AFebruUarrVPi904m'}    Examination  of  Commercial  Peppers.  71 
removed  by  expression  and  the  drug  again  treated  with  400  c.c.  of 
oil  and  this  again  removed  by  expression.  Make  up  the  product  to 
1,000  c.c.  with  olive  oil." 
We  have  had  occasion  to  examine  many  of  the  above  oils  of  which 
we  give  the  following  data : 
Specific  Gravity  Acid  Saponification 
150  C.  Number.  Number. 
Oil  of  walnuts  '  0*925  3-5  197*0 
"  hazelnuts   0*917  3*5  192*5 
"  hickory  nuts  0.921  2*3  I95'6> 
"  lobelia  0*925 
"  strophanthus  0*927 
"  pumpkin  0*920  3*5  195.5 
"  larkspur  .  0*884 
"  nux  vomica  0*935 
"  ergot  0*918 
Analytical  Department, 
Smith,  Kline  &  French  Company. 
EXAMINATION  OF  COMMERCIAL  PEPPERS. 
By  James  W.  Gi<adhii,i,,  A.M.,  P.D. 
Although  indigenous  to  Southern  India,  the  pepper  plant  is  now 
cultivated  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  most  of  the  commercial 
article  coming  from  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  the  Phil- 
ippines and  the  West  Indies. 
It  is  recorded  that  in  ancient  times  pepper  was  used  as  a  medium 
of  exchange.  It  was  also  used  as  a  symbol  of  the  spice  trade,  and 
in  Rome  the  dealers  in  spices  were  known  as  Piperorii,  later,  in 
France  as  Pebriers,  and  in  England  as  Pepperers. 
The  following  is  a  description  of  pepper,  based  upon  the  official 
description,  although  the  different  kinds  of  pepper  vary  somewhat, 
as  will  be  shown  later.  Black  pepper,  or  the  piper  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia, consists  of  the  unripe  fruit  of  Piper  nigrum  Linne  (Fam. 
Piperacece).  The  fruit  is  globular,  about  4  mm.  in  diameter,  reticu- 
lately  wrinkled  on  the  surface  from  the  dried  and  contracted  sarco- 
carp,  blackish-brown  or  grayish  black  externally,  lighter  internally, 
and  encloses  a  single  globular  seed,  which  is  whitish,  mealy  and 
contains  an  undeveloped  embryo  in  a  central  cavity. 
White  pepper  differs  from  black  pepper  in  that  it  consists  of  the 
ripe  fruit  ef  Piper  nigrum,  from  which  the  pericarp  and  mesocarp 
