214 



FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. 



Owing to the practice of diluting the ground spice with the residues 

 from extraction for turmeric, &c., the normal proximate composition is 

 of importance. 



W. C. Young* has examined seven well-authenticated specimens with 

 results which have been reprinted here. 



These specimens were all scraped with the exception of the last two. 



The analyses do not seem to have been carried out on accepted prin- 

 ciples, and are not of great value except for ash and perhaps fiber, but 

 in complete want of any data they have been copied. The fact that tlie 

 decorticated specimens contain no more fiber than the others is peculiar. 

 The methods of determining "resin" and " mucilage " and the mean- 

 ing of the terms also are not given. Little is therefore learned from 

 them. 



Tresht has investigated the ether extract of the rhizome, but his 

 results furnish us with no data of analytical use. Lately E. W. T. 

 Jonesf has, under the title " The Amount of Starch in Ground Ginger," 

 obtained some data which are of value, but unfortunately are con- 

 fined to only one specimen of ginger. He determined water and ash 

 as usual, extracted with ether, after moistening with alcohol (Sp. gr 

 0.90), at 35-38, and with water at the same temperature. The residue, 

 after gelatinizing the starch, was submitted to diastatic action. In the 

 filtrate from the unacted-upon substance, which was weighed as fiber, 

 the dextrine and maltose were determined by the polariscope. Fiber 

 was also determined by the usual method of treatment with acid and 

 alkali. The results were : 



*Aualyst, 9, 214-215, 1884. 



t Pharrn. J., Trails., 37, 610, 721, 1882. 



t Analyst, 11,75-77, 1886. 



