16 
Adulteration  Notes,  etc. 
<  Am.  Jour.  Pbabm. 
\     Jan.  1, 1874. 
pupil  and  the  aromatic  smell  which  is  produced  by  adding  this  alka- 
loid and  a  little  water  to  a  hot  mixture  of  sulphuric  acid  and  potassi- 
um dichromate  or  ammonium  molybdate.  The  latter  reaction,  al- 
though very  characteristic,  requires  great  skill ;  but  it  takes  place 
without  fail  on  placing  the  atropia  on  a  few  crystals  of  chromic  tri- 
oxide  contained  in  a  porcelain  basin,  and  applying  a  gentle  heat  until 
the  trioxide  assumes  a  green  color. — Pharm.  Journ.,  Nov.  15,  1873. 
ADULTERATION  NOTES  RESPECTING  TURMERIC  IN  RHUBARB, 
AROMATIC  CHALK  POWDER,  AND  MUSTARD. 
By  W,  L.  Howie. 
Turmeric  in  Powdered  Rhubarb. — The  experiments  of  which  the 
following  notes  are  the  result  were  suggested  by  the  expression  of  an 
opinion  by  many  pharmacists  of  my  acquaintance  that  turmeric  was 
responsible  for  the  brilliant  yellow  color  of  certain  samples  of  very 
fine  powdered  rhubarb. 
The  test  for  turmeric  given  by  Pereira,  Christison,  and  other 
authorities,  and  lately  elaborated  by  Professor  Maisch,  U.  S.  (vide 
Pharm.  Journ.  vol.  i.,  3rd  series,  p.  1027),  requires  the  preparation 
of  a  tincture  or  decoction  of  the  rhubarb,  and  is  far  from  delicate, 
owing  to  the  difficulty  of  detecting  the  brown-red  tinge  in  presence  of 
the  deep  yellow  color  of  the  rhubarb.  My  aim  has  been  to  supplant 
this  preliminary  exhaustion  of  the  suspected  rhubarb  by  a  process 
which  should  more  completely  eliminate  the  curcumin,  and  while 
rendering  the  test  strictly  practical  for  counter  use,  improve  its 
efficiency. 
An  effort  to  discover  a  menstruum  in  common  use  which  would  dis- 
solve the  coloring  principle  of  one  only  of  the  drugs  under  notice 
proved  not  altogether  successful,  in  a  measure  owing  to  a  variation  in 
the  peculiar  constituents  of  different  varieties  of  rhubarb,  which  will 
further  referred  to. 
Of  turpentine,  carbon  bisulphide,  benzole,  ether,  and  chloroform,  I 
have  been  induced  to  prefer  the  last-named,  though  the  test  can  be 
applied  with  either  of  the  others,  should  convenience  suggest  such  a 
course  ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  ether,  none  seems  so  efficient  as 
chloroform,  on  account  of  the  readiness  with  which  it  dissolves  curcu- 
min, and  its  volatility,  rendering  the  manipulation  of  a  number  of 
samples  exceedingly  rapid. 
