I.—PHÆNOGAMOUS OR FLOWERING PLANTS. (continued 3)

The root to which certain medicinal properties had always been assigned, was included in the materia medica of the London Pharmacopœias of the last century under the name of Raphanus rusticanus.

Description—The root which in good ground often attains a length of 3 feet and nearly an inch in diameter, is enlarged in its upper part into a crown, usually dividing into a few short branches each surmounted by a tuft of leaves, and annulated by the scars of fallen foliage; below the crown it tapers slightly, and then for some distance is often almost cylindrical, throwing off here and there filiform and long slender cylindrical roots, and finally dividing into two or three branches. The root is of a light yellowish-brown; internally it is fleshy and perfectly white, and has a short non-fibrous fracture. Before it is broken it is inodorous, but when comminuted it immediately exhales its characteristic pungent smell. Its well-known pungent taste is not lost in the root carefully dried and not kept too long.

A transverse section of the fresh root displays a large central column with a radiate and concentric arrangement of its tissues, which are separated by a small greyish circle from the bark, whose breadth is from ½ to 2 lines. In the root branches there is neither a well-defined liber nor a true pith. The short leaf-bearing branches include a large pith surrounded by a circle of woody bundles. The bark adheres strongly to the central portion, in which zones of annual growth are easily perceptible, at least in older specimens.

Microscopic Structure—The corky layer is made up of small tabular cells as usual in suberous coats. In the succeeding zone of the middle bark, thick-walled yellow cells are scattered through the parenchyme, chiefly at the boundary line of the corky layer. In the root the cellular envelope is not strikingly separated from the liber, whilst in its leafy branches this separation is well marked by wedge-shaped liber bundles, which are accompanied by a group of the yellow longitudinally-elongated stone-cells. The woody bundles contain a few short yellow vessels, accompanied by bundles of prosenchymatous, not properly woody cells. The centre, in the root, shows these woody bundles to be separated by the medullary parenchyma; in the branches the central column consists of an uniform pith without woody bundles, the latter forming a circle close to the cambium. The parenchyma of the whole root collected in spring is loaded with small starch granules.

Chemical Composition—Among the constituents of horse-radish root (the chemical history of which is however far from perfect) the volatile oil is the most interesting. The fresh root submitted to distillation with water in a glass retort, yields about ½ per mille of oil which is identical with that of Black Mustard as proved in 1843 by Hubatka. He combined it with ammonia and obtained crystals of thiosinammine, the composition of which agreed with the thiosinammine from mustard oil.

An alcoholic extract of the root is devoid of the odour of the oil, but this is quickly evolved on addition of an emulsion of White Mustard. The essential oil does not therefore pre-exist, but only sinigrin (myronate of potassium) and an albuminoid matter (myrosin) by whose mutual reaction in the presence of water it is formed (p. 66). This process does not go on in the growing root, perhaps because the two principles in question are not contained in the same cells, or else exist together in some condition that does not allow of their acting on each other,—a state of things analogous to that occurring in the leaves of Lauro-cerasus.

By exhausting the root with water either cold or hot, the sinigrin is decomposed and a considerable proportion of bisulphate is found in the concentrated decoction. Alcohol removes from the root some fatty matter and sugar (Winckler 1849). Salts of iron do not alter thin slices of it, tannic matters being absent. The presence of myrosin, which at present has been inferred rather than proved, ought to be further investigated. The root dried at 100° C afforded 11·15 per cent. of ash to Mutschler (1878).

Uses—An infusion or a distilled spirit of horse-radish is reputed stimulant, diaphoretic, and diuretic, but is not often employed.

Substitute—In India the root of Moringa pterygosperma Gärtn. is considered a substitute for horse-radish. It yields by distillation an essential oil of disgusting odour which Broughton, who obtained it in minute quantity, has assured us is not identical with that of mustard or of garlic.

CANELLACEÆ.

CORTEX CANELLÆ ALBÆ.

Canella Bark, Canella Alba Bark; F. Canelle blanche; G. Canella-Rinde.

Botanical Origin—Canella alba Murray,[310] a tree, 20 to 30 or even 50 feet in height, found in the south of Florida, the Bahama Islands (whence alone its bark is exported), Cuba, Jamaica, Ste. Broix, Guadaloupe, Martinique, Barbadoes and Trinidad.

History—The drug was first mentioned in 1605 by Clusius,[311] who remarks that it had been then newly brought to Europe and had received the name of Canella alba (White Cinnamon). It was afterwards known as Costus Corticosus, Costus dulcis, Cassia alba, Cassia lignea Jamaicensis or Jamaica Winter’s Bark. Dale[312] writing in 1693 notices it as not unfrequently sold for Winter’s Bark. Pomet[313] (1694) describes it as synonymous with Winter’s Bark, and observes that it is common, yet but little employed.

The drug is mentioned by most subsequent writers, some of whom like Pomet probably confounded it with the bark of Cinnamodendron (p. 19). It is usually described as produced in Jamaica or Guadaloupe, from which islands no Canella alba is now exported. On the other hand, New Providence, one of the Bahamas whence the Canella alba of the present day is shipped, is not named. Nor do we find any allusion to the drug in the records of the Company (1630-50) which was formed for the colonization of New Providence and the other islands of the group, though their staple productions are frequently enumerated.[314]

Canella alba Murr. was described and figured by Sloane (1707) and still better by Patrick Brown in 1789, and Olaf Swartz in 1791.[315]

Collection—In the Bahamas, where the drug is known as White-Wood Bark or Cinnamon Bark, it is collected thus:—preparatory to being stripped from the wood, the bark is gently beaten with a stick, which removes the suberous layer. By a further beating, the remaining bark is separated, and having been peeled off and dried, is exported without further preparation.[316]

Description—Canella bark occurs in the form of quills, more or less crooked and irregular, or in channelled pieces from 2 or 3 up to 6, 8, or more inches in length, ½ an inch to 1 or 2 inches in width, and a line or two in thickness. The suberous layer which here and there has escaped removal is silvery grey, and dotted with minute lichens. Commonly, the external surface consists of inner cellular layers (mesophlœum) of a bright buff, or light orange-brown tint, often a little wrinkled transversely, and dotted (but not always) with round scars. The inner surface is whitish or cinnamon-coloured, either smooth or with slight longitudinal striæ. Some parcels of canella show the bark much bruised and longitudinally fissured by the above-mentioned process of beating. The bark breaks transversely with a short granular fracture, which distinctly shows the three, or in uncoated specimens the two, cortical layers, that of the liber being the largest, and projecting by undulated rays or bundles into the middle layer, which presents numerous large and unevenly scattered oil-cells of a yellow colour.

Canella has an agreeable cinnamon-like odour, and a bitter, pungent acrid taste.[317] Even the corky coat is somewhat aromatic.

Microscopical Structure—The spongy suberous coat consists of very numerous layers of large cells with thin walls, showing an undulated rather than rectangular outline. The next small zone is constituted of sclerenchymatous cells in a single, double, or triple row, or forming dense but not very extensive groups. This tissue is sometimes (in unpeeled specimens) a continuous envelope, marking the boundary between the corky layer and the middle portion of the cellular layer; but an interruption in this thick-walled tissue often takes place when portions of it are enveloped and separated by the suberous layer.

The proper cellular envelope shows a narrow tissue with numerous very large cells filled with yellow essential oil. The liber forming the chief portion of the whole bark, exhibits thin prosenchymatous cells, which on traverse section form small bands of a peculiar horny or cartilaginous appearance, on which account they have been distinguished as horny liber (Hornbast of German writers).[318] The liber-fibres show reticulated marks due to the peculiar character of the secondary deposits on their cell-walls. The oil-cells in the liber are less numerous and smaller; the medullary rays are not very obvious unless on account of the crystalline tufts of oxalate of calcium deposited in the latter. This crystalline oxalate retains air obstinately, and has a striking dark appearance.

Chemical Composition—The most interesting body in canella is the volatile oil, examined in 1843 under Wöhler’s direction by Meyer and von Reiche, who obtained it in the proportion of 0·94 from 100 parts of bark. They found it to consist of four different oils, the first being identical with the Eugenol or Eugenic Acid of oil of cloves; the second is closely allied to the chief constituent of cajuput oil. The other oils require further examination.[319]

The bark, of which we distilled 20 lb., afforded 0·74 per cent. of oil. This when distilled with caustic potash in excess was found to be composed of 2 parts of the acid portion and 1 part of the neutral hydrocarbon; the latter has an odour suggesting a mixture of peppermint and cajuput.

Meyer and von Reiche evaporated the aqueous decoction of canella, and removed from the bitter extract by alcohol 8 per cent. of mannite, which they ascertained to be the so-called Canellin described in 1822 by Petroz and Robinet.

The bark yielded the German chemists 6 per cent. of ash, chiefly carbonate of calcium. The bitter principle has not yet been isolated. An aqueous infusion is not blackened by a persalt of iron.

Commerce—Canella alba is collected in the Bahama Islands and shipped to Europe from Nassau in New Providence, the chief seat of trade in the group. In 1876 the export of the bark amounted to 125 cwt.

Uses—The bark is an aromatic stimulant, now but seldom employed. It is used by the West Indian negroes as a condiment.

BIXINEÆ.

SEMEN GYNOCARDIÆ.

Chaulmugra Seed.

Botanical Origin—Gynocardia odorata R. Br. (Chaulmoogra Roxb., Hydnocarpus Lindl.), a large tree[320] with a globular fruit of the size of a shaddock, containing numerous seeds immersed in pulp. It grows in the forests of the Malayan peninsula and Eastern India as far north as Assam, extending thence along the base of the Himalaya westward to Sikkim.

History—The inhabitants of the south-eastern countries of Asia have long been acquainted with the seeds of certain trees of the tribe Pangieæ (ord. Bixineæ) as a remedy for maladies of the skin. In China a seed called Ta-fung-tsze is imported from Siam[321] where it is known as Lukrabo and used in a variety of cutaneous complaints. The tree affording it, which is figured in the Pun-tasao (circa a.d. 1596) has not been recognised by botanists, but from the structure of the seed it is obviously closely related to Gynocardia.[322]

The properties of G. odorata were known to Roxburgh who, Latinizing the Indian name of the tree, called it (1814) Chaulmoogra odorata. Of late years the seeds have attracted the notice of Europeans in India, and having been found useful in certain skin diseases, they have been admitted a place in the Pharmacopœia of India.

Description—The seeds, 1 to 1¼ inches long and about half as much in diameter, are of irregular ovoid form, and more or less angular or flattened by mutual pressure; they weigh on an average about 35 grains each. The testa is thin (about ¹/₅₀ of an inch), brittle, smooth, dull grey; within there is a brown oily kernel, marked with a darker colour at its basal end. The weight of the kernel is, on an average, twice that of the testa. The former encloses in its copious, soft albumen a pair of large, plain, leafy, heart-shaped cotyledons with a stout radicle. The taste of the kernel is simply oily.

Microscopic Structure—The testa is chiefly formed of cylindrical thick-walled cells. The albumen exhibits large angular cells containing fatty oil, masses of albuminous matter and tufted crystals of calcium oxalate. Starch is not present.

Chemical Composition—The kernels afforded us by means of ether 51·5 per cent. of fatty oil, which is almost colourless or somewhat brownish if the seeds are not fresh. Either extracted or expressed it is of no peculiar taste. The pressed oil concretes at 17° C.; that extracted by ether or bisulphide of carbon requires for solidification a lower temperature. The expressed oil is slightly fluorescent, less so that extracted by means of bisulphide of carbon. If the oil, either pressed or extracted, is diluted with the bisulphide, and then concentrated sulphuric or nitric acid is added, no peculiar coloration is produced.

From the powdered kernels deprived of oil, water removes the usual constituents, glucose, mucilage and albumin.

Uses—The seeds are said to have been advantageously used as an alternative tonic in scrofula, skin diseases and rheumatism. They should be freed from the testa, powdered, and given in the dose of 6 grains gradually increased. Reduced to a paste and mixed with Simple Ointment, they constitute the Unguentum Gynocardiæ of the Indian Pharmacopœia, which, as well as an expressed oil of the seeds may be employed externally in herpes, tinea, &c.[323]

Substitute—It has been suggested that the seeds of Hydnocarpus Wightiana Bl., a tree of Western India, and of H. venenata Gärtn., native of Ceylon, might be tried where those of Gynocardia are not procurable. The seeds of both species of Hydnocarpus (formerly confounded together as H. inebrians Vahl) afford a fatty oil which the natives use in cutaneous diseases.[324]

POLYGALEÆ.

RADIX SENEGÆ.

Radix Senekæ; Senega or Seneka Root; F. Racine de Polygala de Virginie; G. Senegawurzel.

Botanical Origin—Polygala Senega L., a perennial plant with slender ascending stems 6 to 12 inches high, and spikes of dull white flowers resembling in form those of the Common Milkwort of Britain. It is found in British America as far north as the river Saskatchewan, and in the United States from New England to Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and the upper parts of North Carolina, as well as in Georgia and Texas, not in the Rocky Mountains.

The plant, which frequents rocky open woods and plains, has become somewhat scarce in the Atlantic states, and as a drug is now chiefly collected in the west, the plant growing profusely in Iowa and Minnesota, west of New York.

History—The employment of this root among the Seneca Indians as a remedy for the bite of the rattlesnake attracted the notice of Tennent, a Scotch physician in Virginia; and from the good effects he witnessed he concluded that it might be administered with advantage in pleurisy and peripneumonia. The result of numerous trials made in the years 1734 and 1735 proved the utility of the drug in these complaints, and Tennent communicated his observations to the celebrated Dr. Mead of London in the form of an epistle, afterwards published together with an engraving of the plant, then called the Seneca Rattlesnake Root.[325] Tennent’s practice was to administer the root in powder or as a strong decoction, or more often infused in wine. The new drug was favourably received in Europe, and its virtues discussed in numerous theses and dissertations, one written in 1749 being by Linnæus.[326]

Description—Senega root is developed at its upper end into a knotty crown, in old roots as much as an inch in diameter, from which spring the numerous wiry aerial stems, beset at the base with scaly rudimentary leaves often of a purplish hue. Below the crown is a simple tap-root ²/₁₀ to ³/₁₀ of an inch thick, of contorted or somewhat spiral form, which usually soon divides into 2 or 3 spreading branches and smaller filiform rootlets.

The bark is light yellowish-grey, translucent, horny, shrivelled, knotted and partially annulated. Very frequently a keel-shaped ridge occurs, running like a shrunken sinew through the principal root; it has no connexion with the wood, but originates in a one-sided development of the liber-tissue. The bark encloses a pure, white woody column about as thick as itself. After the root has been macerated in water the bark is easily peeled off, and the peculiar structure of the wood can then be studied. The latter immediately below the crown is a cylindrical cord, cleft however by numerous, fine, longitudinal fissures. Lower down these fissures increase in an irregular manner, causing a very abnormal development of the wood. Transverse sections of a root therefore differ greatly, the circular wood portion being either penetrated by clefts or wide notches, or one-half or even more is altogether wanting, the space where wood should exist being in each case filled up by uniform parenchymatous tissue.

Senega root has a short brittle fracture, a peculiar rancid odour, and a very acrid and sourish taste. When handled it disperses in irritating dust.

Microscopic Structure—The woody part is built up of dotted vessels surrounded by short porous ligneous cells; the medullary rays consist of one or two rows of the usual small cells. There is no pith in the centre of the root. The clefts and notches are filled up with an uniform tissue passing into the primary cortical tissue without a distinct liber; the large cells of this tissue are spirally striated. In the keel-shaped rider the proper liber rays may be distinguished from the medullary rays. The former are made up of a soft tissue, hence the cortical part of the root breaks short together with the wood.

Neither starch granules nor crystals of oxalate of calcium are present in this root; the chief contents of its tissue are albuminoid granules and drops of fatty oil.

Chemical Composition—The substance to which the drug owes its irritating taste was distinguished by the name of Senegin by Gehlen as early as 1804, and is probably the same as the Polygalic Acid of Quevenne (1836) and of Procter (1859). Christophsohn (1874) extracted it by means of boiling water, evaporated the solution and exhausted the residue with boiling alcohol (0·853 sp. gr.). The liquid after a day or two, deposits the crude senegin, which is to be washed with alcohol (0·813 sp. gr.), and again dissolved in water, from which it is precipitated by a large excess of hydrate of baryum. The barytic compound, dissolved in water, is decomposed by carbonic acid, by which carbonate of baryum is separated, senegin remaining in solution. It is lastly to be precipitated by alcohol. It is amorphous, insoluble in ether and in cold water; it forms with boiling water a frothing solution. Like saponin, to which it is very closely allied, it excites violent sneezing.

Dilute inorganic acids added to a warm solution of senegin throw down a flocculent jelly of Sapogenin, the liquid retaining in solution uncrystallizable sugar. Alkalis give rise to the same decomposition; but it is difficult to split up the senegin completely, and hence the formulas given for this process are doubtful. Even the formula of senegin itself is not definitely settled. According to Christophsohn, the root yields about 2 per cent. of this substance; according to earlier authorities, who doubtless had it less pure, a much larger proportion. From Schneider’s investigations (1875) it would appear that the rootlets are richest in senegin.

Senega root contains a little volatile oil, traces of resin, also gum, salts of malic acid, yellow colouring matter, and sugar (7 per cent. according to Rebling, 1855). The Virginic Acid said by Quevenne to be contained in it, and the bitter substance Isolusin mentioned by Peschier, are doubtful bodies.

Uses—Senega is prescribed as a stimulating expectorant and diuretic, useful in pneumonia, asthma and rheumatism. It is much esteemed in America.

Adulteration—The drug is not liable to be wilfully falsified, but through careless collecting there is occasionally a slight admixture of other roots. One of these is American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolium L.) a spindle-shaped root which may be found here and there both in senega and serpentaria. The rhizome of Cypripedium pubescens Willd. has also been noticed; it cannot be confounded with that of Polygala Senega. The same may be said with regard to the rhizome of Cynanchum Vincetoxicum R. Brown (Asclepias L., Vincetoxicum officinale Mönch).

RADIX KRAMERIÆ.

Radix Ratanhiæ, Rhatanhiæ v. Rathaniæ; Rhatany or Rhatania Root, Peruvian or Payta Rhatany; F. Racine de Ratanhia; G. Ratanhiawurzel.[327]

Botanical Origin—Krameriæ triandra Ruiz et Pav., a small woody shrub with an upright stem scarcely a foot high and thick decumbent branches 2 to 3 feet long.[328] It delights in the barren sandy declivities of the Bolivian and Peruvian Cordilleras at 3000 to 8000 feet above the sea-level, often occurring in great abundance and adorning the ground with its red star-like flowers and silver-grey foliage.

The root is gathered chiefly to the north, north-east, and east of Lima, as at Caxatambo, Huanuco, Tarma, Jauja, Huarochiri and Canta; occasionally on the high lands about lake Titicaca. It appears likewise to be collected in the northern part of Peru, since the drug is now frequently shipped from Payta.

History—Hipolito Ruiz,[329] the Spanish botanist, observed in 1784 that the women of Huanuco and Lima were in the habit of using for the preservation of their teeth a root which he recognized as that of Krameria triandra, a plant discovered by himself in 1779. On his return to Europe he obtained admission for this root into Spain in 1796, whence it was gradually introduced into other countries of Europe.

The first supplies which reached England formed part of the cargo of a Spanish prize, and were sold in the London drug sales at the commencement of the present century. Some fell into the hands of Dr. Reece who recommended it to the profession.[330]

About 20 years ago there appeared in the European market some other kinds of rhatany previously unknown: of these the more important are noticed at pp. 81, 82.

Description—The root which attains a considerable size in proportion to the aerial part of the shrub, consists of a short thick crown, sometimes much knotted and as large as a man’s fist. This ramifies beneath the soil even more than above, throwing out an abundance of branching, woody roots (frequently horizontal) some feet long and ¼ to ½ an inch thick. These long roots used formerly to be found in commerce; but of late years rhatany has consisted in large proportion of the more woody central part of the root with short stumpy branches, which from their broken and bruised appearance have evidently been extracted with difficulty from a hard soil.

The bark which is scaly and rugged, and ⅒ to ¹/₂₀ of an inch in thickness, is of a dark reddish-brown. It consists of a loose cracked cork-layer, mostly smooth in the smaller roots, covering a bright brown-red inner bark, which adheres though not very firmly to a brownish yellow wood. The bark is rather tough, breaking with a fibrous fracture. The wood is dense, without pith, but marked with thin vessels arranged in concentric rings, and with still thinner, dark medullary rays. The taste of the bark is purely astringent; the wood is almost tasteless; neither possesses any distinctive odour.

Kr. cistoidea Hook, a plant scarcely to be distinguished from Kr. triandra, affords in Chili a rhatany very much like that of Peru. Its root was contributed to the Paris Exhibition of 1867.

Microscopic Structure—The chief portion of the bark is formed of liber, which in transverse section exhibits numerous bundles of yellow fibres separated by parenchymatous tissue and traversed by narrow brown medullary rays. The small layer of the primary bark is made up of large cells, the surface of the root of large suberous cells imbued with red matter. The latter also occurs in the inner cortical tissue, and ought to be removed by means of ammonia in order to get a clear idea of the structure. Many of the parenchymatous cells are loaded with starch granules; oxalate of calcium occurs in the neighbourhood of the liber bundles. The woody portion exhibits no structure of particular interest.

Chemical Composition—Wittstein (1854) found in the bark of rhatany (the only part of the drug having active properties) about 20 per cent. of a form of tannin called Ratanhia-tannic Acid, closely related to catechu-tannic acid. It is an amorphous powder, the solution of which is not affected by emetic tartar, but yields with ferric chloride a dark greenish precipitate. By distillation Eissfeldt (1854) obtained pyrocatechin as a product of the decomposition of ratanhia-tannic acid. The latter is also decomposed by dilute acids which convert it into crystallizable sugar and Ratanhia-red, a substance nearly insoluble in water, also occurring in abundance ready formed in the bark.

Grabowski (1867) showed that by fusing ratanhia-red with caustic potash, protocatechuic acid and phloroglucin[331] are obtained. Ratanhia-red has the composition C₂₆H₂₂O₁₁, the same, according to Grabowski, as an analogous product of the decomposition of the peculiar tannic acid occurring (as shown by Rochleder in 1866) in the horse-chestnut. The same red substance may also be obtained, as stated by Rembold (1868), from the tannic acid of the root of tormentil (Potentilla Tormentilla L.).

As to rhatany root, Wittstein also found it to contain wax, gum and uncrystallizable sugar (even in the wood! according to Cotton[332]). Cotton further pointed out the presence in very minute quantity of an odorous, volatile, solid body, obtainable by means of ether or bisulphide of carbon; it occurs in a somewhat more considerable amount in the other sorts of rhatany. The root contains no gallic acid.

A dry extract of rhatany resembling kino used formerly to be imported from South America, but how and where manufactured we know not. It is however of some interest as containing a crystalline body which Wittstein who discovered it (1854) regards as Tyrosin, C₉H₁₁O₃, previously supposed to be exclusively of animal origin.[333] Städeler and Ruge (1862) assigned to it a slightly different composition, C₁₀H₁₃NO₃, and gave it the name of Ratanhin. It dissolves in hot water which is acidulated by a little nitric acid; the solution on boiling turns red, blue, and lastly green, and becomes at the same time fluorescent. Kreitmair (1875) extracted 0·7 per cent, of ratanhin from an old specimen of commercial extract of rhatany; but he did not succeed in obtaining it from other specimens. He also showed that ratanhin is not a constituent of the roots of Krameria. The same substance has been abundantly found by Gintl (1868) in the natural exudation called Resina d’Angelim pedra[334] which is met with in the alburnum of Ferreirea spectabilis Allem., a large Brazilian tree of the order Leguminosæ (tribe Sophoreæ). Peckolt, who first extracted it, named it Angelin; it forms colourless, neutral crystals yielding compounds both with alkalis and acids, which have been investigated by Gintl in 1869 and 1870.

Uses—Rhatany is a valuable astringent, but is not much employed in Great Britain.

Other sorts of Rhatany—Of the 20 to 25 other species of Krameria, all of them belonging to America, several have astringent roots which have been collected and used in the place of the rhatany of Peru. The most important of these drugs is that known as—

Para Rhatany,—so called from having been shipped from Pará in Brazil. Berg who described it in 1865 termed it Brazilian Rhatany, Cotton in 1868, Ratanhia des Antilles. It is a drug nearly resembling the following, but of a darker and less purple hue; it is also in longer sticks which are remarkably flexible, and covered with a thick bark having numerous transverse cracks.[335] It is apparently derived from the Krameria argentea of Martius,[336] the root of which is collected in the dry districts of the provinces of Bahia and Minas Geraes, that plant growing throughout north-eastern Brazil. It is also called Rhatany from Ceará.

Savanilla or New Granada Rhatany. The plant yielding it is Krameria tomentosa St. Hil. (Kr. Ixina var. β granatensis Triana, Kr. grandifolia Berg), a shrub 4 to 6 feet high covering large arid tracts in the valley of Jiron between Pamplona and the Magdalena in New Granada, in which locality the collection of the root was observed by Weir in 1864.[337] According to Triana it also grows at Socorro, south of Jiron. The same plant is found near Santa Marta and Rio Hacha in north-eastern New Granada, in British Guiana, and in the Brazilian provinces of Pernambuco and Goyaz.

The stem or root-crown of Savanilla rhatany is never so knotty and irregular as that of the Peruvian drug, nor are the roots so long or so thick. Separate pieces of root of sinuous form, 4 to 6 inches long and ²/₁₀ to ³/₁₀ of an inch thick are most frequent. The drug is moreover well distinguished by its dull purplish brown colour, its thick smooth bark marked with longitudinal furrows, and here and there with deep transverse cracks, and by the bark not easily splitting off as it does in common rhatany.

The anatomical difference depends chiefly upon the more abundant development of the bark which in thickness is ⅓ to ¼ the diameter of the wood. In Peruvian rhatany the cortical layer attains only ⅙ to ⅛ of the diameter of the woody column. The greater firmness of the suberous coat in Savanilla rhatany is due to its cells being densely filled with colouring matter.

Savanilla rhatany differs from the Peruvian root in its tannic matter. This becomes evident by shaking the powdered root (or bark) with water and iron reduced by hydrogen. The liquid filtered from the Savanilla sort and diluted with distilled water exhibits an intense violet colour, that from Peruvian rhatany a dingy brown; the latter turns light red by alkalis. Thin sections of the Peruvian root assume a greyish hue when moistened with a ferrous salt; Savanilla root by a similar treatment displays the above violet colour. The Savanilla root is richer in soluble matter and from the greater development of its bark may deserve to be preferred for medicinal use.

In the English market, Savanilla root is of less frequent occurrence than that of Pará.

A kind of rhatany attributed to Krameria secundiflora DC., a herbaceous plant of Mexico, Texas and Arkansas, was furnished to Berg in 1854, but has not been in commerce. Its anatomical structure has been described by Berg.[338]

GUTTIFERÆ.

CAMBOGIA.

Gummi Gambogia, Gummi Gutti; Gamboge; F. Gomme Gutte; G. Gutti, Gummigutt.

Botanical Origin—Garcinia Morella Desrousseaux, var. β. pedicellata, a diœcious tree,[339] with handsome laurel-like foliage and small yellow flowers, found in Camboja, Siam (province of Chantibun and the islands on the east coast of the gulf of Siam), and in the southern parts of Cochin China. It was introduced about thirty years ago into Singapore where several specimens are still thriving (1873) on the estate of Dr. Jamie. The finest is now a tree of 20 feet high, with a trunk a foot in diameter, and a thick, spreading head of foliage.

G. Morella Desr.—The typical form of this tree having sessile male flowers grows in moist forests of Southern India and Ceylon, and is capable of affording good gamboge.

G. pictoria Roxb., a large tree of Southern India, produces a sort of gamboge found by Christian (1846) essentially the same as that of Siam. It has been examined more recently by Broughton (1871) who states it to be quite equal to that of G. Morella. We have also been unable to find any difference between the product of G. pictoria as sent from Ceylon and common gamboge. Garcinia pictoria moreover is thought by Sir Jos. Hooker to agree with G. Morella.

History—The Chinese had intercourse with Camboja as early as the time of the Sung dynasty (a.d. 970-1127); and a Chinese traveller who visited the latter country in 1295-97, describes gamboge and the method of obtaining it by incisions in the stem of the tree.[340] The celebrated Chinese herbal Pun-tsao, written towards the close of the 16th century, mentions gamboge (Tang-hwang) and gives a rude figure of the tree. The drug is regarded by the Chinese as poisonous, and is scarcely employed except as a pigment.

The first notice of the occurrence of gamboge in Europe is in the writings of Clusius[341] who describes a specimen brought from China by the Dutch Admiral, Jacob van Neck, and given to him in 1603, under the name of Ghittaiemou.[342] It appears that shortly after this time it began to be employed in medicine in Europe, for in 1611, Michael Reuden, a physician of Bamberg, made use of it as he stated in 1613.[343] He termed the drug a “novum gummi purgans,” or also, Gummi de Peru, the latter strange name no doubt being a corruption of the above mentioned Ghittaiemou. The appellation “gummi de Peru” is met with in pharmaceutical tariffs during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Gamboge is one of the articles of the tariff of the pharmaceutical shops of the City of Frankfort in 1612: “Gutta gemou, a strong purgative dried juice, coming from the Kingdom of Patana in the East Indies.” Patana or Patani is the most populous province of the east coast of the peninsula of Malacca. The Dutch established there a factory in 1602, and were followed in 1612 by the English. The settlement was abandoned in 1700; gamboge was probably brought there from the opposite shore of the gulf of Siam.[344]

In 1615, a considerable quantity of gamboge was offered for sale in London by the East Indian Company. The entry respecting it in the Court Minute Books of the company under date October 13, 1615, is to this effect:—Three chests, one rundlet, and a basket, containing 13, 14, or 15 hundredweights, more or less, of Cambogium “a drugge unknown here,”—the use of which, was much commended as a “a gentle purge,” were offered for sale at 5s. per lb., but met with no purchaser.

Jacob Bontius,[345] a Dutch physician, resident, towards 1629, in Batavia, stated that “gutta Cambodja,” as he termed the drug, came from the country of the same name; he supposed it to be derived from an Euphorbiaceous plant.

Parkinson,[346] who was an apothecary of London and wrote in 1640, speaks of this “Cambugio,” called by some Catharticum aureum, as a drug of recent importation which arrived in the form of “wreathes or roules” yellow within and without.

In the London Pharmacopœia of 1650, gamboge is called Gutta Gamba[347] or Ghitta jemou.

The mother plant of the drug was not fully examined and figured until 1864; yet in 1677 already, Hermann, a German physician residing in Ceylon, had pointed out that it was a Garcinia.[348]

Secretion—We have examined a portion of a branch two inches in diameter of the gamboge-tree,[349] and have found the yellow gum-resin to be contained chiefly in the middle layer of the bark in numerous ducts like those occurring in the roots of Inula Helenium and other roots of the same natural order. A little is also secreted in the dotted vessels of the outermost layer of the wood, and in the pith. The wood, which is white, acquires a bright yellow tint when exposed to the vapour of ammonia or to alkaline solutions.

Production—At the commencement of the rainy season the gamboge-collectors start for the forest in search of the trees which in some localities are plentiful. Having found one of the full size they make a spiral incision in the bark round half the circumference of the trunk, and place a joint of bamboo to receive the sap which slowly exudes for several months. When it first issues from the tree, it is a yellowish fluid, which after passing through a viscid state hardens into the gamboge of commerce. >

The trees grow both in the valleys and on the mountains and will yield on an average in one season enough to fill three joints of bamboo 20 inches in length by 1½ inches in diameter. The tree appears to suffer no injury provided the tapping is not more frequent than every other year.[350]

According to Dr. Jamie of Singapore, the gamboge-tree grows most luxuriantly in the dense jungles. The best time for collecting is from February to March or April. The trees, the larger the better, are wounded by a parang or chopping-knife, in various parts of the trunk and large branches, when prepared bamboos are inserted between the root and the bark of the trees. The bamboo cylinders being tied or inserted, are examined daily till filled, which generally takes from 15 to 30 days. Then the bamboos are taken to a fire, over which they are gradually rotated till the water in the gum-resin is evaporated and it gets sufficiently hard to allow of the bamboo being torn off.[351]

Description—The drug arrives in the form of sticks or cylinders 1 to 2½ inches in diameter, and 4 to 8 inches in length, striated lengthwise with impressions from the inside of the bamboo. Often the sticks are agglutinated, or folded, or the drug is in compressed or in shapeless masses. It is when good of a rich brownish orange tint, dense and homogeneous, breaking easily with a conchoidal fracture, scarcely translucent even in thin splinters. Touched with water it instantly forms a yellow emulsion. Triturated in a mortar it affords a brilliant yellow powder, slightly odorous. Gamboge has a disagreeable acrid taste.

Much of the gamboge shipped to Europe is of inferior quality, being of a brownish hue or exhibiting when broken a rough, granular, bubbly surface. Sometimes it arrives imperfectly dried and still soft.

Chemical Composition—Gamboge consists of a mixture of resin with 15 to 20 per cent. of gum. The resin dissolves easily in alcohol, forming a clear liquid of fine yellowish-red hue, and not decidedly acid reaction. It forms darker-coloured solutions with ammonia or the fixed alkalis, and a copious precipitate with basic acetate of lead. Perchloride of iron colours a solution of the resin deep blackish brown.

By fusing purified gamboge resin with potash, Hlasiwetz and Barth (1866) obtained acetic acid and other acids of the same series, together with phloroglucin, C₆H₃(OH)₃, pyrotartaric acid, C₅H₈O₄, and isuvitinic acid, C₆H₃CH₃(COOH)₂.

The gum which we obtained to the extent of 15·8 per cent. by completely exhausting gamboge with alcohol and ether, was found readily soluble in water. The solution does not redden litmus, and is not precipitated by neutral acetate of lead, nor by perchloride of iron, nor by silicate or biborate of sodium. It is therefore not identical with gum arabic.

Commerce—The drug finds its way to Europe from Camboja by Singapore, Bangkok, or Saigon. In 1877 the first place exported 240 peculs, Bangkok in 1875 no less than 346 peculs, value 48,835 dollars; from Saigon there have of late been shipped from 30 to 40 peculs annually (one pecul = 133·3 lbs. = 60·479 kilogrammes).[352]

Uses—Gamboge is a drastic purgative, seldom administered except in combination with other substances.

Adulteration—The Cambojans adulterate gamboge with rice flour, sand, or the pulverized bark of the tree,[353] which substances may be easily detected in the residue left after exhausting the drug successively by spirit of wine and cold water.

Other Sources of Gamboge—Although the gamboge of European commerce appears to be exclusively derived from the form of the plant named at the head of this article, Garcinia travancorica Beddome, is capable of yielding a similar drug which may be collected to some small extent for local use, but not for exportation. It is a beautiful tree of the southern forests of Travancore and the Tinnevelly Ghats (3,000 to 4,500 feet). According to its discoverer Lieut. Beddome,[354] it yields an abundance of bright yellow gamboge.

OLEUM GARCINIÆ.

Concrete Oil of Mangosteen, Kokum Butter.

Botanical Origin.—Garcinia indica Choisy (G. purpurea Roxb. Brindonia indica Dup. Th.), an elegant tree with drooping branches and dark green leaves.[355] It bears a smooth round fruit the size of a small apple, containing an acid purple pulp in which are lodged as many as 8 seeds. The tree is a native of the coast region of Western India known as the Concan, lying between Daman and Goa.

History—The fruit is mentioned by Garcia d’Orta(1563) as known to the Portuguese of Goa by the name of Brindones. He states that it has a pleasant taste though very sour, and that it is used in dyeing; and further that the peel serves to make a sort of vinegar. Several succeeding authors (as Bauhin and Ray) have contented themselves with repeating this account.

As to the fruit yielding a fatty oil, we find no reference to such fact till about the year 1830, when it was stated in an Indian newspaper[356] that an oil of the seeds is well known at Goa and often used to adulterate ghee (liquid butter). It was afterwards pointed out as the result of some experiments that the oil was of an agreeable bland taste and well adapted for use in pharmacy. A short article on Kokum Butter was published by Pereira[357] in 1851. With the view of bringing the substance into use for pharmaceutical preparations in India, it has been introduced into the Pharmacopœia of India of 1868.

Preparation—The seeds are reniform, somewhat crescent-shaped or oblong, laterally compressed and wrinkled, ⁶/₁₀ to ⁸/₁₀ of an inch long by about ⁴/₁₀ broad. Each seed weighs on an average about eight grains. The thick cotyledons, which are inseparable,[358] have a mild oily taste. Examination under the microscope shows them to be built up of large reticulated cells containing a considerable proportion of crystalline fat readily soluble in benzol. In addition globular masses of albuminous matter occur which with iodine assume a brownish yellow hue. With perchloride of iron the walls strike a greenish-black.

The process followed by the natives of India (by whom alone the oil is prepared) has been thus described:—The seeds having been dried by exposure for some days to the sun are bruised, and boiled in water. The oil collects on the surface, and concretes when cool into a cake which requires to be purified by melting and straining.

Description—Kokum Butter is found in the Indian bazaars in the form of egg-shaped or oblong lumps about 4 inches long by 2 inches in diameter, and weighing about a quarter of a pound. It is a whitish substance, at ordinary temperatures, firm, dry, and friable, yet greasy to the touch. Scrapings (which are even pulverulent) when examined in glycerin under the microscope show it to be thoroughly crystalline. They have a mild oily taste, yet redden litmus if moistened with alcohol.

By filtration in a steam-bath, kokum butter is obtained perfectly transparent and of a light straw-colour, concentrating again at 27·5° C. into a white crystalline mass: some crystals appear even at 30°. Melted in a narrow tube, cooled and then warmed in a water bath, the fat begins to melt at 42·5 C., and fuses entirely at 45°. The residue left after filtration of the crude fat is inconsiderable, and consists chiefly of brown tannic matters soluble in spirit of wine.

When kokum butter is long kept it acquires an unpleasant rancid smell and brownish hue, and an efflorescence of shining tufted crystals appears on the surface of the mass.

Chemical Composition—Purified kokum butter boiled with caustic soda yields a fine hard soap which, when decomposed with sulphuric acid, affords a crystalline cake of fatty acids weighing as much as the original fat. The acids were again combined with soda and the soap having been decomposed, they were dissolved in alcohol of about 94 per cent. By slow cooling and evaporation crystals were first formed which, when perfectly dried, melted at 69·5° C.: they are consequently Stearic Acid. A less considerable amount of crystals which separated subsequently had a fusing point of 55°, and may be referred to Myristic Acid.

A portion of the crude fat was heated with oxide of lead and water, and the plumbic compound dried and exhausted with ether, which after evaporation left a very small amount of liquid oil, which we refer to Oleic Acid.

Finally the sulphuric acid used at the outset of the experiments was saturated and examined in the usual manner for volatile fatty acids (butyric, valerianic, &c.) but with negative results.

The fat of the seeds of G. indica was extracted by ether and examined chemically in 1857 by J. Bouis and d’Oliveira Pimentel.[359] It was obtained to the extent of 30 per cent., was found to fuse at 40° C. and to consist chiefly of stearin (tristearin). The seeds yielded 1·72 per cent. of nitrogen. Their residue after exhaustion by ether afforded to alkaline solutions or alcohol a fine red colour.

Uses—The results of the experiments above-noted show that kokum butter is well suited for some pharmaceutical preparations. It might also be advantageously employed in candle-making, as it yields stearic acid more easily and in a purer state than tallow and most other fats. But that it is possible to obtain it in quantities sufficiently large for important industrial uses, appears to us very problematical.

DIPTEROCARPEÆ.

BALSAMUM DIPTEROCARPI.

Balsamun Gurjunæ; Gurjun Balsam, Wood Oil.

Botanical Origin—This drug is yielded by several trees of the genus Dipterocarpus, namely—

D. turbinatus Gärtn. f. (D. lævis Ham., D. indicus Bedd), a native of Eastern Bengal, Chittagong and Pegu to Singapore, and French Cochin China.

D. incanus Roxb., a tree of Chittagong and Pegu.

D. alatus Roxb., growing in Chittagong, Burma, Tenasserim, the Andaman Islands, Siam, and French Cochin China.

D. zeylanicus Thw. and D. hispidus Thw., indigenous to Ceylon.

D. crispalatus ... abounding, together with D. turbinatus and D. alatus, in French Cochin China.

D. trinervis Bl., a native of Java and the Philippines, and D. gracilis Bl., D. littoralis Bl., D. retusus Bl. (D. Spanoghei Bl.), trees of Java supply a similar useful product which as yet appears to be of less commercial importance.[360]

The Gurjun trees are said by Hooker[361] to be among the most magnificent of the forests of Chittagong. They are conspicuous for their gigantic size, and for the straightness and graceful form of their tall unbranched trunk, and small symmetrical crown of broad glossy leaves. Many individuals are upwards of 200 feet high and 15 feet in girth.

History—Gurjun balsam was enumerated as one of the productions of Ava by Francklin[362] in 1811, and in 1813 it was briefly noticed by Ainslie.[363] Its botanical origin was first made known by Roxburgh, who also described the method by which it is extracted.

The medicinal properties of Gurjun balsam were pointed out by O’Shaughnessy[364] as entirely analogous to those of copaiba; and his observations were confirmed by many practitioners in India. This has obtained for the drug a place in the Pharmacopœia of India (1868).

Extraction—A recent account of the production of this drug is found in the Reports of the Jury of the Madras Exhibition of 1855. It is there stated that Wood Oil, as the balsam is commonly called, is obtained for the most part from the coast of Burma and the Straits, and is procured by tapping the trees about the end of the dry season. Several deep incisions are made with an axe into the trunk of the tree and a good-sized cavity scooped out. In this, fire is placed, and kept burning until the wood is somewhat scorched, when the balsam begins to exude, and is then led away into a vessel of bamboo. It is afterwards allowed to settle, when a clear liquid separates from a thick portion called the “guad.” The oil is extracted year after year, and sometimes there are two or three holes in the same tree. It is produced in extraordinary abundance; from 30 to 40 gallons according to Roxburgh may sometimes be obtained from a single tree in the course of a season, during which it is necessary to remove from time to time the old charred surface of the wood and burn afresh.

If a growing tree is felled and cut into piece, the oleo-resin exudes and concretes on the wood, very much, it is said, resembling camphor (?) and having an aromatic smell.

Description—As Gurjun balsam is the produce of different trees as well as of different countries, it is not surprising to find that it varies considerably in its properties.

The following observations refer to a balsam of which 400 lb. were recently imported from Moulmein for a London drug firm. It is a thick and viscid fluid, exhibiting a remarkable fluorescence, so that when seen by reflected light it appears opaque and of dingy greenish grey; yet when placed between the observer and strong daylight it is seen to be perfectly transparent and of a dark reddish-brown.[365] It has a weak aromatic copaiba-like odour and a bitterish aromatic taste without the persistent acridity of copaiba. Its sp. gr. at 16·9° C. is 0·964.

With the following liquids Gurjun affords perfectly clear solutions which are more or less fluorescent, namely pure benzol (from benzoate of calcium), cumol, chloroform, sulphide of carbon, essential oils. On the other hand, it is not entirely soluble in methylic, ethylic, or amylic alcohol; in ether, acetic ether, glacial acetic acid, acetone, phenol (carbolic acid), or in caustic potash dissolved in absolute alcohol. Many samples of commercial benzin also are not capable of dissolving the oleo-resin perfectly, but we have not ascertained on what constituent of such benzin this depends. We have further noticed that that portion of petroleum which is known as Petroleum Ether, containing the most volatile hydrocarbons, does not wholly dissolve the oleo-resin. One hundred parts of the balsam warmed and shaken with 1000 parts of absolute alcohol yielded on cooling a precipitate of resin amounting when dried to 18·5 parts. All concentrated solutions of the balsam are precipitated by amylic alcohol.

If the balsam is kept for a long time in a stoppered vessel at 100° C. it simply becomes a little turbid; but about 130° C. it is transformed into a jelly, and on cooling does not resume its former fluidity. Balsam of copaiba heated in a closed glass tube to 220° C. does not at all lose its fluidity, whereas Gurjun balsam becomes an almost solid mass.

Chemical Composition—Of the balsam 6·99 grammes dissolved in benzol and kept in a water bath until the residue ceased to lose weight, yielded 3·80 grammes of a dry, transparent, semi-fluid resin, corresponding to 54·44 per cent., and 45·56 of volatile matters expelled by evaporation. But another sample afforded us much less residue. By submitting larger quantities of the above balsam to the usual process of distillation with water in a large copper still, 37 per cent. of volatile oil were easily obtained. The water passing over at the same time did not redden litmus paper. A dark, viscid, liquid resin remained in the still.

The essential oil is of a pale straw-colour and less odorous than most other volatile oils. Treated with chloride of calcium and again distilled, it begins to boil at 210° C. and passes over at 255°-260° C., acquiring a somewhat empyreumatic smell and light yellowish tint. The purified oil has a sp. gr. of 0·915;[366] it is but sparingly soluble in absolute alcohol or glacial acetic acid, but mixes readily with amylic alcohol.

According to Werner (1862) this oil has the composition C₂₀H₃₂ like that of copaiba. He says it deviates the ray of polarized light to the left, but that prepared by one of us deviated strongly to the right, the residual resin dissolved in benzol being wholly inactive. The oil does not form a crystalline compound with dry hydrochloric acid, which colours it of a beautiful blue.[367] De Vry[368] states that the essential oil after this treatment deviates the ray to the right.

The resin contains, like that of copaiba, a small proportion of a crystallizable acid which may be removed by warming it with ammonia in weak alcohol. That part of the resin which is insoluble even in absolute alcohol,[369] we found to be uncrystallizable. The Gurgunic Acid, as the crystallized resinous acid is called by Werner,[370] but which it is more correct to write Gurjunic, may consequently be prepared by extracting the resin with alcohol (·838) and mixing the solution with ammonia. From the ammoniacal solution gurjunic acid is precipitated on addition of a mineral acid, and if it is again dissolved in ether and alcohol it may be procured in the form of small crystalline crusts. From the specimen under examination we were not successful in obtaining indubitable crystals.

Gurjunic acid, C₄₄H₆₈O₈ according to Werner, melts at 220° C., and concretes again at 180° C.; it begins to boil at 260° C., yet at the same time decomposition takes place. By assigning to this acid the formula C₄₄H₆₄O₅ + 3H₂O, which agrees well with Werner’s analytical results, we may regard it as a hydrate of abietinic acid, the chemical behaviour of which is perfectly analogous. Gurjunic acid is soluble in alcohol 0·838, but not in weak alcohol; it is dissolved also by ether, benzol, or sulphide of carbon (Werner).

In copaiba from Maracaibo, Strauss (1865) discovered Metacopaivic Acid which is probably identical with gurjunic; the former, however, fuses at 206° C.

The amorphous resin forming the chief bulk of the residue of the distillation of the balsam, has not yet been submitted to exact analysis. We find that after complete desiccation it is not soluble in absolute alcohol. A crystallized constituent of Gurjun, which we obtained from a balsam of unknown origin, has been shown[371] to answer to the formula C₂₈H₄₆O₂. Its crystals, belonging to the asymmetric system, melt at 126°-130°C.; they are entirely devoid of acid character. A comparative examination of the product of each of the above named species of Dipterocarpus would be highly desirable.

Commerce—Gurjun balsam is exported from Singapore, Moulmein, Akyab and the Malayan Peninsula, and is a common article of trade in Siam. It is likewise produced in Canara in Southern India. It is occasionally shipped to Europe. More than 2000 lb. were offered for sale in London under the name of East India Balsam Capivi, 4th October 1855; and in October 1858, a no less quantity than 45 casks appeared in the catalogue of a London drug-broker. It is now not unfrequent in the London drug sales.

Uses—In medicine it has hitherto been employed only as a substitute for copaiba, and chiefly in the hospitals of India.

In the East its great use is as a natural varnish, either alone or combined with pigments; and also as a substitute for tar as an application to the seams of boats, and for preserving timber from the attacks of the white ant. To the first application it is often made better appropriated[372] by boiling it, so that the essential oil is evaporated.

Wood Oil of China—The oleo-resin of Dipterocarpus must not be confounded with the so-called Wood Oil of China, which is of a totally different nature. The latter is a fatty oil expressed from the seeds of Aleurites cordata Müll. Arg. (Dryandra cordata Thunb. Elaeococca Vernicia Sprgl. Prodromus xv. part 2, p. 724), the well-known Tung tree of the Chinese. It is a large tree of the order Euphorbiaceæ, found in China and Japan. The oil is an article of enormous consumption among the Chinese, who use it in the caulking and painting of junks and boats, for preserving woodwork, varnishing furniture, and also in medicine. In the commercial reports of H.M. Consuls in China (No. 5, 1875, p. 3, 26) we find that this oil is largely exported from Hankow: 199·654 peculs in 1874, and forms an article of import at Ningpo: 15·123 peculs in 1874 (pecul = 133·33 lb. avoirdupois). It is, however, not shipped to foreign countries. The oil of the Tung tree is also extremely remarkable on account of its chemical properties as shown by Cloëz (1875-1877).

MALVACEÆ.

RADIX ALTHÆÆ

Marshmallow Root; F. Racine de Guimauve; G. Eibischwurzel.

Botanical Origin—Althæa officinalis L., the marshmallow, grows in moist places throughout Europe, Asia Minor, and the temperate parts of Western and Northern Asia, but is by no means universally distributed. It prefers saline localities such as in Spain the salt marshes of Saragossa, the low-lying southern coasts of France near Montpellier, Southern Russia, and the neighbourhood of salt-springs in Central Europe. In southern Siberia Althæa has been met with by Semenoff (1857) ascending as high as 3,000 feet in the Alatau mountains, south of the Balkash Lake.

In Britain it occurs in the low grounds bordering the Thames below London, and here and there in many other spots in the south of England and of Ireland.

The cultivated marshmallow thrives as far north as Throndhjem in Norway, and has been naturalized in North America (salt marshes of New England and New York) and Australia. It is largely cultivated in Bavaria and Württemberg.

History—Marshmallow had many uses in ancient medicine, and is described by Dioscorides as Άλθαία, a name derived from the Greek verb ἀλθειν, to heal.

The diffusion of the plant in Europe during the middle ages was promoted by Charlemagne who enjoined[373] its culture (a.d. 812) under the name of “Mismalvas, id est alteas quod dicitur ibischa.”

Description—The plant has a perennial root attaining about a foot in length and an inch in diameter. For medicinal use the biennial roots of the cultivated plant are chiefly employed. When fresh they are externally yellowish and wrinkled, white within and of tender fleshy texture. Previous to drying, the thin outer and a portion of the middle bark are scraped off, and the small root filaments are removed. The drug thus prepared and dried consists of simple whitish sticks 6 to 8 inches long, of the thickness of the little finger to that of a quill, deeply furrowed longitudinally and marked with brownish scars. Its central portion, which is pure white, breaks with a short fracture, but the bark is tough and fibrous. The dried root is rather flexible and easily cut. Its transverse section shows the central woody column of undulating outline separated from the thick bark by a fine dark outline shaded off outwards.

The root has a peculiar though very faint odour, and is of rather mawkish and insipid taste, and very slimy when chewed.

Microscopic Structure—The greater part of the bark consists of liber, abounding in long soft fibres, to which the toughness of the cortical tissue is due. They are branched and form bundles, each containing from 3 to 30 fibres separated by parenchymatous tissue. Of the cortical parenchyme many cells are loaded with starch granules, others contain stellate groups of oxalate of calcium, and a considerable number of somewhat larger cells are filled with mucilage. The last named on addition of alcohol is seen to consist of different layers.

The woody part is made up of pitted or scalariform vessels, accompanied by a few ligneous cells and separated by a parenchymatous tissue, agreeing with that of the bark. On addition of an alkali, sections of the root assume a bright yellow hue.

Chemical Composition—The mucilage in the dry root amounts to about 25 per cent. and the starch to as much more. The former appears from the not very accordant analysis of Schmidt and of Mulder to agree with the formula C₁₂H₂₀O₁₀, thus differing from the mucilage of gum arabic by one molecule less of water. It likewise differs in being precipitable by neutral acetate of lead. At the same time it does not show the behaviour of cellulose, as it does not turn blue by iodine when moistened with sulphuric acid, and it is not soluble in ammoniacal solution of oxide of copper.

The root also contains pectin and sugar (cane-sugar according to Wittstock), and a trace of fatty oil. Tannin is found in very small quantity in the outer bark alone.

In 1826 Bacon, a pharmacien of Caen, obtained from althæa root crystals of a substance at first regarded as peculiar, but subsequently identified with Asparagin, C₄H₈N₂O₃, H₂O. It had been previously prepared (1805) by Vauquelin and Robiquet from Asparagus, and is now known to be a widely diffused constituent of plants.[374] Marshmallow root does not yield more than 0·8 to 2·0 per cent. Asparagin crystallizes in large prisms or octohedra of the rhombic system; it is nearly tasteless, and appears destitute of physiological action. Its relation to succinic acid may be thus represented:—

Succinic acid: C₂H₄ COOH

COOH;

Asparagin: C₂H₃(NH₂) CONH₂

COOH.

Asparagin is quite permanent whether in the solid state or dissolved, but it is easily decomposed if the solution contains the albuminoid constituents of the root, which act as a ferment. Leguminous seeds, yeast or decayed cheese induce the same change, the final product of which is succinate of ammonium, the asparagin taking the elements of water and hydrogen set free by the fermentation, thus—

C₄H₈N₂O₃ + H₂O + 2H = 2NH₄, C₄H₄O₄

Asparagin. Succinate of Ammonium.

Under the influence of acids or bases, or even by the prolonged boiling of its aqueous solution, asparagin is converted into Aspartate of Ammonium, C₄H₆(NH₄)NO₄, of which the hydrated asparagin contains the elements.

These transformations, especially the former, are undergone by the asparagin in the root, if the latter has been imperfectly dried, or has been kept long, or not very dry. Under such conditions, the asparagin gradually disappears, and the root then yields a brownish decoction, sometimes having a disagreeable odour of butyric acid. There is no doubt that a protein-substance here acts as a ferment. The sections of the root when touched with ammonia or caustic lye should display a bright yellow, not a dingy brown, colour.

The peeled root dried at 100° C. and incinerated afforded us 4·88 of ash, rich in phosphates.

Uses—Althæa is taken as a demulcent; it is sometimes also applied as an emollient poultice. It is far more largely used on the continent than in England.

FRUCTUS HIBISCI ESCULENTI.

Capsulæ Hibisci esculenti; Uëhka, Okro, Okra, Bendi-kai[375]; F. Gombo (in the French Colonies).

Botanical Origin—Hibiscus esculentus L. (Abelmoschus esculentus Guill. et Perr.) an herbaceous annual plant 2 to 3 or even 10 feet high, indigenous to the Old World.[376] It has been found growing abundantly wild on the White Nile by Schweinfurth, and also in 1861 by Col. Grant in Unyoro, 2° N. lat., near the lake Victoria Nyanza, where it is known to the natives as Bameea.

The plant is now largely cultivated in several varieties in all tropical countries.

History—The Spanish Moors appear to have been well acquainted with Hibiscus esculentus, which was known to them by the same name that it has in Persian at the present day—Bámiyah. Abul Abbas el-Nebáti, a native of Seville learned in plants, who visited Egypt in a.d. 1216, describes[377] in unmistakeable terms the form of the plant, its seeds and fruit, which last he remarks is eaten when young and tender with meat by the Egyptians. The plant was figured among Egyptian plants in 1592 by Prosper Alpinus,[378] who mentions its uses as an external emollient.

The powdered fruits as imported from Arabia Felix were known for some time (about the year 1848) in Europe as Nafé of the Arabs. They are noticed in the present work from the circumstance that they have a place in the Pharmacopœia of India.

Description—The fruit is a thin capsule, 4 to 6 or more inches long and about an inch in diameter, oblong, pointed, with 5 to 7 ridges corresponding to the valves and cells, each of which latter contains a single row of round seeds. It is covered with rough hairs and is green or purplish when fresh; it has a slightly sweet mucilaginous taste and a weak herbaceous odour. Like many other plants of the order, Hibiscus esculentus abounds in all its parts with insipid mucilage.

Microscopic Structure—A characteristic part for microscopic examination are the hairs of the fruit. They exhibit at the base one large cell, but their elongated and often slightly curved end is built up at a considerable number of small cells, without any solid contents. The middle and outer zone of the pericarp shows enormous holes filled up with colourless mucilage. In polarized light it is easily seen to be composed of successive layers.

Chemical Composition—It is probable that the fruits contain the same mucilage as Althæa, but we have had no opportunity of investigating the fact. Landrin[379] says it turns violet with iodine and yields no mucic acid when treated with nitric acid. Popp, who examined the green fruits in Egypt, states[380] that they abound in pectin, starch and mucilage. He found that when dried they afforded 2 to 2·4 per cent. of nitrogen, and an ash rich in salts of lime, potash and magnesia. The ripe seeds gave 2·4-2·5 per cent. of nitrogen; their ash 24 per cent. of phosphoric acid.

Uses—The fresh or dried, unripe fruits are used in tropical countries as a demulcent like marshmallow, or as an emollient poultice, for which latter purpose the leaves may also be employed. They are more important from an economic point of view, being much employed for thickening soups or eaten boiled as a vegetable. The root has been recommended as a substitute for that of Althæa.[381] The stems of the plant yield a good fibre.

STERCULIACEÆ.

OLEUM CACAO.

Butyrum Cacao, Oleum Theobromatis; Cacao Butter, Oil of Theobroma; F. Beurre de Cacao; G. Cacaobutter, Cacaotalg.

Botanical Origin—Cacao seeds (from which Cacao Butter is extracted) are furnished by Theobroma Cacao L., and apparently also by Th. leiocarpum Bernoulli, Th. pentagonum Bern., and Th. Salzmannianum Bern.[382] These trees are found in the northern parts of South America and in Central America as far as Mexico, both in a wild state and in cultivation.

History—Cacao seeds were first noticed by Capitan Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés (1514-1523), who stated[383] that they had been met with by Columbus, being used among the inhabitants of Yucatan instead of money. They were likewise pointed out to Charles V., by Cortes in one of his letters to the Emperor, dated Temixtitan, Sept. 3rd 1526.[384] The tree as well as the seeds and their uses, were at length described by Benzoni,[385] who lived in the new world from 1541 to 1555. Clusius figured the seeds in his “Notæ in Garciæ Aromatum historiam,” Antwerpiæ, 1582.

Cacao butter was prepared and described by Homberg[386] as early as 1695, at which time it appears to have had no particular application, but in 1719 it was recommended by D. de Quelus[387] both for ointments and as an aliment.

An essay published at Tübingen in 1735[388] called attention to it as “novum atque commendatissimum medicamentum.” A little later it is mentioned by Geoffroy[389] who says that it is obtained either by boiling or by expressing the seeds, that it is recommended as the basis of cosmetic pomades and as an application to chapped lips and nipples, and to hæmorrhoids.

Production—Cacao butter is procured for use in pharmacy from the manufacturers of chocolate, who obtain it by pressing the warmed seeds. These in the shelled state yield from 45 to 50 per cent. of oil. The natural seeds consist of about 12 per cent. of shell (testa) and 88 of kernels (cotyledons).

Description—At ordinary temperatures cacao butter is a light yellowish, opaque, dry substance, usually supplied in the form of oblong tablets having somewhat the aspect of white Windsor soap. Though unctuous to touch, it is brittle enough to break into fragments when struck, exhibiting a dull waxy fracture. It has a pleasant odour of chocolate, and melts in the mouth with a bland agreeable taste. Its sp. gr. is 0·961; its fusing point 20° to 30° C.

Examined under the microscope by polarized light, cacao butter is seen to consist of minute crystals. It is dissolved by 20 parts of boiling absolute alcohol, but on cooling separates to such an extent that the liquid retains not more than 1 per cent. in solution. The fat separated after refrigeration is found to have lost most of its chocolate flavour. Litmus is not altered by the hot alcoholic solution.

Cacao butter in small fragments is slowly dissolved by double its weight of benzol in the cold (10° C.), but by keeping partially separates in crystalline warts.

Chemical Composition—The fat under notice is composed, in common with others, of several bodies which by saponification furnish glycerin and fatty acids. Among the latter occurs also oleic acid,[390] contained in that part of the cacao butter which remains dissolved in cold alcohol as above stated. In fact by evaporating that solution a soft fat is obtained. But the chief constituents of cacao butter appear to be stearin, palmitin, and another compound of glycerin containing probably an acid of the same series richer in carbon,—perhaps arachic acid, C₂₀H₄₀O₂, or “theobromic acid” C₆₄H₁₂₈O₂, as suggested in 1877 by Kingzett.

Uses—Cacao butter, which is remarkable for having but little tendency to rancidity, has long been used in continental pharmacy; it was introduced into England a few years ago as a convenient basis for suppositories and pessaries.

Adulteration—The description given of the drug sufficiently indicates the means of ascertaining its purity.

LINEÆ.

SEMEN LINI.

Linseed, Flax Seed; F. Semence de Lin; G. Leinsamen, Flachssamen.>

Botanical Origin—Linum usitatissimum L., Common Flax, is an annual plant, native of the Old World, where it has been cultivated from the remotest times. It sows itself as a weed in tilled ground, and is now found in all temperate and tropical regions of the globe. Heer regards it as a variety evolved by cultivation from the perennial L. angustifolium Huds.

History—The history of flax, its textile fibre and seed, is intimately connected with that of human civilisation. The whole process of converting the plant into a fibre fit for weaving into cloth is frequently depicted on the wall-paintings of the Egyptian tombs.[391] The grave-clothes of the old Egyptians were made of flax, and the use of the fibre in Egypt may be traced back, according to Unger,[392] as far as the 23rd century b.c. The old literature of the Hebrews[393] and Greeks contains frequent reference to tissues of flax; and fabrics woven of flax have actually been discovered together with fruits and seeds of the plant in the remains of the ancient pile-dwellings bordering the lakes of Switzerland.[394]

The seed in ancient times played an important part in the alimentation of man. Among the Greeks, Alcman in the 7th century b.c., and the historian Thucydides, and among the Romans Pliny, mention linseed as employed for human food. The roasted seed is still eaten by the Abyssinians.[395]

Theophrastus expressly alludes to the mucilaginous and oily properties of the seed. Pliny and Dioscorides were acquainted with its medical application both external and internal. The latter, as well as Columella, exhaustively describes flax under its agricultural aspect. In an edict of the Emperor Diocletian De pretiis rerum venalium[396] dating a.d. 301, linseed is quoted 150 denarii, sesamé seed 200, hemp seed 80, and poppy seed 150, the modius castrensis, equal to about 880 cubic inches.[397] The propagation of flax in Northern Europe as of so many other useful plants was promoted by Charlemagne.[398] It seems to have reached Sweden and Norway before the 12th century.[399]

Description—The capsule which is globose splits into 5 carpels, each containing two seeds separated by a partition. The seeds are of flattened, elongated ovoid form with an acute edge, and a slightly oblique point blunt at one end. They have a brown, glossy, polished surface which under a lens is seen to be marked with extremely fine pits. The hilum occupies a slight hollow in the edge just below the apex. The testa which is not very hard encloses a thin layer of albumen surrounding a pair of large cotyledons having at their pointed extremity a straight embryo. The seeds of different countries vary from ¼ to ⅙ of an inch in length, those produced in warm regions being larger than those grown in cold. We find that 6 seeds of Sicilian linseed, 13 of Black Sea and 17 of Archangel linseed weigh respectively one grain.

When immersed in water, the seeds become surrounded by a thin, slippery, colourless, mucous envelope, which quickly dissolves as a neutral jelly, while the seed slightly swells and loses its polish. The seed when masticated has a mucilaginous oily taste.

Microscopic Structure—On examining the testa under almond oil or oil of turpentine, the outlines of the epidermal cells are not distinctly visible. But under dilute glycerin or in water the epidermis quickly swells up to 3 or 4 times its original thickness; on warming, the entire epidermis is resolved into mucilage, except a thin skeleton of cell-walls, which withstands even the action of caustic lye. The formation of the mucilage may be conveniently studied by the use of a solution of ferrous sulphate, with which thin sections of the testa should be moistened. Other structural peculiarities may be seen if they are imbued with concentrated sulphuric acid, washed and then moistened with a solution of iodine. The application of polarized light is also useful. By the latter means crystalloid granules of albuminoid matter become visible if the sections are examined under oil. The tissue of the albumen and the cotyledons abounds in drops of fatty oil.

Chemical Composition—The constituent of chief importance is the fixed oil which the seed contains to about ⅓ of its weight. The proportion obtained by pressure on a large scale is 20 to 30 per cent. varying with the quality of the seed. The oil when pressed without heat and when fresh has but little colour, is without unpleasant taste, and does not solidify till cooled to -20° C. The commercial oil however is dark yellow, and has a sharp repulsive taste and odour. On exposure to the air, especially after having been heated with oxide of lead, it quickly dries up to a transparent varnish consisting chiefly of Linoxyn, C₃₂H₅₄O₁₁. The crude oil increases in weight 11 to 12 per cent., although at the same time its glycerin is destroyed by oxidation.

By saponification, linseed oil yields glycerin, and 95 per cent. of fatty acids, consisting chiefly of Linoleic Acid, C₁₆H₂₆O₂, accompanied by some oleic, palmitic, and myristic acid. The action of the air transforms linoleic acid into the resinoid Oxylinoleic Acid, C₁₆H₂₆O₅. Linoleic acid appears to be contained in all drying oils, notably in that of poppy seed. It is not homologous either with ordinary fatty acids or with the oleic acid of oil of almonds, C₁₈H₃₄O₂. The chemistry of the drying oils, especially those of linseed and poppy, has been particularly investigated by Mulder.[400]

The viscid mucilage of linseed cannot be filtered till it has been boiled. It contains in the dry state more than 10 per cent. of mineral substances, when freed from which and dried at 110° C. it corresponds, like althæa-mucilage, to the formula C₁₂H₂₀O₁₀. The seeds by exhaustion with cold or warm water afford of it about 15 per cent. By boiling nitric acid it yields crystals of mucic acid; by dilute mineral acids it is broken up into dextrogyre gum and sugar and cellulose.[401]

Linseed contains about 4 per cent. of nitrogen corresponding to about 25 per cent. of protein-substances. After expression of the oil these substances remain in the cake so completely that the latter contains 5 per cent. of nitrogen, and constitutes a very important article for feeding cattle.

In the ripe state linseed is altogether destitute of starch, though this substance is found in the immature seed in the very cells which subsequently yield the mucilage. The latter may be regarded as in analogous cases to be a product of the transformation of starch.

The amount of water retained by the air-dry seed is about 9 per cent.

The mineral constituents of linseed, chiefly phosphates of potassium, magnesium, and calcium, amount on an average to 3 per cent., and pass into the mucilage. By treating thin slices of the testa and its adhering inner membrane with ferrous sulphate, it is seen that this integument is the seat of a small amount of tannin.

Production and Commerce—Flax is cultivated on the largest scale in Russia, from which country there was imported into the United Kingdom in 1872 linseed to the value of 3 millions sterling. The shipments were made in about equal proportion from the northern and the southern ports of Russia.

The imports from India in the same year amounted in value to £1,144,942, and from Germany and Holland to £144,108. The total import in 1872 was 1,514,947 quarters, value £4,513,842.

The cultivation of flax in Great Britain appears to be declining. The area under this crop in 1870 was 23,957 acres; in 1871, 17,366 acres; in 1872, 15,357 acres; and in 1873, 14,683 acres. The last named area reckoning the yield at 2 to 2½ quarters of seed per acre would represent a production of about 30,000 to 38,000 quarters.

In English price-currents, eight sorts of linseed are enumerated, namely, English, Calcutta, Bombay, Egyptian, Black Sea and Azof, Petersburg, Riga, Archangel. The first three appear to fetch the highest prices.

Uses—In medicine, linseed is chiefly used in the form of poultice which may be made either of the seed simply ground or of the pulverized cake. In either case the powder should not be long stored, as the oil in the comminuted seed is rapidly oxidized and fatty acids produced. An infusion of the seeds called Linseed Tea is a common popular demulcent remedy.

Adulteration—Linseed is very liable to adulteration with other seeds, especially when the commodity is scarce. The admixture in question is due in part to careless harvesting and in part to intentional additions. In 1864 the impure condition of the linseed shipped to the English market had become so detrimental to the trade that the importers and crushers founded an association called The Linseed Association of London, by which they bound themselves to refuse all linseed containing more than 4 per cent. of foreign seeds, and this step very rapidly improved the quality of the article.[402]

As the druggist has to purchase linseed meal, he must of necessity rely to some extent on the character of the oil-presser from whom he derives his supplies. The presence of the seeds of Cruciferæ (as rape and mustard) which is common, may be recognized by the pungent odour of the essential oil which they develope in contact with water. The introduction of cereals would also be easily discovered by iodine, which strikes no blue colour in a decoction of linseed. The microscope will also afford important aid in the examination of linseed cake or meal.

ZYGOPHYLLEÆ.

LIGNUM GUAIACI.

Lignum sanctum; Guaiacum Wood, Lignum Vitæ; F. Bois de Gaïac; G. Guaiakholz, Pockholz.

Botanical Origin—This wood is furnished by two West Indian species of Guaiacum, namely:—

1. G. officinale L., a middle-sized or low evergreen tree, with light blue flowers, parapinnate leaves having ovate, very obtuse leaflets in 2, less often in 3 pairs, and 2-celled fruits. It grows in Cuba, Jamaica (abundantly on the arid plains of the south side of the island), Les Gonaives in the N.W. of Hayti (plentiful), St. Domingo, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad, and the northern coast of the South American continent. This tree affords the Lignum Vitæ of Jamaica (of which very little is imported), a portion of that shipped from the ports of Hayti, and probably the small quantity exported by the United States of Colombia.

2. G. sanctum L., a tree much resembling the preceding, but distinguishable by its leaves having 3 to 4 pairs of leaflets which are very obliquely obovate or oblong, passing into rhomboid-ovate, and mucronulate; and a 5-celled fruit. It is found in Southern Florida, the Bahama Islands, Key West, Cuba, St. Domingo (including the part called Hayti) and Puerto Rico, and is certainly the source of the small but excellent Lignum Vitæ exported from the Bahamas as well as of some of that shipped from Hayti.

History—There can be no doubt but that the earliest importations of Lignum Vitæ were obtained from St. Domingo, of which island, Oviedo[403] who landed in America in 1514 mentions the tree, under the name of Guayacan, as a native. He points out its fruits as yellow and resembling two joined lupines, which could only be said with reference to G. officinale, and would not apply to the ovoid five-cornered fruits of G. sanctum. Oviedo appears however to have been aware of two species, one of which he found in Española (St. Domingo) as well as in Nagrando (Nicaragua) and the other in the island of St. John (Puerto Rico), whence it was called Lignum sanctum.

The first edition of Oviedo was printed in 1526; but some years before this the wood must have been known in Germany, as is evident by the treatises written in 1517, 1518, and 1519 by Nicolaus Poll,[404] Leonard Schmaus[405] and Ulrich von Hutten.[406] The last which gives a tolerable description of the tree, its wood, bark, and medicinal properties, was translated into English in 1533 by Thomas Paynel, canon of Merton Abbey, and published in London in 1536 under the title—“Of the wood called Guaiacum that healeth the Frenche Pockes and also helpeth the gout in the feete, the stoone, the palsey, lepree, dropsy, fallynge euyll, and other dyseases.” It was several times reprinted.

In the old pharmacy the products of destructive distillation of guaiacum wood were known as Oleum ligni sancti. It must have consisted of the substances which we mention further on in the following article.

Description—The wood (always known in commerce as Lignum Vitæ) as imported consists of pieces of the stem and thick branches, usually stripped of bark, and often weighing a hundredweight each. It is remarkably heavy and compact. Its sp. gr. which exceeds that of most woods is about 1·3.

Lignum Vitæ is mostly imported for turnery,[407] and the chips, raspings and shavings are the only form in which it is commonly seen in pharmacy. A stem 7 to 8 inches in diameter cut transversely exhibits a light-yellowish zone of sapwood about an inch wide, enclosing a sharply defined heartwood of a dark greenish brown. Both display alternate lighter and darker layers, which especially in the sapwood are further distinguished by groups of vessels. In this manner are formed a large number of circles resembling annual rings, the general form of which is evident, though the individual rings are by no means well defined. More than 20 such rings may be counted in the sapwood of a log such as we have mentioned, and more than 30 in the heartwood. The pithless centre is usually out of the axis. The medullary rays are not visible to the naked eye, but may be seen by a lens to be very numerous and equidistant. The pores of the heartwood may be distinguished as containing a brownish resin, while those of the outermost layer of sapwood are empty.

In the thickest pieces sapwood is wanting, and even in stems of about a foot in diameter it is reduced to ⅕ of an inch. It is of looser texture than the heartwood and floats on water, whereas the latter sinks. Both sapwood and heartwood owe their tenacity to an extremely peculiar zigzag arrangement[408] of the woody bundles. The sapwood is tasteless. The heartwood has a faintly aromatic and slightly irritating taste, and when heated or rubbed emits a weak agreeable odour.

The bark which was formerly officinal but is now almost obsolete, is very rich in oxalate of calcium and affords upon incineration not less than 23 per cent. of ash. It contains a resin distinct from that of the wood, and also a bitter acrid principle.[409]

The Lignum Vitæ of Jamaica (G. officinale) and that of the Bahamas (G. sanctum), of which authentic specimens have been kindly placed at our disposal by Mr. G. Shadbolt, display the same appearance as well as microscopic structure.[410]

Microscopic Structure—The wood consists for the most part of pointed, not very long, ligneous cells (libriform), traversed by one-celled rows of medullary rays. There are also thin layers of parenchymatous tissue, to which the zones apparent in a transverse section of the drug are due. The pitted vessels are comparatively large but not very numerous. The structure of the sapwood is the same as that of the heartwood, but in the latter the ligneous cells are filled with resin. The parenchymatous cells contain crystals of oxalate of calcium.

Chemical Composition—The only constituent of any interest is the resin which the heartwood contains to the extent of about a fourth of its weight. The sapwood afforded us 0·91 and the heartwood 0·60 per cent. of ash.

Commerce—Lignum Vitæ varies much in estimation, according to size, soundness, and the cylindrical form of the logs. The best is exported from the city of Santo Domingo, whither it is brought from the interior of the island. The quantity shipped from this port during 1871 was 1494 tons;[411] 220 tons were exported in 1877 from Puerto Plata on the northern coast of the island. The wood obtained from the Haytian ports (of the western part of the same island) is much less esteemed in the London market.

Some small wood of good quality comes from the Bahamas, and an ordinary quality, also small, from Jamaica. From the latter island, the quantity exported in 1871 was only 14 tons;[412] from the Bahamas in the same year 199 tons.[413] Lignum Vitæ was shipped from Santa Marta in 1872 to the extent of 115 tons.[414]

Hamburg is also an important place for the wood under notice; in 1877 there were imported 22,404 centners from S. Domingo and 3551 centners from Venezuela.

Uses—Guaiacum wood is only retained in the pharmacopœia as an ingredient of the Compound Decoction of Sarsaparilla. It is probably inert, at least in the manner in which it is now administered.[415]

Adulteration—In purchasing guaiacum chips it is necessary to observe that the non-resinous sapwood is absent, and still more that there is no admixture of any other wood. A spurious form of the drug seems to be by no means rare in the United States.[416]

RESINA GUAIACI.

Guaiacum Resin; F. Résine de Gaïac; G. Guaiakharz.

Botanical Origin—Guaiacum officinale L., see preceding article.

History—Hutten[417] in 1510 stated that guaiacum wood when set on fire exudes a blackish resin which quickly hardens, but of which he knew no use. The resin was in fact introduced into medicine much later than the wood. The first edition of the London Pharmacopœia in which we find the former named is that of 1677.

Production[418]—In the island of St. Domingo, whence the supplies of guaiacum resin are chiefly derived, the latter is collected from the stems of the trees, in part as a natural exudation, and in part as the result of incisions made in the bark. In some districts as in the island of Gonave near Port-au-Prince, another method of obtaining it is adopted. A log of the wood is supported in a horizontal position above the ground by two upright bars. Each end of the log is then set on fire, and a large incision having been previously made in the middle, the melted resin runs out therefrom in considerable abundance. 36,350 lbs. of it have been exported in 1875 from Port-au-Prince.

The resin is collected chiefly from G. officinale, which affords it in greater plenty than G. sanctum.

Description—The resin occurs in globular tears ½ an inch to 1 inch in diameter, but much more commonly in the form of large compact masses, containing fragments of wood and bark. The resin is brittle, breaking with a clean, glassy fracture; in thin pieces it is transparent and appears of a greenish brown hue. The powder when fresh is grey, but becomes green by exposure to light and air. It has a slight balsamic odour and but little taste, yet leaves an irritating sensation in the throat.

The resin has a sp. gr. of about 1·2. It fuses at 85° C., emitting a peculiar odour somewhat like that of benzoin. It is easily soluble in acetone, ether, alcohol, amylic alcohol, chloroform, creosote, caustic alkaline solutions, and oil of cloves; but is not dissolved or only partially by other volatile oils, benzol or bisulphide of carbon. By oxidizing agents it acquires a fine blue colour, well shown when a fresh alcoholic solution is allowed to dry up in a very thin layer and this is then sprinkled with a dilute alcoholic solution of ferric chloride. Reducing agents of all kinds, and heat produce decoloration. An alcoholic solution may be thus blued and decolorized several times in succession, but it loses at length its susceptibility. This remarkable property of guaiacum was utilized by Schönbein in his well-known researches on ozone.

Chemical Composition—The composition of guaiacum resin was ascertained by Hadelich (1862) to be as follows:—

Guaiaconic Acid, 70·3 per cent.

Guaiaretic Acid, 10·5 ”

Guaiac Beta-resin, 9·8 ”

Gum, 3·7 ”

Ash constituents, 0·8 ”

Guaiacic Acid, colouring matter

(Guaiac-yellow), and impurities, 4·9 ”

If the mother-liquor obtained in the preparation of the potassium salt of guaiaretic acid (vide infra) is decomposed by hydrochloric acid, and the precipitate washed with water, ether will extract from the mass Guaiaconic Acid, a compound discovered by Hadelich, having the formula C₃₈H₄₀O₁₀. It is a light brown, amorphous substance, fusing at 100° C. It is without acid reaction but decomposes alkaline carbonates, forming uncrystallizable salts easily soluble in water or alcohol. It is insoluble in water, benzol, or bisulphide of carbon, but dissolves in ether, chloroform, acetic acid or alcohol. With oxidizing agents it acquires a transient blue tint.

Guaiaretic Acid, C₂₀H₂₆O₄, discovered by Hlasiwetz in 1859, may be extracted from the crude resin by alcoholic potash or by quicklime. With the former it produces a crystalline salt; with the latter an amorphous compound: from either the liquid, which contains chiefly a salt of guaiaconic acid, may be easily decanted. Guaiaretic acid is obtained by decomposing one of the salts referred to with hydrochloric acid, and crystallizing from alcohol. The crystals, which are soluble also in ether, benzol, chloroform, carbon bisulphide or acetic acid, but neither in ammonia nor in water, melt below 80° C., and may be volatilized without decomposition. The acid is not coloured blue by oxidizing agents.

By exhausting guaiacum resin with boiling bisulphide of carbon a slightly yellowish solution is obtained (containing chiefly guaiaretic acid?), which, on addition of concentrated sulphuric acid, turns beautifully red.

After the extraction of the guaiaconic acid there remains a substance insoluble in ether to which the name Guaiac Beta-resin has been applied. It dissolves in alcohol, acetic acid or alkalis, and is precipitated by ether, benzol, chloroform or carbon bisulphide in brown flocks, the composition of which appears not greatly to differ from that of guaiaconic acid.

Guaiacic Acid, C₁₂H₁₆O₆, obtained in 1841 by Thierry from guaiacum wood or from the resin, crystallizes in colourless needles. Hadelich was not able to obtain more than one part from 20,000 of guaiacum resin.

Hadelich’s Guaiac-yellow, the colouring matter of guaiacum resin, first observed by Pelletier, crystallizes in pale yellow quadratic octohedra, having a bitter taste. Like the other constituents of the resin, it is not a glucoside.

The decomposition-products of guaiacum are of peculiar interest. On subjecting the resin to dry distillation in an iron retort and rectifying the distillate, Guaiacene (Guajol of Völckel), C₅H₈O, passes over at 118° C. as a colourless neutral liquid having a burning aromatic taste.

At 205°-210° C., there pass over other products, Guaiacol, C₆H₄·OCH₃·OH, (methylic ether of pyrocatechin), and Kreosol C₆H₃·OH(CH₃)₂. Both are thickish, aromatic, colourless liquids, which become green by caustic alkalis, blue by alkaline earths, and are similar in their chemical relations to eugenic acid. Guaiacol has been prepared synthetically by Gorup-Besanez (1868) by combining iodide of methyl, CH₃I, with pyrocatechin, C₆H₄(OH)₂.

After the removal by distillation of the liquids just described, there sublime upon the further application of heat pearly crystals of Pyroguaiacin, C₃₈H₄₄O₆, an inodorous substance melting at 180° C. The same compound is obtained together with guaiacol by the dry distillation of guaiaretic acid. Pyroguaiacin is coloured green by ferric chloride, and blue by warm sulphuric acid. The similar reactions of the crude resin are probably due to this substance (Hlasiwetz).

Beautiful coloured reactions are likewise exhibited by two new acids which Hlasiwetz and Barth obtained (1864) in small quantity together with traces of fatty volatile acids, by melting purified resin of guaiacum with potassium hydrate. One of them is isomeric with pyrocatechuic acid.

Uses—Guaiacum resin is reputed diaphoretic and alterative. It is frequently prescribed in cases of gout and rheumatism.

Adulteration—The drug is sometimes imported in a very foul condition and largely contaminated with impurities arising from a careless method of collection.

RUTACEÆ.

CORTEX ANGOSTURÆ.

Cortex Cuspariæ; Angostura Bark, Cusparia Bark, Carony Bark; F. Ecorce d’Angusture de Colombie; G. Angostura-Rinde.

Botanical Origin—Galipea Cusparia St. Hilaire (G. officinalis Hancock, Bonplandia trifoliata Willd., Cusparia trifoliata Engler 1874, Flora Brasil. 113), a small tree, 12 to 15 feet high, with a trunk 3 to 5 inches in diameter, growing in abundance on the mountains of San Joaquin de Caroni in Venezuela, between 7° and 8° N. lat., also according to Bonpland[419] near Cumana. According to Hancock,[420] who was well acquainted with the tree, it is also found in the Missions of Tumeremo, Uri, Alta Gracia, and Cupapui, districts lying eastward of the Caroni and near its junction with the Orinoko. The bark is brought into commerce by way of Trinidad.

History—Angostura Bark is said to have been used in Madrid by Mutis as early as 1759[421] (the year before he left Spain for South America,) but it was certainly unknown to the rest of Europe until much later. Its real introducer was Brande, apothecary to Queen Charlotte, and father of the distinguished chemist of the same name, who drew attention to some parcels of the bark imported into England in 1788.[422] In the same year a quantity was sent to a London drug firm by Dr. Ewer of Trinidad, who describes it[423] as brought to that island from Angostura by the Spaniards. The drug continued to arrive in Europe either by way of Spain or England, and its use was gradually diffused. In South America it is known as Quina de Caroni and Cascarilla del Angostura.

Description—The bark occurs in flattish or channelled pieces, or in quills rarely as much as 6 inches in length and mostly shorter. The flatter pieces are an inch or more in width and ⅛ of an inch in thickness. The outer side of the bark is coated with a yellowish-grey corky layer, often soft enough to be removeable with the nail, and then displaying a dark brown, resinous under surface. The inner side is light brown with a rough, slightly exfoliating surface indicating close adhesion to the wood, strips of which are occasionally found attached to it; the obliquely cut edge also shows that it is not very easily detached. The bark has a short, resinous fracture, and displays on its transverse edge sharply defined white points, due to deposite of oxalate of calcium. It has a bitter taste and a nauseous musty odour.

Microscopic Structure—The most striking peculiarity is the great number of oil-cells scattered through the tissue of the bark. They are not much larger than the neighbouring parenchymatous cells, and are loaded with yellowish essential oil or small granules of resin. Numerous other cells contain bundles of needle-shaped crystals of oxalate of calcium or small starch granules. The liber exhibits bundles of yellow fibres, to which the foliaceous fracture of the inner bark is due. The structure of the bark under notice has been very minutely described and figured by Oberlin and Schlagdenhauffen.[424]