74 
Drug  Adulteration. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharni. 
\   February,  1909. 
would  raise  the  alkaloidal  content  and  thus  apparently  satisfy  certain 
requirements  was  Hyoscyamus  muticus,  L.  a  spurious  henbane. 
The  alkaloidal  content  of  this  plant  is  frequently  from  8  to  12  times 
above  the  maximum  content  of  henbane  leaves,  but  the  alkaloidal 
material  is  different  from  that  contained  in  henbane  proper.  The 
physiological  action  of  the  two  drugs  being  dissimilar  it  is  impossible 
to  conceive  how  a  manufacturer  could  expect  to  produce  a  henbane 
preparation  which  would  supply  the  physician's  need  bv  mixing 
these  two  drugs.  Chemically  it  would  be  exceedingly  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  to  detect  such  adulterations,  far  less  in  preparations 
made  therefrom.  A  trained  pharmacognoeist,  however,  can  easily 
find  the  fraud  in  the  plant  material  by  macroscopical  and  micro- 
scopical means.  In  our  work  both  chemical  and  pharmacognostical 
methods  are  used.  Adulterations  of  the  above  character  are  most 
pernicious.  If  the  physician  desires  to  make  such  combinations  that 
is  his  privilege,  but  it  should  not  be  done  for  him  surreptitiously 
by  some  ignoramus  whose  sole  purpose  is  the  few  cents  he  may 
be  able  to  get  out  of  the  transaction. 
The  higher  the  price  of  a  commodity  the  greater  is  the  incentive 
to  adulterate.  One  of  the  products  frequently  adulterated  in  the  past 
is  saffron.  When  the  work  was  begun  adulterated  saffron  was 
offered  for  entry  which  was  refused  ;  then  the  adulterants  themselves 
were  offered  which  were  likewise  refused  admission.  Here  are  two 
such  adulterants  consisting  of  calendula  florets,  colored  to  resemble 
saffron.  One  was  offered  for  entry  under  the  name  "  feminella," 
the  other  under  the  name  "  calendula  tinctura."  The  former  has  for 
years  been  prepared  in  Germany  expressly  for  this  purpose.  The 
name  "calendula  tinctura  "  was  applied  by  the  importer  to  comply 
with  the  proviso  of  Section  7  of  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act. 
At  the  present  date  adulteration  by  complete  substitution  is  not 
very  common,  but  it  is  met  with  now  and  then.  The  sample  before 
you  is  spurious  arnica  flowers  with  the  following  history :  A  promi- 
nent importer  forwarded  a  sample  of  so-called  "  arnica  flowers  "  to 
the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  with  the  information  that  it  was  imported 
and  sold  for  arnica  flowers.  The  sample  was  forwarded  to  Dr. 
Rusby  at  New  York  with  instructions  to  detain  all  importations  of 
this  material  shipped  under  the  name  arnica  flowers.  In  due  time 
a  shipment  arrived.  The  exact  source  of  the  product  is  not  known 
excepting  that  it  is  botanically  a  composite.  Recently  a  consignment 
of  "  dog  grass  "  was  offered  for  importation  which  was  found  to  be 
