[Report 1908] / Medical Officer of Health, Bournemouth County Borough.

  • Bournemouth (England). County Borough Council. nb2004301338.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1908] / Medical Officer of Health, Bournemouth County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    78/90 (page 78)
    whilst the amount of lithium carbonate in the lithia water ranged from 3'7 grains to 11.5 grains per pint. Subsequently 9 samples were taken officially, and of these o of ])otash water were deficient 80, 78 and 90 per cent, respectively, as judged by the lowest standard commonly adopted, viz.—5 grains of potassium bicar- bonate per pint. Of the 5 samples of lithia water No. 197 was whollv devoid of lithium carbonate, whilst No. 196 contained only 1-2 grains in each pint. In the proceedings which followed, the vendors of Nos. 197 and 198 were lined, but the case against the vendors of No. 196 was dismissed after a second hearing, the magistrates being unable to agree at the first sitting. In this case the defence urged that there is no standard for Jjithia Water, or in other words that each manufac- turer is at liberty to i)ut in any proportion of Lithia he may think lit -from traces up to full medicinal doses— without any notitication of the amount. This astounding proposition was made notwithstanding the fact that it was given in evidence that the standard of the Jlritish Pharmacopa.'ia of 1867 and 1885 had been authoritative for 31 years without any published protest on the part of niamifacturers or the medical profession, and no other standard was even suggested as an alternative by the defence. The magistrates were probably influenced largely by the e\ idence of a prominent witness for the defence, who stated that he preferred Lithia Water containing only 1 grain in a pint, rather than that of the 1885 Pharmacopaha containing 10 grains in a pint, as he prescribed the Lithia separalehj. It is obvious tliat if such a precedent were followed we should have individual medical men who have a preference for Lithia Water (or what not) of a special strength causing the utmost confusion without any notification to the public or to other medical men. The standard of 10 grains per pint has been in use since Lithia Water was first made about the year 1860 until the present time, it is still ado])ted by large numbers of makers in both a large and small way of business and, so far as my experience goes, is still desired by the majority of the medical profession.