1882.] 



MICKOSCOPICAL JOUENAL. 



finely punctate after the maceration in 

 acid (fig. 19, lower part). 



A section of the cotyledon cleared 

 of starch by means of potash, is shown 

 in fig. 20. The cells are angular, thick- 

 walled, smaller near the surface, and 

 filled with minute starch-grains before 

 treatment ; one cell is figured with the 

 starch-grains in place as they appear 

 before the application of potash. 



Treating successive portions of 

 ground capsicum with the various re- 

 agents named, will bring to view all 

 of the details of structure described 

 above, and enable the genuine capsi- 

 cum to be distinguished with certain- 

 ty from its adulterants. Simply add- 

 ing strong potash solution will often 

 remove from view nearly or quite 

 three-quarters of the substance under 

 examination, and all of the capsicum 

 will be found in what is left, as only 

 its starch would be removed by the 

 potash and would not have been ob- 

 served in the first place unless a 

 power of about two hundred diame- 

 ters was used. 



Ground Cayenne pepper in its com- 

 mercial state is very largely adulter- 

 ated. The pure capsicum is so ex- 

 cessively acrid that it is able to carry 

 four or five times its own bulk of 

 other substances, and still rank as a 

 condiment. The adulterants chiefly 

 used are turmeric, both genuine and 

 spurious, starch of various kinds, both 

 pure and in the shape of meal, and 

 various ochreous earths to give 

 weight. Red-lead is also said to be 

 sometimes used, probably to restore 

 the color lightened by the use of 

 flour, but I have not seen it in any 

 specimens I have examined. The best 

 sample of ground Cayenne pepper 

 that I could obtain was composed of 

 about one-third capsicum, nearly one- 

 third wheat-flour, a little rice-meal, 

 and about one-third turmeric. This 

 pepper was still so biting that what 

 adhered to the dry finger would, 

 when touched to the tongue, cause 

 the peculiar burning taste of capsi- 

 cum to linger for ten or fifteen min- 

 utes. 



The chief adulterant, beside starch, 

 is ground turmeric, the color of which 

 is very near that of capsicum and 

 which also has some degree of acridity. 

 To determine the structure of turme- 

 ric, we should require a piece of the 

 root in its uatural state, but this is by 

 no means easy to obtain. I have visit- 

 ed many druggists at home, and also 

 sent to other cities for it without 

 finding it, and one druggist of many 

 years' experience, whose specialty is 

 botanical drugs, told me he had never 

 seen the root except in powder, and 

 volunteered the information that but 

 little of the powder sold as ground 

 turmeric is really curcuma at all. 

 But having collected samples of so- 

 called ground turmeric from a number 

 of different sources, and finding them 

 all to agree in certain microscopical 

 characteristics, as well as in color, 

 taste and smell, I conclude that there 

 is really a good deal of powdered 

 curcuma-root in the market after all. 

 The figures 21 to 26 inclusive, show 

 structures common to all the samples 

 of turmeric examined, and omitting 

 mention for the present, of structures 

 found only in some of the samples, 

 these structures (figs. 21 to 26), will 

 be considered as representing genu- 

 ine turmeric. 



The color of turmeric is instantly 

 extracted by alcohol while that of 

 capsicum is not, hence it may be de- 

 tected by this means without the mi- 

 croscope ; on dropping a little sus- 

 pected cayenne into one of two small 

 vials of alcohol placed side by side 

 before a light if any turmeric is pre- 

 sent a yellow tint will be instantly 

 manifest, its color depending on the 

 amount of turmeric. The presence of 

 earthy or metallic substances can be 

 discovered by decantation in test- 

 tubes. Starch is detected by iodine, or 

 still better by the microscope. The 

 starch of turmeric is large and of a 

 clear, transparent, yellow color, in 

 rounded, somewhat irregular grains, 

 each of which occupies its own cell in 

 the tissue of the root (fig. 26); but in 

 ground samples it is mostly free or in 



