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70
case below the suggested limit of 4 per cent., and they
contained no preservatives, arsenic, lead or copper.
Cordials, Wines and Spirits.
Two specimens of lemon squash, two of grape fruit squash
and five of wine upon analysis proved to be genuine. Two
of the fruit cordials contained sulphur dioxide perservative,
but the amount present in each case was below the permitted
limit. No samples of spirits were received this year.
Drugs.
Table III contains forty-nine drugs in a very varied
assortment of seventeen varieties. The majority satisfied
the requirements of the British Pharmacopoeia and in the
few instances where the articles were not Pharmacopoeia
preparations other criteria of purity were complied with.
From the last edition of the Pharmacopœia iodine ointment
was omitted. Possibly because of this omission there
have appeared on the market various preparations, outwardly
similar, which are either entirely devoid of free or
combined iodine, or which contain but a trace. It may be
useful to remark here that the British Pharmacopoeia is
frequently invoked in the Courts as a work whose requirements
are " standards." In point of fact the standards of
the Pharmacopoeia are not absolute standards, but very
important presumptive ones readily accepted by magistrates
and very difficult for the defence to put aside. The Pharmacopoeia
is not the only work to which appeal may be
made, though it is the chief. Others are the "British
Pharmaceutical Codex," Squire's" Companion to the
British Pharmacopoeia," and Martindale's "Extra Pharmacopoeia."
Beference may sometimes be necessary to previous issues
of the Pharmacopoeia, where drugs, not included in the
current issue, are still in use. An important official
example of this procedure is afforded by the Dangerous
Drugs Acts and Begulations, wherein are specified drugs
and preparations of the last but one (1914) edition and even
so far back as the edition of 1898.