a certain proportion of that same ointment in semiliquid form. A small amount of the fat had melted from unnecessary exposure to heat. Such a condition is likely to happen elsewhere. Ointments should always be kept in a dry and cool place; a damp atmosphere is conducive to rancidity of fats.

It may not be out of place to say one or two words in regard to containers for ointments. The ordinary stoneware jar is not suitable for a shelf jar for ointments, for it is not impermeable to fats. No matter how thoroughly we wash it out with hot lye, any ointment having become rancid in it and penetrated the material of the jar will never be entirely removed. Take an old jar that has been used for three or four years and the fat has almost penetrated to the outer surface and will be sure to contaminate the fresh ointment. Glass jars are better but as a rule have not been well tempered. They break or crack on washing. But there is a jar impervious to fats. That is the French porcelain jar. They are more expensive, the pound size costing twelve dollars a dozen and the half-pound seven or eight dollars. Such a jar will last a lifetime. For the purpose of keeping the new ointment sweet after the old has been taken out, whether cold cream, benzoinated lard, or zinc ointment, we should invariably wash the jar with hot lye and dry it before putting the fresh ointment into it. The two disturbing factors for the preservation of ointments are extremes of heat and cold and moisture, and the essentials are dryness and even temperature.

In speaking of pills, which I believe at the present day are not made in quantity in the drug-store as in the past, the mistake is sometimes made of putting the pills into stock bottles before they are sufficiently dry. In making up a batch of two or three thousand compound cathartic pills, as we did when I was an apprentice, they were thrown into a mixture of lycopodium and licorice where they retained their shape and were dried, so that we could take them out, say after three or four weeks, and then they would keep in a bottle for years, provided they were not exposed to a damp atmosphere. But the fact that so few pills are made at the present time does not make this point as important as it was years ago. Still it is worth mentioning. It is only by drying out the excessive moisture which causes the trouble that pills can be preserved. The growth of mold and similar conditions will arise on the pill as on the surface of a crude drug. Powders are fortunately not subject to the same changes from extremes of heat and light as other preparations. Perhaps the only objection to exposing them to higher heat is the loss of some volatile constituent.

The effort of the Chairman to bring about what he considers a perfect emulsion of commercial and professional pharmacy would no doubt be a success if the other two component parts on the program were here, but I understand they are wanting. In order that the emulsion may be complete, chemicals and sundries should be represented equally. The two

gentlemen who were to speak on those subjects are not here; but we often have to deal with a cracked emulsion caused by the lack or excess of one of the components, and so this intended emulsion may also be found not entirely homogeneous.

Mr. Ebert: Mr. Chairman, I was impressed with the fact in listening to the remarks of Professor Caspari that he served his apprenticeship with some old-fashioned apothecary. The old-time apothecary learned these facts that were handed down from time immemorial to the time when the old-fashioned apothecary ceased to exist, and he seems to have been with one of them. He just omitted in regard to ointments the mere fact which I am sure he knows well, as to how an ointment, after being placed in these jars he speaks of, should be taken out of the jar. The old-fashioned direction was to take the spatula and not go down in the center and take out some, but the direction was to take the spatula and commence on the side and go around and keep the ointment always on a level. Is that so? The General Secretary: That is undoubtedly an important point.

Mr. Ebert: Now that is one of the great features of preserving ointments. The way to do it is to take the spatula and take out the ointment in such a way that the level of the ointment will be the same. Then there will only be a small surface exposed to the atmosphere.

In regard to pills, I have been in the habit, and am still in the habit, of making three or four thousand compound cathartic pills, and I think that the way suggested is the best way to preserve them.

Mr. Seaman In my store I use cut loaf-sugar in making syrups and they keep better. The point was given me by a drummer. He said if I would dissolve a pound of granulated sugar in the requisite amount of water I would see a deposit in the bottom of it, but if I took loaf-sugar it would not be observed. I tried it and I have used cut loaf for all my syrups, fruit syrups, and for everything sugar goes into in the store. It seems to be a point worth bearing in mind. In my town it is almost impossible for me to get cut loaf-sugar, and I simply order three to five barrels in New York City and have it sent up. I don't know whether it amounts to anything or not.

Mr. Hallberg: When you arouse the spirit, then you will never get rid of it. Now that is my strong point. This is, I consider, a most important point to present to the pharmacists of this country, to practicing pharmacists, and if there is anything I pride myself on in my career it has been to instill into the young who go out to practice pharmacy the neces sity of carefully preserving the preparations they make. It is certainly a commercial proposition. Go into the average drug-store and you will find about twelve stock bottles of syrups, glass-stoppered bottles, on the shelf. Now there are not more than three syrups that should be kept in glassstoppered stock bottles on the shelf, and they are Syrupus, Syrupus Tolutanus and Syrupus Zingiberis. Every other syrup should be kept in ordinary

stock bottles without any glass labels. When the syrup is prepared the bottle should be washed out with boiling water, rinsed, and the syrup poured into it and the bottle completely filled. They should be as small bottles as possible and they should be kept in a cool, not in a cold, place. You sometimes see rows of glass-stoppered bottles for fluidextracts. No fluidextract should be kept in a glass-stoppered bottle. When not kept in glass-stoppered bottles on the shelf there is no temptation to mix them. No two different lots, whether bought or prepared, should ever be mixed, because there is always a slight variation in the alcoholic strength of the menstruum and that will induce precipitation. In the same way only one oil should be kept in a shelf bottle and that is the oil of turpentine. No other oil should be kept in a shelf or glass-stoppered bottle. In the place where I learned the business every oil was kept down in the cellar under the stairway. That may be an extreme position but nevertheless it is good.

When it comes to ointments, they should be kept in glass jars. They need not be scalded out with hot lye; they should be wiped out with terebinthinated sawdust. That is one of the best cleansers we have. If the oil of turpentine odor should remain and be objectionable then use plain sawdust.

I would like to inquire why a pharmacist should spend from five hundred to five thousand dollars for a refrigerating apparatus that in many sections stands without taking in any money six months in a year-why he should not invest a few dollars in a refrigerating apparatus in which he could keep fixed oils and ointments. I know one pharmacist who follows the old plan of a week or two before the holidays, when the hogs are slaughtered, getting leaf lard, rendering it and benzoinating it and putting it away in jars covered with paraffine papers and keeps it in the summer time in an ice box.

I have seen so many preparations spoiled, and yet the average druggist does not care about throwing them out. I have seen a druggist get a prescription, go to the shelves, juggling a bottle of compound syrup of squill which made it foam, showing that it was fermented, and yet put it in the prescription. These things are wrong, and I think the druggists ought to recognize that it is not the amount of money that is put into their pockets as much as it is the amount of money that can be kept in there, and proper methods of preserving preparations would make, it seems to me, one of the best and most legitimate methods whereby to save money.

Mr. Sherman Mr. Hallberg is splitting hairs and making fish of one and fowl of the other. I hope he will take a new and more prismatic view of life from now on, and remember that through the virtue of some psychological and to him him negligible reason, his Omaha friend has for many years always carried out the ideas he has given us in regard to keeping syrups, etc., and carrying out the idea of not having uniform packages, but