THE  AMEEICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
DECEMBER,  igij 
THE  DETECTION  OF  CHICORY  IN^PECOCTIONS  OF 
CHICORY  AND  COFFEE. 
Coffee  is  subject  to  a  variety  of  adulterations  in  whole  form,  in 
the  ground  form  and  also  in  the  form  of  the  prepared  beverage. 
The  detection  of  adulterants  in  whole  or  ground  coffee  is  a  compara- 
tively simple  matter  because  of  the  characteristic  appearance  of  the 
tissues  of  both  genuine  coffee  and  its  adulterants  when  subjected  to 
microscopic  examination.  Up  to  the  present  time,  however,  no  satis- 
factory nor  conclusive  method  has  been  presented  in  which  the  adul- 
teration of  the  coffee  could  be  proved  after  it  was  made  up  into  the 
beverage. 
The  methods  of  McGill  (Trans.  Royal  Soc.  Canada,  1887)  and 
of  Tatlock  and  Thomson  (/.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  1910),  whereby  the 
specific  gravity  or  the  refractive  index  of  the  decoction  is  determined, 
are  not  only  too  variable  to>  detect  slight  admixtures  but  are  valueless 
in  the  absence  of  positive  knowledge  as  to  the  ratio  of  ground  coffee 
to  decoction.  The  method  of  Franz  (Arch.  PJtarm.,  1876)  in  which 
the  color  reaction  of  the  suspected  decoction  with  an  aqueous  solution 
of  cupric  acetate  is  proposed,  shows  distinct  differences  between  the 
pure  decoctions  but  fails  when  applied  to  mixtures. 
The  method  of  Smith  (Pharm.  J.,  1880)  depending  upon  the 
amount  of  color  left  in  the  decoction  after  precipitation  with  basic 
lead  acetate,  also  fails  to  detect  mixtures  of  the  two. 
Tatlock  and  Thomson  (/.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  1910),  mention  the 
great  difference  in  cupric  reducing  power  of  the  10  per  cent,  decoc- 
tion but  seem  to  have  made  no  specific  application  of  it  as  a  means 
of  detecting  chicory  in  coffee  and  their  figures  are  incomplete  in 
this  particular  respect. 
By  Charles  H.  La  Wall  and  Leroy  Fori^an, 
(535) 
