Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
May,  1909.  / 
Crude  and  Pozvdered  Drugs. 
243 
As  is  known  to  most  of  you,  Mexican  sarsaparilla  roots  are 
marketed  attached  to  a  short  piece  of  the  rhizome.  This  rhizome 
we  are  directed  by  the  Pharmacopoeia  to  remove  before  using.  So 
removed  it  is  known  as  the  "  sarsaparilla  butt."  Several  large  ship- 
ments of  these  butts  have  been  received  from  Germany  and  London, 
where  the  roots  have  been  removed  and  used.  Part  of  this  was 
done  in  converting  the  Mexican  sarsaparilla  into  rolls  to  imitate  and 
be  sold  for  the  higher  priced  Honduras  sarsaparilla.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  they  were  intended  to  be  used  here  for  making  sarsa- 
parilla preparations. 
Here  is  a  shipment  of  quince  seeds  consisting  quite  largely  of 
small  fragments  of  very  young  quinces  chopped  up  and  dried,  and 
possessing,  of  course,  none  of  the  mucilage  that  gives  to  quince 
seeds  their  value. 
Three  lots  of  spurious  arnica  flowers,  evidently  the  flowers  of 
Inula  britannica,  have  been  offered  for  import. 
We  have  had  two  shipments  of  cannabis  indica,  grown  in  Africa, 
and  several  which  were  spoiled  in  curing.  One  other  lot  consisted 
largely  of  fruits  or  so-called  seeds. 
Probably  the  most  important  and  interesting  of  all  the  year's 
experiences  has  been  the  importation  of  three  shipments  of  Hyo- 
scyamus  muticus  as  "  henbane."  This  is  a  very  large  plant,  collected 
in  Egypt  so  cheaply  that  a  ton  of  it  can  probably  be  obtained  at  less 
cost  than  a  hundred-weight  of  good  henbane.  Whereas  henbane 
contains  but  one-twelfth  of  one  per  cent,  of  alkaloid,  this  species 
contains  often  more  than  one  per  cent.,  and  even  up  to  one  and  a 
quarter  per  cent.  This  alkaloid  being  all  hyoscyamine,  substitution 
is  unpardonable.  Remembering  the  difficulty  of  getting  henbane 
that  will  assay  up  to  the  requirement,  you  will  see  how  useful  this 
article  would  be  for  the  purpose  of  adding  in  suitable  amount  to  an 
inferior  henbane  to  make  it  appear  to  conform  to  the  standard. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  I  have  actually  found  it  so  employed  in  powdered 
henbane. 
This  lot  of  inferior  lavender  flowers,  dyed  a  beautiful  blue,  is  of 
great  interest. 
Spurious  buchus  have  been  very  common,  and  I  am  led  to  say 
that  I  consider  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  Committee 
of  Revision  of  the  U.  S.  P.  to  be  to  undertake  a  careful  investigation 
of  the  composition  and  properties  of  the  several  buchus.  I  have 
always  regarded  the  evidence  on  which  long  buchu  was  driven  out 
