Ajanua^,Pih902rn'-}    Flaxseed  Adulterated  with  Mineral  Oil.  39 
berine  is  always  precipitated  along  with  only  one  molecule  of 
hydriodic  acid  by  these  reagents.1 
Another  improvement  in  the  first  method  consists  in  collecting 
the  berberine-acid  sulphate  upon  a  plug  of  cotton  in  a  funnel, 
washing  the  vessel  in  which  the  precipitation  took  place  twice, 
with  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  ether  and  alcohol,  using  5  c.c.  of 
this  mixture  each  time,  and  then  thoroughly  washing  the  vessel 
and  the  acid  sulphate  in  the  funnel  with  ether.  The  acid  sulphate 
being  completely  insoluble  in  ether,  as  seen  by  the  absence  of  color 
in  the  ethereal  washings,  the  last  traces  of  sulphuric  acid  can  be 
washed  away  by  using  a  considerable  amount  of  ether  for  washing 
without  increasing  the  correction  to  be  added  to  the  final  results. 
The  only  correction  that  has  to  be  made  is  for  the  constant  amount 
left  in  the  mother  liquor.  As  to  the  10  c.c.  of  ether-alcohol  used 
for  the  first  washings,  the  amount  of  berberine  left  in  them  can  be 
entirely  neglected,  as  this  amount  is  less  than  0-0006  gramme.  In 
working  upon  5  grammes  of  drug  this  would  affect  the  result  only 
to  the  extent  of  less  than  0-012  per  cent. 
Laboratory  of  Wm.  S.  Merrell  Chemical  Co. 
GROUND  FLAXSEED  ADULTERATED  WITH  MINERAL 
OIL. 
By  Lyman  F.  Kkbi^er. 
The  addition  of  mineral  oil  to  linseed  oil  has  frequently  been  prac- 
tised and  is  well  known,  but  the  adulteration  of  ground  flaxseed 
with  this  article  is  of  recent  origin.  A  little  less  than  two  years 
ago  Mr.  E.  H.  Gane 2  reported  that  he  had  met  a  flaxseed  meal 
which  contained  the  pharmacopceial  required  25  per  cent  of  fixed 
oil,  but  found  that  the  oil  was  not  saponifiable.  Further  investiga- 
tion showed  that  the  natural  oil  had  been  removed,  and  its  place 
supplied  by  a  petroleum  oil  of  about  the  same  specific  gravity  as 
linseed  oil.  Nothing  more  was  heard  of  this  fraudulent  practice 
until  within  the  last  few  months  when  a  British  journal  informed  us 
that  an  ingenious  method  of  sophisticating  linseed  meal  was  being 
1  That  the  substance  under  operation  was  the  neutral  berberine  hydrochloride 
was  shown  in  that  same  paper  a  few  pages  further  on. 
2  1900,  Am.  Drug.,  36,  4. 
