40 
Editorial. 
J  Am.  Joar.  Pharra. 
(.    January,  1901. 
Investigators  of  drugs  too  frequently  do  not  seem  to  recognize 
that  other  parts  of  the  plant  yielding  the  drug,  as  well  as  parts  of 
entirely  different  plants,  are  present  in  the  commercial  drugs- — not 
necessarily  as  adulterants,  but  because  the  price  of  labor  does  not 
warrant  evidently  a  careful  garbling. 
Not  long  ago  a  series  of  experiments  were  carried  on  by  one  of 
the  students  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  on  Crocus 
{Amer.  Jour.  Pkarm.,  1900,  p.  119),  and  it  was  shown  that  none  of  the 
commercial  drug  was  more  than  90  per  cent,  pure  {i.  e.,  contained 
only  90  per  cent,  stigmas)  and  that  the  commercial  article  ranged 
in  purity  from  46  to  90  per  cent.  (*.  e.y  contained  46  to  90  per  cent, 
of  stigmas).  A  reviewer,  in  commenting  upon  these  results,  said 
that  he  presumed  they  referred  to  powdered  saffron,  as  the  crude 
drug  examined  by  him  had  been  exceptionally  pure.  This  com- 
ment shows  still  further  the  liability  to  err  on  this  subject  and  how 
frequently  even  those  who  handle  drugs  continually  are  deceived  as 
to  their  actual  quality  and  value. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Pharmacopoeia  gives  sanction  to  the 
deception  by  presenting  a  standard  which  it  is  impossible  to  attain  in 
many  instances.  In  view,  then,  of  this  condition  of  affairs  I  still 
maintain  that  "  there  are  a  number  of  groups  of  drugs  to  which 
rather  stringent  definitions,  descriptions  and  limits  of  admixture  may 
be  applied,  as  in  seeds,  fruits,  roots,  barks  and  flowers.  In  other 
cases,  the  difficulty  of  giving  specific  definitions  is  very  clear,  as  for 
example,  in  the  case  of  leaves  and  herbs,  rhizomes  and  plant  exu- 
dations. To  say  that  certain  drugs  consist  '  chiefly  '  of  certain  parts 
covers  the  ground  a  little  better,  e.g.,  Crocus,  chiefly  of  stigmas; 
Chondrus,  chiefly  of  Chondrus  crispus,  etc.  It  would  be  better, 
however,  if  the  amount  of  actual  drug  present  in  the  commercial 
product  could  be  given." 
CONCLUSION. 
Every  botanist  appreciates  the  difficulties  connected  with  the  no- 
menclature question  and  there  should  be  some  one  guide  that  we  can 
in  the  main  follow.  In  the  United  States  at  least,  the  work  of 
Engler  and  Prantl  is  becoming  to  a  certain  extent  recognized  as  the 
authority  on  this  question. 
This  is  true  also  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  drugs,  but  neverthe- 
