(The results) Dr. Wesener showed the following:
23 prescriptions No trace of aristol
66 prescriptions 80 per cent impurity
10 prescriptions 20 per cent impurity
9 prescriptions 10 per cent impurity
31 prescriptions pure
"Druggists have been misled into purchasing this substitute
for aristol by unscrupulous salesmen, who have palmed off
on them a substance which in many cases is nothing more
than 'fuller's earth,' said Dr. Wesener. This stuff was
sold to them cheap.
"The druggist can have no excuse for selling this stuff,
which is injurious, because it is an easy matter for him to
test it to find out whether it is aristol or not. Aristol
is soluble in either, and makes a dark brown solution. Some
of the powder which we have obtained on these prescriptions
is not soluble at all. We have not completed the chemical
analysis of all the precipitates, but those which we have
tried consist of chalk mixed with an iron oxide to give it
the color, or some other mineral substance."
The two leading imitations are as follows: Spurious preparation of
aristol, and an imitation of triethylate which is a substitute for
trional.
Aristol sells at $1.85 an ounce and triethylate retails at $1.50 an
ounce. The cost of manufacturing the two imitations is about 2 cents
an ounce.