308  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  {^mi^l:?£™m'~ 
lilac,  of  the  most  powerful  perfume,  somewhat  resembling  the  scent  of  the 
tuberose.  When  first  taken  from  the  vine  the  fruit  is  often  from  two  to  three 
inches  in  circumference,  but  when  cured,  it  is  shriveled  and  nearly  the  size  of 
a  pipe  stem,  entirely  unrecognizable  from  the  green  pod.  When  the  weather 
is  clear  these  beans  are  placed  in  rows  on  mats  to  dry,  and  are  taken  in  in  the 
evening,  and  are  placed  in  caldrons  and  covered  with  blankets,  where  they 
go  through  the  sweating  process  at  night.  At  this  time  an  oil  oozes  from  the 
bean,  which  is  carefully  collected  and  preserved  for  future  use  when  the  beans 
are  being  bundled.  They  continue  to  go  through  this  process  of  sweating  and 
drying  until  the  proper  color  and  flavor  is  developed,  and  it  is  only  those  with 
long  experience  and  thorough  knowledge  of  the  process,  who  are  capable  of 
producing  the  most  fragrant  and  delicious  flavor  of  the  bean.  As  soon  as  the 
beans  are  sufficiently  cured  they  are  sorted  in  lengths,  bundled,  and  packed  in 
tins,  four  to  six  tins  to  the  case,  which  are  then  shipped  to  our  market.  The 
bundles  are  made  up  by  hands  who  have  become  dexterous  in  handling  vanilla, 
and  the  oil  which  is  collected  from  the  sweating  process,  is  then  used,  each 
bean  being  rubbed  separately  with  the  oil,  so  that  the  bundling,  as  well  as  the 
care  and  time  required  in  their  curing,  is  very  tedious." 
The  subject  of  Standardization  of  drugs  which  formed  a  prominent  feature 
of  the  meeting  last  month  was  called  up,  especially  as  to  its  treatment  in  the 
National  Convention  for  revising  the  Pharmacopoeia.  The  resolutions,  relating 
to  this  matter,  as  adopted,  were  read. 
Prof.  Trimble  read  a  paper  upon  a  new  material  for  the  adulteration  of  spices, 
by  Mr.  Frank  A.  Hennessy,  a  member  of  the  last  graduating  class  ;  it  was 
accompanied  with  specimens  of  the  materials  used  in  this  nefarious  trade.  In 
reply  to  an  inquiry  as  to  whether  the  microscope  could  not  detect  such  frauds 
in  ground  pepper,  Prof.  Maisch  stated  that  the  presence  of  starch  could  be 
shown,  but  since  in  the  baking  of  the  biscuits  they  had  been  subjected  to  a 
moist  heat,  nearly  all  of  the  starch  grains  would  have  been  ruptured  and  thus 
the  special  kind  of  starch  used  in  the  adulteration  could  not  be  detected,  while 
the  small  starch  grains  existing  in  pepper  would  still  be  intact.  It  had  been 
suggested  that  a  close  approximation  to  the  character  of  a  pure  pepper  could 
be  made  by  determining  the  ash  or  oleoresin,  or  both,  the  variations  of  which 
had  been  ascertained  by  a  number  of  analyses ;.  but  even  these  could  be  imi- 
tated to  some  extent,  leaving  however  such  fraudulent  mixtures  destitute  of  the 
proper  amount  of  piperine. 
It  was  asked  if  the  turmeric  added  to  most  of  the  ground  mustard  of  com- 
merce could  be  called  an  adulteration  ;  this  was  answered  by  stating  that  any 
foreign  matter  was  an  adulterant  in  the  strict  sense,  and  yet  mustard  flour  free 
from  turmeric,  if  offered  for  sale,  would  in  most  cases  be  rejected  and  denounced 
as  inferior  by  the  public  ;  its  use  cannot  be  objected  to  on  hygienic  grounds  as 
it  is  but  slightly  stimulant  and  the  amount  used  is  too  small  to  produce  any 
harmful  effect  even  if  it  were  much  more  active. 
A  paper  upon  an  Indian  Food  Plant  was  read  by  Prof.  Trimble  and  listened 
to  with  much  interest.  Professor  Maisch  remarked  that  it  was  singular  that  a 
species  of  Peucedanum  should  be  used  as  a  food  producer  as  these  umbelliferous 
plants  are  generally  very  aromatic  ;  quite  a  number  of  species  of  this  genus  and 
of  the  allied  Ligusticum  are  indigenous  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  to  the 
