Tyree’s antiseptic powder was assigned for examination to a subcommittee
of the Council, which made the following report:
_To the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry_: Your subcommittee, to whom
was assigned Tyree’s Pulv. Antiseptic Comp., marketed by J. S. Tyree,
Washington, D. C., reports as follows:
The label on the package states: “This preparation is a scientific
combination of borate of sodium, alumen, carbolic acid, glycerin and the
crystallized principles of thyme, eucalyptus, gaultheria, and mentha, in
the form of a powder,” etc.
The statement that the powder contains the crystalline principles of
thyme, eucalyptus, gaultheria and mentha is vague and misleading, since
the chief medical constituents of eucalyptus and gaultheria are liquids,
but it tends to convey the impression that the powder contains the
essential constituents of these drugs, namely, thymol, oil of eucalyptus
or eucalyptol, oil of wintergreen, or methyl salicylate, and menthol.
The literature supplied to physicians claims its composition to be:
“Parts, sod. bor., 50; alumen, 50; ac. carbol., 5; glycerin, 5; the
cryst. principles of thyme, 5; eucalyptus, 5; gaultheria, 5, and mentha,
5.”