Am.  J  our.  Pbarui.  \ 
January,  1902.  J 
Adulteration  of  Drugs. 
23 
lower  cost.  Certain  data  have,  however,  been  worked  up  in  con- 
nection with  pure  Venice  turpentine,  which  up  to  the  present  time 
the  sophisticator  has  not  been  fully  able  to  comply  with.  The 
writer  is  at  present  collecting  certain  data  upon  this  question  and 
hopes  to  make  them  public  in  the  near  future.  Some  useful  infor- 
mation will  be  found  in  the  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.,  vol.  73,  page  198, 
1901.  The  artificial  product  consists  for  the  most  part  of  specially 
selected  rosin  dissolved  in  oil  of  turpentine.  Another  article  has 
also  been  met  with  which  had  a  decided  fluorescence,  and  proved 
upon  investigation  to  consist  of  rosin  or  allied  bodies  dissolved  in  a 
fluorescent  rosin  oil,  mixed  with  a  little  turpentine. 
Gum  Acacia. — On  looking  over  the  various  price-lists  we  find 
that  there  are  at  least  five  distinct  varieties  of  this  gum,  varying 
very  materially  in  price.  There  are  only  the  following  conclusions 
to  arrive  at,  namely :  The  lower  grades  of  acacia  are  spurious  pro- 
ducts or  they  are  gums  of  an  inferior  quality.  The  latter  is  prob- 
ably the  correct  explanation,  inasmuch  as  we  find  upon  examining 
the  various  grades  that  there  are  very  few  which  will  stand  the 
Fehling  test.  This  test  indicates  that  there  are  associated  with 
these  poor  gums  certain  substances  which  ought  not  to  be  present 
in  a  first-class  article.  The  point  naturally  presenting  itself  in  this 
connection  is,  How  are  we  to  decide  whether  a  sample  of  a  gum  of 
acacia  submitted  is  of  an  A  No.  1  quality,  or  whether  it  contains 
more  or  less  of  the  selected  portions  of  the  inferior  grades  or  other 
gums?  Chemical  tests  practically  fail  us.  To  be  sure,  we  have  the 
ash  test,  the  optical  rotatory  power,  the  ferric  chloride-solution  test, 
the  relative  viscosity,  etc.,  but  after  applying  all  these  tests  and  ask- 
ing ourselves  this  question,  is  the  sample  submitted  genuine  gum 
arabic  ?  we  are  compelled  to  say  we  do  not  know.  The  writer  is 
inclined  to  believe,  from  the  fact  that  there  is  very  little  gum  acacia 
which  will  not  reduce  Fehling's  test  solution,  at  even  a  slightly 
prolonged  elevated  temperature,  that  very  little  A  No.  1  gum 
acacia  is  found  in  the  market.  The  various  grades  are  probably 
differently  selected  gums  from  the  same  or  similar  sources. 
Gum  Tragacanth  shares  the  common  fate  of  gum  acacia,  inasmuch 
as  the  best  quality  is  about  twice  as  expensive  as  the  lower  grades, 
and  with  this  article  we  are  practically  unable  to  do  anything  rela- 
tive to  deciding  between  the  inferior  and  the  superior  product. 
There  do  not  seem  to  be  any  marked  differences  except  physical 
