XX INTRODUCTORY 



tion of food. No less useful no less powerful is it in disclosing the 

 contamination of drugs; and I cannot too strenuously recommend 

 you to employ it." 



The investigations of Pereira, Hassal and others showed even 

 at that time not only that the microscope had unlimited valuable 

 practical applications, but that it was the only means which had 

 been discovered to detect the admixture or adulteration of non- 

 crystalline organic substances. An article published in the American 

 Journal of Pharmacy in 1853 (pp. 45-48) on the use of the microscope 

 in the examination of drugs shows that in spite of the fact that it has 

 only recently come into general use its value was very early appre- 

 ciated. 



Some years ago a pharmacist, who had made a specialty of 

 spices and endeavored to purchase only the purest available, became 

 suspicious upon opening one keg of ground black pepper and finding 

 a large fragment of a pod of cayenne pepper. A subsequent exam- 

 ination of the powder showed that it was an artificial product which 

 was very common some years ago, the strength being reinforced by 

 the use of cayenne pepper. 



Very many instances could be given showing the value of the 

 microscope in the examination of commercial products and the 

 detection of adulteration as the presence of poke-root in belladonna 

 root, or the substitution of ruellia for spigelia, foreign starches in 

 cacao, presence of capsicum in ground ginger, the endocarp of olive 

 (commonly called olive pits) in ground pepper and other spices as 

 well as in powdered drugs, the presence of wheat middlings in ground 

 mustard as well as in ground spices and drugs, and even to the detec- 

 tion of organic or inorganic crystalline substances in complex prepara- 

 tions.^ The use of the microscope is not only valuable in analytical 

 work, but it is also valuable in synthetic work, as in determining 

 the composition of cattle powders, medicinal teas, flavoring mixtures 

 and practically all artificial combinations. 



Those who are especially interested in this subject and are con- 

 sidering the advisability of preparing themselves for this work may 

 ask for a definite statement as to the subjects that one should be pro- 

 ficient in in order to be a successful pharmacognocist. Taking it 

 for granted that this inquiry is being made by the student who has 

 his whole future ahead of him and who, it is presumed, can take 

 the necessary time to qualify, we may say that the pharmacognocist 

 of the future should have as a foundation rather thorough laboratory 

 instruction in botany, chemistry, physics and crystallography. Not 

 one of these branches can he afford to neglect, and the amount of 



