Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1890. 
Castor  Oil  Adulteration. 
39 
influence  of  morphia  and  codeia.  Fraser  [British  Medical  Journal, 
Jan.  29,  1889)  has  given  some  grounds  for  believing  that  the  re- 
placement of  an  equivalent  of  hydrogen  in  the  hydroxyl  group  of 
morphia  by  methyl  (by  which  codeine  is  produced  from  morphia)  has 
simply  the  effect  of  weakening  physiological  action,  no  special  attri- 
bute being  found  in  the  new  compound. 
He  looks  on  codeine,  therefore,  as  simply  a  weak  morphia,  and  the 
observations  of  Bruce  point  in  the  same  direction.  Unfortunately 
Dr.  Rheiner,  whilst  well  acquainted  with  the  German  and  French 
literature  connected  with  codeine,  has  failed  to  acquaint  himself  with 
the  more  recent  work  done  in  England,  and  hence  his  observations  do 
not  throw  much  further  light  on  a  question  which  is  of  such  great 
importance  both  to  pharmacologists  and  therapeutists. 
.  CASTOR  OIL  ADULTERATION.1 
By  Michael  Conroy,  F.  C.  S. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  name  a  business  where  the  art  of  adulter- 
ation is  practiced  to  the  extent  that  it  is  in  the  oil  trade.  Castor  oil, 
however,  is  one  of  the  .  oils  that  is  less  subject  to  adulteration  than 
perhaps  any  other  that  is  imported,  but  there  has  recently  been  re- 
ceived in  Liverpool  from  Calcutta  more  than  one  shipment,  number- 
ing several  hundred  cases  bearing  the  usual  marks,  which  has  been 
found  on  examination  to  be  adulterated  with  cocoanut  oil  to  the 
extent  of  from  20  to  30  per  cent. 
Castor  oil,  owing  to  scarcity  of  seed,  has  recently  advanced  over 
50  per  cent,  in  value,  and  it  is  no  doubt  due  to  this  cause  that  we  f  nd 
this  somewhat  novel  sophistication.  The  choice  of  a  substance  like 
cocoanut  oil  seems  very  absurd,  but  we  should  remember  that  at 
the  temperature  of  the  Indian  climate  this  oil  would  be  quite  liquid, 
and  the  fact  that  it  would  become  solid  on  its  arrival  in  England 
would  probably  not  present  itself  to  the  native  mind.  It  is  this 
characteristic  that  first  drew  attention  to  the  matter,  for  it  was  found 
that  this  particular  lot  of  castor  oil  began  to  become  semi-solid  on 
standing  a  few  days  after  landing. 
As  it  is  possible  that  some  of  this  adulterated  oil  may  find  its 
1  Read  at  a  meeting  of  the  Liverpool  Chemists'  Association,  November  7, 
1889;  reprinted  from  Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  November  10,  p.  385. 
