Per cent. Potassa 16·15 Lime 19·24 Magnesia 10·51 Ferric oxide 0·99 Phosphoric acid 39·92 Sulphuric acid 4·92 Chlorine 0·53 Silica 2·48 The adulteration of mustard is very extensively practised. Of 18 samples bought at random in the shops and tested for the New York State Board of Health, 12 were found to be impure; of 88 samples, examined in the year 1884 by the Massachusetts State Board, 20 were compounds (labelled as such, but in a manner designed to deceive the purchaser). 37 were adulterated with flour, turmeric, and, in some cases, with cayenne, and 31 were found to be pure; in 1885, 211 samples were tested, of which 124 were sophisticated; of 27 samples tested by the National Board of Health, 21 contained foreign admixtures, consisting chiefly of wheat or flour and turmeric, but also including corn-starch, rice, cayenne, and plaster of Paris. FOOTNOTES: [138] ‘Analyst,’ 1880, p. 161. [139] ‘Analyst,’ ix. p. 166. [140] Blyth, op. cit. PEPPER. Black Pepper is the dried unripe berry of _Piper nigrum_; white pepper, which is much less in use, being the same fruit deprived of its outer skin by maceration in water and friction. The more important constituents of pepper are an alkaloid (piperin), the volatile oil, and the resin, and upon these ingredients its value as a condiment depends. The partial composition of genuine pepper, as given by Blyth, is shown below:-- -----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+------------------- | | | | | Ash. | | | |Aqueous +---------+--------- Variety. |Moisture.| Piperin.| Resin. |Extract. |Soluble. | Total. -----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------- |per cent.|per cent.|per cent.|per cent.|per cent.|per cent. Penang | 9·53 | 5·57 | 2·08 | 18·33 | 2·21 | 4·18 Tellicherry| 12·90 | 4·67 | 1·70 | 16·50 | 3·38 | 5·77 Sumatra | 10·10 | 4·70 | 1·74 | 17·59 | 2·62 | 4·31 Malabar | 10·54 | 4·63 | 1·74 | 20·37 | 3·45 | 5·19 -----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------- The percentages of piperin, resin, extract, and ash are calculated on the sample dried at 100°. König’s analysis of pepper is as follows:-- Per cent. Water 17·01 Nitrogenous substances 11·99 Volatile oil 1·12 Fat 8·82 Other non-nitrogenous substances 42·02 Cellulose 14·49 Ash 4·57 to 5·00 Heisch[141] has analysed several varieties of pure and commercial pepper, with the following results:--