PLANT ANALYSIS AS AN APPLIED SCIENCE 189 



The advance in alcohol is said to be the result of a com- 

 bination amongst the distillers. Balsam copaiba has for a 

 long time been very scarce; but the arrival of new stocks will 

 make it freer. "Cubebs, vanilla beans, gum arabic, tragacanth, 

 senna, golden-seal, serpentaria, and pink-root have been and 

 are still very scarce and are likely to be higher." . . . "The 

 largest movement in cocoa leaves ever known, took place early 

 in the month." . . . " A short crop of senna coming at a time 

 when all markets were poorly supplied, and during an unusually 

 active period, is responsible for the upward movement of the 

 drug." . . . "The position of quinine just now is an inter- 

 esting one, and the future of the market depends upon the 

 source of barks, and that at present is expected to be upward, 

 owing to reduced visible and prospective supplies." 



The commercial value of these drugs depends upon certain 

 chemical compounds which they contain. The scarcity of 

 some of these drugs in itself is a sufficient inducement to push 

 forward investigation in plant chemistry, and to endeavor to 

 discover the same valuable constituents or their equivalents 

 in new plants. 



The preparation of fine prescriptions has been advanced 

 by the perfection in chemical methods of isolating plant con- 

 stituents. The medicinal value of many drugs is due to one or 

 more principles, and to be able to administer these principles, 

 apart from the accompanying compounds of the plant, is a 

 triumph of analytical skill. 



A new and convenient form to prescribe the more impor- 

 tant alkaloids, glucosides, and other active plant principles, 

 is offered by Frederick Stearns & Co., Detroit, Mich. This 

 firm manufactures alkametric granules and alkadermic pellets. 

 These granules contain carefully prepared medicines repre- 

 senting the pure alkaloid or active principle. 



The enormous quantity of drugs used to furnish alkaloids 

 or other medicinal principles may be seen from the import * 

 of cinchona bark or other barks used in the manufacture of 

 quinine. 



1 Bureau of Statistics, Treas. Dept. 



