[BULLETIN No. 13.] 



PART 2.-SPICES AND CONDIMENTS. 



U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY, 

 Washington, D. (7., March 15, 1887. 



SIR : Having been directed by you to make an examination of the 

 adulteration of spices and condiments, I have been engaged at different 

 times during the past year upon the subject, and with some aid from 

 the assistants in the laboratory in performing the chemical determina- 

 tions have prepared the following report, which forms part 2 of Bulletin 

 No. 13 of this Division. It has been my endeavor to collect all the 

 available information in regard to the extent and character of this 

 adulteration in all parts of the world, and to describe for the benefit of 

 investigators the means to be employed for its detection. More par- 

 ticularly I have entered into an examination of the spices and condi- 

 ments found in the markets of Washington and Balitimore, and have 

 tested with them the methods of investigation which are described. 



It has seemed appropriate to divide the report into two parts, the 

 first being devoted to a popular exposition of the origin of the spices 

 and the means employed for their adulteration, while the second con- 

 tains a more extended technical discussion of the subject and of the 

 results of analysis, both microscopical and chemical, and the methods 

 which have been proposed by recent authorities for the detection of 

 sophistication. I have been assisted in the chemical work by Messrs. 

 Kuorr, Trescot, and Fake, assistants in the laboratory of the Division, 

 who have completed a large portion of the determinations under my 

 supervision, and I am indebted to Dr. Battershall, of New York, for 

 the privilege of examining the advanced sheets of his work on food 

 adulteration. 



To the standard authorities, Hassall, Koenig, Schimper, and others, 

 I owe much for the information derived from them, although their work 

 is not entirely applicable in this country, and I have copied from Schim- 

 I per some of his diagramatic drawings of the spices, which, although 

 > extremely deceptive to the beginner, may in their proper way be made 

 ' /( of value for reference. Other sources of information I have acknowl- 

 edged in the body of the report. 



22823 Bull. 13, pt. 3 1 129 



