^eptembe^iSs!1" }  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  481 
EXAMINATION  OF  ELM  BARK,  FLAXSEED  AND   MUSTARD  FOR 
STARCH. 
By  J.  U.  Lloyd. 
Prof.  Lloyd  next  presented  a  paper  which  described  work  on  elm  bark, 
flaxseed  and  mustard  with  the  aim  of  examining  them  for  starch.  This  paper 
is  printed  in  full  on  page  459  of  this  issue.  Prof.  Lloyd  remarked  on  the  deci- 
ded power  of  the  mucilage  of  elm  bark  to  decolorize  the  iodine  and  starch  com- 
pound. He  had  found  that  sulphuric  acid  would  temporarily  restore  the  color. 
He  was  not  certain  that  this  behavior  was  altogether  due  to  the  calcium  com- 
pounds present;  there  seemed  to  him  to  be  other  things  present  in  the  bark 
which  might  partly  account  for  the  difficulty  experienced  in  the  detection  of 
the  starch  whose  presence  he  established  in  elm  bark.  Prof.  Prescott  spoke  of 
the  transient  colors  obtained  by  the  action  of  iodine  on  the  dextrins  and  simi- 
lar compounds  more  closely  related  to  starch.  He  thought  the  action  of  the 
sulphuric  acid  on  the  thick-walled  granules  of  the  starch-containing  materials 
might  affect  these  substances  sufficiently  to  afford  an  evanescent  color  with 
iodine.  Prof.  Lloyd  had,  however,  used  the  sulphuric  acid  only  in  quantities 
sufficient  to  prevent  the  production  of  an  alkaline  condition,  therefore  he 
believed  that  no  such  discrepancy  as  that  mentioned  by  Prof.  Prescott  had  been 
introduced.  Mr.  Ebert  was  of  the  opinion  that  traces  of  starch  might  be  found 
in  some  powdered  drugs,  whereas  it  did  not  exist  in  the  original  state,  from  the 
fact  that  imperfect  cleaning  of  mills  might  furnish  enough  starch  to  respond  to 
the  delicate  iodine  test.  He  thought  a  limit  to  such  accidental  contamination 
should  be  adjusted.    Prof.  C.  S.  N.  Hallberg  then  read  in  abstract  a  paper  on 
THE  EXAMINATION  OF  STARCH  IN  POWDERED  ELM  BARK. 
By  W.  B.  Day. 
The  author  had  employed  a  method  somewhat  similar  to  that  used  by  Henry 
Kraemer  in  his  examination  of  cloves,  a  paper  presented  at  the  Asheville  meet- 
ing last  year.  He  detected  wheat  starch,  and  from  this  adulteration  inferred 
that  it  had  been  introduced  in  the  form  of  flour.  He  found  the  granule  of  elm 
bark  starch  to  be  smaller  than  that  of  wheat  starch.  He  computed  the  extent 
of  the  adulterant  by  assuming  the  amount  of  wheat  starch  present  to  represent 
70  per  cent,  of  the  quantity  of  flour  used  in  the  admixture.  In  order  to  count 
the  granules,  the  material  under  examination  was  suspended  in  syrup.  Both 
papers  were  accepted  and  referred  to  the  Publication  Committee.  Prof.  Whelp- 
ley  directed  the  attention  of  the  section  to  the  interest  that  was  being  displayed 
in  the  matter  of  detecting  adulteration,  while  Prof.  Sayre  emphasized  Mr. 
Ebert's  suggestion  to  properly  regulate  the  amount  of  accidental  impurities 
which  should  be  permitted  to  be  present. 
TARAXACUM  ROOT  AND  TARAXACIN. 
By  L.  E.  Sayre. 
It  was  intended  to  supplement  some  previous  contributions  on  the  same  sub- 
jects, and  is  printed  in  full  on  page  465  of  this  number. 
WHAT  IS  THE  PURE  ACONITINE  OF  COMMERCE? 
By  A.  R.  L,.  Dohme. 
This  investigator  had  examined  all  of  the  available  makes  of  the  American 
market.    From  his  observations  of  color  and  consistency,  experiments  with 
