1086 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
Table 90 —Gingerol content of commercial oleoresins. 
Sample 
No. 
Date 
Observer 
Source 
Gingerol 
content 
1. 
1.916 
DuMez. 
Lilly & Co. 
Per cent. 
19.5 
2. 
Sharp & Dohme. 
24.0 
3___ 
*> 
“ 
Squibb & Sons. 
28.2 
The first of the preceding tables shows that the gingerol con¬ 
tent varies with the solvent employed in the preparation of the 
oleoresin. Further, that this variation is not in inverse ratio 
to the yield of oleoresin obtained as might be expected, but is 
exceptionally low in the case of acetone due to the fact that it is 
a difficult matter to completely exhaust the drug when the lat¬ 
ter is the solvent used. 
The low gingerol content of two of the commercial samples as 
shown in the second table, points to the use of acetone in their 
preparation. A similar effect might, however, be produced when 
ether or alcohol are employed if the ginger used is of poor 
quality (low in gingerol content,) or if percolation is termin¬ 
ated before complete exhaustion of the drug has taken place. 
The oleoresin obtained from Squibb and Sons is stated to have 
been prepared with ether, which statement is confirmed by the 
result obtained in the determination of the gingerol content as 
is also shown in the second table. 
Physiological Tests. 
The H. K. Mulford Company reports the use of a physiologi¬ 
cal test for determining the quality of this oleoresin. As an 
arbitrary standard, the firm has taken a preparation which is 
pungent to the taste in a maximum dilution of 1 to 20,000. 
While there is no information, at hand to indicate what solvent 
was employed as the diluent, experience in the laboratory has 
shown that dilute alcohol (50 per cent.) may be used for this 
purpose. After vigorously shaking the oleoresin with alco¬ 
hol, the resulting solution should preferably be filtered before 
applying to the tongue. Although no extensive series of ex¬ 
periments were made with this test in the laboratory, the results 
obtained would appear to indicate that the above standard is 
rather low as the pungency in the preparations examined was 
