ADULTERATION OR SOPHISTICATION OF VEGETABLE DRUGS 61 



I. ADULTERATION AS TO INTENT 



Not by any means all of the drug adulterations are premeditated and 

 deliberately carried out with criminal intent. Ignorance plays a very 

 important part in unintentional sophistication, and this indicates 

 very clearly the necessity of employing technical skill for the purpose 

 of examining all medicinal substances intended for the relief and cure 

 of disease. 



1. Unintentional or Accidental Adulteration. 



This form of adulteration is by no means uncommon, and is due 

 to ignorance and carelessness. In some instances the perpetrators of 

 this form of adulteration are apparently free from blame, but in other 

 instances the ignorance displayed is so marked and the carelessness so 

 evident as to deserve as much condemnation as intentional deception. 

 The following are the principal causes of this form of sophistication : 



1. Ignorance on the part of collectors who gather the wrong plant 

 or mix the genuine drug with worthless material. This particular 

 form of sophistication is not very common, as collectors, natives and 

 others, usually select the right drug instinctively. Such errors are 

 generally made by new and inexperienced collectors, but these soon 

 learn to avoid such mistakes; furthermore, they are quite generally 

 properly instructed by the experienced collectors. 



A much more fruitful source of sophistication is carelessness on the 

 part of collectors. Roots and rhizomes are hurriedly and carelessly 

 gathered, an excessive amount of soil is left clinging to them, along 

 with undesirable plant parts, and the roots, leaves, branches, etc., of 

 smaller foreign plants. This applies particularly to the roots and rhi- 

 zomes collected in America, which are, as a rule, also carelessly dried. 

 Again, collectors are not adequately instructed as to how and when 

 to collect. Drugs collected out of season or carelessly dried are more 

 or less worthless. 



2. Insufficient information on the part of botanists who fail to 

 distinguish between related species and varieties. Drugs from two 

 wholly distinct species or varieties, one of which is more or less worth- 

 less, are supposed to be identical, and are placed upon the market 

 variously intermixed. Thus the bark of Rhamnus purshiana and of 

 R. Californica has been indiscriminately gathered and marketed, aslo 

 the barks of different species and varieties of cinchona, some of which 

 are comparatively inert. Again, in a number of instances the bo- 

 tanical origin of the drug-yielding plant is unknown, as with some sarsa- 

 parillas, coto bark and some cinnamons. This form of sophistication 

 was more common in the past. There is also great lack of reliable 



