PHARMACAL PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 15 



Cleaning and Garbling. All drugs should be freed from foreign 

 matter which may cling to them. This applies particularly to subter- 

 ranean organs, which must be freed from soil, sand, foreign roots and 

 rootlets and other foreign particles. Most of the dirt may be removed 

 by brisk shaking, especially if the soil, in which the plants have been 

 growing, is quite dry and sandy. Wet adobe soil clings quite tenaciously 

 and after drying it bakes and clings very firmly. Soil which can not 

 be removed by shaking must be removed by w r ashing in clean water. 

 Leaves, herbs, barks, fruits and seeds should never be washed. 



Washing should only be employed when necessary and should not be 

 prolonged more than is required. Prolonged soaking and washing in 

 water removes much of the active principle and reduces the value of 

 the drug accordingly. 



Garbling consists in removing by picking, sifting or winnowing all 

 undesirable parts or particles. Careful cleaning and garbling gives 

 the drug a wholesome appearance and adds greatly to its commercial 

 as well as medicinal value. Machinery and various mechanical devices 

 are desirable or necessary in cleaning and garbling. 



Sorting into grades is not permissible with drugs. That is, separating 

 the crop yield into grades of different qualities, as is generally done 

 with fruits and grains, for only first grades or qualities are wanted. 

 Wholesale as well as retail dealers always call for the best quality drugs. 

 The grower who would place on the market a sorted, inferior article 

 would be guilty of a gross misdemeanor. 



Peeling, Cutting and Slicing. These processes hasten drying by 

 increasing surface exposure and increasing the rate of evaporation of 

 moisture. The special function of the epidermis and cork tissue is to 

 reduce the evaporation of moisture from the interior of plant organs. 

 Removing these tissues therefore permits the more rapid escape of 

 moisture; as a result the drug dries more quickly, which is not only 

 time saving, but also lessens the decomposition of active principles 

 and reduces the tendency toward the development of microbes, molds, 

 mildews and other animal parasites. 



Occasionally peeling is for the purpose of removing the outer inert 

 portions, as with many barks (cinnamon, elm, soap bark, butternut, 

 etc.) and the fruit of colocynth. In some instances peeling is practiced 

 when it is unnecessary or undesirable, as in the case of ginger and 

 calamus. 



As a rule drugs which are cut or sliced are not peeled or decorticated 

 for reasons which are perhaps self-evident, though there are exceptions, 

 as for example, rhubarb roots, which are both peeled and cut. The 

 manner of cutting: and slicing drugs varies in different countries and 

 with different drug collectors. These operations are performed on 

 fleshy rocts. rhizomes, tubers and bulbs. Some are sliced or cut trans- 



