Jaae 14, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
993 
The ingredients of its composition only require to be in 
fine powder and mixed carefully. 
Such being the conditions of its preparation, we should 
expect that it would at all times present a uniform colour. 
Such, however, is not the case. 
This preparation finds its way into the drug market, a 
variety of shades, from a bright ochre yellow to a colour 
very much resembling Dover’s Powder, which Mr. Squire, 
in his ‘ Companion to the British Pharmacopoeia of 1867,’ 
describes as a “ dark fawn colour.” 
Now, if the dispenser gets supplied at one time with an 
article bearing this name, of a bright ochre colour, and 
next time he requires it, having asked for the same pre¬ 
paration, he is supplied with a powder bearing the same 
name, but of a colour perfectly different ; it becomes a 
matter of doubt in his mind ; and he asks himself which 
is the correct one ? 
He knows the formula prescribes a quantity of saffron 
in powder, and is aware that saffron gives a most brilliant 
colour with spirit. 
He, without trying to prepare a few ounces for himself, 
very naturally expects that saffron should also impart the 
same beautiful colour to a mixture of chalk, sugar, etc., etc., 
and at once decides in favour of the high coloured pre¬ 
paration ; while he attributes the want of colour in the other 
specimen to a deficiency of saffron. 
The result of this is, that he loses confidence in the 
house which supplied the pale coloured article, while the 
establishment which sent him the powder of a high colour 
rises in his estimation. 
Now, the strange part of the matter is this : these 
specimens may be both equally genuine. 
It is not necessary that the rich coloured preparation 
should contain a grain more of saffron than its pale-faced 
brother ; neither is it imperative that pale face should be 
a cheat because he does not exhibit all his colour in his 
countenance. The difference in appearance is simply a 
matter of manipulation during the preparation, which I 
will endeavour to show. . 
If the ingredients are simply in fine powder, and mixed, 
as the ‘ British Pharmacopoeia ’ directs, and as any dis¬ 
pensing chemist making the powder himself would do, 
without any mechanical aids except his mortar and pestle, 
and a sieve, then the resulting product will be the pale 
coloured preparation. Again, if the ingredients are ground 
in a mill, as is done by most wholesale houses, and during 
the pidverising of the saffron, a few drops of rectified 
spirit is introduced, the result is, that the colour of the 
saffron (which is not intended to be displayed in the dry- 
state) is diffused through the mixture, and the product is 
the high coloured powder referred to. 
There is no doubt the latter preparation is the most 
pleasing to the eye ; but I question if the production of 
this bright colour in the powder is quite justifiable, it 
gives it a richness of colour, which, although it may not be 
false, is certainly premature. 
At the same time it causes the dispenser to expect more 
than he is entitled to, and to find fault with firms which 
do not supply the high coloured preparation. If any 
gentlemen suspects that the full quantity of saffron is not 
present in any given specimen, I would advise him to 
prepare a few ounces of the powder himself, to be kept as 
a standard test specimen. Let him now take, say ten 
grains of the suspected article, and an equal quantity of 
his own standard specimen, and macerate each in an equal 
quantity, say four drachms, of rectified spirit for a few 
hours, the shade of colour produced will give a pretty 
accurate estimation of the saffron value of the suspected 
specimen. 
By adopting some such simple test, and discontinuing 
to ask for the high coloured article, this powder would 
soon become a uniform colour, resembling the old pulv. 
confect, aromat. which it was intended to supersede. 
ADULTERATION OF PEPPER* 
BY M. BOUCHARDAT. 
During the examination of a large number of specimens 
of ground pepper the author met with various inert pow¬ 
ders, and among those which he detected the most often 
was one prepared by drying and finely pulverizing the 
parenchyma of potatoes which is left as a residue in the 
manufacture of starch. Pepper mixed with this adul¬ 
terant has a more feeble odour ; its taste is at first sweet¬ 
ish, and afterwards pungent, but less intensely so than in 
normal pepper. The mixed powder is uniformly grey, 
whilst the powder of pepper presents some blackish par¬ 
ticles and some of a yellowish grey colour. Comparison 
should therefore be made between a suspected powder 
and one prepared by grinding pepper to the same degree 
of fineness. Ground pepper mixed with this potato pow¬ 
der floats longer on the surface of water than that which 
is pure, and the coloration of the water is different. 
Liquor iodi, added drop by drop, gives a more intense 
blue with the potato mixture than with normal pepper. 
Too much importance, however, must not be attached to 
this test, as M. Leon Soubeiran has shown that pepper 
contains a considerable quantity of a peculiar fecula. 
The other substances found mixed with ground pepper 
were (1) lentil flour mixed with earth, which can be de¬ 
tected by the microscope and calcination ; (2) chalk ; and 
(3) linseed cake, ground to a degree of fineness comparable 
to that of ground pepper. By the aid of a good glass the 
fragments of linseed could easily be seen. In some speci¬ 
mens seized at the custom-house the powder of sesame 
seeds was detected ; and it appeared probable that in this 
case, in order to obtain the proper shade for the powder, 
the adulterator, who had sent from Marseilles several 
hundred bags of this product, had mixed many sorts of 
seeds. 
White pepper, obtained, as is known, by the decortica¬ 
tion of black pepper, is often adulterated with talc, chalk, 
and starch in considerable proportions. The introduction 
of these three inert matters may have for its object either 
the direct increase of bulk or the masking of an imperfect 
decortication. After the examination of numerous speci¬ 
mens, M. Bouchardat came to the conclusion that many 
manufacturers supplied two products: one, known as poivre 
leger, consisting principally of the cortical part of the 
pepper, black fragments forming the greater portion of it; 
the other, known as poivre blanc, being mixed with talc 
or starch, to imitate the shade of white pepper. Although 
the poivre leger contains nothing foreign to pepper, yet as 
the useful part is eliminated, the sale of such an article 
must be looked upon as a fraud on the part of the dealer. 
It is also sometimes adulterated with ground grains of 
paradise, which is easily detected by means of a magnify¬ 
ing o-lass. In France, to avoid prosecution, the wholesale 
dealer is said often to sell the ground pepper pure and the 
mixture intended for its adulteration separately. 
The usual adulterants of pepper may be dearly iden¬ 
tified by means of a microscopic examination, with an 
instrument of 300 to 400 magnifying power, in the hands 
of a skilled person. The powder of pepper is characterized 
principally by its starch. This appears in compound 
grains retaining the form of the cells in which they were 
contained, and which they entirely filled They are o 
variable forms and dimensions ; M. Mussat has measured 
them from 0'030mm. to 0-20mm. m diameter. The 
simple grains of which they are formed are, from their 
juxtaposition, irregularly rounded and are from O'OOlnun. 
to 0*0056 mm. in diameter. Under the acaon of iodine 
they assume a rather dull violet-blue colour. Solution of 
caustic potash attacks them but slowly. This fecula is 
accompanied by the debris of the pericarp, which presents 
two very distinct forms of cells. In one case they are 
nearly cubical, with rather thin walls, containing a black¬ 
ish granular matter, which is the fleshy portion of the 
* f L’Union Pharmaceutique,’ vol. xiv., p. 145. 
