508 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
bottles,  with  a  French  stamp  and  label  upon  it.  A  portion  of  it  having  acci- 
dentally been  wet,  the  starch  became  "  musty/'  revealing  its  presence,  oth- 
erwise unsuspected.  Subsequent  examination,  as  above,  furnished  further 
proofs  of  its  existence. 
Specimen  No.  3  is  Para  Balsam  Copaiva.  —This  contains  from  6  to  8  per 
cent,  of  heav)-  or  fat  oil. 
Balsam  copaiva  is  very  largely  adulterated.  It  often  contains  the  resin- 
ous extract  by  decoction  of  the  branches  and  bark  of  the  Copaifera,  tur- 
pentine, colophony  and  fat  oils,  particularly  castor  oil.  The  balsam 
adulterated  with  turpentine  is  not  of  so  heavy  consistence  as  the  true  balsam  ; 
it  is  more  viscid  and  sticks  upon  the  sides  of  the  bottles  holding  it.  It  may- 
be easily  proved  whether  turpentine  is  present  or  not,  by  simply  heating  a 
drop  of  the  suspected  balsam  upon  a  sheet  of  glazed  paper  over  a  spirit 
lamp;  the  oil  of  copaiva  is  first  volatilized,  and  the  odor  of  the  turpentine  is 
at  once  apparent. 
Castor  oil  is  the  most  dangerous  adulterative,  owing  to  the  great  similarity 
between  that  and  true  balsam.  This  may  be  detected  by  mixing  three 
parts  of  the  suspected  balsam  with  one  part  sulphuric  acid,  and  shaking 
with  15  or  20  parts  of  alcohol  of  36  deg.  If  the  mixture  separates,  it  in- 
dicates that  the  balsam  is  adulterated  with  castor :  when  pure  there  is  no 
separation.  This  test  will  detect  not  less  than  1  -9th  part  of  adulteration. 
The  presence  of  castor  oil  may  also  be  detected  by  adding  2 parts  ammo- 
nia 22  deg.  Beaume,  to  5  parts  suspected  balsam,  and  shaking  them  to- 
gether in  a  stopped  bottle.  The  mixture  becomes  viscid  and  "ropy,"  but 
very  soon  clears  itself  and  becomes  transparent,  if  pure. 
It  is  whitened  by  agitation  on  the  contrary,  if  it  contains  Castor  oil.  The 
only  precaution  to  be  taken,  however,  is  that  the  temperature  of  the  mixture 
should  be  from  50  to  60  deg.  Fah. ;  above  or  below  this  point  the  result  is 
inaccurate,  as,  from  68  to  76  deg.  Fah.  the  mixture  is  transparent  whether 
pure  or  adulterated,  and  at  32  to  40  deg.  Fah.  the  pure  Balsam  remains 
clouded. 
The  Fixed  Oils  may  be  discovered  by  heating  a  drop  or  two  of  the  bal- 
sam upon  paper.  If  the  balsam  is  pure,  the  volatile  oil  is  driven  off,  leav- 
ing the  resin  homogeneous,  transparent,  and  brittle;  if  it  contains  heavy  or 
fixed  oil,  the  resin  is  surrounded  by  a  greasy  aureole  and  is  less  brittle. 
Finally,  Balsam  Copaiva  is  "made  up,?  of  the  fat  oils,  as  poppy  and 
rape  seed,  with  turpentine.  These  mixtures,  however,  would  deceive  only 
the  inexperienced  :  in  all  cases  ethereal  alcohol  (4  parts  alcohol,  1  part  ether) 
serves  to  recognise  this  fraud,  this  liquid  dissolving  only  the  true  balsam, 
leaving  the  foreign  matters. 
Specimen  No.  4  is  Powdered  Opium.  This  is  a  very  poor  specimen  of 
powdered  opium.  It  was  sold  at  a  high  price  to  a  person  not  perfectly  fami- 
liar with  drugs,  but  to  him  it  appeared  so  different  from  his  idea  of  the  arti- 
cle, that  he  requested  an  examination  of  it.  It  is  found  to  contain  less  than 
3  per  cent  of  impure  morphia,  which  is  but  one-third  or  one-fourth  the  amount 
considered  to  be  the  standard  yield  by  the  United  States  Dispensary.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  this  powder  of  opium  could  scarcely  fail  to  disappoint  tne  expecta- 
tions of  the  physician.  What  article  is  used  for  adulterating  this,  your 
Committee  have  not  decided.  It  is  possible  that  the  opium  was  exhausted 
in  part,  before  drying  and  powdering. 
Specimen  No.  5  is  Balsam  of  Tolu  containing  16  per  cent,  common  resin. 
Balsam  of  tolu  is  often  adulterated  with  turpentine  and  various  resins.  It  is 
easy  to  detect  this  fraud  by  the  peculiar  resinous  odor  which  the  adulterated 
article  gives  off  when  burnt.  It  may  also  be  distinguished  by  testing  with 
sulphuric  acid.  The  concentrated  acid  added  to  the  pure  balsam  gives  a 
cherry  red  liquor  without  disengagement  of  sulphurous  acid  ;  the  same  acid 
