Chemical and Physical Papers. 99 



He found, for example, that to be a standard 1 grain of good pow- 

 dered aconite root is equal to g grain of Merck's ordinary aconitine, 

 gJg grain of Merck's pseudaconitine, j '^ j grain of Duquesnel's crys- 

 tallized aconitine (really aconitine nitrate). He also found by this 

 approximate method that 1 grain of powdered aconite root was 

 equivalent to 1 minim of fluid extract, }■ grain of alcoholic extract 

 of aconite root, 2.66 minims of U. S. (1890) or 9.31 minims of U. 

 S. (8th revision) tincture of aconite root, 8.43 minims of British 

 tincture of the root, 11.8 minims of German tincture of the root, 

 1.5 minims of Fleming's tincture, 9 grainsof powdered aconite leaf, 

 1.5 grains of alcoholic extract of dried aconite leaf, 1 grain of Al- 

 len's English extract of fresh plant, and 72 minims tincture of aco- 

 nite leaf. 



To employ this physiological method, employing sense of taste 

 in the estimation of spices, an alcoholic extraction of definite 

 strength of the aromatic and pungent principles should be made 

 and this solution diluted to a maximum with water, the latter added 

 to the limit of precipitation. The solution is then brought in con- 

 tact with the gustatory nerve endings, and in order that a compari- 

 son be made a uniform dilution should be made of all samples to 

 be compared — one that will bring out the aromatic and subdue the 

 alcoholic constituents. When this has been properly done, an 

 estimation can be made much more readily than by tasting the 

 crude spice in powder. It requires practice to make the method 

 available for the purposes of comparison, but one soon becomes 

 quite expert. It is well known that pungent substances, such as 

 pepper, obscure any gustatory sensation, therefore a solution of 

 pepper must be highly diluted to make it serviceable. It should 

 be said that tastes do not develop promptly. In some cases a con- 

 siderable time must be allowed to elapse before the taste is well de- 

 veloped. This is doubtless due to the slow miscibility of the sapid 

 and pungent substances. At best the process is to be considered 

 only as a preliminary one for quickly eliminating substandard ma- 

 terials. It is this preliminary test that would be so useful were it 

 made practical for rapidly selecting from a given number of sam- 

 ples those inferior ones that should be set aside for more careful 

 examination by more elaborate methods. As has been stated, the 

 microscope quickly identifies a spice adulterated with foreign ma- 

 terial, but a substandard spice, containing all the microscopical ele- 

 ments of the standard material, the microscope is powerless to 

 detect. 



