THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JUNE,  i892.  \& 
SOME  COMMERCIAL  VANILLAS. 
By  George  M.  Beringer,  Ph.G. 
Read  before  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting, 
April  26. 
With  the  view  of  ascertaining  the  character  and  quantity  of  vanilla 
consumed  in  the  United  States,  a  circular-letter  was  addressed  to  all 
the  known  importers  and  the  larger  wholesale  dealers,  requesting 
samples  and  such  information  as  they  were  willing  to  impart. 
Replies  were  received  from  a  number,  and  I  am  indebted  to 
Thurston  &  Braidich,  for  a  sample  of  prime  Mexican  vanilla,  and  to 
Dodge  &  Olcott  and  Leo  Bernard  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  and  Mr. 
Charles  E.  Hires,  of  Philadelphia,  each  for  specimens  of  a  number 
of  varieties.  I  am  also  particularly  indebted  to  Mr.  Hires  for  obtain- 
ing for  me  the  official  statistics  of  importations  in  the  United  States. 
While  the  home  of  the  vanilla  is  Mexico  and  South  America, 
its  cultivation,  originally  greatly  encouraged  by  the  French  govern- 
ment, has  been  extended  by  individual  enterprise,  till  now  the  plant 
is  cultivated  in  numerous  and  widely  distributed  countries ;  as,  for 
instance,  the  West  Indies  and  some  of  the  islands  of  the  Indian  and 
Pacific  Oceans,  the  essentials  being  a  mean  temperature  of  75 0  to 
8o°  and  sufficient  moisture  at  least  during  certain  seasons  of  growth. 
In  a  circular,  issued  in  1890,  Mr.  Hires  described  the  vanilla  plant 
as  a  parasite,  stating  that  "  it  takes  its  life  and  sustenance  from  the 
Mexican  red  cedar,  which  abounds  in  that  country."  This  error 
is  being  repeated,  and  singularly  such  an  authority  as  the  Encyclo- 
pedia Britannica  states  "  the  plant  has  a  long,  fleshy  stem  and 
attaches  itself  by  its  aerial  rootlets  to  trees  and  appears  to  be  little 
dependent  upon  the  soil  for  its  nourishment."    While  epiphyte  in 
(2S9) 
