18 
Adulteration  Notes,  etc. 
f  Am.  JoubC.  Pharm. 
1     Jan.  1,  1874. 
ing  only  0*05  per  cent.  While  0-1  per  cent.,  or  seven  grains  in  one 
pound  of  rhubarb,  gives  at  once  distinct  and  unmistakeable  evidence 
of  its  presence. 
As  turmeric  often  carries  in  its  train  wheaten  flour  or  farina,  which 
can  be  best  identified  under  the  microscope  (vide  Pharm.  Journal, 
vol.  ii.,  3d  series,  p.  841),  rhubarb  in  which  it  is  found  should  always 
be  looked  upon  with  suspicion. 
It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state  that  of  some  thirty-six  samples 
procured  in  different  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom,  only  in  one  have 
I  found  turmeric ;  and  strangely  it  was  in  a  specimen  of  the  old  time 
Turkey,  which  a  friend  had  carefully  stored  as  a  curiosity.  The 
quantity  present  however  was  so  small,  about  0*07  per  cent.,  that  it 
could  hardly  be  called  a  wilful  adulteration,  and  may  be  accounted 
for  when  we  remember  that  it  is,  or  was,  the  practice  of  some  dealers 
to  rub  the  roots  with  turmeric  to  improve  the  color.  Some  such  roots 
had  no  doubt  been  used  in  this  instance  for  powdering. 
That  no  one  may  be  deterred  from  testing  every  parcel  of  rhubarb 
before  taking  into  stock,  I  have  only  used  chemicals  found  on  the 
shelves  of  every  pharmacy,  and  may  just  add  that  five  samples  may 
be  tested  in  as  many  minutes,  leaving  no  apparatus  soiled  but  a  glass 
rod  and  pill  tile,  and  at  the  cost  of  a  fluid-drachm  of  methylated  chlo- 
roform. 
European  in  East  Indian  Rhubarb. — The  observation  of  the  regu- 
larly varying  depth  of  tint  of  the  yellow  stain  on  paper,  given  by  dif- 
ferent rhubarbs  with  chloroform,  suggested  this  test  as  a  useful  and 
ready  means  of  determining  not  only  the  absence  of  turmeric,  but 
also  the  quality  of  the  drug. 
East  Indian  rhubarb,  sound,  pale  in  color,  dense,  and  freed  from 
the  cortical  layer,  when  reduced  to  powder  gives  up  almost  no  color 
to  chloroform.  A  dark-colored  but  otherwise  sound  piece  gives  but 
a  slight  tint,  while  the  cortical  layer  gives  a  more  distinct  yellow,  as 
does  in  a  yet  more  marked  degree  the  interior  of  such  pieces  as  are 
worm-eaten  and  rotten. 
English  indigenous  rhubarb  even  when  carefully  selected  gives  a 
deep  yellow  tint,  which  is  yet  more  intense  from  cortical  and  faulty 
pieces. 
French  indigenous  rhubarb  which  sometimes  appears  in  commerce 
in  this  country  (vide  Pharm.  Journal,  vol.  ii.,  3d  series,  p.  1009), 
though  in  external  appearance  and  density  greatly  superior,  is  in 
