14 



character of the food. Sulfate of iron used as a restorative and 

 tonic, was seldom identified. 



Charcoal. Its medicinal value consists in its ability to check fer- 

 mentative changes, and to absorb undesirable gases. In most cases 

 it appears to have been ground fine and mixed with the other ingre- 

 dients to conceal their identity. 



Tumeric, the powdered root of an East Indian plant, the Curcuma 

 longa, is a stomachic but is used principally as coloring matter. 



Cost of the Medicuial Substances at Wholesale. 

 The prices quoted below were taken from a New York paper 

 known as the Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter. 



Wholesale price a pound. 

 (Cents.) 



Fenugreek seeds 2.75- 3.00 



Fennel seeds 5-oo- 5-25 



Anise or Aniseed 5-oo- 5-5o 



Gentian (powder) 4.00- 4.50 



Ginger root 7.00- 8.50 



Black pepper 1 1.00-12.00 



Red pepper 11. 00-12.00 



Salt 0-50- 0-75 



Epsom salts 0-85- 1.30 



Glaubers salts o-5o- 0.60 



Saltpeter 4.50- 5.50 



Sodium bi-carbonate i-3o- 1.70 



Sulphur 2.20- 2.60 



Venetian red (iron oxide) o-50" o-5o 



Tumeric 3-5°- 4-oo 



No attempt was made to determine the exact quan- 



Quantity of tity of each of the several drugs employed. Most of 



Medicinal the foods contained from 5 to 40 per cent of ash. 



Ingredients. Ordinary grains and by-products rarely contain more 



than 5 per cent ash, the excess in the present cases 



was made up of such mineral substances as oyster shells, bone, 



sand, common salt, (2 to 20 per cent), Epsom or Glaubers salts 



(about 5 per cent), nitre (i or more per cent) and Venetian red. 



The vegetable drugs, fenugreek, fennel, anise, gentian, ginger and 



pepper were employed in sufficient quantities to produce an agree- 



