134 
Co m mercia I  Asa fcetida . 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      :\rarcb,  1901. 
It  may  be  noted  that  the  price  asked  for  the  crude  drug  is  not 
necessarily  an  indication  of  its  quality.  Of  the  eight  samples  that 
were  examined,  just  as  received  from  the  jobber,  one,  the  poorest 
(No.  9),  was  rather  above  the  average  in  price,  while  the  best  in 
quality  (No.  2)  happens  to  have  been  the  cheapest. 
As  might  have  been  expected,  the  samples  of  powdered  gum 
were  rather  below  the  average  in  the  amount  of  alcohol  soluble 
matter.  Another  feature  of  powdered  gum,  and  a  very  important 
one,  is  the  change  that  seems  to  be  caused  by  the  drying  process  ; 
for  example,  the  water  soluble  portion  seems  to  be  so  altered  or  de- 
stroyed that  it  is  impracticable  to  make  the  official  emulsion  from 
the  powdered  drug,  as  it  will  not  dissolve  readily  in  hot  water. 
The  practice  of  adulterating  asafcetida  seems  to  be  a  very  old  one, 
•'and  it  has  been  the  cause  of  much  comment.  Nearly  fifty  years 
ago  Joseph  F.  Heathcote  published  in  the  American  Journal  of 
Pharmacy  an  examination  of  powdered  asafcetida,  only  15  per  cent, 
of  which  was  soluble  in  alcohol.  Following  this  there  are  several 
references  to  the  generally  poor  quality  of  asafcetida. 
In  1892  G.  W.  Kennedy  read  a  paper  before  the  Pennsylvania 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  in  which  he  reports  the  examination  of 
ten  specimens  of  gum  asafcetida,  ranging  in  alcohol  soluble  matter 
from  29-25  per  cent,  to  68-8o  per  cent.,  with  an  average  of  49  36  per 
cent.,  or  a  fraction  below  that  required  by  the  present  German  Phar- 
macopoeia. Only  one  of  the  specimens  came  up  to  the  requirements 
of  the  U.S.P. 
Moore  and  Martin  report  (in  Chem.  and  Drug.,  1899)  the  result 
of  examining  twelve  specimens.  These  varied  in  alcohol  soluble 
matter  from  14  to  39  per  cent.,  and  the  ash  varied  from  26  to  63 
per  cent,  of  the  original  weight. 
J.  C.  Umney  (Chem.  and  Drug.,  1899)  also  reports  examining  a 
number  of  samples  varying  in  alcohol  soluble  matter  from  2 i-i  to 
79-8  per  cent.,  and  leaving  an  ash  varying  from  62-2  per  cent,  for  the 
lower  grades  to  3  2  per  cent,  for  picked  tears. 
Mr.  Russel  W.  Moore  {Jour.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  1899)  gives  his  re- 
sults of  an  examination  of  167  samples  of  asafcetida  known  to  be 
deficient ;  only  six  of  these  samples  contained  more  than  45  per 
cent,  of  alcohol  soluble  matter. 
The  deductions  to  be  drawn  from  these  examinations  are  that  the 
crude  drug,  as  it  occurs  in  this  and  the  English  markets,  is  grossly 
