Am.  Jour.  Pharrn.\ 
February,  1901.  J 
Adulterations  in  Drugs. 
79 
calcium,  iron,  lead  and  bismuth  carbonates,  we  will  find  that  the 
first  two  are  quite  easily  penetrated  by  these  rays,  the  second  two 
offer  rather  more  resistance,  while  the  last  two  are  comparatively 
opaque.  This  bears  out  the  statement  made  above  that  the  trans- 
parency of  a  substance  is  closely  related  to  its  atomic  weight  and 
density. 
Vegetable  substances,  being  composed  chiefly  of  oxygen,  carbon 
and  hydrogen,  with  little  or  no  earthy  materials,  or  elements  hav- 
ing a  high  atomic  weight,  would  of  course  offer  little  or  no  resis- 
tance to  the  X-rays,  consequently  we  have  in  these  rays  a  ready 
means  of  detecting  the  wilful  or  malicious  admixture  of  the  various 
substances  that  would  ordinarily  be  used  as  adulterants,  such  as 
clay,  sand  or  gravel. 
This  proposition,  to  use  the  X-rays  as  a  means  of  detecting  adul- 
terations of  this  kind,  is  not  by  any  means  original.  Numerous  sug- 
gestions have  been  made  from  time  to  time,  and  quite  a  number  of 
articles  have  appeared,  especially  in  France,  detailing  or  describing 
the  use  of  these  rays  for  detecting  adulterations  in  different  drugs 
and  foodstuffs. 
The  class  of  drugs  that  are  especially  adapted  to  this  examina- 
tion by  means  of  the  X-rays  are  those  that  are  not  so  well  adapted 
for  examination  by  means  of  the  microscope,  or  whose  macroscopical 
appearance  does  not  give  much  indication  of  their  composition, 
namely,  such  drugs  as  have  no  organized  cellular  structure,  like  the 
inspissated  juices,  gums  and  resins.  Drugs  belonging  to  this  class 
usually  occur  in  irregular  masses,  and  very  often  offer  considerable 
difficulty  to  the  estimation  of  their  quality. 
As  an  illustration,  we  may  call  your  attention  to  opium.  Many 
and  various  are  the  substances  that  have  been  found  in  this  drug, 
small  stones  and  leaden  bullets  being  the  favorite  articles  •  used  to 
give  additional  weight  to  this  well-known  drug.  As  another  illus- 
tration we  may  mention  asafcetida.  This  drug,  as  it  occurs  in  this 
market,  is  always  more  or  less  adulterated  with  sand  or  clay,  so 
much  so  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  obtain  a  supply  of  the  drug 
that  will  meet  the  requirements  of  the  Pharmacopoeia.  An  exam- 
ination of  some  of  the  specimens  in  the  College  collection  would 
indicate  that  this  admixture  of  absorbent  clay  or  sand  to  asafcetida 
has  been  practiced  for  a  very  long  time,  as  all  of  the  specimens  ex- 
amined were  evidently  adulterated  in  the  same  way.  One  especially, 
