THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



55 



article of Rhaponticum it would not appear 

 .that any one could mistake that article 

 for Chinese rhubarb nor, indeed, can he, 

 if an examination is made, but the prac- 

 tice which there prevails of carefully grow- 

 ing the root, selecting only a certain spe- 

 cial grade and size and carefully preparing 

 it for our market, the resulting product 

 looks upon a superficial view much more 

 like the pure grade of Chinese rhubarb 

 than I would have supposed possible. 

 Upon examination the bright yellow 

 color (although it yields less yellow 

 coloring matter to ether), the presence 

 of the outer bark and the appearance, 

 when this is scraped away, of the very 

 regular fine net work are amply sufficient 

 for identification. The sample of Eng- 

 lish rhubarb which I exhibit this even- 

 ing by no means represents the large and 

 handsome pieces which are selected for 

 the purpose of substitution, and of which 

 I did not succeed in obtaining a good 

 sample. 



Concerning ipecac it is well known 

 that all Carthagena ipecac is supposed to 

 be rigidly excluded from our market. 

 Here again, it would appear that no one, 

 however careless, could be deceived into 

 mistaking Carthagena for Rio ipecac, 

 and if the root were left in its natural 

 condition the mistake would doubtless 

 never occur ; but picked over, broken up 

 and stained for the express purpose of de- 

 ceiving the purchaser, Carthagena ipecac 

 it is said, may be made to deceive even 

 one who is familiar with it in its natural 

 state. My evidence is very direct and 

 definite, although circumstances prevent 

 me from making public the details, that 

 a regular business exists in London in 

 picking over the Carthagena ipecac, 

 selecting certain roots, breaking off cer- 

 tain parts of them, when necessary, and 

 staining the suitable portions in imitation 

 of the Rio variety, for the purpose of 

 evading our custom house officers. In 



its natural state the spurious article is 

 known by its greater thickness, its dull 

 light grey color, its tortuousness, and the 

 absence of the constrictions which mark 

 the Rio, notwithstanding that it possesses 

 the thickened collars. The latter, how- 

 ever, are more distant and broader in the 

 Carthagena. Within, it presents more 

 of a horny color and appearance as con- 

 trasted with the white mealy structure of 

 Rio ipecac. All these external character- 

 istics, except the color, can be diminished 

 by a judicious selection, while the color 

 can be modified by staining. Upon 

 breaking the manipulated root it would, 

 of course, be known by its internal struc- 

 ture and color. I have here for exhibi- 

 tion a small sample of the natural Car- 

 thagena root, but I am, unfortunately^ 

 not able to exhibit to you a specimen 

 which has been manipulated. 



It is worthy of note that the real 

 medicinal value of Carthagena ipecac is 

 not known. The careful studies of the 

 past year have demonstrated the fact that 

 emetine is not a definite chemical body, 

 but a mixture. Investigation has not 

 yet determined anything more than that 

 the average percentage of emetine in the 

 Carthagena ipecac is greater than that in 

 the Rio, and that the two are not identi- 

 cal in nature. We have no good reason 

 to believe that the Carthagena ipecac is 

 not equal or even superior to the Rio, but 

 in the absence of evidence to the con- 

 trary it becomes necessary to assume 

 such to be the case. 



Other specimens of special interest are 

 the following : 



A specimen of genuine Savanilla 

 rhatany presented by the Pharmaceutical 

 Society's Museum and differing markedly 

 from the Para rhatany which is now al- 

 most exclusively sold as Savanilla. 



Two specimens of false Pareira brava. 



Two specimens of Japanese or spurious 

 Star anise. 



