Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
August,  1889.  J 
Canaigre. 
395 
the  filtrate  from  the  acetic  acid  treatment  the  insoluble  residue  is 
decidedly  not  what  the  U.  S.  P.  states  it  to  be — ferric  phosphate.  To 
detect  phosphate  in  ferric  hypophosphite  I  know  of  no  more  reliable 
method  than  that  given  elsewhere  in  this  paper. 
CANAIGRE. 
By  Henry  Trimble. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy.— No.  56. 
The  following  account  of  a  tanning  material,  which  has  several 
times  in  the  past  few  years  been  mentioned  as  new,  or  as  a  possibility 
for  the  tanner,  is  undertaken  with  a  view  of  relating  what  has  been 
done  toward  developing  this  source,  and  at  the  same  time  calling 
attention  to  the  fact  that  if  we  encourage  home  production  we  have 
in  canaigre  a  material  which  gives  promise  of  superseding  the  uncer- 
tain and  much  adulterated  gambier. 
Canaigre  is  found  in  large  quantity  in  the  sandy  soil  on  both  sides 
of  the  Rio  Grande  and  northward  over  a  large  portion  of  Western 
Texas  and  New  Mexico. 
Its  history  is  briefly  as  follows: — It  is  said  to  have  been  used  in 
tanning  by  the  Mexicans  for  over  two  centuries.  Our  first  informa- 
tion, however,  dates  from  July  9th,  1868,  when  a  package  of  these 
roots  was  forwarded  for  Mr.  John  James,  of  San  Antonio,  Texas,  to 
the  Agricultural  Department  at  Washington,  together  with  a  letter 
stating  that  Mr.  F.  Kalteyer,  chemist  in  San  Antonio,  had  found 
them  to  contain  thirty-two  per  cent,  of  tannin.  This  sample  was 
mislaid  or  overlooked  until  1878,  when  it  was  reported  on  by  the 
chemist.1  It  was  then  found  to  yield  23*45  per  cent,  of  tannin.  A 
fresh  sample  was  also  procured  and  the  tannin  estimated  in  the  still 
fresh  root  with  almost  identical  results,  after  making  due  allowance 
for  difference  in  moisture.  The  other  constituents  reported  at  that 
time  need  not  claim  our  attention  at  present  further  than  to  notice  a 
considerable  amount  of  starch,  18*00  per  cent. 
Previous  to  this  publication  by  the  Government,  Mr.  Rudolph 
Voelcker,  of  Galveston,  Texas,  published2  an  analysis  of  roots  gath- 
1  Report  of  the  Commissioner *of  Agriculture,  1878,  p.  119. 
2  An  Analysis  of  Raiz  del  Indio.  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1876, 
p.  49. 
