Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1909.  J 
Drug  Adulteration. 
75 
wholly  spurious.  The  staff  of  the  Division  of  Drugs  was  not  able 
to  identify  its  origin  but  knowing  that  it  belonged  to  the  grass  family 
it  was  submitted  to  an  expert  of  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry  who 
immediately  recognized  the  material  as  Bermuda  grass.  A  sample 
of  kamala  was  recently  found  which  consists  essentially  of  sand, 
colored.  The  latter  represents  a  domestic  transaction  and  is  sold 
under  the  name  of  a  prominent  firm.  No  such  product  was  ever 
encountered  at  the  ports  during  the  past  eighteen  months.  Undoubt- 
edly the  firm  in  question  did  not  examine  the  product  carefully 
before  attaching  its  name  to  the  packages  containing  same. 
A  common  and  very  old  form  of  sophistication  is  the  addition  of 
inorganic  matter  to  crude  drugs.  This  sample  of  dandelion  root 
contains  34  per  cent,  of  ash  which  means  that  about  25  per  cent, 
of  inorganic  material  has  been  deliberately  added.  The  inorganic 
material  in  this  instance  consists  of  small  fragments  about  the  same 
color  and  size  as  the  ground  drug.  Optical  inspection  fails  to  reveal 
its  presence,  but  an  ash  determination  tells  the  story.  A  product 
particularly  susceptible  to  "  loading "  with  foreign  material  is 
cochineal.  The  form  most  commonly  loaded,  however,  is  the  sil- 
vered variety.  It  is  well  known,  however,  that  black  cochineal  is 
also  occasionally  weighted.  The  sample  before  you  is  weighted 
with  black  sand. 
It  is  claimed  by  certain  dealers  that  if  drug  products  are  not 
"  stretched  "  there  would  not  be  enough  pure  material  to  go  around. 
This  sample  of  scammony  resin  contains  at  least  50  per  cent  of  rosin. 
When  the  importer  was  informed  of  the  presence  of  the  rosin  in 
the  scammony  he  admitted  the  adulteration  and  stated  that  the 
practice  was  an  old  one,  and  he  saw  no  reason  why  this  consignment 
should  not  be  released.  Some  importers  are  utterly  indifferent  to 
the  medicinal  value  a  drug  may  possess.  This  feature  appears  to 
be  of  secondary  importance. 
There  are  still  a  few  imitation  drugs  on  the  market,  for  example, 
imitation  balsam  peru,  which  has  been  in  the  past  largely  supplied 
when  balsam  peru  was  ordered.  This  sample  of  Wild  Cherry  Cough 
Drops  is  also  an  imitation.  The  product  is  put  up  in  the  form  of 
cherries  and  consists  of  a  mixture  of  sucrose  and  glucose  flavored 
with  benzaldehyde  and  colored  with  cochineal.  It  is  worthless  as  a 
medicine.  There  is  not  a  trace  of  wild  cherry  present ;  the  benzalde- 
hyde is  added  to  deceive  the  consumer. 
At  the  Hot  Springs  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
