THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
JANUARY,  igo8 
THE  MICROSCOPICAL  AND  CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION 
OF  BLACK  PEPPER. 
By  Henry  Kraemer  and  Harry  K.  Sindali,. 
Black  pepper  is  the  fruit  of  Piper  nigrum,  a  shrubby  vine  indi- 
genous to  the  India-Malay  region,  and  now  cultivated  extensively 
in  tropical  countries.  An  illustration  of  the  plant  is  given  by 
Baillon,1  and  by  Engler  and  Prantl,2  and  an  excellent  historical  ac- 
count of  the  uses  of  pepper  is  given  by  Fluckiger  and  Hanbury,3 
and  also  by  Gildemeister  and  Hoffmann.4  The  fruit  of  Piper  nigrum 
is  the  source  of  both  the  black  pepper  and  white  pepper  of  com- 
merce, the  individual  fruits  being  known  technically  as  "  pepper, 
corns."  The  former  is  the  unripe,  but  full  grown,  fruit  which  has 
been  allowed  to  dry  spontaneously,  or  has  been  dried  by  means  of 
•  artificial  heat.  White  pepper,  on  the  other  hand,  consists  of  the 
mature  fruits  from  which  a  portion  or  nearly  all  of  the  pericarp  has 
been  removed.  The  parts  removed  in  the  preparation  of  white 
pepper  are  known  commercially  as  "  pepper  hulls,"  or  "  pepper 
shells,"  of  which  there  are  several  grades,  depending  upon  the  pro- 
portion  of  the  different  layers  of  the  pericarp  which  is  present. 
Pepper  hulls  can  be  purchased  for  much  less  than  black  pepper,  and 
are  frequently  used  to  adulterate  ground  black  pepper,  and  also 
enter  into  the  artificial  mixtures  sold  as  black  pepper. 
The  amount  of  pepper  imported  into  the  United  States  annually 
is  estimated  to  be  about  20,000,000  pounds,  our  importations 
coming  principally  through  England.  The  commercial  varieties 
derive  their  names  chiefly  from  the  points  of  export  in  the  countries 
where  they  are  produced.    The  following  varieties  are  the  ones 
(1) 
