528 The Philippine Journal of Science ms 



This investigator further affirms that the presence of aspidin 

 in the extract is always evidence of the use of Aspidium spinu- 

 losum Sw. in its preparation. Taking into consideration the 

 above observation of Hausmann, the report of Gehe & Co. of 

 Dresden ^'^ is of interest. Upon the examination of 11 samples 

 of the extract, 6 were found to contain aspidin, 2 to 3 per cent, 

 but no filix acid; 4 samples contained filix acid, but no aspidin; 

 and 1 sample showed a trace of aspidin and a small quantity of 

 filix acid. 



The adulteration of the finished extract consists in the addition 

 of certain oils or foreign coloring materials. In the first in- 

 stance, the only reason can be that of monetary gain. In the 

 second case, the most plausible explanation is the desire to pro- 

 duce an extract from the deteriorated brown drug which will 

 resemble that prepared from fresh rhizomes. 



The oil usually employed in diluting the extract is castor oil, 

 although others have been used. The quantity of oil added does 

 not appear to bear any relation to the crude filicin content as 1 

 sample examined in this laboratory showed the presence of 54 

 per cent of castor oil and a filicin content of 8.79 per cent, while 

 a second sample contained 62 per cent of oil and only 0,93 per 

 cent of crude filicin. 



This form of adulteration cannot be detected with certainty 

 by any of the previously mentioned analjrtical processes as the 

 crude filicin or filix acid content of the genuine extract prepared 

 from the fresh rhizomes varies to such a great extent, Daccomo 

 and Scoccianti ^^ find the crude filicin present in quantities vary- 

 ing from 11.86 to 42.53 per cent, Bellingrodt "- reports from 16.3 

 to 23.5 per cent present in commercial samples, while the Helve- 

 tian pharmacopoeia '" requires the presence of from 26 to 28 per 

 cent. Madsen *' reports the following concerning the filix acid 

 content : Extracts from Bohemia and central Russia yielded from 

 0.71 to 0.97 per cent of filix acid by the Fromme method; Danish 

 extracts with 2 exceptions (6.07 and 8.25 per cent) gave less than 

 2 per cent ; 2 extracts from Germany showed the presence of from 

 6.58 to 9.59 per cent, respectively; and an extract from Wolmar 

 in Livonia was found to contain 13.07 per cent. Furthermore, 

 Kremel states that the adulteration with fatty oil cannot be de- 

 tected by the saponification value, 1 gram of extract requiring 



■" Pharm. Centralhalle f. Deufschl. (1898), 39, 298. 



''Apoth. Zeitg. (1896), 11, 174. 



''Ihid. (1898), 13, 869. 



'''Pharm. Helvetica, IV Edit. (1907), 117. 



'*Jahresb. d. Pharm. (1897), 32, 591. 



