ADULTERATION OR SOPHISTICATION OF VEGETABLE DRUGS 65 



A. Organic Substances. 



1. Closely Related Plants and their Varieties. This is the more usual 

 material employed, as in many instances the physiological action, the 

 gross characters and histological characters are closely similar. In 

 some instances, however, the gross characters may be similar while 

 the histological characters are different, and vice versa. For example, 

 we find that Apocynum cannabinum and A. androsaemifolium; Surinam 

 quassia and Jamaica quassia ; resemble each other as to gross appear- 

 ances, but the histological characters are quite different. 



2. Remote Plants and their Varieties. -Not infrequently plants and 

 plant parts having no close botanical relationship to the drug-yielding 

 plant, are used as sophisticants, whether for crude drugs or powders. 

 Sawdust is added to powdered vegetable drugs to increase the bulk. 

 Remote plants and plant organs may be substituted for the drug itself 

 because of a similarity in physiological action. Such adulterations 

 are, as a rule, quite readily detected. 



3. Refuse and Winnowings. These are usually powdered and 

 added to the pure article or sold separately. The refuse and winnow- 

 ings of spices, pepper in particular, are quite generally used as indi- 

 cated. This will explain why it is possible for some dealers to sell 

 ground spices and other vegetable powders at a price much below 

 that of the market value of the genuine crude drug itself. The fraud 

 is not by any means easily detected by the novice because the histolog- 

 ical characters of the refuse and winnowings are the same or similar 

 to those of the pure article. Giving careful attention to weight, color, 

 odor and taste (organoleptic tests), will generally disclose the fraud, 

 especially when combined with a careful microscopical examination. 



4. Exhausted Drugs. Exhausted drugs, whether crude or pow- 

 dered, are not infrequently redried and again placed upon the market, 

 generally after being mixed with the pure article. This applies, for 

 instance, to tea, ground coffee, expressed cloves and other powdered 

 spices, drugs and other medicinal substances. In some hotels and 

 tea-houses where tea is used in large quantities, the exhausted leaves 

 are collected, dried and rolled with good tea and placed upon the 

 market. Coffee grounds are collected, dried and mixed with good 

 ground coffee. Exhausted powders are taken from the percolators, 

 dried and mixed with pure powders. 



5. Inferior Drugs. Drugs having become more or less worthless 

 through infection with vegetable and animal parasites, through age, 

 exposure to moisture and sunlight, etc., are sold as genuine or mixed 

 with the genuine. Drugs more or less worthless because collected 

 out of season, improperly dried, etc., are also placed upon the market. 



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