THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
—  —  j^fW^ 
By  Henry  Trimble  and  Josiah  C.  Peacock. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
No.  122. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  held  March  21. 
About  four  years  ago,  a  paper  by  one  of  us  in  this  journal  (1889, 
p.  395)  gave  some  account  of  the  possibilities  of  canaigre  becom- 
ing a  valuable  source  of  tannin.  Lack  of  material  prevented  the 
further  investigation  of  the  tannin,  until  last  year  when  a  liberal 
supply  was  received  from  Mr.  Charles  B.  Allaire,  of  Peoria,  Illinois, 
who,  as  President  of  the  Tanning  Extract  Company,  of  Deeming, 
New  Mexico,  was  able  to  furnish  samples  of  the  roots  of  different 
ages. 
It  may  be  recalled  that  this  canaigre  is  the  tuberous  root  of 
Rumex  hymenosepalus,  a  plant  growing  abundantly  in  the  sandy 
soil  of  Texas,  New  Mexico  and  Arizona. 
The  roots  vary  much  in  size  and  appearance,  according  to  whether 
they  are  green  or  dry.  The  accompanying  illustration  is  from  a 
green  root,  one-half  natural  size.  It  and  a  number  of  others  were 
received  September  14,  1892,  from  Professor  C.  B.  Collingwood,  of 
the  University  of  Arizona,  who  furnished  the  following  interesting 
information : 
"  It  is  impossible  to  make  a  satisfactory  division  into  roots  one, 
two  and  three  years  old  from  wild  plants.  Differences  of  soil, 
amount  of  water,  etc.,  cause  a  wide  variation  in  the  appearance. 
These  roots  were  planted  in  July,  1891,  in  our  plot,  which  happens 
to  be  mesa  soil  of  rather  heavy  gravelly  loam,  altogether  too  hard 
and  stiff  for  this  plant,  which  seems  to  prefer  almost  pure  sand. 
APRIL,  1893. 
CANAIGRE  TANNIN. 
