Am.  .lour.  I 'harm. 
June,  1885. 
Spurious  Cubebs. 
303 
Solutions  of  bichloride  of  mercury,  suhacetate  of  lead,  perchloride 
of  iron,  and  nitric  acid  gave  no  nseful  indications. 
On  crushing  a  little  of  the  genuine  cubebs  on  a  porcelain  slab  with 
concentrated  sulphuric  acid  a  deep  crimson  color  with  a  distinct  car- 
mine tint  in  it  is  quickly  developed.  P.  crassipes  gives  a  reddish 
brown  color,  Daphnidium  Ciibeba  a  yellowish  brown  hue,  and  the 
adulterated  cubebs  a  crimson-brown  tint.  Under  the  microscope  the 
small  angular  starch  of  both  the  false  and  genuine  cubebs  is  easily 
recognized,  bnt  D.  Cabeba  does  not  show  any  starch  granules. 
On  repeating  the  experiments,  I  found  that  the  distinct  pure  blue 
tint  given  by  iodine  to  a  decoction  of  genuine  cubebs  could  be  distin- 
guished without  difficulty  from  the  dull  purple  tint  (like  diluted  ink) 
of  the  spurious  cubebs,  even  when  the  liquid  was  diluted,  and  that  the 
peculiar  carmine  hue  of  the  genuine  was  easily  recognizable  in  the  gen- 
uine article,  especially  at  the  edge  of  the  drop  of  acid,  but  not  in  the 
adulterated  cubebs. 
I  hasten,  therefore,  to  point  out  these  two  tests,  in  the  ho})e  that 
they  may  serve  to  prevent  this  spurious  cubebs  from  being  further 
sold  to  the  public.  In  view  of  the  difficulty  that  exists  in  preventing 
spurious  drugs,  especially  in  tne  form  of  powder,  entering  into  com- 
merce, it  may  be  interesting  to  state  the  facts  concerning  the  spurious 
cubebs,  so  far  as  I  am  acquainted  with  them. 
On  March  21,  1884,  1  received  a  specimen  of  spurious  cubebs  from 
Mr.  J.  Hartford,  of  New  York,  who  stated  :  "  I  picked  up,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  week,  a  sample  of  cubebs  out  of  a  lot  of  two  bags 
oftered  at  a  public  auction  here.  I  was  unable  to  procure  any  infor- 
mation about  this  lot,  but  learned  that  the  Customs  office  here  had 
condemned  a  lot  as  not  being  genuine  and  had  confiscated  the  same, 
and  by  the  courtesy  of  Major  Horner  I  am  enabled  to  send  you  two 
samples.  No  doubt  the  high  price  now  ruling  has  to  do  with  this 
imitation."  On  May  6,  1884,  I  received  another  sample  from  a 
wholesale  druggist,  who  requested  an  opinion  as  to  their  genuineness, 
stating  that  they  had  been  offered  for  sale,  and  two  hundredweight 
had  been  purchased,  presumably  in  ignorance,  by  a  London  drug  firm. 
Subsequently,  on  June  17,  I  was  informed  that  the  same  cubebs  were 
offered  a  second  time,  and  not  a  single  bid  Avas  made,  and  the  selling 
broker  was  simply  laughed  at.  Nevertheless,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  spurious  cubebs  have  been  powdered  and  sold  as  genuine,  or 
