488 
ON COMMERCIAL JALAP. 
very thoroughly cut in the direction of the long diameter, but the parts not separated, 
and still the drying appeared imperfect. No fair judge of jalap would have bought 
this lot at any ordinary price, and it was probably sold at a low price, and bought on 
speculation by ODe or more houses whose market was for powdered jalap, and near to 
the consumers who would not be likely to be over-critical. This lot was traced to a 
large drug mill, and there lost sight of, because it made a very handsome powder not 
distinguishable from better grades. 
Later in the same year a lot of seven bales, of about 200 lbs. each, inferior in appear¬ 
ance to the last lot, came consigned to a large drug house, and was sold for powdering. 
Much of this looked unlike jalap, but was probably the rootlets, and this portion did 
not appear to have been subjected to fraudulent treatment. This lot yielded 2‘22 per 
cent, of resin, all of which appeared to be true jalap resin, though of lighter colour than 
is usual. 
In the early part of 18G3 another lot, of unknown size, but probably not very large, 
was encountered, looking bright and well,—indeed much too clean and bright,—tough 
in consistence, devoid of resinous appearance, and light in weight. This contained 33 
per cent, of resin. What became of it is not known. 
Within the past three months a lot of ninety-five bales, twenty-five of which are said 
to have been reshipped to France, was offered by broker's sample in this market. 
Although recognized at first sight as true jalap, unmixed, and perhaps not far out of 
the common range of the common market, there was yet something amiss about it to the 
practised eye which first saw it in the broker’s hands. It was tough and light, too 
starchy-looking, and had too strong a jalap odour. To the writer’s less experienced 
judgment it at first did not seem to be much out of the way in appearance, but upon 
assay it proved to contain about 8 per cent, of resin. The tubers of the sample were 
sawn in two, and one half used for assay. The other half is presented for inspection 
with this paper. These four instances coming naturally and unsought for, within the 
observation of one who sees so little of this drug as the writer does, lead to the infe¬ 
rence that these were not the only cases of this kind which occurred within the past six 
years ; and the testimony of so good an authority as Mr. Daniel Hanbury, of London, 
has recently been given to the variable and precarious character of this drug, as found 
in the market with which he is so familiar. 
In reasoning upon the condition of jalap here mentioned, with the specimens under 
close observation, the writer has arrived theoretically at the conclusion that all such 
jalap is partially exhausted in Mexico before being exported, and that increasing skill 
in this practice and close calculation of the neat results in the markets is leading those 
who practise this fraud to a more and more limited exhaustion, in order better to escape 
detection. The facility of exporting alcohol cheaply from this country adds to the pro¬ 
bability of the view here taken. 
An assay of jalap is one of the simplest and easiest processes in applied pharmacy, 
and no pharmacist should buy or dispense powdered jalap without previously testing 
it. About an ounce of the powder, carefully weighed to within a grain, is thoroughly 
wetted with say 1^ f 5 of stronger alcohol, and the mixture transferred to a small 
funnel arranged for percolation. Stronger alcohol is then poured on top until the per¬ 
colate ceases to give a cloudiness, when a drop is allowed to fall into a vessel of water. 
The percolate is then evaporated to a syrupy consistence, and a little water carefully 
added to it while hot. It is then poured into 4 f £ of cold water, with active stirring, 
and the precipitated soft resin collected in a capsule and dried with constant stirring 
until a thread of it drawn out by the stirrer is perfectly brittle. The capsule having 
been previously tared, it is now very easy to obtain the weight of the dry resin, and cal¬ 
culate its percentage proportion to the powder. As the ordinary merchantable root 
yields from 11 to 1G per cent., and as this loses from 10 to 14 per cent, in powdering, 
any sample of powder that does not yield over 12 per cent, of dry resin should be at 
once rejected as unfit for medicinal use .—Proceedings Amer. Pharm. Association, in 
American Journal of Pharmacy. 
