IDENTIFICATION 499 



The student is recommended to acquaint himself with such aromatic 

 odors as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg; with the mint family odors, such as 

 peppermint, spearmint, pennyroyal, etc. He should acquaint himself 

 with such odors as are furnished 4 by the odorous fruits, of the Umbelliferae, 

 such as caraway, fennel, etc.; with camphoraceous odors, as eucalyptus, 

 rosemary, and camphor; with pronounced and characteristic odors of 

 wintergreen, sassafras, etc.; with the delicate and fragrant odors derived 

 from the lemon, orange, orange flowers, etc. He should not omit the 

 study of the disagreeable odors, as we find in conium, valerian, stramo- 

 nium, garlic, civet, castor fiber, etc. All such odors serve as a means 

 of comparison. 



It will be seen that in order to describe an odor it becomes necessary 

 to have some prominent characteristic odor with which to compare. The 

 Pharmacopoeia (viii) states that conium has a mouse-like odor; sumbul, a 

 musk-like odor; lactucarium, a heavy odor; senna is described as having 

 a tea-like odor, etc. Tarry substances that have a creosote or smoky 

 odor are said to have an " empyreumatic odor." 



Identification by Taste. What has been said of the odor of drugs 

 applies also to their taste. Taste is not a very distinctive property. 

 There are some drugs that have a distinctive taste, such as gentian root, 

 which has a simple bitter taste; senega, an acrid taste; ginger, a pungent; 

 geranium, astringent; elm bark, mucilaginous, etc. Many drugs have 

 what may be termed a mixed taste. Hence we find in descriptions such 

 terms as: bitter-astringent applied to cinchona; bitter-pungent applied to 

 orris root; pungent-astringent applied to cotton-root bark; bitter-sweet, ap- 

 plied to dulcamara; sweetish-bitter-pungent, applied to spigelia, etc. Many 

 drugs are tasteless, such as lycopodium, kamala, physostigma, etc. 



It is plain to be seen from the foregoing that the taste, as well as the 

 color and odor of powders, is not distinctive enough to identify them with 

 certainty; still, these physical properties serve in many cases as a valuable 

 aid in their identification. 



Adulterants and Their Identification. As stated above, adulteration 

 of drugs is made easier and the detection of adulterants is more difficult 

 when the drugs are reduced to powders. Great skill is required in the 

 identification of adulterants; for the art of drug adulteration is an old 

 one and the materials employed have been selected, often ingeniously, on 

 account of their very close resemblance to the true articles they replace. 

 In the case of whitish powders, foreign starches, especially the common 

 cereal starches, have been used, and not infrequently have the "scrapings" 

 from bakeries been parched or browned to the proper degree and employed 

 in drug and food adulteration. The endocarp of the olive, cocoanut, and 

 walnuts; exhausted coffees; cocoa shells; and other similar substances, 

 which are composed chiefly of stone cells, have been employed to a large 

 extent in admixture with brownish powders. The use of wheat bran or 



