Am.  Jour.  Pharm."| 
January,  1897.  / 
Licorice  Root. 
13 
structure  that  is  not  found  in  the  other.  The  stem,  when  dried,  is  cov- 
ered with  a  dark  brown,  nearly  black,  layer  of  cork,  while  the  rhizome 
is  of  a  yellowish  color.  If  the  bark  is  in  ordinarily  coarse  powder 
and  contains  a  considerable  amount  of  the  stem,  the  dark,  almost 
black,  particles  are  quite  noticeable ;  but  a  fine  powder,  or  a  small 
amount  of  adulteration  would  likely  fail  to  show  these  characteris- 
tics. The  ordinary  micro-chemical  reagents  produce  the  same  effect 
upon  both  stem  and  rhizome. 
As  before  stated,  the  different  parts — stem,  rhizome  and  roots — 
are  being  analyzed.  When  the  analysis  is  completed  the  results 
will  be  given. 
University  of  Kansas. 
THE  COMMERCIAL  SOURCES  OF  LICORICE  ROOT. 
By  H.  N.  Rittknhouse). 
While  the  commercial  varieties  of  licorice  root  are  well  known 
to  importers  of  the  article,  the  qualities,  values  and  sources  of  sup- 
ply are  no  so  well  known  to  the  pharmacist  as  they  should  be,  if 
any  importance  is  to  be  attached  to  accurately  dispensing  either  the 
root  itself  or  its  preparations. 
Previous  to  the  year  1870  the  principal  source  from  which  the 
United  States  obtained  its  supplies  was  Spain.  Since  then  the  con- 
sumption in  the  United  States  has  increased  so  much  that  the 
Spanish  root  has  been  utterly  inadequate  to  equal  the  demand. 
Other  countries  have  since  then  come  into  the  market,  and  now  fur- 
nish the  greater  part  of  the  market  requirements.  These  countries 
are  Southern  Russia,  Asia  Minor  (chiefly  the  province  of  Anatolia) 
and  Syria,  and  about  in  the  order  above-named  as  to  quantity, 
Russia  being  the  largest  exporter  and  Syria  the  smallest.  Licorice 
root  from  any  of  the  above  named  sources,  when  good  and  sound, 
should  be  acceptable  to  the  pharmacist  for  his  uses,  but  it  is  not 
always  good  and  sound  in  a  proper  sense  as  found  in  commerce. 
Spanish  root  is  gathered  so  closely  and  skilfully  sorted  and 
packed  that  much  of  it  consists  of  fine,  immature,  fibrous  roots, 
which,  while  they  may  be  called  licorice  root,  are  practically 
worthless  as  such  for  the  purposes  for  which  licorice  root  is  used, 
and  besides  are  50  per  cent,  higher  in  price  than  the  other  varie- 
ties;  yet  prejudice  and  perhaps  ignorance  on  the  part  of  some  buy- 
