pepper ought to bear a definite relation to the piperin and acrid resin, so that the latter constituents are the most important to determine. There are two methods of estimating the piperin and resin :— The one is to exhaust thoroughly the finely powdered pepper with strong alcohol, evaporate, and weigh the extract, which practically consists of nothing but resin and piperin. The latter is now separated by digestion with soda-lye, which dissolves the resin, leaving insoluble the piperin, which may be redissolved in strong alcohol, filtered, evaporated, and weighed as piperin. The other process, which, on the whole, is preferable, is to dissolve the piperin out by petroleum ether, and purify the extract thus obtained as before. Some chemists, again, first extract with alcohol, and then treat the alcoholic extract with petroleum ether, a method which is equally valid, but not, perhaps, so convenient as the second given. § 303. Adulterations of Pepper.-Pepper has been adulterated for at least two centuries and a half; for Pierre Pomet,* writing in 1614, says: "As the greatest part of pepper, white as well as black, is sold 'battu' (that is to say, powdered), it should only be bought of honest merchants; because all the pepper the retailers sell is no other thing for the white than épices d'Auvergne blanchées,' or rather black pepper whitened with ground rice; the black is only the dust either of the crust of bread, grey Auvergne spices, or manignette." The list of the adulterations enumerated by authors is an extraordinary one. Linseed meal, rice, pepper leaves, mustard, wheat flour, sago, woody fibre, chillies, rape-seed, potato, spices, capsicum, manignette (otherwise known as Guinea pepper), chicory, rye, powdered leaves of the laurel, which had been previously used to wrap round extract of liquorice, the stones from olives, bone-dust, marine salt, and various mineral adulterations, are all said to have been detected. However various may be the adulterations in France (where, Chevallier tells us, in Paris alone he is acquainted with a manufactory producing 1200 to 1500 kilogrammes annually of a mixture sold solely for the purpose of adulterating pepper), the only common adulterations of this country are what are known in the trade as P.D., H.P.D., and W.P.D., abbreviations for pepper-dust, hot pepper-dust, and white pepper-dust. The first, or P.D., used to be principally composed of faded leaves, but linseedmeal is now preferred; H.P.D. is chiefly the husks of mustard and W.P.D. is ground rice. To all these we must add sand, Pomet: "Hist. Gén. des Drogues," 1735. which is most certainly used, though whether derived from the sweepings of the shops, or added as sand, is by no means clear. The sand, of course, infuences the weight of the ash, which should never exceed 7 per cent Dr. Hassall made some determinations of the ash of some fifteen or sixteen commercial samples of black pepper; of these only one was under 5 per cent., the percentages of the other fifteen being distributed as follows: One gave between 5 and 6 per cent, of ash. It is difficult to believe that more than 2 per cent. of unavoidable mineral dust can get into the pepper by grinding, &c., and the inference naturally is that most of the above samples were adulterated. The maximum percentage of ash from genuine pepper which the writer has obtained is 5.3 per cent. Besides the formidable list of adulterations already mentioned, the berry itself is not free from manipulation; for, as the merchant judges by the weight of the sample, means are taken to render the lighter sorts equal in weight to the heavy Malabar and Penang, and in order to do this they are macerated in tubs of brine for twenty-four hours, and thus impregnated with salt and water find their way into the market as Malabar; but such samples are quickly recognised by the astute merchant; and the high chlorides, the high ash, the great amount of humidity, could hardly fail to reveal their nature to the analyst. As coffee has been cleverly imitated by chicory pressed into the shape of the coffee-berry, so by pressing various pastes into the shape of the pepper-berry has pepper been imitated. Of this adulteration there is the most undoubted evidence. Accum noticed artificial peppercorns made of oilcake, common clay, and Cayenne pepper, and Chevallier, in a recent paper, states that in 1843 he was requested to examine a sample taken from forty bales, in which he found from 15 to 20 per cent. of artificial pepper, composed of pepper-dust, bran, and other matters.* LEGAL CASE. Pepper adulterated with Sand, and containing Sago. At the Cardiff Police-Court, 1875, a grocer was summoned for selling adulterated pepper. The town-clerk conducting the prosecution, had sent å sample to Dr. Hassall, who stated the quantity of ash found in genuine pepper Art. Pepper in author's "Dict. of Hygiène." as varying from 3.843 per cent. to 4.061 per cent., the highest amount found being 5.25 per cent. No genuine ground pepper as sold should contain 5.5 per cent. of ash. The sample of pepper sent up to him in this case for analysis contained 3 per cent. of sago, and 12 per cent. of earthy matter, one-half of which was silica. The presence of sago he attributed to accident, the quantity being so small; and the presence of earthy matter and sand to the improper manner of drying the pepper berries, and not to adulteration. Mr. J. W. Thomas, the local analyst, gave, as the result of his analysis, that the pepper contained sago, rice, and arrowroot, with a large quantity of woody fibre and dust, other than that of pepper, the quantity of this ash being 10.5 per cent. A third analyst gave as the result of his analysis that the pepper contained 3 per cent. of starchy matter, and 10 per cent. of ash, one-half of which was sand. He considered the pepper genuine, but of an inferior quality. The presence of starchy matter was due, he believed, to accident or carelessness in those who had the handling of the pepper before being sold. The quantity was so small that it was scarcely probable it had been added for the purpose of adulteration. In reply to questions from the Bench he stated that he considered the sample of pepper a very bad one, but it was genuine pepper. The presence of even 25 or 30 per cent. of ash, such as was found in this case, would be no proof of adulteration. The earthy matter found there would most probably be the result of the dust and other matter adhering to the berries when exposed to the atmosphere to dry. On cross-examination, this gentleman considered that the ash was in excess of what might be expected to be found, and would only be discovered in inferior samples. He then explained that the pepper berries, after being dried, would naturally have particles of earthy matter adhering to the husks. After being dried they were packed in bags, and in the course of time the husk would probably separate from the corn, and the dust becoming dry would, by force of gravity, fall to the bottom. The sample of pepper at the top of the bag might not contain more than 4 per cent of earthy matter, but that at the bottom 20, and although the 20 per cent. were found in the sample taken from the bottom, that would be no proof of adulteration. The Bench dismissed the case. The author is of opinion that the Bench, in the face of the evidence, could scarcely do otherwise than dismiss the case; but the magistrates were certainly grievously misled by the witnesses. How any one with the least knowledge of the subject could declare a sample of pepper containing 20 per cent. of earthy matter to be genuine pepper, and of the nature and quality demanded by the purchaser, is incredible. Without doubt, the pepper in this case came within the meaning of the Act, and was adulterated. If such a defence as that of sand falling from the top to the bottom of a bag be once admitted, it would come to this, that the last few ounces may be found to contain half their weight of sand, and yet be legally sold as pepper -which is obviously absurd. BIBLIOGRAPHY. The general treatises on adulteration, see page 43, have nearly all articles on "pepper." ANDERSON. -Ann. Chem. Pharm., lxxv. 82; lxxxiv. 345. BLYTH, A. WYNTER.-Chem. News, xxx. 170 ; Ann. d'Hygiène, 1875, t. xliv. ; BOUCHARDAT.-Union. Pharm., 1873, t. xii., p. 497. CHOULETTE.-Journ. Chim. Méd., 4e série, 1857, t. vij., COOLEY.-"Dict. of Pract. Receipts." London, 1872. p. 441. FLUCKIGER and HANBURY.-" Pharmacologia." London, 1875. HINTERBERGER.-Ann. Chem. Pharm., lxxvij. 204. Berlin, 1871. MERAT et DELENS.-"Dictionnaire Universel de Matière Médicale et de Thérapeutique." Paris, 1829-1846. PELLETIER. Ann. Chim. Phys., [2], xvj. 344; li. 199. VARRENTRAP and WILL.-Ann. Chem. Pharm., xxxix. 283. CAYENNE PEPPER. § 304. Cayenne pepper consists of the powdered pods or seed vessels of the Capsicum annuum, a plant belonging to the natural order Solanaceae. It is a native of America, but is also cultivated, to a slight extent, in the greenhouses of England and other European countries. It is sold entire under the name of Chillies. The microscopical structure of the capsules is somewhat peculiar : the epidermis is formed of cells the walls of which are thick, flattened, tortuous, well defined, and punctuated here and there; frequent drops of a reddish-orange oil occur, especially in the parenchyma, which is formed of thin-walled, rounded cells. The envelope of the grain itself, when cut in thin vertical sections, presents a very singular appearance, that of radiating dentiform processes, the apex of each being apparently fixed in the outer membrane. The substance of the seed proper is composed of small angular cells, with thick colourless walls, filled with granules and a yellow-orange oil, but without starch. Cayenne pepper, as met with in commerce, is in the form of a somewhat coarse, brick-dust like powder, the least particle of which, if heated strongly, volatilises a very acrid vapour, causing intense irritation of the throat. This sensation can be produced by so minute a portion of cayenne, that any foreign substance mixed with it could in this way be detected; it would be only necessary to separate carefully, by the aid of the microscope and a camel's-hair brush, all particles of cayenne, and heat the portion suspected; if no acrid vapours were given off, the substance could not be cayenne. This intense acridity appears to be due to a body recently discovered by Mr Thresh, and named by him Capsaicin. § 305. Capsaicin-(C,H14O5), specific gravity 1060-is in the form of minute crystals, which melt at 55°5 (138°F.), volatilise unchanged at 115°6 (240°F.), and at 120° (248°F.) become brownish-black. It may be obtained by exhausting cayenne by petroleum, evaporating the petroleum, and treating the extract thus obtained by dilute solution of potash; on now saturating the solution with carbonic anhydride, it is precipitated in very small crystals. It dissolves slightly in cold, and more readily in boiling, water; is easily soluble in alcohol, proof spirit, ether, amylic alcohol, acetic ether, acetic acid, benzine, the fixed oils, and solutions of the alkalies. It dissolves slowly in turpentine and carbonic disulphide; when pure, petroleum does not dissolve it readily, but the presence of the red oil in the pepper increases its solvent powers; it is totally insoluble in solutions of the carbonates of the fixed alkalies, and in ammonia. Silver nitrate gives a precipitate with alcoholic solutions of capsaicin; it also yields white precipitates with barium and calcium chlorides. It is powerfully pungent, causing, if volatilised, severe fits of coughing. It would appear that capsaicin is not contained in the substance of the seed; for if the pericarp be carefully separated, the seeds are entirely devoid of acrid taste. Mr. Thresh has also described a conium-like alkaloid, obtained by exhausting the pericarp with benzine, evaporating, dissolving in ether, shaking the solution with dilute sulphuric acid, partially neutralising with barium carbonate, and evaporating to a small bulk. Some red fat now separates, and after the removal of this (upon adding an excess of alkali, shaking with ether, and evaporating) a brown residue is obtained, smelling like conium, and giving precipitates with Nessler reagent, iodine, and iodides of potassium and cadmium. The acrid oil Capsicol, Capsicin, and other substances described by Bucholz, Bracannot, Buchheim, &c., are undoubtedly mixtures. The general composition of cayenne pepper may, however, be gathered from the following analyses, one made in 1816 by Bucholz, the second in 1817 by Bracannot, of course neither taking cognisance of capsaicin : |