I.—PHÆNOGAMOUS OR FLOWERING PLANTS. (continued 13)

In our experiments we have not succeeded in isolating either dextrin or cane-sugar. There is present, even in the finest manna, a small amount of a dextrogyre mucilage, which is precipitated by neutral acetate of lead, and yields mucic acid when boiled with concentrated nitric acid.

Ether extracts from an aqueous solution of manna a very small quantity of red-brown resin, having an offensive odour and sub-acrid taste; together with traces of an acid which reduces silver salts and appears to be easily resinified. The quantity of water in the inferior kinds of manna often amounts to 10 or 15 per cent. The finest manna affords about 3·6 per cent. of ash.

The greenish colour of certain pieces of manna was formerly attributed to the presence of copper, till Gmelin, on account of the fluorescence of the solution, ascribed it to Æsculin. It is in reality produced by a body much resembling æsculin, namely Fraxin, C₁₆H₁₈O₁₀, occurring in the bark of the manna-ash and of the common ash, and together with æsculin, in that of the horse-chestnut. Fraxin crystallizes in colourless prisms, easily soluble in hot water and in alcohol, and having a faintly astringent and bitter taste. By dilute acids, it is resolved into Fraxetin, C₁₀H₈O₃, and Glucose, C₆H₁₂O₆. The presence of fraxin in manna, especially in the inferior sorts, is made apparent by the faint fluorescence of the alcoholic manna solution. The smallest fragment of the bark of the ash or the manna-ash immersed in water displays the same fluorescence.

Commerce—The exports of manna from Sicily[1512] (chiefly from Palermo) have been as follows:—

1869 1870 187

2546 cwt., 1564 cwt., 3038 cwt.,

val. £15,972. val. £10,220. val. £19,528.

About half the quantity is sent to France. Italian commercial statistics[1513] represent the export of manna in 1870 thus:—in canelli 58,691 kilo. (1155 cwt.), in sorte 186,664 kilo. (3676 cwt.). The United Kingdom imported in the year 1870, 230 cwt. of manna, valued at £4447.[1514]

In 1877 the exports of “canelli” from Messina were 4273 kilogrammes, and of the drug “in sorte” 52,874 kilogr.; total value, 127,145 lire.

Adulteration—It can hardly be said that manna is subject to adulteration, though attempts to introduce a spurious manna made of glucose have been recorded. But considerable skill and ingenuity have been expended in converting the inferior sorts of manna into what has the aspect of fine natural Flake Manna, the manufacturers admitting however the factitiousness of their product. The artificial Flake Manna has the closest superficial resemblance to very fine pieces of the natural drug, but differs in its more uniform colour, and in being uncontaminated with the slight impurities, from which natural manna is never wholly free. It differs also in that when broken, no crystals of mannite are to be seen in the interstices of the pieces, and it wants the peculiar odour and slightly bitter flavour of natural manna. If one part of it is boiled with four of alcohol (0·838), a viscid honey-like residue will be obtained, whereas natural manna leaves undissolved a hard substance. Histed[1515] found it to afford about 40 per cent. of mannite, while fine manna similarly treated yielded 70 per cent.

Uses—A gentle laxative, much less frequently employed in this country than formerly, but still largely consumed in South America. Mannite, which possesses similar properties, is often prescribed in Italy.

Other sorts of Manna.

Various plants besides Fraxinus afford, under certain conditions, saccharine exudations, some of which constituted the Oriental Manna used in Europe in early times. So far as is known, they differ from officinal manna in containing no mannite.

Alhagi Manna; Turanjabín (Arabic); is afforded by Alhagi Camelorum Fisch. (Hedysarum Alhagi Pallas, non L.), a small spiny plant of the order Leguminosæ found in Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan. It had already been noticed by Isztachri.[1516] Excellent specimens of the manna, kindly obtained for us in the north-west of India by Dr. E. Burton Brown and Mr. T. W. H. Tolbort, show it as a substance in little roundish, hard, dry tears, varying from the size of a mustard seed to that of a hemp seed, of a light brown colour, agreeable saccharine taste, and senna-like smell. The leaflets, spines and pods of the plant, mixed with the grains of this manna, are characteristic and easily recognizable.

Villiers (1877) showed this manna to contain cane-sugar, a dextrogyrate glucose, and melezitose (see further on: Briançon manna, page 416). Ludwig[1517] had also found some dextrin and mucilage.

Alhagi Manna is collected near Kandahar and Herat, where it is found on the plants at the time of flowering. It is imported into India from Kabul and Kandahar to the extent of about 25 maunds (2000 lb.) annually; its value is reckoned at 30 rupees per secr, = 30s. per lb.[1518]

Gaz-anjabin (Arabic); Tamarisk Manna (in part)—In the months of June and July, the shrubs of tamarisk (Tamarix gallica var. mannifera Ehrenb.) growing in the valleys of the peninsula of Sinai, especially in the Wady es Sheikh, exude from their slender branches, in consequence of the puncture of an insect (Coccus manniparus Ehrenb.) little honey-like drops, which in the coolness of early morning are found in a solid state. This substance is Tamarisk Manna: it is collected by the Arabs, and by them sold to the monks of St. Katharine, who dispose of it to the pilgrims visiting the convent. Tamarisk Manna is also produced (but is perhaps no longer collected?) in Persia, where it is called Gaz-angabín;[1519] and probably likewise in the Punjab,[1520] from which regions it may have been brought to Europe in ancient times.

A specimen of tamarisk manna brought from Sinai, examined in 1861 by Berthelot, had the appearance of a thick yellowish syrup, contaminated with vegetable remains. It was found to consist of cane-sugar, inverted sugar (lævulose and glucose), dextrin and water, the last constituting one-fifth of the whole.[1521]

Although the name Gaz-angabín signifies tamarisk-honey, it is used according to Haussknecht[1522] at the present time in Persia, to designate certain round cakes, common in all the bazaars, of which the chief constituent is a manna collected in the mountain districts of Chahar-Mahal and Faraidan, and especially about the town of Khonsar, south-west of Ispahan, from Astragalus florulentus Boiss. et Haussk. and A. adscendens Boiss. et Haussk. The best sorts of this manna, which are termed Gaz Alefi or Gaz Khonsari, are obtained in August by shaking it from the branches, the little drops finally sticking together and forming a dirty, greyish-white, tough mass. The commoner sort got by scraping the stem, is still more impure. The specimen of it brought by Haussknecht yielded to Ludwig[1523] dextrin, uncrystallizable sugar and organic acids.

Shir-khist—Ancient writers on materia medica as Garcia d’Orta (1563) mention a sort of manna known by this name. The substance is still found in the bazaars of North-western India, being imported in small quantity from Afghanistan and Turkistan.[1524] Haussknecht in his paper on Oriental Manna already quoted, states that it is the exudation of Cotoneaster nummularia Fisch. et Mey. (Rosaceæ), also of Atraphaxis spinosa L. (Polygonaceæ), and that it is brought chiefly from Herat. We have to thank Dr. E. Burton Brown of Lahore, and Mr. Tolbort for specimens of this manna, which, from fragments it contains, is without doubt derived from a Cotoneaster. It is in irregular roundish tears, from about ¼ up to ¾ of an inch in greatest length, of an opaque dull white, slightly clammy, and easily kneaded in the fingers. It has a manna-like smell, a pure sweet taste and crystalline fracture. With water, it forms a syrupy solution with an abundant residue of starch granules.

Shír-khist was found by Ludwig to consist of an exudation analogous to tragacanth, but containing at the same time two kinds of gum, an amorphous levogyre sugar, besides starch and cellulose.

Oak Manna—The occurrence of a saccharine substance on the oak is noticed by both Ovid and Virgil, and it is also mentioned by the Arabian physicians, as Ibn Baytar[1525] and Elluchasem Elimithar.[1526] The last named, who died a.d. 1052, states that the exudation appears upon the oaks in the region of Diarbekir. At the present day, it is the object of some industry among the wandering tribes of Kurdistan, who, according to Haussknecht, collect it from Quercus Vallonea Kotschy and Q. persica Jaub. et Spach. These trees are visited in the month of August by immense numbers of a small white Coccus, from the puncture of which a saccharine fluid exudes, and solidifies in little grains. The people go out before sunrise, and shake the grains of manna from the branches on to linen cloths, spread out beneath the trees. The exudation is also collected by dipping the small branches on which it is formed, into vessels of hot water, and evaporating the saccharine solution to a syrupy consistence, which in this state is used for sweetening food, or is mixed with flour to form a sort of cake.

A fine specimen of the Oak Manna of Diarbekir was sent to the London International Exhibition of 1862. It constituted a moist soft mass of agglutinated tears, much resembling an inferior sort of ash-manna, and had an agreeable saccharine taste.

A less pure form of this manna occurs as a compact, greyish, saccharine mass, sometimes hard enough to be broken with a hammer. It consists of sugary matter, mixed with abundance of small fragments of green leaves, and has a herby smell and pleasant sweet taste. A sample of it brought from Diarbekir, examined by one of us, yielded 90 per cent. of dextrogyre sugar, which could not be obtained in a crystalline state, though it exists in such condition in the crude drug. Starch and dextrine were entirely wanting.[1527]

A specimen furnished to Ludwig[1528] by Haussknecht afforded much mucilage, a small amount of starch, about 48 per cent. of dextrogyre grape sugar, with traces of tannic acid and chlorophyll.

Briançon Manna—This is a white saccharine substance which, in the height of summer and in the early part of the day, is found adhering in some abundance to the leaves of the larch (Pinus Larix L.), growing on the mountains about Briançon in Dauphiny. It was formerly collected for use in medicine, but only to a very limited extent, for it was rare in Paris in the time of Geoffroy (1709-1731), and at the present day has quite disappeared from trade, though still gathered by the peasants. A specimen collected for one of us near Briançon in 1854, consists of small, detached, opaque, white tears, many of them oblong and channelled, and encrusting the needle-like leaf of the larch; they have a sweet taste and slight odour.[1529] Under the microscope they exhibit indistinct crystals.

Briançon manna has been examined in 1858 by Berthelot, who detected in it a peculiar sugar termed Melezitose, answering to the formula C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ + OH₂.

Several other saccharine exudations have been observed by travellers and naturalists; we shall simply enumerate the more remarkable, referring the reader for further information to the original notices.

Pirus glabra Boiss. affords in Luristan a substance which, according to Haussknecht, is collected by the inhabitants, and is extremely like Oak Manna. It is stated by the same traveller that Salix fragilis L., and Scrophularia frigida Boiss., likewise yield in Persia saccharine exudations. A kind of manna was anciently collected from the cedar, Pinus Cedrus L.[1530] Manna is yielded in Spain by Cistus ladaniferus L.[1531] Australian Manna, which is in small rounded, opaque, white, dry masses, is found on the leaves of Eucalyptus viminalis Labill. It contains a kind of sugar called Melitose,[1532] has a sweet thistle, is devoid of medicinal properties and is not collected for use.[1533]

The substance named Tigala (corrupted into Trehala), from which a peculiar sugar has been obtained,[1534] is the coccoon of a beetle, and not properly a saccharine exudation.[1535]

The Lerp Manna of Australia is also of animal origin.[1536] It consists of water 14, white thread-like portion 33, sugar 53 parts. The threads possess some of the characteristic properties of starch, from which they differ entirely by their form and unalterability even in boiling water. Yet in sealed tubes, they dissolve in 30 parts of water at 135° C. The sugar is dextrogyre; it impregnates the threads as a soft brown amorphous mass. In the purified state it does not crystallize, even after a long time. By means of dilute sulphuric acid, the threads are converted into crystalline grape sugar.

OLEUM OLIVÆ.

Olive Oil; Salad Oil; F. Huile d’Olives; G. Olivenöl; Baumöl; Provencer Oel.

Botanical Origin—Olea europæa L., an evergreen tree,[1537] seldom exceeding 40 feet in height, yet attaining extreme old age, abundantly cultivated in the countries bordering the Mediterranean, up to an elevation of about 2000 feet above the sea-level.[1538] Olea ferruginea Royle (O. cuspidata Wallich), a tree abundant in Afghanistan, Beluchistan and Western Sind, has been supposed to be a wild form of O. europæa, but is regarded by Brandis[1539] as a distinct species. It is not known to have been ever cultivated, yet its fruit, which is of a small size and but sparingly produced, is capable of affording a good oil.

History—In ancient Egypt the olive was known by the term bāk; it can be traced as far as the 17th century before our era.[1540]

According to the elaborate investigations of Ritter[1541] and of A. De Candolle,[1542] the olive tree is a native of Palestine, and perhaps of Asia Minor and Greece. Its original area also extends over north-eastern Africa; Schweinfurth[1543] regards it as undoubtedly wild on the mountains of Elbe and Soturba in lat. 22 N. on the western shores of the Red Sea, a locality which he visited in 1868. The olive tree has also been met with as far eastward as the country of the Gallas, where it is much appreciated as affording excellent timber.[1544] It is also stated by Theophrastus, that in his time the tree was plentiful in the Cyrenaica, the modern Barca, in northern Africa.

The olive would appear to have been introduced at a very remote period into north-western Africa and Spain. Willkomm (1876) is of the opinion that it was originally a native of the whole Mediterranean region.

At the present day it is largely cultivated in Algeria, Spain, Portugal, Southern France, Italy, the Greek Peninsula and Asia Minor. In the Crimea the tree grows well, but does not afford good fruit. It was carried to Lima in Peru about 1560 and still flourishes there, and in great plenty in the coast valleys further south as far as Santiago in Chili.[1545]

Olive oil is mentioned in the Bible so frequently that it must have been an important object with the ancient Hebrews. It held an equally prominent place among the Greeks and Romans,[1546] whose writers on agriculture and natural history treat of it in the most circumstantial manner. Olive fruits preserved in brine were used by the Romans as an article of food,[1547] and were an object of commerce with Northern Europe as early as the 8th century.[1548]

Production—In common with many important cultivated plants, the olive occurs under several varieties differing more or less from the wild form, the finer of which are propagated by grafting. It is also increased by the suckers which old trees throw up from their naked roots, and which are easily made to develope into separate plants.[1549] The fruit, an oval drupe, half an inch to an inch or more in length, and of a deep purple, is remarkable for the large amount of fat oil contained in its pulpy portion (sarcocarp). The latter is most rich in oil when ripe, containing then nearly 70 per cent., besides 25 per cent. of water. The unripe fruit, as well as other parts of the plant, abounds in mannite, which disappears in proportion as the oil increases. The ripe olive contains no mannite, it having probably been transformed into fatty oil.[1550]

The process for extracting olive oil varies slightly in different countries, but consists essentially in subjecting the crushed pulp of the ripe fruit to moderate pressure. The olives, which are gathered from the trees, or collected from the ground, in November, or during the whole winter and early spring, are crushed under a millstone to a pulpy mass. This is then put into coarse bags, which, piled upon one another, are subjected to moderate pressure in a screw press. The oil thus obtained is conducted into tubs or cisterns containing water, from the surface of which it is skimmed with ladles. This is called Virgin Oil. After it has ceased to flow, the contents of the bags are shovelled out, mixed with boiling water, and submitted to stronger pressure than before, by which a second quality of oil is got. If the fruit is left for a considerable time in heaps it undergoes decomposition, yielding by pressure a very inferior quality of oil called in French Huile fermentée. The worst oil of all, obtained from the residues, has the name of Huile tournante or Huile d’enfer.

It is said that in some districts the millstones are so mounted as to crush the pulp without breaking the olive-stones, and that thus the oil of the pulp is obtained unmixed with that of the kernels.[1551] We have made many inquiries in Italy and France as to this method of oil-making, but cannot find that it is anywhere followed.

The fixed oil of the kernels of ripe olives has been extracted and examined by one of us (F.). Though the kernels have a bitterish taste, the oil they yield is quite bland; by exposure to the vapour of hyponitric acid, it concretes like that of the pulp. If the whole of it were extracted in making olive oil, it would only be about as 1 part of oil of the kernel, to 40 parts of oil of the pulp.

Description—Olive Oil is a pale yellow or greenish yellow, somewhat viscid liquid, of a faint agreeable smell and of a bland oleaginous taste, leaving in the throat a slight sense of acridity.[1552] Its specific gravity on an average is 0·916 at 17° C. In cold weather, olive oil loses its transparency by the separation of a crystalline fatty body. The deposition takes place at a few degrees above the freezing point of water, and in some oils even at 10° C. (50° F.) If the oil is allowed to congeal perfectly, and is then submitted to strong pressure, about one-third of its weight of solid fat may be separated. After repeated crystallizations, this fat melts at 20 to 28° C. The fluid part or Olein, continues fluid at -4° to -10° C. Olive oil belongs to the class of the less alterable, non-drying oils.

The foregoing description does not apply to the inferior sorts of oil, which congeal more easily, are more or less deep-coloured, have a disagreeable odour and taste, and quickly turn rancid. These inferior oils have their special applications in the arts.

Chemical Composition--The chief constituent of olive oil is Olein or more correctly Triolein, C₃H₅(O·C₁₈H₃₃O)₃, identical so far as at present ascertained with the fluid part of all oils of the non-drying class. The proportion of olein in olive oil, as well as in other oils, is liable to variation, the result partly of natural circumstances and partly of the processes of manufacture. The best oils are rich in olein.

As to the solid part of olive oil, Chevreul believed it to be constituted of Margarin, which he first examined in 1820. But Heintz (1852 and later) showed margarin to be a mixture of palmitin with other compounds of glycerin and fatty acids. Collett in 1854 isolated Palmitic Acid, C₁₆H₃₂O₂, from olive oil; and Heintz and Krug (1857) further proved that Tripalmitin is the chief of the solid constituents of olive oil. They also met with an acid melting at 71°·4 C., which they regarded as Arachic Acid (p. 187). As to stearic acid, Heintz and Krug did not fully succeed in evidencing its presence in olive oil.

Lastly, Benecke discovered in olive oil a small quantity of Cholesterin, C₂₆H₄₄O. It may be removed by means of glacial acetic acid or alcohol, which dissolve but very little of the oil.

Commerce—Various sorts of olive oil are distinguished in the English market, as Florence, Gallipoli, Gioja, Spanish (Malaga and Seville), Sicily, Myteline, Corfu and Mogador.

Olive oil was imported into the United Kingdom in the year 1872 to the value of £1,193,064. Nearly half the quantity was shipped from Italy, one-fifth from Spain, and the remainder from other Mediterranean countries.

The average annual production in Italy is estimated at about 3 millions of hectolitres (66 million gallons), but the quantity exported does not reach half that amount.

The statistics of the French Government indicate the annual production of olive oil in France to be not more than 250,000 hectolitres, equivalent in value to 30 millions of francs (£1,200,000).[1553]

Uses—The uses of olive oil in medicine and its immense consumption in the warmer parts of Europe as an article of food, are too well known to require more than a passing allusion.

Adulteration—Olive Oil is the subject of various fraudulent admixtures with less costly oils, the means of detecting which has engaged much attention. Of the various methods by which chemists have endeavoured to ascertain the purity of olive oil, the following are the more noteworthy:—

a. Drying oils (such as the oils of poppy and walnut) may be distinguished by their not being converted into solid crystallizable elaidin by hyponitric acid or concentrated solution of nitrate of protoxide of mercury. Olive oil which contains any considerable proportion of one of these oils, no longer solidifies if exposed for a moment to one of the above-mentioned reagents. This test however is not of sufficient delicacy for small amounts of drying oils.

b. Olive oil being one of the lighter oils, the specific gravity may to some degree indicate admixture with a heavier oil. To make use of this fact, Gobley and other chemists have invented an instrument called an elaiometer, for taking the specific gravity of oils.

c. Observation of the Cohesion-figure.—This test, proposed by Tomlinson in 1864,[1554] depends on the forces of cohesion, adhesion, and diffusion. Thus, if a drop of any oil hanging from the end of a glass rod is gently deposited upon the surface of chemically clean water, contained in a clean glass, a contest takes place between the forces in question the moment the drop flattens down by its gravity upon the surface of the water. The adhesion of the liquid surface tends to spread out the drop into a film, the cohesive force of the particles of the drop strives to prevent that extension, and the resultant of these forces is a figure which Mr. Tomlinson believes to be definite for every independent liquid. The figure thus produced is named the cohesion-figure.

So far as our experience goes, the processes hitherto recommended for testing olive oil (and there are several that we have not mentioned) are only available in cases where the adulteration is considerable, and are quite insufficient for discovering a small admixture of other oils. How little they are appreciated, may be inferred from the fact that the Chamber of Commerce of Nice[1555] offered a reward of 15,000 francs (£600) for a simple and easy process for making evident an admixture with olive oil of 5 per cent. at least of any seed-oil.

APOCYNEÆ.

CORTEX ALSTONIÆ.

Cortex Alstoniæ scholaris; Dita Bark;[1556] Alstonia Bark.

Botanical Origin—Alstonia[1557] scholaris R. Brown (Echites scholaris L.), a handsome forest tree, 50 to 90 feet in height, common throughout the Indian Peninsula from the sub-Himalayan region to Ceylon and Burma; found also in the Philippines, Java, Timor and Eastern Australia, likewise in Tropical Africa. It has oblong obovate leaves, in whorls of 5 to 7, and slender pendulous pods a foot or more in length.

History—Saptachhada and saptaparna (literally seven-leaf), occurring in early Sanskrit epic poetry and also in Susruta, are ancient names of Alstonia (Dr. Rice). Rheede[1558] in 1678 and Rumphius[1559] in 1741 described and figured the tree, and mentioned the use made of its bark by the native practitioners. Rumphius also explained the trivial name scholaris as referring to slabs of the close-grained wood which are used as school-slates, the letters being traced upon them in sand. The tonic properties of the bark were favourably spoken of by Graham in his Catalogue of Bombay Plants (1839), and further recommended by Dr. Alexander Gibson in 1853[1560]. The drug has a place in the Pharmacopœia of India, 1868.

Description—The drug, as presented to one of us by the late Dr. Gibson and by Mr. Broughton of Ootacamund, consists of irregular fragments of bark, ⅛ to ½ an inch thick, of a spongy texture, easily breaking with a short, coarse fracture. The external surface is very uneven and rough, dark grey or brownish, sometimes with blackish spots; the interior substance and inner surface (liber) is of a bright buff. A transverse section shows the liber to be finely marked by numerous small medullary rays. The bark is almost inodorous; its taste is purely bitter and neither aromatic nor acrid.

Microscopic Structure—The cortical tissue is covered with a thin suberous coat; the middle layer of the bark is built up of a thin walled parenchyme, through which enormous, hard, thick-walled cells are scattered in great numbers and are visible to the naked eye, as they form large irregular groups of a bright yellow colour. Towards the inner part these stone-cells disappear, the tissue being traversed by undulated medullary rays, loaded with very small starch grains; many of the other parenchymatous cells of the liber contain crystals of calcium oxalate. The longitudinal section of the liber exhibits large but not very numerous laticiferous vessels, containing a brownish mass, the concrete milk juice in which all parts of the tree abound.

Chemical Composition—The first attempts to isolate the active principles of this bark were made by two apothecaries, Scharlée at Batavia[1561] (1862) and Gruppe at Manila[1562] (1872).

In 1875 Jobst and Hesse exhausted the powdered bark with petroleum ether, and then extracted, by boiling alcohol, the salt of an alkaloid, which they called Ditamine. After the evaporation of the alcohol, it is precipitated by carbonate of sodium and dissolved by ether, from which it is removed by shaking it with acetic acid. Ditamine as again isolated from the acetate forms an amorphous and somewhat crystalline, bitterish powder of decidedly alkaline character; the barks yields about 0·02 per cent. of it.

From the substances extracted by means of petroleum ether, as above stated, Jobst and Hesse further isolated (1) Echicaoutchin, C₂₅H₄₀O₂, an amorphous yellowish mass; (2) Echicerin, C₃₀H₄₈O₂, forming acicular crystals, melting at 157° C.; (3) Echitin, C₃₂H₅₂O₂, crystallized scales, melting at 170°; (4) Echiteïn, C₄₂H₇₀O₂, which forms rhombic prisms, melting at 195°; (5) Echiretin, C₃₅H₅₆O₂, an amorphous substance melting at 52° C.

Echicaoutchin may be written thus: (C₅H₈)₅O₂, echicerin (C₅H₈)₆O₂, echiretin (C₅H₈)₇O₂; these formulæ at once point out how nearly the three last named substances are allied. They are probably constituents of the milky juice of the tree.

Lastly, Jobst and Hesse pointed out the existence of another alkaloid in Dita bark.

Harnack (1877) on the other hand is of the opinion that it contains only one alkaloid, which he terms Ditaïne. He used the alcoholic extract of the bark which he treated with ether to which he added a little ammonia. By this process ditamine of Jobst and Hesse would have been removed, but Harnack suggests that only a little ditaïne is dissolved by ether. He then mixed the extract with potash and exhausted it with alcohol, which afforded crystals of ditaïne, answering to the formula C₂₂H₃₀N₂O₄; its physiological action is nearly the same as that of curare. Ditaïne is but sparingly soluble in ether or petroleum ether, but dissolves readily in water, alcohol, or chloroform; it has a decidedly alkaline reaction. It would appear that it is a glucoside.

Dita bark is stated[1563] to yield 5 per cent. of “ditaïne”; but this probably refers not to the pure alkaloid.

Uses—The bark has been recommended as a tonic and antiperiodic, being extravagantly praised as a substitute for quinine.

ASCLEPIADEÆ.

RADIX HEMIDESMI.

Hemidesmus Root, Nunnari Root, Indian Sarsaparilla.

Botanical Origin—Hemidesmus indicus R. Brown (Periploca indica Willd., Asclepias Pseudo-sarsa Roxb.), a twining shrub, growing throughout the Indian Peninsula and in Ceylon. The leaves are very diverse, being narrow and lanceolate in the lower part of the plant, and broadly ovate in the upper branches.[1564]

History—In the ancient Sanskrit literature the plant occurs frequently under the name Sārivā, and its root under the name of Nannārī or Ananta-mūl (i.e. endless root) has long been employed in medicine in the southern parts of India.[1565] Ashburner in 1831 was the first to call the attention of the profession in Europe to its medicinal value.[1566] In 1864 it was admitted to a place in the British Pharmacopœia, but its efficiency is by no means generally acknowledged.

Description[1567]—The root is in pieces of 6 inches or more in length; it is cylindrical, tortuous, longitudinally furrowed, from ²/₁₀ to ⁷/₁₀ of an inch in thickness, mostly simple or provided with a few thin rootlets emitting slender, branching woody aerial stems, ³/₀ of an inch or less thick. Externally it is dark brown, sometimes with a slight violet-grey hue, which is particularly obvious in the sunshine. The transverse section of the hard root shows a white mealy or brownish or somewhat violet cortical layer, not exceeding ⅒ of an inch in thickness, and a yellowish woody column, separated by a narrow dark undulated cambial line. Neither the wood nor the cortical tissue present a radiate structure in the stout pieces; in the thinner roots, medullary rays are obvious in the woody part. The extremely thin corky layer easily separates from the bark, which latter is frequently marked transversely by large cracks. The root, whether fresh or dried, has an agreeable odour resembling tonka bean or melilot. The dried root has a sweetish taste with a very slight acidity. The stems are almost tasteless and inodorous. The root found in the English market is often of very bad quality.

Microscopic Structure—All the proper cortical tissue shows a uniform parenchyme, not distinctly separated into liber, medullary rays and mesophlœum. On making a longitudinal section however, one can observe some elongated laticiferous vessels filled with the colourless concrete milky juice. In a transverse section, they are seen to be irregularly scattered through the bark, chiefly in its inner layers, yet even here in not very considerable number. They are frequently 30 mkm. in diameter and not branched.

The wood is traversed by small medullary rays, which are obvious only in the longitudinal section. The parenchymatous tissue of the root is loaded with large, ovoid starch granules. Tannic matters do not occur to any considerable amount, except in the outermost suberous layer.

Chemical Composition—The root has not been submitted to any adequate chemical examination. Its taste and smell appear not to depend on the presence of essential oil, so far as may be inferred from microscopic examination; and it is probable the aroma is due to a body of the cumarin class. According to Scott,[1568] the root yields by simple distillation with water a stearoptene, which is probably the substance obtained by Garden in 1837, and supposed to be a volatile acid.

Uses—The drug is reputed to be alterative, tonic, diuretic and diaphoretic, but is rarely employed, at least in England.

CORTEX MUDAR.

Cortex Calotropidis; Mudar; F. Ecorce de racine de Mudar.

Botanical Origin—The drug under notice is furnished by two nearly allied species of Calotropis, occupying somewhat distinct geographical areas, but not distinguished from each other in the native languages of India. These plants are:—

1. Calotropis procera R. Brown (C. Hamiltonii Wight), a large shrub, 6 or more feet high, with dark green, oval leaves, downy beneath, abounding in acrid milky juice.

It is a native of the drier parts of India, as the Deccan, the Upper Provinces of Bengal, the Punjab and Sind, but is quite unknown in the southern provinces; it also extends to Persia, Palestine, the Sinaitic Peninsula, Arabia, Egypt, to the oasis Dachel, and other oases of the Sahara, to Nubia, Abyssinia, the lake Tsad and through the Sudan. Lastly it has been naturalized in the West Indies.

2. C. gigantea R. Brown (Asclepias gigantea Willd.), a large erect shrub, 6 to 10 feet high, with stem as thick as a man’s leg,[1569] much resembling preceding, indigenous to Lower Bengal and the southern parts of India, Ceylon, the Malayan Peninsula, and the Moluccas.

Both species are extremely common in waste ground over their respective areas.[1570]

History—The ancient name of the plant, which occurs already in the Vedic literature, was Arka (wedge), alluding to the form of the leaves which were used in sacrificial rites. From one of the Sanskrit names of this plant, namely Mandāra, Mudar is a corruption;[1571] the latter is frequently mentioned in the writings of Susruta.

The plant was likewise well known to the Arabian physicians.[1572]

C. procera was observed in Egypt by Prosper Alpinus (1580-84), and upon his return to Italy was figured, and some account given of its medicinal properties.[1573] It is also the “Apocynum syriacum” figured by Clusius.[1574]

C. gigantea was figured by Rheede[1575] in 1679, and in our own day by Wight.[1576]

The medicinal virtues of mudar, though so long esteemed by the natives of India, were not investigated experimentally by Europeans until the present century, when Playfair recommended the drug in elephantiasis, and its good effects were afterwards noticed by Vos (1826), Cumin (1827), and Duncan (1829). The last named physician also performed a chemical examination of the root-bark, the activity of which he referred to an extractive matter which he termed Mudarine.[1577]

Description—The root-bark of C. procera, as we have received it,[1578] consists of short, arched, bent, or nearly flat fragments, ⅛ to ⅕ of an inch thick. They have outwardly a thickish, yellowish-grey, spongy cork, more or less fissured lengthwise, frequently separating from the middle cortical layer; the latter consists of a white mealy tissue, traversed by narrow brown liber-rays. The bark is brittle and easily powdered; it has a mucilaginous, bitter, acrid taste, but no distinctive odour. The light yellow, fibrous wood is still attached to many of the pieces.

The roots of C. gigantea are clothed with a bark which seems to be undistinguishable from that of C. procera just described. The wood of the root consists of a porous, pale yellow tissue, exhibiting large vascular bundles, and very numerous small medullary rays, consisting of 1 to 3 rows of the usual cells.[1579]

Microscopic Structure—In the root-bark of C. procera, the suberous coat is made up of large, thin-walled, polyhedral, or almost cubic cells; the middle cortical layer, of a uniform parenchyme, loaded with large starch granules, or here and there containing some thick-walled cells (sclerenchyme) and tufts of oxalate of calcium. The large medullary rays are built up of the usual cells, having porous walls and containing starch and oxalate. In a longitudinal section, the tissue, chiefly of the middle cortical layer, is found to be traversed by numerous laticiferous vessels, containing the dry milk juice[1580] as a brownish granular substance not soluble in potash.

The microscopic characters of the root-bark of C. gigantea agree with those here detailed of C. procera. The stems of Calotropis are distinguished by strong liber-fibres, which are not met with in the roots.

Chemical Composition—By following the process of Duncan above alluded to, 200 grammes of the powdered bark of C. gigantea yielded us nothing like his Mudarine, but 2·4 grammes of an acrid resin, soluble in ether as well as in alcohol. The latter solution reddens litmus; the former on evaporation yields the resin as an almost colourless mass. If the aqueous liquid is separated from the crude resin, and much absolute alcohol added, an abundant precipitate of mucilage is obtained. The liquid now contains a bitter principle, which after due concentration may be separated by means of tannic acid.

We obtained similar results by exhausting the bark of C. procera with dilute alcohol. The tannic compound of the bitter principle was mixed with carbonate of lead, dried and boiled with spirit of wine. This after evaporation furnished an amorphous, very bitter mass, not soluble in water, but readily so in absolute alcohol. The solution is not precipitated by an alcoholic solution of acetate of lead. By purifying the bitter principle with chloroform or ether, it is at last obtained colourless. This bitter matter is probably the active principle of Calotropis; we ascertained by means of the usual tests that no alkaloid occurs in the drug. The large juicy stem, especially that of C. gigantea, ought to be submitted to an accurate chemical and therapeutical examination.[1581]

Uses—Mudar is an alterative, tonic and diaphoretic,—in large doses emetic. By the natives of India, who employ it in venereal and skin complaints, almost all parts of the plant are used. According to Moodeen Sheriff,[1582] the bark of the root and the dried milky juice are the most efficient; the latter is however somewhat irregular and unsafe in its action. The same writer remarks that he has found that the older the plant, the more active is the bark in its effects. He recommends that the corky outer coat, which is tasteless and inert, should be scraped off before the bark is powdered for use: of a powder so prepared, 40 to 50 grains suffice as an emetic.

The stems of C. gigantea afford a very valuable fibre which can be spun into the finest thread for sewing or weaving.[1583]

FOLIA TYLOPHORÆ.

Country or Indian Ipecacuanha.

Botanical Origin—Tylophora asthmatica Wight et Arnott (Asclepias asthmatica Roxb.), a twining perennial plant, common in sandy soils throughout the Indian Peninsula and naturalized in Mauritius. It may be distinguished from some of its congeners by its reddish or dull pink flowers, with the scale of the staminal corona abruptly contracted into a long sharp tooth.[1584]

History—The employment of this plant in medicine is well known to the Hindus, who call it Antamul and use it with considerable success in dysentery, but we have not succeeded in tracing it in the ancient Indian literature. During the last century it attracted the attention of Roxburgh[1585] who made many observations on the administration of the root, while physician to the General Hospital of Madras from 1776 to 1778. It was also used very successfully in the place of ipecacuanha by Anderson, Physician-General to the Madras army.[1586] In more recent times, the plant has been prescribed by O’Shaughnessy, who pronounced the root an excellent substitute for ipecacuanha if given in rather larger doses.[1587] Kirkpatrick[1588] administered the drug in at least a thousand cases, and found it of the greatest value; he prescribed the dried leaf, not only because superior to the root in certainty of action, but also as being obtainable without destruction of the plant. The drug has been largely given by many other practitioners in India. Tylophora is also employed in Mauritius, where it is known as Ipéca sauvage or Ipéca du pays. It has a place in the Bengal Pharmacopœia of 1844, and in the Pharmacopœia of India of 1868.

Description[1589]—The leaves are opposite, entire, from 2 to 5 inches long, ¾ to 2½ inches broad, somewhat variable in outline, ovate or subrotund, usually cordate at the base, abruptly acuminate or almost mucronate, rather leathery, glabrous above, more or less downy beneath with soft simple hairs. The pedicel, which is channelled, is ½ to ¾ of an inch in length. In the dry state the leaves are rather thick and harsh, of a pale yellowish green; they have a not unpleasant herbaceous smell, with but very little taste.[1590]

Chemical Composition—A concentrated infusion of the leaves has a slightly acrid taste. It is abundantly precipitated by tannic acid, by neutral acetate of lead or caustic potash, and is turned greenish-black by perchloride of iron. Broughton of Ootacamund (India) has informed us (1872) that from a large quantity of the leaves he obtained a small amount of crystals,—insufficient for analysis. Dissolved and injected into a small dog, they occasioned purging and vomiting.

Uses—Employed in India, as already mentioned, as a substitute for ipecacuanha, chiefly in the treatment of dysentery. The dose of the powdered leaves as an emetic is 25 to 30 grains, as a diaphoretic and expectorant 3 to 5 grains.

Radix Tylophoræ—This root is met with in the Indian bazaars, and has been employed, as before stated, as much or more than the leaf. It consists of a short, knotty, descending rootstock, about ⅛ of an inch in thickness, emitting 2 to 3 aerial stems, and a considerable number of wiry roots. These roots are often 6 inches or more in length by ½ a line in diameter, and are very brittle. The whole drug is of a pale yellowish-brown; it has no considerable odour, but a sweetish and subsequently acrid taste. In general appearance it is suggestive of valerian, but is somewhat stouter and larger.

Examined microscopically, the parenchymatous envelope of the rootlets is seen to consist of two layers, the inner forming a small nucleus sheath. The outer portion is built up of large cells, loaded with starch granules and tufted crystals of oxalate of calcium. Salts of iron do not alter the tissue.

LOGANIACEÆ.

NUX VOMICA.

Semen Nucis Vomicæ; Nux Vomica; F. Noix vomique; G. Brechnuss.

Botanical Origin—Strychnos Nux vomica L., a moderate sized tree with short, thick, often crooked stem, and small, greenish-white, tubular flowers ranged in terminal corymbs. It is indigenous to most parts of India, especially the coast districts, and is found in Burmah, Siam, Cochin China and Northern Australia.

The ovary of S. Nux vomica is bilocular, but as it advances in growth the dissepiment becomes fleshy and disappears. The fruit, which is an indehiscent berry of the size and shape of a small orange, is filled with a bitter, gelatinous white pulp, in which the seeds, 1 to 5 in number, are placed vertically in an irregular manner. The epicarp forms a thin, smooth, somewhat hard shell, which at first is greenish, but when mature, of a rich orange-yellow. The pulp of the fruit contains strychnine,[1591] yet it is said to be eaten in India by birds.[1592] The wood, which is hard and durable, is very bitter.

History—Nux Vomica, which was unknown to the ancients, is thought to have been introduced into medicine by the Arabians. But the notices in their writings which have been supposed to refer to it, are far from clear and satisfactory. We have no evidence moreover that it was used in India at an early period. Garcia de Orta, an observer thoroughly acquainted with the drugs of the west coast of India in the middle of the 16th century, is entirely silent as to nux vomica. Fleming,[1593] writing at the beginning of the present century, remarks that nux vomica is seldom, if ever, employed in medicine by the Hindus, but this statement does not hold good now.

The drug was however certainly made known in Germany in the 16th century. Valerius Cordus[1594] wrote a description of it about the year 1540, which is remarkable for its accuracy. Fuchs, Bauhin and others noticed it as Nux Metella, a name taken from the Methel of Avicenna and other Arabian authors.[1595]

It was found in the English shops in the time of Parkinson (1640), who remarks that its chief use is for poisoning dogs, cats, crows, and ravens, and that it is rarely given as a medicine.

Description—Nux Vomica is the seed, removed from the pulp and shell. It is disc-like, or rather irregularly orbicular, a little less than an inch in diameter, by about a quarter of an inch in thickness, slightly concave on the dorsal, convex on the ventral surface, or nearly flat on either side, often furnished with a broad, thickened margin so that the central portion of the seed appears depressed. The outside edge is rounded or tapers into a keel-like ridge. Each seed has on its edge a small protuberance, from which is a faintly projecting line (raphe) passing to a central scar, which is the hilum or umbilicus; a slight depression marks the opposite side of the seed. The seeds are of a light greyish hue, occasionally greenish, and have a satiny or glistening aspect, by reason of their being thickly covered with adpressed, radiating hairs. Nux vomica is extremely compact and horny, and has a very bitter taste.

After having been softened by digestion in water, the seed is easily cut along its outer edge, then displaying a mass of translucent, cartilaginous albumen, divided into two parts by a fissure in which lies the embryo. This latter is about ³/₁₀ of an inch long, having a pair of delicate 5-to 7-nerved, heart-shaped cotyledons, with a club-shaped radicle, the position of which is indicated on the exterior of the seed by the small protuberance already named.

Microscopic Structure—The hairs of nux vomica are of remarkable structure. They are formed as usual of the elongated cells of the epidermis, and have their walls thickened by secondary deposits, which are interrupted by longitudinally extended pores; they are a striking object in polarized light. The albumen is made up of large cells, loaded with albuminoid matters and oily drops, but devoid of starch. In water the thick walls of this parenchyme swell up and yield some mucilage; the cotyledons are built up of a narrow, much more delicate tissue, traversed by small fibro-vascular bundles.

The alkaloids are not directly recognizable by the microscope; but if very thin slices of nux vomica are kept for some length of time in glycerin, they develop feathery crystals, doubtless consisting of these bases.

Chemical Composition—The bitter taste and highly poisonous action of nux vomica are chiefly due to the presence of Strychnine and Brucine. Strychnine, C₂₁H₂₂N₂O₂, was first met with in 1818 by Pelletier and Caventou in St. Ignatius’ Beans, and immediately afterwards in nux vomica. It crystallizes from an alcoholic solution in large anhydrous prisms of the orthorhombic system. It requires for solution about 6700 parts of cold or 2500 of boiling water; the solution is of decidedly alkaline reaction, and an intensely bitter taste which may be distinctly perceived though it contain no more than ¹/₆₀₀₀₀₀ of the alkaloid. The best solvents for strychnine are spirit of wine or chloroform; it is but very sparingly soluble in absolute alcohol, benzol, amylic alcohol, or ether. The alcoholic solution deviates the ray of polarized light to the left.

Strychnine is not restricted to the fruit of the plant under notice, but also occurs in the wood and bark.[1596] It is moreover found in the wood of the root of Strychnos colubrina L., and in the bark of the root of Strychnos Tieute Lesch., both species indigenous to the Indian Archipelago.

The discovery of Brucine was made in 1819 by the same chemists, in nux vomica bark, then supposed to be derived from Brucea ferruginea Héritier (B. antidysenterica Miller), an Abyssinian shrub of the order Simarubeæ. The presence of brucine in nux vomica and St. Ignatius’ Bean was pointed out by them in 1824. Brucine, dried over sulphuric acid, has the formula C₂₃H₂₆N₂O₄, but it crystallizes from its alcoholic solution with 4 OH₂. In bitterness and poisonous properties, as well as in rotatory power, it closely resembles strychnine, differing however in the following particulars:—it is soluble in about 150 parts of boiling water, melts without alteration a little above 130° C. In common with its salts, it acquires a dark red colour when moistened with concentrated nitric acid.

The proportion of strychnine in nux vomica appears to vary from ¼ to ½ per cent. That of brucine is variously stated to be 0·12 (Merck), 0·5 (Wittstein), 1·01 (Mayer) per cent.

A third crystallizable base, called Igasurine, was stated in 1853 by Desnoix to occur in the liquors from which strychnine and brucine had been precipitated by lime. Schützenberger’s investigations (1858) are far from proving the existence of “igasurine.”[1597]

In nux vomica, as well as in St. Ignatius’ Beans, the alkaloids, according to their discoverers, are combined with Strychnic or Igasuric Acid; Ludwig (1873), who prepared this body from the latter drug, describes it as a yellowish-brown amorphous mass, having a strongly acid reaction and a sour astringent taste, and striking a dark green with ferric salts. We have ascertained the correctness of Ludwig’s observations.

Nux vomica dried at 100° C. yielded us when burnt with soda-lime 1·822 per cent. of nitrogen, indicating about 11·3 per cent. of protein substances. By boiling ether, we removed from the seeds 4·14 per cent. of fat; Meyer[1598] found it to yield butyric, capronic, caprylic, caprinic and other acids of the series of the common fatty acids, and also one acid richer in carbon than stearic acid. Nux vomica also contains mucilage and sugar. The latter, which according to Rebling (1855) exists to the extent of 6 per cent., reduces cupric oxide without the aid of heat. When macerated in water, the seeds easily undergo lactic fermentation, not however attended with decomposition of the alkaloids. The stability of strychnine is remarkable, even after ten years of contact with putrescent animal substances.

Commerce—Large quantities of nux vomica are brought into the London market from British India.[1599] The export from Bombay in the year 1871-72 was 3341 cwt., all shipped to the United Kingdom.[1600] Madras in 1869-70 exported 4805 cwt.; and Calcutta in 1865-66, 2801 cwt. The quantity imported into the United Kingdom in 1870[1601] was 5534 cwt.

Nux vomica is stated by Garnier (l.c. page 429, note) to be largely exported from Cambodja to China.

Uses—Tincture and extract of nux vomica, and the alkaloid strychnine, are frequently administered as tonic remedies in a variety of disorders.

SEMEN IGNATII.

Faba Sancti Ignatii; St. Ignatius’ Beans; F. Fèves de Saint Ignace, Noix Igasur; G. Ignatiusbohnen.[1602]

Botanical Origin—Strychnos Ignatii Bergius[1603] (S. philippensis Blanco, Ignatiana philippinica Loureiro), a large climbing shrub, growing in Bohol, Samar, and Çebu, islands of the Bisaya group of the Philippines, and according to Loureiro in Cochin China, where it has been introduced. The inflorescence and foliage are known to botanists only from the descriptions given by Loureiro[1604] and Blanco.[1605] The fruit is spherical, or sometimes ovoid, 4½ inches in diameter by 6¾ long, as shown by Ray and Petiver’s figure. It has a smooth brittle shell enclosing seeds to the number of about 24. G. Bennett,[1606] who saw the fruits at Manila sold in the bazaar, says they contain from 1 to 12 seeds, imbedded in a glutinous blackish pulp.[1607] According to Jagor[1608] the shrub is abundant near Basey, in the south-western part of the island of Samar, on the straits of San Juanico; its seeds are met with as a medicine in many houses in the Philippines.

History—It is stated by Murray[1609] and later writers that this seed was introduced into Europe from the Philippines by the Jesuits, who, on account of its virtues, bestowed upon it the name of Ignatius, the founder of their order. However this may be, the earliest account of the drug appears to be that communicated by Camelli, Jesuit missionary at Manila, to Ray and Petiver, and by them laid before the Royal Society of London in 1699.[1610] Camelli proclaimed the seed to be the Nux Vomica legitima of the Arabian physician Serapion, who flourished in the 9th century; but in our opinion there is no warrant whatever for supposing it to have been known at so remote a period.[1611] Sancti Ignatii, is much esteemed as a remedy in various disorders, though he was well aware of its poisonous properties when too freely administered. In Germany, St. Ignatius’ Bean was made known about the same period by Bohn of Leipzig.[1612]

The drug is found in the Indian bazaars under a name which is evidently corrupted from the Spanish pepita. It is met with in the drugshops of China as Leu-sung-kwo, i.e. Luzon fruit.

Description—St. Ignatius’ Beans are about an inch in length; their form is ovoid, yet by mutual pressure it is rendered very irregular, and they are 3-, 4-, or 5-sided, bluntly angular, or flattish, with a conspicuous hilum at one end. In the fresh state, they are covered with silvery adpressed hairs: portions of a shaggy brown epidermis are here and there perceptible on those found in commerce, but in the majority the seed shows the dull grey, granular surface of the albumen itself.

Notwithstanding the different outward appearance, the structure of St. Ignatius’ Beans accords with that of nux vomica. The radicle however is longer, thicker, and frequently somewhat bent, and the cotyledons are more pointed. The horny brownish albumen is translucent, very hard, and difficult to split. The whole seed swells considerably by prolonged digestion in warm water, and has then a heavy, earthy smell. The beans are intensely bitter and highly poisonous.

Microscopic Structure—The hairs of the epidermis are of an analogous structure, but more simple than in nux vomica. The albumen and cotyledons agree in structural features with those of the same parts in nux vomica.

Chemical Composition—Strychnine exists to the extent of about 1·5 per cent.; the seeds also contain 0·5 per cent. of brucine. Dried over sulphuric acid and burnt with soda-lime, it yielded us an average of 1·78 per cent. of nitrogen, which would answer to about 10 per cent. of albuminoid matter.

Commerce—We have no information as to the collection of the drug. The seeds are met with irregularly in English trade, being sometimes very abundant, at others scarcely obtainable.

Uses—The same as those of nux vomica. When procurable at a moderate price, the seeds are valued for the manufacture of strychnine.

RADIX SPIGELIÆ.

Radix Spigeliæ Marilandicæ; Indian Pink Root, Carolina Pink Root, Spigelia.[1613]

Botanical Origin—Spigelia marilandica L., an herbaceous plant about a foot high, indigenous in the woods of North America, from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and southward. According to Wood and Bache, it is collected chiefly in the Western and South-western States.

History—The anthelminthic properties of the root, discovered by the Indians, were brought to notice in Europe about the year 1754 by Linning, Garden, and Chalmers, physicians of Charleston, South Carolina. The drug was admitted to the London Pharmacopœia in 1788.

Description—Pink root has a near resemblance to serpentary, consisting of a short, knotty, dark brown rhizome emitting slender wiry roots. It is quite wanting in the peculiar odour of the latter drug, or indeed in any aroma; in taste it is slightly bitter and acrid. Sometimes the entire plant with its quadrangular stems a foot high is imported. It has opposite leaves about 3 inches long, sessile, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, smooth or pubescent.

Microscopic Structure—The transverse section of the rhizome, about ²/₁₀ of an inch in diameter, shows a small woody zone enclosing a large pith of elliptic outline, consisting of thin-walled cells. Usually the central tissue is decayed. In the roots, the middle cortical layer predominates; it swells in water, after which its large cells display fine spiral markings. The nucleus-sheath observable in serpentary is wanting in spigelia.

Chemical Composition—Not satisfactorily known: the vessels of the wood contain resin, the parenchyme starch; in the cortical part of the rhizome some tannic matters occur, but not in the roots. Feneulle (1823) asserts that the drug yields a little essential oil. The experiments of Bureau[1614] show that spigelia acts on rabbits and other animals as a narcotico-acrid poison.

Uses—Spigelia has long been reputed a most efficient medicine for the expulsion of Ascaris lumbricoides, but according to Stillé,[1615] its real value for this purpose has probably been over-estimated. This author speaks of it as possessing alterative and tonic properties. In England, it is rarely prescribed by the regular practitioner, but is used as a household medicine in some districts. It is much employed in the United States.

GENTIANEÆ.

RADIX GENTIANÆ.

Gentian Root; F. Racine de Gentiane; G. Enzianwurzel.

Botanical Origin—Gentiana lutea L., a handsome perennial herb, growing 3 feet high, indigenous to open grassy places on the mountains of Middle and Southern Europe. It occurs in Portugal, Spain, the Pyrenees, in the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, in the Apennines, the mountains of Auvergne, the Jura, the Vosges, the Black Forest, and throughout the chain of the Alps as far as Bosnia and the Danubian Principalities. Among the mountains of Germany, it is found on the Suabian Alps near Würzburg, and here and there in Thuringia, but not further north, nor does it occur in the British Islands.

History—The name Gentiana is said to be derived from Gentius, a king of the Illyrians, living b.c. 180-167, by whom, according to both Pliny and Dioscorides, the plant was noticed. Whether the species thus named was Gentiana lutea is doubtful. During the middle ages, gentian was commonly employed for the cure of disease, and as an antidote to poison. Tragus in 1552 mentions it as a means of diluting wounds, an application which has been resorted to in modern medical practice.

Description—The plant has a cylindrical, fleshy, simple root, of pale colour, occasionally almost as much as 4 feet in length by 1½ inches in thickness, producing 1 to 4 aerial stems.

The dried root of commerce is in irregular, contorted pieces, several inches in length, and ½ to 1 inch in thickness; the pieces are much wrinkled longitudinally, and marked transversely, especially in their upper portion, with numerous rings. Very often they are split to facilitate drying. They are of a yellowish-brown; internally of a more orange tint, spongy, with a peculiar, disagreeable, heavy odour, and intensely bitter taste. The crown of the root, which is somewhat thickened, is clothed with the scaly bases of leaves. The root is tough and flexible,—brittle only immediately after drying. We found it to lose in weight about 18 per cent.; by complete drying in a water-bath it regained 16 per cent. by being afterwards exposed to the air.

Microscopic Structure—A transverse section shows the bark separated by a dark cambial zone from the central column; the radial arrangement of the tissues is only obvious in the latter part. In the bark, liber-fibres are wanting; and in the centre there is no distinct pith. The fibro-vascular bundles are devoid of thick-walled ligneous prosenchyme; this may explain the consistence, and the short even fracture of the root. It is moreover remarkable on account of the absence both of starch and oxalate of calcium; the cells appear to contain chiefly sugar and a little fat oil.

Chemical Composition—The bitter taste of gentian is due to a substance called Gentiopicrin or Gentian-bitter, C₂₀H₃₀O₁₂. Several chemists, as Henry, Caventou, Trommsdorff, Leconte and Dulk have described the bitter principle of gentian in an impure state, under the name of Gentianin, but Kromayer in 1862 first obtained it in a state of purity. Gentiopicrin is a neutral body crystallizing in colourless needles, which readily dissolve in water. It is soluble in spirit of wine, but in absolute alcohol only when aided by heat; it does not dissolve in ether. A solution of caustic potash or soda forms with it a yellow solution. Under the influence of a dilute mineral acid, gentiopicrin is resolved into glucose, and an amorphous, yellowish-brown, neutral substance, named Gentiogenin. Fresh gentian roots yield somewhat more than ⅒ per cent. of gentiopicrin; from the dried root it could not be obtained in a crystallized state. The medicinal Tincture of Gentian, mixed with solution of caustic potash, loses its bitterness in a few days, probably in consequence of the destruction of the gentiopicrin.

Another constituent of gentian root is Gentianin or gentisin

CH₃

C₁₄H₁₀O₅ or (OH)₂C₆H₃·CO·C₆H₂ O \ .

O /

It forms tasteless yellowish prisms, sparingly soluble in alcohol, requiring about 5000 parts of water for solution. With alkalis it yields intensely yellow crystallizable compounds, which, however, are easily decomposed already by carbonic acid. Gentianin may be sublimed if carefully heated at 250° C. By melting it with caustic potash, acetic acid, phloroglucin, C₆H₃(OH)₃, and oxysalicylic acid, C₆H₃(OH)₂COOH, are produced, as shown in 1875 by Hlasiwetz and Habermann. The name of gentianic acid or gentisinic acid had been applied to the oxysalicylic acid obtained by the above decomposition before it was identified with oxysalicylic acid from other sources.

Gentian root abounds in pectin; it also contains, to the extent of 12 to 15 per cent., an uncrystallizable sugar, of which advantage is taken in Southern Bavaria and Switzerland for the manufacture by fermentation and distillation of a potable spirit.[1616] This use of gentian and its consumption in medicine have led to the plant being almost extirpated in some parts of Switzerland where it formerly abounded.

The experiments of Maisch (1876) and Ville (1877) have shown tannic matters to be absent from the root.

Commerce—Gentian root finds its way into English commerce through the German houses; and some is shipped from Marseilles. The quantity imported into the United Kingdom in 1870 was 1100 cwt.

Uses—Gentian is much used in medicine as a bitter tonic. Ground to powder, the root is an ingredient in some of the compositions sold for feeding cattle.

Substitutes—It can hardly be said that gentian is adulterated, yet the roots of several other species possessing similar properties are occasionally collected; of these we may name the following:—

1. Gentiana purpurea L.—This species is found in Alpine meadows of the Apennines, Savoy and Switzerland, in Transylvania, and in South-western Norway; a variety also in Kamtchatka.[1617] The root is frequently collected;[1618] it attains at most 18 inches in length and a diameter of about 1 inch at the summit, from which arise 8 to 10 aerial stems, clothed below with many scaly remains of leaves. The top of the root has thus a peculiar branched appearance, never found in the root of G. lutea, with which in all other respects that of G. purpurea agrees. The latter is perhaps even more intensely bitter.

2. G. punctata L.—Nearly the same description applies to this species, which is a native of the Alps of South-Eastern France, Savoy, the southern parts of Switzerland, extending eastward to Austria, Hungary and Roumelia.

3. G. pannonica Scop.—a plant of the mountains of Austria, unknown in the Swiss Alps, has a root which does not attain the length or the thickness of the root of G. purpurea, with which it agrees in other respects. It is officinal in the Austrian Pharmacopœia.

4. G. Catesbœi Walter (G. Saponaria L.)—indigenous in the United States. Its root, usually not exceeding 3 inches in length by ⅓ inch in diameter, has a very thin woody column within a spongy whitish cortical tissue and a bright yellow epidermis. This root is less bitter than the above enumerated drugs; the same remark applies also to those European Gentianæ which like G. Catesbœi are provided with blue flowers.

HERBA CHIRATÆ.

Herba Chirettæ vel Chiraytæ; Chiretta or Chirayta.

Botanical Origin—Ophelia[1619] Chirata Grisebach (Gentiana Chirayita Roxb.), an annual herb of the mountainous regions of Northern India from Simla through Kumaon to the Murung district in South-eastern Nepal.

History—Chiretta has long been held in high esteem by the Hindus, and is frequently mentioned in the writings of Susruta. It is called in Sanscrit Kirāta-tikta, which means the bitter plant of the Kirātus, the Kirātas being an outcast race of mountaineers in the north of India. In England, it began to attract some attention about the year 1829; and in 1839 was introduced into the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia. The plant was first described by Roxburgh in 1814.

Chiretta was regarded by Guibourt as the Calamus aromaticus of the ancients, but the improbability of this being correct was well pointed out by Fée[1620] and by Royle, and is now generally admitted.

Description—The entire plant is collected when in flower, or more commonly when the capsules are fully formed, and tied up with a slip of bamboo into flattish bundles of about 3 feet long,[1621] each weighing when dry from 1½ to 2 lb. The stem, ²/₁₀ to ³/₁₀ of an inch in thickness, is of an orange-brown, sometimes of a dark purplish colour; the tapering simple root, often much exceeding the stem in thickness, is 2 to 4 inches long and up to ½ an inch thick. It is less frequently branched, but always provided with some rootlets. In stronger specimens, the root is somewhat oblique or geniculate; perhaps the stem is in this case the product of a second year’s growth and the plant not strictly annual. Each plant usually consists of a single stem, yet occasionally two or more spring from a single root. The stem rises to a height of 2 to 3 feet, and is cylindrical in its lower and middle portion, but bluntly quadrangular in its upper, the four edges being each marked with a prominent decurrent line, as in Erythræa Centaurium and many other plants of the order. The decussate ramification resembles that of other gentians; its stems are jointed at intervals of 1½ to 3 or 4 inches, bearing opposite semi-amplexicaul leaves on their cicatrices. The stem consists in its lower portion of a large woody column, coated with a very thin rind, and enclosing a comparatively large pith. The upper parts of the stem and branches contain a broad ring of thick-walled woody parenchyme. The numerous slender axillary and opposite branches are elongated, and thus constitute a dense umbellate panicle. They are smooth and glabrous, of a greenish or brownish grey colour.

The leaves are ovate-acuminate, cordate at the base, entire, sessile, the largest 1 inch or more in length, 3-to 5-or 7-nerved, the midrib being strongest. At each division of the panicle there are two small bracts. The yellow corolla is rotate, 4-lobed, with glandular pits above the base; the calyx is one-third the length of the petals, which are about half an inch long. The one-celled, bivalved capsule contains numerous seeds.

The flowers share the intense bitterness of the whole drug. The wood of stronger stems is devoid of the bitter principles.

Chemical Composition—A chemical examination of chiretta has been made at our request under the direction of Professor Ludwig of Jena, by his assistant Mr. Höhn. The chief results of this careful and elaborate investigation may be thus described.[1622]

Among the bitter principles of the drug, Ophelic Acid, C₁₃H₂₀O₁₀, occurs in the largest proportion. It is an amorphous, viscid, yellow substance, of an acidulous, persistently bitter taste, and a faint gentian-like odour. With basic acetate of lead, it produces an abundant yellow precipitate. Ophelic acid does not form an insoluble compound with tannin; it dissolves in water, alcohol and ether. The first solution causes the separation of protoxide of copper from an alkaline tartrate of that metal.

A second bitter principle, Chiratin, C₂₆H₄₈O₁₅, may be removed by means of tannic acid, with which it forms an insoluble compound. Chiratin is a neutral, not distinctly crystalline, light yellow, hygroscopic powder, soluble in alcohol, ether and in warm water. By boiling hydrochloric acid, it is decomposed into Chiratogenin, C₁₃H₂₄O₃, and ophelic acid. Chiratogenin is a brownish, amorphous substance, soluble in alcohol but not in water, nor yielding a tannic compound. No sugar is formed in this decomposition.

These results exhibit no analogy to those obtained in the analysis of the European gentians. Finally, Höhn remarked in chiretta a crystallizable, tasteless, yellow substance, but its quantity was so minute that no investigation of it could be made.

The leaves of chiretta, dried at 100° C., afforded 7·5 per cent. of ash; the stems 3·7; salts of potassium and calcium prevailing in both.

Uses—Chiretta is a pure bitter tonic, devoid of aroma and astringency. In intense bitterness it exceeds gentian, Erythræa and other European plants of the same order. It is much valued in India, but is not very extensively used in England, and not at all on the Continent. It is said to be employed when cheap, in place of gentian, to impart flavour to the compositions now sold as Cattle Foods.

Substitutes and Adulteration—Some other species of Ophelia, namely, O. angustifolia Don, O. densifolia Griseb., O. elegans Wight, O. pulchella Don, and O. multiflora Dalz, two or three species of Exacum, besides Andrographis paniculata Wall., are more or less known in the Indian bazaars by the name of Chiretta[1623] and possess to a greater or less degree the bitter tonic properties of that drug. Another Gentianacea, Slevogtia orientalis Griseb., is called Chota Chiretta, i.e. small chiretta. It would exceed due limits were we to describe each of these plants: we have therefore given a somewhat detailed description of the true chiretta, which will suffice for its identification. We have frequently examined the chiretta found in the English market, but have never met with any other than the legitimate sort.[1624] Bentley noticed in 1874 the substitution of Ophelia angustifolia, which he found to be by far less bitter than true chiretta.

CONVOLVULACEÆ.

SCAMMONIUM.

Scammony; F. Scammonée; G. Scammonium.

Botanical Origin—Convolvulus Scammonia L., a twining plant much resembling the common C. arvensis of Europe, but differing from it in being of larger size, and having a stout tap-root. It occurs in waste bushy places in Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, the Greek Islands, extending northward to the Crimea and Southern Russia, but appears to be wanting in Northern Africa, Italy, and in all the western parts of the Mediterranean basin.

History—The dried milky juice of the scammony plant has been known as a medicine from very ancient times. Theophrastus in the 3rd century b.c. was acquainted with it; it was likewise familiar to Dioscorides, Pliny, Celsus, and Rufus of Ephesus, each of whom has given some account of the manner in which it was collected. Scammony used then also to be called Diagrydion, from the Greek word δάκρυ, tear. The mediæval Arabian physicians also knew scammony and the plant from which it is derived. The drug was used in Britain in the 10th and 11th centuries, and would appear to be one of the medicines recommended to King Alfred the Great, by Helias, patriarch of Jerusalem.[1625] It is repeatedly named in the medical writings in use prior to the Norman conquest (a.d. 1066), in one of which directions are given for recognizing the goodness of the drug by the white emulsion it produces when wetted.

The botanists of the 16th and 17th centuries, as Brunfels, Gesner, Matthiolus, Dodonæus, and the Bauhins, described and figured the plant partly under the name of Scammonia syriaca. The collecting of the drug was well described by Russell, an English physician of Aleppo (1752), whose account[1626] is accompanied by an excellent figure representing the plant and the means of obtaining its juice.

Scammony was formerly distinguished by the names Aleppo and Smyrna, the former sort being twice or thrice as costly as the latter; at the present day Aleppo scammony has quite lost its pre-eminence.

Localities producing the drug—Scammony is collected in Asia Minor, from Brussa and Boli in the north, to Macri and Adalia in the south, and eastward as far as Angora. But the most productive localities within this area are the valley of the Mendereh, south of Smyrna: and the districts of Kirkagach and Demirjik, north of that town. The neighbourhood of Aleppo likewise affords the drug. A little is obtained further south in Syria, from the woody hills and valleys about the lake of Tiberias and Mount Carmel.

Production—The scammony plant has a long woody root, which throws off downwards a few lateral branches, and produces from its knotty summit numerous twining stems which are persistent and woody at the base. In plants of three or four years old, the root may be an inch or more in diameter; in older specimens it sometimes acquires a diameter of three or four inches. In length, it is from two to three feet, according to the depth of soil in which it grows. When the root is wounded, there exudes a milky juice which dries up to a golden-brown, transparent, gummy-looking substance:—this is pure scammony.[1627]

The method followed in collecting scammony for use appears to be nearly the same in all localities. It has been thus described to us by two eye-witnesses, both long resident in the East.[1628] Operations commence by clearing away the bushes among which the plant is commonly found; the soil around the latter is then removed, so as to leave 4 or 5 inches of the root exposed. This is then cut off in a slanting direction at 2 to 4 inches below the crown, and a mussel-shell is stuck into it just beneath the lowest edge, so as to receive the milky-sap which instantly flows out. The shells are usually left till evening, when they are collected, and the cut part of the root scraped with a knife, so as to remove any partially dried drops of juice. These latter are called by the Smyrna peasants, kaimak or cream, the softer contents of the shell being called gala or milk.

Sometimes the scammony is allowed to dry in the shell, and such must be regarded as representing the drug in its utmost perfection. But scammony in shells is not brought into commerce, though a little of it is reserved by the peasants for their own use.

The contents of the shells and the scraped off drops are next emptied into a covered copper pot or a leathern bag, carried home, made homogenous by mixing with a knife, and at once allowed to dry. In this way a form of scammony is obtained closely approaching that dried in the shell. But it is a quality of exceptional goodness. Usually the peasant does not dry off the juice promptly, but allows his daily gatherings to accumulate; and when he has collected a pound or two, he places it in the sunshine to soften, and then kneads it, sometimes with the addition of a little water, into a plastic mass, which he lastly allows to dry. By this long exposure to heat, and retention in a liquid state, the scammony juice undergoes fermentation, acquires a strong cheesy odour and dark colour, and when finally dried, exhibits a more or less porous or bubbly structure, never observable in shell scammony.

Scammony is very extensively adulterated. The adulteration is often performed by the peasants, who mix foreign substances into the drug while it is yet soft; and it is also effected by the dealers, some of whom purchase it of the peasants in a half-dried state. The substances used for sophistication are numerous, the commonest and most easily detected being, according to our experience, carbonate of lime and flour. Woodashes, earth (not always calcareous), gum arabic, and tragacanth are also employed; more rarely, wax, yolk of egg, pounded scammony roots, rosin, or black-lead.

Description—The pure juice of the root, simply dried by exposure to the sun and air, is an amorphous, transparent, brittle substance, of resinous aspect, a yellowish-brown colour, and glossy fracture. Scammony possessing these characters is occasionally met with in the form of flattish irregular masses, about ½ to ¾ of an inch in thickness, very brittle by reason of internal fissures, yet with but few air-cavities. In mass, it is of a chesnut-brown, but in small fragments it is seen to be very pale yellowish-brown and transparent, with the freshly fractured surface vitreous and shining. When powdered it is of a very light buff. Rubbed with the moistened finger it forms a white emulsion. Treated with ether it yields 88 to 90 per cent. of soluble matter, and a nearly colourless residuum. This scammony, as well as the pure juice in the shell, is very liable to become mouldy; but besides this, it throws out, if long kept, a white, mammillated, crystalline efflorescence, the nature of which we have not been able to determine. But if scammony is kept quite dry, neither mouldiness nor efflorescence makes its appearance.

The ordinary fine scammony of commerce, known as Virgin Scammony, is also in large flat pieces or irregular flattened lumps and fragments, which in mass have a dark grey or blackish hue. Viewed in thin fragments, it is seen to be translucent and of a yellowish-brown. It is very easily broken, exhibits a shining fracture, gives an ashy-grey powder, and has a peculiar cheesy odour. Some of the pieces have a porous, bubbly structure, indicative of fermentation; the more solid often show the efflorescence already mentioned. Scammony has not much taste, but leaves an acrid sensation in the throat.

Chemical Composition—Scammony owes its active properties as a medicine to a resin shown (1860) by Spirgatis to be identical with that found in the root of the Mexican Ipomœa orizabensis, known in commerce as Male Jalap: this resin called Jalapin will be described in the next article. The other constituents of pure scammony are not well known. One of them is the substance which, as already stated, makes its appearance as small masses of cauliflower crystals on the surface of pure scammony, when the latter is kept in air not perfectly dry.

Whether the odour observable in commercial scammony is due to a volatile fatty acid developed by fermentation, is a question still to be investigated.

Commerce—The export of scammony from Smyrna amounted in 1871 to 278 cases, valued at £8320; in 1872 to 185 cases, value £6100. According to a report of Consul Skene on the trade of Northern Syria,[1629] 737 cases of scammony were exported from the province of Aleppo in 1872,—six-sevenths of the quantity being for England. In 1873 Aleppo exported by way of Alexandretta to England 46,500 kilogrammes of scammony root and 900 kilogrammes of the resin, the latter being valued at 36,000 francs (£1444).

An establishment at Brussa, founded by Della Sudda, of Constantinople, is stated to export since 1870 a very good scammony resin extracted by alcohol.[1630]

Uses—Employed as an active cathartic, often in combination with colocynth and calomel.

Adulteration—Scammony is very often imported in an adulterated state, but the adulteration is so clumsily effected, and is so easily discoverable by simple tests, or even by ocular examination, that druggists have but little excuse for accepting a bad article.

We have already named the substances used in the sophistication of scammony: of these, the most frequent are carbonate of lime and farinaceous matter. The first may generally be recognized by examining the fractured surface of the drug with a good lens, when the white particles of the carbonate will be perceived. If the surface is then touched (while still sub lente) with hydrochloric acid, effervescence will prove the presence of a carbonate. Other earthly adulterants can be discovered by incineration, or by examining the residue of the drug after treatment with ether. Starchy substances, the presence of which may be surmised by the scammony being difficult to break, are detectable by the microscope or by solution of iodine, a cold decoction of scammony not being affected by that reagent. Scammony that is ponderous, dull and clayey, not easily broken in the fingers, or which when broken does not exhibit a clean, glossy surface, or which does not afford at least 80 per cent. of matter soluble in ether, should be rejected. That which is made up in the form of hard, dark, circular cakes is widely different from pure scammony.

Scammony may be distinguished from Resin of Scammony by its property of forming an emulsion when wetted. The resin is also more glossy and almost entirely soluble in ether.

Radix Scammoniæ.

The frauds commonly practised on the scammony of commerce have given rise to various schemes for obtaining the drug in a purer form, as well as at a more moderate price.[1631]

So far back as 1839, the Edinburgh College prescribed a Resina Scammonii, which was prepared by exhausting scammony with a spirit of wine, distilling off the spirit, and washing the residue with water. Such an extract was manufactured by the late Mr. Maltass of Smyrna, and occasionally shipped to London.

In consequence of a suggestion made by Mr. Clark, manufacturer of liquorice at Sochia near Scala Nuova, south of Smyrna, a patent was taken out (1856) by Prof. A. W. Williamson of London, for preparing this resin directly from the dried root by means of alcohol. The same chemist shortly afterwards devised an improved process, which consists in boiling the roots first with water and then with dilute acid, so as to deprive them of all matters soluble in those menstrua, and afterwards extracting the resin by alcohol.

Resin of Scammony, obtained either from scammony or from the dried root, is ordered in the British Pharmacopœia of 1867, and is manufactured by a few houses. It is a brown, translucent, brittle substance of resinous fracture, entirely soluble in ether, and not forming an emulsion when wetted with water.

Scammony root is occasionally brought into the London market, sometimes in rather large quantity,[1632] but it is not generally kept by druggists, nor do we find it quoted in price-currents. Its collection is even opposed in some parts of Turkey by the local authorities.[1633]

The root consists of stout, woody, cylindrical pieces, often spirally twisted, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, covered with a rough, furrowed, greyish-brown bark. They are internally pale brown, tough and resinous, with a faint odour and taste resembling jalap. A good sample yielded us 5½ per cent. of resin; Kingzett and Farries (1877) showed the root to be devoid of an alkaloid.

RADIX JALAPÆ.

Tuber Jalapæ; Jalap, Vera Cruz Jalap; F. Racine de Jalap; G. Jalape.

Botanical Origin—Ipomœa Purga Hayne (Convolvulus Purga Wenderoth, Exogonium Purga Bentham), a tuberous-rooted plant, throwing out herbaceous, twining stems, clothed with cordate-acuminate sharply auricled leaves, and bearing elegant salver-shaped, deep pink flowers. It grows naturally on the eastern declivities of the Mexican Andes, at an elevation above the sea of 5000 to 8000 feet, especially about Chiconquiaco and the adjacent villages, and also around San Salvador on the eastern slope of the Cofre de Perote. In these localities where rain falls almost daily, and where the diurnal temperature varies from 15° to 24° C. (60° to 75° F.), the plant occurs in shady woods, flourishing in a deep rich vegetable soil.

The jalap grows freely in the south of England, if planted in a sheltered border, but its flowers are produced so late in autumn that they rarely expand, and the tubers, which develope in some abundance, are liable to be destroyed in winter unless protected from frost.

The plant has been introduced on the Neilgherry Hills in the south of India; it succeeds there remarkably well,[1634] and might be extensively propagated if there were any adequate inducement.

History—The use as a purgative of the tuber of a convolvulaceous plant of Mexico, was made known by the early Spanish voyagers; and so highly was the new drug esteemed that large quantities of it reached Europe during the 16th century.

Monardes, writing in 1565, says the new drug was called Ruybarbo de las Indias or Ruybarbo de Mechoacan, the latter name being given in allusion to the province of Michoacan whence the supplies were derived. Some writers have advanced the opinion that mechoacan root was the modern jalap, but in this we do not concur, for the description given of mechoacan and the place of its production do not apply well to jalap. Both drugs were moreover well known about 1610; they were perfectly distinguished by Colin, an apothecary of Lyons (1619), who mentions jalap (“racine de Ialap”) as then newly brought to France.[1635] They were however often confounded, or at least only distinguished by their difference of tint. Thus jalap, which at that period used to be imported cut into transverse slices,[1636] was termed, from its darker colour, Black Mechoacan; and on the other hand, the paler mechoacan was in later times known as White Jalap.

Mechoacan root is now known to consist (at least in part) of the large thick tuber of Ipomœa Jalapa Pursh (Batatas Jalapa Choisy), a plant of the Southern United States and Mexico. As a drug it has been long obsolete in Europe, having given place to jalap, which is a more active and efficient purgative.

The botanical source of jalap was not definitely ascertained until about the year 1829, when Dr. Coxe of Philadelphia published a description and coloured figure, taken from living plants sent to him two years previously from Mexico.[1637]

Manner of Growth—Though we have cultivated the jalap plant for many years, we have had no opportunity of examining the seedling, but judging from analogy suppose that it has at first a small tap-root which gradually thickens after the manner of a radish. A root of jalap, called by some tuber and by others tubercule, throws out in addition to aerial stems, slender, prostrate, underground shoots which emit roots at intervals. These roots while but an inch or two long become thickened and carrot-shaped, gradually enlarging into napiform tuber-like bodies, which emit a few rootlets from their surface and taper off below in long, slender ramifications. The thickened roots have no trace of leaf-organs; the aerial stems grow from the shoot from which they originated.

Fresh jalap roots (tubers) are externally rough and dark brown, internally white and fleshy.

Collection—Jalap is said to be dug up in Mexico during the whole year.[1638] The smaller roots are dried entire; the larger are cut transversely, or are gashed so that they may dry more easily. As drying by sun-heat would be almost impracticable owing to the wetness of the climate, the roots are placed in a net, and suspended over the almost constantly burning hearth of the Indian’s hut, where they gradually dry, and at the same time often contract a smoky smell. Much of the jalap that has of late arrived has been more freely sliced than usual, and has obviously been dried with less difficulty.

According to Schiede, whose account was written in 1829,[1639] the Indians of Chiconquiaco were at that period commencing the cultivation of jalap in their gardens.

Description—The jalap of commerce consists of irregular, ovoid roots, varying from the size of an egg to that of a hazel-nut, but occasionally as large as a man’s fist. They are usually pointed at the lower end, deeply wrinkled, contorted and furrowed, and of a dark brown hue, dotted over with numerous little, elongated, lighter coloured scars, running transversely. The large roots are incised lengthwise, or cut into halves or quarters, but the smaller are usually entire. Some of the small roots are spindle-shaped or cylindrical; others can be found which are nearly globular, smooth and pitchy-looking, but these latter are seldom solid. Good jalap is ponderous, tough, hard and often horny, becoming brittle when long kept, and breaking with a resinous non-fibrous fracture; internally it is of a pale dingy brown or dirty white. It has a faint smoky, rather coffee-like odour, and a mawkish taste, followed by acridity.

Microscopic Structure—Seen in transverse section, jalap exhibits no radiate structure, but numerous small concentric rings, which in many pieces are very regularly arranged. They are due to the laticiferous cells, differing from the surrounding parenchyme only by their contents and rather large size. These laticiferous cells traverse the tissue in a vertical direction, constituting vertical bands, as may be observed on a longitudinal section; the single cells are simply placed one on the other, and do not form elongated ducts as in Lactuca or Taraxacum.

The fibro-vascular bundles of jalap are neither numerous nor large; they are accompanied by thin-walled cells, so that firm woody rays do not occur. Parenchymatous cells are abundant, and, on a longitudinal fracture especially, if subsequently moistened, are seen to constitute concentric layers. The laticiferous cells are always found in the outer part of each layer. The suberous coat with which the drug is covered is made up of the usual tabular cells.

The parenchyme of jalap is loaded with starch grains; in the pieces which have been submitted to heat in order to dry them, the starch appears as an amorphous mass, and the drug then exhibits a horny consistence and greyish fracture, instead of being mealy. Crystals of calcium oxalate are frequently met with. The laticiferous cells contain the resin of jalap in a semi-fluid state, even in the dry drug; drops of the resinous emulsion flow out of the cells, if thin slices are moistened by any watery liquid.

Chemical Composition—Jalap owes its medicinal efficacy to a resin, which is extractable by exhausting the drug with spirit of wine, concentrating the alcoholic solution to a small bulk, and pouring it into water. The resin precipitated in this manner is then washed and dried; it is contained in jalap to the extent of 12 to 18 per cent.[1640]

From this crude resin, which is the Resina jalapæ of the pharmacopœias, ether or chloroform extracts 5 to 7 (12, Umney) per cent. of a resin which, according to Kayser,[1641] partially solidifies when in contact with water in crystalline needles. We can by no means confirm Kayser’s statement. The residue (insoluble in ether) is one of the substances to which the name Jalapin has been applied.[1642] W. Mayer, 1852-1855, who designated it Convolvulin,[1643] found it to have the composition C₃₁H₅₀O₁₆. When purified, it is colourless; it dissolves easily in ammonia as well as in the fixed alkalis, and is not re-precipitated by acids, having been converted by assumption of water into amorphous Convolvulic Acid, which is readily soluble in water. Both convolvulin and convolvulic acid are resolved by moderate heating with dilute acids, or with emulsin, into crystallizable Convolvulinol, C₂₆H₅₀O₇, and sugar. Convolvulinol in contact with aqueous alkalis is converted into Convolvulinolic Acid, C₂₆H₄₈O₆, which is slightly soluble in water and crystallizable.

When convolvulin or its derivatives is treated with nitric acid, it yields several acids, one of which is the Sebacic Acid,

C₈H₁₆ COOH

COOH,

which is to be obtained by treating castor oil or other fatty substances in the same manner. Sebacic acid forms crystalline scales, soluble in boiling water, melting at 128°. That from jalap was first thought to be a peculiar acid, and therefore termed ipomic or ipomœic acid. Its identification is due to Neison and Bayne (1874).

Convolvulin (dry) melts at 150° C., but a small amount of water renders it fusible below 100° C. It is insoluble in oil of turpentine and in ammonia. It dissolves in dilute nitric acid without becoming coloured or evolving gas. Convolvulin possesses in a high degree the purgative property of jalap, but this is not the case with convolvulinol.

The other constituents of jalap include starch, uncrystallizable sugar, gum, and colouring matter. The sugar, according to Guibourt, exists to the extent of 19 per cent.

Commerce—We have no means of knowing to what extent jalap is produced in Mexico. The imports of the drug into the United Kingdom amounted in 1870 to 169,951 lb. Very considerable quantities have of late (1873) appeared in the London drug-sales.

Uses—Jalap is employed as a brisk cathartic.

Other kinds of Jalap.

Besides true jalap, the roots of certain other Convolvulaceæ of Mexico have been employed in Europe, either in the form of jalapin, or as adulterants of the more costly, legitimate drug. The two following have been extensively imported and have been traced to their botanical source; but there are others, of more occasional occurrence, the origin of which has not been ascertained.[1644]

1. Light, Fusiform, or Woody Jalap, Male Jalap, Orizaba Root, Jalap Tops or Stalks, Purgo macho of the Mexicans.

This drug is derived from Ipomœa orizabensis Ledanois,[1645] a plant of Orizaba, which is but imperfectly known. It is described as a pubescent climber, having a spindle-shaped root about two feet long of woody and fibrous texture. The drug occurs in irregular rectangular or block-like pieces, evidently portions of a very large root, divided transversely and longitudinally. Sometimes it is more like true jalap, being in entire roots, of smaller size, spindle-shaped, not spherical. It has a somewhat lighter colour than jalap, and much deeper longitudinal wrinkles. The larger pieces often exhibit deep cuts from an axe or knife; transverse slices are of rare occurrence. Although generally less ponderous than jalap, the Orizaba drug is nevertheless of a compact and often horny texture. From jalap it is easily distinguished by its radiated transverse section, and the numerous thick bundles of vessels which project as woody fibres from the fractured surface.

In chemical constitution Orizaba root is closely parallel to jalap. The resin was named by Mayer Jalapin; it is the Jalapin of Gmelin’s Chemistry (xvi. 405), and perhaps the jalapin of English pharmacy.[1646]

In the pure state it is a colourless amorphous translucent resin, dissolving perfectly in ether,[1647] thus differing from convolvulin the corresponding resin of jalap. We find that it is readily soluble also in acetone, amylic alcohol, benzol and phenol, not in bisulphide of carbon. It has the composition of C₃₄H₅₆O₁₆, so that it is homologous with convolvulin; the decomposition-products of jalapin obtained by similar treatment, namely jalapic acid, jalapinol, and jalapinolic acid, are likewise homologous with the corresponding substances obtained from convolvulin. All these bodies when treated with nitric acid yield ipomœic acid. Jalapin has the same fusing point as convolvulin, and behaves in the same manner with alkalis.

The root afforded us 11·8 per cent. of resin dried at 100° C. When perfectly washed, decolorized and dissolved in two parts of alcohol, this resin turned the plane of polarization of a ray of light 9·8° to the left, in a column of 50 mm. long. Convolvulin under the same conditions turned it only 5·8°. The resin of Orizaba root is held by chemists to be identical with that of scammony, of which it has the drastic action.

2. Tampico Jalap,—Purga de Sierra Gorda of the Mexicans. The plant which affords this drug has been described by one of us (1869) under the name of Ipomœa simulans.[1648] It is closely related to I. Purga Hayne, from which by its foliage it cannot be distinguished, but it has a bell-shaped corolla and pendulous flower-buds, which are very different. I. simulans Hanbury grows in Mexico along the mountain range of the Sierra Gorda in the neighbourhood of San Luis de la Paz, from which town and the adjacent villages its roots are carried down to Tampico. It has also been found on the lofty Cordillera near Oaxaca, but whether there collected we know not.

The drug, to which in trade the name Tampico Jalap is commonly applied, has been imported during the last few years in considerable quantities. In appearance it closely approaches true jalap, but the roots are generally smaller, more elongated or finger-like, more shrivelled and corky-looking, wanting in the little transverse scars that are plentifully scattered over the roots of true jalap. Many pieces occur however which it is impossible to distinguish by the eye from true jalap, with which it agrees also in odour and taste.

Tampico jalap yielded to one of us 10 per cent. of purified resin, entirely soluble in ether. Umney[1649] obtained 12 to 15 per cent. of resin almost wholly soluble in ether; Evans got 13 per cent., but found only about half of this to be soluble in ether.[1650] According to Andouard[1651] the resin of Tampico jalap is not deficient in purgative powers.

SEMEN KALADANÆ.

Semen Pharbitidis; Kaladana.

Botanical Origin—Ipomœa Nil[1652] Roth (Pharbitis Nil Choisy, Convolvulus Nil L.), a twining annual plant, with a large blue corolla, much resembling the Major Convolvulus (Pharbitis hispida Choisy) of English gardens, but having three-lobed leaves.[1653] It is found throughout the tropical regions of both hemispheres, and is common in India, ascending the mountains to a height of 5000 feet.

History—The seeds of this plant were employed in medicine by the Arabian physicians under the name Habbun-nil; and they have probably been long in use among the natives of Hindustan. In recent times they have been recommended by O’Shaughnessy, Kirkpatrick, Bidie, Waring[1654] and many other European practitioners in India as a safe and efficient cathartic.