226  Standard  for  Flavoring  Extracts.     { Ami™y?im Tm' 
the  pharmaceutic  as  well  as  the  Government's  standard  for  the 
identification,  purification,  valuation  and  preparation  of  drugs  and 
their  preparations.  And  what  are  the  flavoring  extracts  but  the 
spirits  and  the  tinctures  of  bur  Pharmacopoeia  and,  therefore,  justly 
falling  under  its  provisions  for  purity  and  strength.  True  enough, 
the  Pharmacopoeia  does  not  embrace  every  extract  contributing  to 
savor  of  our  palates,  but  it  gives  standards  for  all  the  prominent 
extracts  used,  and  certainly  all  those  that  can  safely  be  used  as  food 
products. 
Now,  what  is  an  "extract"  (for  that  is  the  popular  title  applied 
to  flavoring  essences).  In  Circular  No.  19  of  the  U.  S.  Department 
of  Agriculture — the  "Standards  of  Purity  for  Food  Products" — we 
read:  "A  flavoring  extract  is  a  solution  in  ethyl  alcohol  of  proper 
strength  of  the  sapid  and  odorous  principles  derived  from  an  aro- 
matic plant  or  parts  of  the  plant,  with  or  without  its  coloring 
matter,  and  conforms  in  name  to  the  plant  used  in  its  preparation." 
We  find  as  a  foot-note  in  the  same  circular,  "  that  the  flavoring 
extracts  therein  described  should  not  be  confounded  With  similar 
preparations  described  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  for  medical  purposes." 
Yet  a  cursory  examination  of  the  matter  of  flavoring  extracts  there- 
in described  shows  that,  with  a  very  few  and  unimportaut  excep- 
tions, the  standards  laid  down  therein  are  almost  identical  with  those 
of  the  Pharmacopoeia.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  savory  drugs 
used  as  condiments  or  spices,  where  nearly  every  one  of  the  defini- 
tions are  those  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  with  a  few  minor  and  unim- 
portant exceptions.  Now,  it  is  the  pharmacist's  occupation  to  pre- 
pare and  dispense  drugs  and  their  preparations,  under  which  heading 
these  products  naturally  fall.  Let  us  see  whether  the  pharmacists 
have  done  their  duty. 
An  examination  of  the  "  Report  of  the  Connecticut  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  on  Food  Products  for  1907  "  shows  a  very  inter- 
esting fact  to  us  pharmacists.  On  page  145  we  read  under  the 
heading  "  Lemon  Extracts  not  Found  Adulterated  "— " All  but  two  of 
the  samples  not  found  adulterated  were  sold  in  druggists'  vials  and 
bore  no  brand  name!'  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  statistics  for 
Vanilla  Extract  were  given  in  that  report. 
Now  let  us  look  at  what  is  being  said  of  other  purveyors  of 
flavoring  extracts  and  in  other  States: 
Inspection  of  flavoring  extracts  in  North  Dakota  for  1902  has 
