PLANT ANALYSIS AS AN APPLIED SCIENCE 189 
The advance in alcohol is said to be the result of a com¬ 
bination amongst the distillers. Balsam copaiba has for a 
long time been very scarce; but the arrival of new stocks will 
make it freer. “ Cubebs, vanilla beans, gum arabic, tragacanth, 
senna, golden-seal, serpentaria, and pink-root have been and 
are still very scarce and are likely to be higher. 55 . . . “The 
largest movement in cocoa leaves ever known, took place early 
in the month. 55 . . . “ A short crop of senna coming at a time 
when all markets were poorly supplied, and during an unusually 
active period, is responsible for the upward movement of the 
drug. 55 . . . “The position of quinine just now is an inter¬ 
esting one, and the future of the market depends upon the 
source of barks, and that at present is expected to be upward, 
owing to reduced visible and prospective supplies. 55 
The commercial value of these drugs depends upon certain 
chemical compounds which they contain. The scarcity of 
some of these drugs in itself is a sufficient inducement to push 
forward investigation in plant chemistry, and to endeavor to 
discover the same valuable constituents or their equivalents 
in new plants. 
The preparation of fine prescriptions has been advanced 
by the perfection in chemical methods of isolating plant con¬ 
stituents. The medicinal value of many drugs is due to one or 
more principles, and to be able to administer these principles, 
apart from the accompanying compounds of the plant, is a 
triumph of analytical skill. 
A new and convenient form to prescribe the more impor¬ 
tant alkaloids, glucosides, and other active plant principles, 
is offered by Frederick Stearns & Co., Detroit, Mich. This 
firm manufactures alkametric granules and alkadermic pellets. 
These granules contain carefully prepared medicines repre¬ 
senting the pure alkaloid or active principle. 
The enormous quantity of drugs used to furnish alkaloids 
or other medicinal principles may be seen from the import 1 
of cinchona bark or other barks used in the manufacture of 
quinine. 
1 Bureau of Statistics, Treas. Dept. 
