AlAu"£:lst'  1918™')    Coriaria  myrtifolia  as  an  Adulterant.  557 
up  that  it  was  impossible  to  piece  the  fragment  together  so  as  to 
form  any  conception  of  the  size  or  shape  of  the  leaf  and  no  opinion 
could  be  formed  even  as  to  the  character  of  the  margin. 
These  fragments  being  smaller  and  heavier  than  the  most  of  the 
portions  of  the  marjoram,  the  tendency  in  the  bale  and  in  the  sample 
« 1  *  - « 4 .  * 
V'  * » 
Fig.  1.   Fragments  of  Coriaria  Leaf,  adulterant  of  Sweet  Marjoram. 
packages  was  toward  the  formation  of  "  pockets,"  in  which  there 
would  be  an  undue  proportion  of  these  foreign  leaf  fragments. 
Hence  the  attempt  to  estimate  quantitatively  the  amount  of  this  ad- 
mixture was  abandoned  as  the  results  obtained  could  not  be  consid- 
ered as  trustworthy. 
An  attempt  was  made  to  trace  this  particular  lot  of  sweet  mar- 
joram back  to  the  source  of  collection  and  to  obtain  samples  of  the 
original  collection  and  likewise,  of  the  plants  growing  in  the  fields 
where  collected  or  adjacent  thereto,  with  the  hope  of  thus  deter- 
mining the  character  and  origin  of  the  admixture.  It  was  learned 
that  the  lot  had  been  purchased  from  a  New  York  importer ;  that  it 
was  part  of  a  shipment  from  Marseilles,  France,  in  January,  1916; 
that  it  had  been  examined  and  passed  at  the  port  of  entry  on  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1916.  The  consignors  in  Marseilles,  responded  that  "  it 
was  quite  impossible  to  furnish  the  information  desired  and  were 
very  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  be  of  any  assistance  in  the  matter." 
A  critical  examination  of  a  number  of  trade  samples  of  "  Sweet 
Marjoram  "  convinces  the  writer  that  the  descriptions  in  the  works 
on  pharmacognosy  and  food  products  and,  likewise,  the  definitions 
in  the  foreign  pharmacopoeias  for  Herba  Majoranae  must  be  con- 
sidered rather  as  academic  utterances  than  as  standards  that  can  be 
complied  with  by  the  commercial  marjoram. 
The  Pharmacopoeia  Helvetica  IV  defines  Herba  Majoranae  as 
the  leaves  and  flowers  of  Ma]  or  ana  hortensis  Moench,  stripped  from 
the  stem  at  the  time  of  flowering. 
The  Pharmacopoeia  Austriaca  VIII  defines  Herba  Majoranae  as 
