ON  COMMERCIAL  JALAP. 
65 
the  circulatory  system  so  strongly  marked  in  the  plant,  and 
which,  it  has  been  shown,  is  possessed  in  a  marked  degree  by 
the  alkaloid  from  the  plant  insoluble  in  ether. 
The  chemical  relation,  which  the  alkaloids  bear  to  ver atria,  I 
have  not  been  able  to  investigate. 
Philadelphia,  September,  1867. 
—Proc.  Am.  Pharm.  Association,  1867. 
ON  COMMERCIAL  JALAP. 
By  Edward  R.  Squibb,  M.  D. 
A  few  notes  made  during  the  past  six  years  upon  the  char- 
acter of  this  drug  as  casually  met  with  in  the  largest  market  of 
this  country,  present  some  points  well  worthy  of  serious  consid- 
eration. 
Ordinary  merchantable  jalap,  from  low  grade  through  fair  and 
good  up  to  prime  quality,  yields  from  11  to  16*25  per  cent,  of 
resin,  and  the  proportion  of  resin  is  the  true  and  only  standard 
of  quality  and  value.  From  this  it  is  seen  that  the  drug  is  so 
variable  in  quality  as  to  have  a  range  of  at  least  5*25  per  cent, 
on  16,  or  that  some  lots  are  one-third  more  valuable  than  others. 
This  taken  in  connection  with  the  circumstance  that  the  stock 
in  trade  is  always  below  the  average,  and  the  better  qualities 
very  rare,  serves  to  explain  the  fact  that  in  its  more  legitimate 
channels  of  use  this  drug,  within  a  few  years  past,  has  rapidly 
lost  reputation.  During  the  period  of  this  rapid  decline  in  qua- 
lity the  price  has  more  rapidly  advanced,  and  this  condition  is 
so  great  a  temptation  to  adulteration  and  falsification  that  the 
markets  rarely  withstand  it.  In  the  case  of  jalap  the  substitu- 
tion of  other  roots,  the  admixture  with  rootlets  and  immature 
tubers,  and  the  sending  to  market  imperfectly  dried,  have  all 
been  partially  successful,  but  the  drug  is  so  definite  in  its  physi- 
cal character  that  such  falsifications  could  not  be  practiced  to  a 
great  extent  without  great  damage  to  the  market  prices  so  long 
as  the  article  remained  in  first  hands,  and  could  not  be  got  into 
the  drug  mills.  Some  other  mode  of  falsification,  therefore, 
seemed  to  be  required,  and  this  has  probably  been  found  in  a 
more  or  less  partial  exhaustion  of  the  root,  without  breaking  it 
up,  before  it  is  sent  from  the  place  of  production. 
