Chemical and Physical Papers. 57 



PERCENTAGE OF AN EXTRACTIVE AS A MEANS OF 



IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF 



DRUGS AND SPICES. 



By Dr. L. E. Satre, University of Kansas, Lawrence. 



OINCE the food and drug law has come into existence it 

 ^ becomes very necessary for the analysts to adopt methods 

 for the examination of crude drugs and spices that may be 

 considered the preliminary methods. Frequently not more 

 than the preliminary method need be pursued. Such a method 

 must be as simple as possible, and rapid. For ordinary drugs 

 that have no alkaloidal constituency, aside from the micro- 

 scopical examination, an estimation of the extractive from 

 the drug is quite satisfactory. We have adopted the method 

 of using the solvents of the U. S. P. for the estimation of 

 such extractives. It is well known that the percentage yield 

 of extractives would be proportionate to the quality of solvent, 

 whether it be equal parts of alcohol and water, or 25 parts of 

 alcohol and 75 parts of water, or 75 parts of alcohol and 25 

 parts of water, or pure alcohol. The yield of extractive would 

 vary according to the amount of starch and inert matter that 

 would be extracted. We have made some estimations of the 

 simple drugs and have compared these with the experiences 

 of other pharmaceutical chemists, and we find it to be safe 

 to give the table on page 58. First, the name of drug, and 

 next the solvents, and finally the percentage of extractives. 



The method of preliminary analysis of the spices is some- 

 what similar to that of the medicinal drugs. The microscope 

 is unquestionably the most valuable means of detecting adul- 

 teration in ground spices, as it furnishes direct ocular evi- 

 dence and frequently discloses the nature of the foreign 

 material, if present, the chemical analysis being mainly con- 

 firmatory. 



In 1887 Richardson (U. S. Department of Agriculture, Di- 

 vision of Chemistry, Bui. 13, part 2) published a most valua- 

 ble report on spices and spice adulteration. The report also 

 contains an analysis of forty-two samples of whole spices, 

 ground in the laboratory of the Department of Agriculture, 

 and of numerous samples of ground spices collected in the 

 open market. Modified methods have been devised since then, 



