Pepper contains a greater proportion of starch than some of the substances employed in its adulteration. The following method, suggested by Lenz,[143] may be used for the determination of this constituent:--4 grammes of the sample are digested for several hours in a flask with 250 c.c. of water, with occasional shaking, and the decoction decanted upon a filter. The residue is washed and returned to the flask, which is filled with water to a volume of 200 c.c., 20 c.c. of hydrochloric acid (sp. gr. 1·121) are added, the flask connected with an ascending Liebig’s condenser, and heated on the water-bath for three hours. After cooling, the contents of the flask are filtered into a half-litre flask, and the filtrate carefully neutralised with sodium hydroxide and diluted up to the 500 c.c. mark. It is finally tested by Fehling’s solution. The clarification of the hot solution is assisted by the addition of a few drops of zinc chloride. Lenz obtained by this process the following percentages of sugar, calculated on the ash-free substances:-- Black pepper 52 White pepper 60 Palm-nut meal 22·6 Pepper husks 16·3 The application of this method to the examination of commercial American peppers, when they contain as adulterants substances rich in starch, is obviously of little value. A sample of German pepper, sold as “_Pfefferbruch_,” recently analysed by Hilger,[144] had the following composition:-- Per cent. Pepper husks 50 Palm nut meal 30 Pepper dust 15 Paprika 1 Brick-dust 4 _Cayenne Pepper._--Cayenne pepper is the ground berry and pods of _Capsicum annuum_. Its well-known active properties, which were formerly ascribed to an acrid oil termed _capsicin_, have lately been shown to be due to the presence of the crystalline compound _capsaicin_ (C_{9}H_{14}O_{5}), fusing at 55°, and capable of volatilisation at 115° without decomposition. The proportion of moisture in cayenne pepper is about 12 per cent.; the alcoholic and ethereal extracts should approximate, respectively, 25 and 9 per cent. The ash ranges from 5·5 to 6 per cent., of which nearly one-half should be soluble in water. Strohmer[145] has analysed Hungarian cayenne, known as “Paprika”; his results were as follows:--