CAYENNE PEPPER. 451 



test " — an obviously useless test if starch were naturally present 

 in Cayenne pepper. 



(D.) Winton {op. cit., p. 522), referring- to Paprika, i.e., 

 Capsicum anniimn, says, " Starch is seldom present in notice- 

 able amount, and never in the form of large grains." With 

 the microscopy of Cayenne pepper he subsequently deals very 

 fully, but never even mentions starch in that connection. Under 

 the more comprehensive heading of " Solanaceous Fruits" 

 (p. 515), he observes of " Cayenne pepper and paprika, the two 

 species of capsicum used as spices " — note again the discrimina- 

 tion between the two — that " starch in appreciable amount is 

 absent." 



(E.) Greenish (Alicroscopical examination of foods and 

 drugs, p. 248) selects for microscopic investigation Zanzibar 

 or Sierra Leone chillies, as suitable types of Capsicum 

 minimum, and deals exhaustively with the various parts of the 

 plant — and also with powdered chillies — without even once so 

 much as mentioning starch; from whicli one may draw the in- 

 ference that there is no starch present. 



(F.) Blyth (see his definition already quoted) observes : " The 

 substance of the seed proper is composed of small angular 

 cells, with thick colourless walls, filled with granules and a 

 yellow-orange oil, but without starch." On page 502 he says: 

 " The adulterations of Cayenne usually enumerated are . 

 a few starches." 



(G.) Leach (op. cit., p. 343) mentions the eight analyses by 

 Winton, Ogden, and Mitchell, whose averages have already 

 been given. The maximum of starch by the diastase method 

 is I "46, the minimum 'So. On the same page, however, he says 

 emphatically, " Cayenne has no starch." 



(H.) The Federal Laws of the L^nited States provide that 

 Cayenne pepper must contain not more than i"5 per cent, of 

 starch. 



(J.) Hockauf (Analyst, Vol. 31, p. 302; remarks that 

 powdered capsicum is frequently mixed with oil to improve 

 its appearance, and that such oiled powders often contain maize 

 starch. The starch in these samples, he proceeds to say, may 

 be detected by the iodine test; again I say, if starch existed 

 naturally in Cayenne pepper, this test would be perfectlv value- 

 less in such a case. 



(K.) Villiers and Collin (op. cit., p. 353) say that the 

 mesocarp (of Capsicum longum or C. annuum) may contain 

 small granules of starch; but on pag'e 356, dealing with the 

 adulteration of Cayenne pepper by means of rice, they observe : 



'V'L'eau iodee permettra facilement de reconnaitre la presence de la farine 

 de riz ou d'autres fecules que Ton pourra determiner au microscope." 



Again it must be said that the latter test would avail nothing 

 unless the original Cayenne pepper were void of starch — or 

 practically so. 



(L.) Moeller (op. cit., p. 246), dealing with paprika, and 

 specially with the epidermis thereof, remarks: " Vereinzelte 

 Zellen enthalten ungemein kleinkornige Starke." Further on 

 he says — and it is important to note this — (p. 251) : 



