No. 2, November, 1920] 



PHARMACOGNOSY 



113 



805. Anonymous. Oil of pimento-leaves. (Through Rept. Imp. Inst.) Chein. & Drug- 

 gist 92: 390. 1920. — Leaves of Pimenta arris yield by steam distillat ion 2.9 per cent of a pale 

 yellowish-brown volatile oil, of pleasant, aromatic odor, with a high percentage of phenols, 

 almost entirely eugenol. Manufacturers to whom samples of the oil were submitted consider 



it equivalent to the oil from pimento fruit. — E. N. Galhcrcoal. 



806. Anonymous. Wild ginger. (Through Agric. News, Imp. Dept. Agric. West Indies.) 

 Chem. A: Druggist 92: 177-178. 1920.— It has been assumed that the I rue ginger plant (Zingi- 

 ber officinale) is not known in the wild state, though it doubtless is a native of tropical Asia, 

 but extensive areas of wild true ginger plant were recently found in the Republic of Colombia 

 along the Magdalena river in Goajira peninsula. These probably escaped from cultivation 

 in Brazil when the Portuguese introduced ginger in the sixteenth century. Commercially, 

 this wild ginger may prove a valuable source of the drug, though the rhizomes are small; 

 also, this region may prove desirable for the cultivation of ginger. — E. N. Gathercoal. 



807. Anonymous. Poison ivy, oak and sumac. Amer. Forestry 26: 306-307. 2 fig. 1920. 



SOS. Aston, B. C. Preliminary notes on the tinctorial properties of the genus Coprosma 

 (Family Rubiaceae). New Zealand Jour. Sci. Tech. 1:3. 1918. — The three widely distributed 

 New Zealand shrubs Copros??ia grandifolia, C. linarifolia and C. areolala, have considerable 

 tinctorial power: orange-yellow, bright yellow, and deep brown respectively. With alkaloids 

 an intense purple was obtained. [See next following Entry, 809.] — A. Gundersen. 



809. Aston, B. C. The genus Coprosma as a source of dyes. New Zealand Jour. Sci. 

 Tech. 1: 264-267, 346-351. 1 pi. (with specimens of dyed wool), 1 table of colors. 1918.— Color 

 reactions of about twenty species of Coprosma, with summary of vegetable coloring matters. 

 The coprosmas, with wide distribution and quick growth on waste lands, yield varied and 

 lasting colors and are worthy of the fullest investigation. [See next preceding Entry, 808.] — 

 A. Gundersen. 



810. Beath, O. A. Poisonous plants. 

 — See Bot. Absts. 6, Entry 475. 



Proc. Soc. Promotion Agric. Sci. 39: 39-47. 1919. 



811. Browne, Frank. Some constituents of opium smoke. Pharm. Jour. 104: 274. 

 1920. — An analysis of the smoke of dross opium extract, which is largely smoked in the East, 

 indicates that morphine (0.016 g. per 100 g. of extract) is less abundant than in the smoke of 

 chandoo opium (0.100 g. in 100 g. of the opium). As dross opium extract is admitted by smok- 

 ers to be stronger in effect than chandoo, this strength must be attributed to the pyridine bases, 

 ammonia, hydrocyanic acid and such-like substances, rather than to the morphine. — An 

 interesting comparison is made with the constituents of tobacco smoke as follows: 



— E. N. Gathercoal. 



S12. Cofman-Nicoresti, Jules. The adulteration of olive oil. Pharm. Jour. 104: 139. 

 1920. — A number of samples of olive oil recently examined were grossly adulterated with 

 tea-seed oil, which has been condemned as an edible oil, on account of the presence of a poi- 

 sonous saponin body in the pressed oil. The various commercial tea-seed oils possess physical 

 constants very similar to olive oil and do not respond to Baudouin's or Halphen's tests. It 

 may be detected by shaking 10 cc. of the sample oil with 10 cc. of a mixture of equal parts by 

 weight of concentrated sulphuric acid, concentrated nitric acid and water. If tea-seed oil 



