View report page

84
In last year's report I noted with satisfaction that local pharmacists
had taken precautions to conform with the requirements of the new pharmacopoeia,
which was issued at the end of 1932. It is to be regretted that they
have failed to maintain this high standard.
In one instance a sample of Ammoniated Quinine Tablets was found
to be entirely devoid of ammonia.
Six samples of calomel ointment were deficient in calomel in quantities
varying from 21 to 61 per cent., and of these five were prepared with benzoated
lard instead of the simple ointment of the B.P. 1932. It must be admitted
that many doctors prefer an ointment made with benzoated lard to the present
paraffin type, but when selling a product, it is essential that any deviation
from the quality stipulated by the Pharmacopoeia, should be disclosed to the
purchaser.
Three samples of camphorated oil were deficient in camphor to the
extent of 7.2 to 9.2 per cent.
Three samples of compound tincture of cardamoms were found to be
of B.P. 1914 quality, instead of conforming to the requirements of the present
Pharmacopoeia. The present preparation contains 60 per cent, of alcohol, an
expensive ingredient, as compared with 45 per cent, in the previous Pharmacopoeia,
and the effect of this is to obtain a larger proportion of the active,
as compared with inactive ingredients.
Two samples of glycerine of boric acid were returned as adulterated,
one of these being 66 per cent, deficient in boric acid, whilst, in the second
case, the pharmacist had supplied a bottle of glycerine and a packet of boric
acid and told the purchaser to make her own. Glycerine of boric acid
is a drug which requires care during manufacture, owing to the risk of burning.
It is not made simply by dissolving boric acid in glycerine, but by driving
off water from a mixture of the two at a definite temperature and then adding
a further amount of glycerine.
Two samples of grey powder were adulterated. One of these was 50 per
cent, deficient in mercury and was compounded with talc instead of chalk;
the other was 92 per cent, deficient in mercury. Formal samples were satisfactory,
but this was probably because the purchase of six powders at once
is sufficient to place the vendor on his guard. The normal dose for a baby
of six months is only a quarter of a grain, whereas the Pharmacopoeia requires
60 times that amount to be taken for the official test and care is consequently
required in analyses such as these, when working on minute quantities.
Four samples of iodine ointment were returned as adulterated. The
British Pharmacopoeia, 1914, included an iodine ointment, which was required
to contain 4 per cent, of iodine in the free state and 4 per cent, of potassium
iodide. This was omitted from the 1932 Pharmacopoeia, but an arrangement
was made with the Committee of the British Pharmaceutical Codex that it
should be included in the B.P.C., 1934. The Codex already contained a stainless
iodine ointment, which has been continued in the new Codex, in a slightly
modified state, and which contains between 4 and 5 per cent, of iodine in
combination with fatty matter. Three of the ointments supplied contained
only 0.1 per cent, of iodine, whilst the fourth contained only 0.44 per cent,
and weie all without potassium iodide. Such preparations are valuless either
as drugs or antiseptics.