Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
Nov.  1, 1874.  J 
Adulterated  Serpentaria. 
511 
paraffin  on  water,  at  the  same  time  gently  stirring  it,  so  that  the 
black  particles  can  subside. 
There  seems  to  be  a  considerable  difference  in  the  mode  of  contrac- 
tion, while  cooling,  between  beeswax  and  paraffin,and  this  may  serve 
to  detect  the  adulteration,  at  least  when  practiced  to  this  extent. 
Blocks  of  paraffin  are  decidedly  concave  on  the  top,  and  the  specimens 
of  adulterated  wax  presented  herewith  will  be  observed  to  be  more  or 
less  concave  on  top  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  paraffin  which  they 
contain.  Pure  beeswax  appears  to  be  level,  the  contraction  acting 
in  a  horizontal  direction  and  tending  rather  to  the  production  of  ver- 
tical fissures. 
The  optical  behaviour  is  also  different ;  pure  wax  is  quite  opaque, 
while  this  adulterated  article  is  somewhat  translucent,  more  particu- 
larly on  the  edges. 
Although  no  injury  is  likely  to  result  from  this  admixture,  it  is  an 
evident  fraud,  as  there  is  considerable  difference  in  the  commercial 
value  of  the  two  substances.  It  may  be  asked,  in  this  connec- 
tion, whether  it  is  not  time  for  the  Pharmacopoeia  Committee  to  turn 
their  attention  to  paraffin,  since  we  have  thus  again  detected  it  forc- 
ing its  way  into  pharmacy  under  the  garb  of  beeswax,  cosmolin  and 
vaselin. 
ADULTERATED  SERPENTARIA. 
A  short  time  ago,  I  received,  from  one  of  our  wholesale  drug  houses, 
a  lot  of  Radix  serpentarice,  which,  upon  examination,  was  found  to  be 
largely  adulterated  with  golden  seal.  This  fraud  has  come  under 
my  notice  twice  within  the  past  year,  and,  in  the  last  instance,  was 
too  apparent  for  me  to  allow  it  to  pass  unnoticed.  The  condition  in 
which  serpentaria  is  found  in  the  market  is  generally  in  a  loose  or 
unpressed  state.  Its  long,  twisted  and  knotted  rootlets,  together  with 
a  surplus  amount  of  earth  (a  fact  to  be  remembered),  gives  those  per- 
sons a  clear  field  to  accomplish  the  adulteration ;  for,  in  case  the 
golden  seal  should  become  broken  during  handling,  it  would  expose 
the  trick  ;  but,  the  adhering  earth  becoming  loosened  and  intermingled 
with  the  roots,  the  fraud  is  not  so  easily  detected. 
The  rhizomes,  with  rootlets  attached,  of  the  golden  seal  that  I 
found,  were,  by  measurement,  all  the  way  from  one  quarter  to  one 
