I.—PHÆNOGAMOUS OR FLOWERING PLANTS. (continued 8)

When either cutch or gambier is subjected to dry distillation it yields, in common with many other substances, Pyrocatechin, C₆H₄(OH)₂.

Commerce—The importations of cutch into the United Kingdom from British India (excluding the Straits Settlements and Ceylon) were as under, almost the whole being from Bengal and Burma:—

1869 1870 1871 1872

2257 tons. 5252 tons. 4335 tons. 5240 tons.

The total value of the cutch imported in 1872 was estimated at £124,458.

Uses—Cutch under the name of Catechu, which name it shares with gambier, is employed in medicine as an astringent.

Analogous Products—See our articles Semen Arecæ and Gambier.

ROSACEÆ.

AMYGDALÆ DULCES.

Sweet Almonds; F. Amandes douces; G. Süsse Mandeln.

Botanical Origin—Prunus Amygdalus Baillon[937] var. β. dulcis (Amygdalus communis L. var. β. dulcis DC.)—The native country of the almond cannot be ascertained with precision. A. de Candolle,[938] after reviewing the statements of various authors concerning the occurrence of the tree in an apparently wild state, arrives at the conclusion that its original area possibly extended from Persia, westward to Asia Minor and Syria, and even to Algeria. The tree is found ascending to 4000 feet in the Antilebanon, to 3000 in Mesopotamia, and even to 9000 feet in the Avroman range, not far from Sulemānia, Southern Kurdistan.[939]

At an early period the tree was spread throughout the entire Mediterranean region, and in favourable situations, far into the continent of Europe. It was apparently introduced into Italy from Greece, where according to Heldreich,[940] the bitter variety is truly wild. The almond-tree matures its fruit in the south of England, but is liable to destruction by frost in many parts of central Europe.

History—The earliest notice of the almond extant is that in the Book of Genesis,[941] where we read that the patriarch Israel commanded his sons to carry with them into Egypt a present consisting of the productions of Palestine, one of which is named as almonds.

From the copious references to the almond in the writings of Theophrastus, one cannot but conclude that in his day it was familiarly known.

In Italy, M. Porcius Cato[942] mentions towards the middle of the 2nd century b.c. Avellanæ Græcæ which we know from later authors signified almonds. Columella, who wrote about a.d.. 60, calls them Nuces Græcæ. Bitter almonds (“Amygdali amari”) are named about this latter period by Scribonius Largus.

As to more northern Europe, almonds are mentioned together with other groceries and spices as early as a.d. 716, in a charter granted by Chilperic II., King of France, to the monastery of Corbie in Normandy.[943] In 812 Charlemagne ordered the trees (Amandalarii) to be introduced on the imperial farms. In the later middle ages, the cultivation of the almond was carried on about Speier and in the Rhenish Palatinate. We learn from Marino Sanudo[944] that in the beginning of the 14th century, almonds had become an important item of the Venetian trade to Alexandria. They were doubtless in large part produced by the islands of the Greek Archipelago, then under Christian rule. In Cyprus for instance, the Knights Templar levied tithes in 1411 of almonds, honey, and sesamé seed.[945]

The consumption of almonds in mediæval cookery was enormous. An inventory made in 1372 of the effects of Jeanne d’Evreux, queen of France, enumerates only 20 lb. of sugar, but 500 lb. of almonds.[946]

In the Form of Cury, a manuscript written by the master cooks of King Richard II., a.d. 1390, are receipts for “Creme of Almand, Grewel of Almand, Cawdel of Almand Mylke, Jowt of Almand Mylke,” &c.[947]

Almonds were sold in England by the “hundred” i.e. 108 lb. Rogers[948] gives the average price between 1259 and 1350 as 2d., and between 1351 and 1400 as 3⅛d. per lb.

Description—The fruit of the almond tree is a drupe, with a velvety sarcocarp which at maturity dries, splits, and drops out leaving bare and still attached to the branch, an oblong, ovate pointed stone, pitted with irregular holes. The seed, about an inch in length, is ovate or oblong, more or less compressed, pointed at the upper, blunt at the lower end, coated with a scurfy, cinnamon-brown skin or testa. It is connected with the stone or putamen by a broad funicle, which runs along its edge for more than a third of its length from the apex; hence the raphe passes downwards to the rounded end of the seed, where a scar marks the chalaza. From this, a dozen or more ramifying veins run up the brown skin towards the pointed end. After an almond has been macerated in warm water, the skin is easily removed, bringing with it the closely attached translucent inner membrane or endopleura. As the seed is without albumen, the whole mass within the testa consists of embryo. This is formed of a pair of plano-convex cotyledons, within which lie the flat leafy plumule and thick radicle, the latter slightly projecting from the pointed or basal end of the seed.

Almonds have a bland, sweet, nutty flavour. When triturated with water, they afford a pure white, milk-like emulsion of agreeable taste.

Varieties—The different sorts of almond vary in form and size, and more particularly in the firmness of the shell. This in some varieties is tender and easily broken in the hand, in others so hard as to require a hammer to fracture it. The form and size of the kernel likewise exhibit some variation. The most esteemed are those of Malaga, known in trade as Jordan Almonds. They are usually imported without the shell, and differ from all other sorts in their oblong form and large size. The other kinds of sweet almonds known in the London market are distinguished in the order of value as Valencia, Sicily, and Barbary.[949]

Microscopic Structure—Three different parts are to be distinguished in the brown coat of an almond. First, a layer of very large (as much as ⅓ mm. in diameter) irregular cells, to which the scurfy surface is due. If these brittle cells are boiled with caustic soda, they make a brilliant object for microscopic examination in polarized light. The two inner layers of the skin are made up of much smaller cells, traversed by small fibro-vascular bundles. The brown coat assumes a bluish hue on addition of perchloride of iron, owing to the presence of tannic matter.

The cotyledons consist of thin-walled parenchyme, fibro-vascular bundles being not decidedly developed. This tissue is loaded with granular albuminous matter, some of which exhibits a crystalloid aspect, as may be ascertained in polarized light. Starch is altogether wanting in almonds.

Chemical Composition—The sweet almond contains fixed oil extractable by boiling ether to the extent of 50 to 55 per cent. A produce of 50 per cent. by the hydraulic press is by no means uncommon.

The oil (Oleum Amygdalæ) is a thin, light yellow fluid, of sp. gr. 0·92, which does not solidify till cooled to between -10 and-20° C. When fresh, it has a mild nutty taste, but soon becomes rancid by exposure to the air; it is not, however, one of the drying oils. It consists almost wholly of the glycerin compound of Oleic Acid, C₁₈H₃₄O₂.

Almonds easily yield to cold water a sugar tasting like honey, which reduces alkaline cupric tartrate even in the cold, and is therefore in part grape sugar. Pelouze however (1855) obtained from almonds 10 per cent. of cane-sugar. The amount of gum appears to be very small; Fleury (1865) found that the total amount of sugar, dextrin and mucilage was altogether only 6·29 per cent.

If almonds are kept for several days in alcohol, crystals of asparagine (see article Rad. Althææ, p. 93) make their appearance, as shown by Henschen (1872), and by Portes (1876).

The almond yields 3·7 per cent. of nitrogen, corresponding to about 24 per cent. of albuminoid matters. These have been elaborately examined by Robiquet (1837-38), Ortloff (1846), Bull (1849), and Ritthausen (1872).[950] The experiments tend to show that there exist in the almond two different protein substances; Robiquet termed one of these bodies Synaptase, while others applied to it the name Emulsin.[951] Commaille (1866) named the second albuminous substance Amandin; it is the Almond-legumin of Gmelin’s Chemistry, the Conglutin of Ritthausen. Emulsin has not yet been freed from earthly phosphates which, when it is precipitated by alcohol from any aqueous solution, often amount to a third of its weight. Amandin may be precipitated from its aqueous solution by acetic acid. According to Ritthausen, these bodies are to be regarded as modifications of one and the same substance, namely vegetable casein.

Blanched almonds comminuted yield, when slightly warmed with dilute potash, a small quantity of hydrocyanic acid and of ammonia; the former may be made manifest by means of Schönbein’s test pointed out at p. 250.

The ash of almonds, amounting to from 3 to nearly 5 per cent., consists chiefly of phosphates of potassium, magnesium and calcium.

Production and Commerce—The quantity of almonds imported into the United Kingdom in 1872 was 70,270 cwt., valued at £204,592. Of this quantity, Morocco supplied 33,500 cwt., and Spam with the Canary Islands 22,000 cwt., the remainder being made up by Italy, Portugal, France, and other countries. The imports into the United Kingdom in 1876 were 77,169 cwt., valued at £244,078. Almonds are largely shipped from the Persian Gulf: in the year 1872-73, there were imported thence into Bombay, 15,878 cwt., besides 3,049 cwt. from other countries.[952]

Uses—Sweet almonds may be used for the extraction of almond oil, yet they are but rarely so employed (at least in England) on account of the inferior value of the residual cake. The only other use of the sweet almond in medicine is for making the emulsion called Mistura Amygdalæ.

AMYGDALÆ AMARÆ.

Bitter Almonds; F. Amandes amères; G. Bittere Mandeln.

Botanical Origin—Prunus Amygdalus Baillon var. a. amara (Amygdalus communis L. var. a. amara DC.). The Bitter Almond tree is not distinguished from the sweet by any permanent botanical character, and its area of growth appears to be the same (see p. 244).

History—(See also preceding article.) Bitter almonds and their poisonous properties were well known in the antiquity, and used medicinally during the middle ages. Valerius Cordus prescribed them as an ingredient of trochisci.[953]

As early as the beginning of the present century, it was shown by the experiments of Bohm, a pharmaceutical assistant of Berlin, that the aqueous distillate of bitter almonds contains hydrocyanic acid and a peculiar oil which cannot be obtained from sweet almonds. It was then inferred that hydrocyanic acid itself might be poisonous, a fact which, strange to say, had not been noticed by Scheele, when he discovered that acid in 1782, as obtained by distilling potassium ferrocyanate with sulphuric acid. The dangerous action of hydrocyanic was then ascertained in 1802 and 1803 by Schaub and Schrader.[954]

Description—Bitter almonds agree in outward appearance, form, and structure with sweet almonds; they exist under several varieties, but there is none so far as we know that in size and form resembles the long sweet almond of Malaga.[955] In general, bitter almonds are of smaller size than sweet. Triturated with water, they afford the same white emulsion as sweet almonds, but it has a strong odour of hydrocyanic acid and a very bitter taste.

Varieties—These are distinguished in their order of goodness, as French, Sicilian, and Barbary.

Microscopic Structure—In this respect, no difference between sweet and bitter almonds can be pointed out. If thin slices of the latter are deprived of fat oil by means of benzol, and then kept for some years in glycerin, an abundance of crystals is slowly formed, of what we suppose to be amygdalin.

Chemical Composition—Bitter almonds, when comminuted and mixed with water, immediately evolve the odour of bitter almond oil. The more generally diffused substances are the same in both kinds of almond, and the fixed oil in particular of the bitter almond is identical with that of the sweet. Bitter almonds however contain on an average a somewhat lower proportion of oil than the sweet. In one instance that has come to our knowledge in which 28 cwt. of bitter almonds were submitted to pressure, the yield of oil was at the rate of 43·6 per cent. Mr. Umney, director of the laboratory of Messrs. Herrings and Co., where large quantities of bitter almonds are submitted to powerful hydraulic pressure, gives 44·2 as the average percentage of oil obtained during the years 1871-2.

Robiquet and Boutron-Charland in 1830 prepared from bitter almonds a crystalline substance, Amygdalin, and found that bitter almond oil and hydrocyanic acid can no longer be obtained from bitter almonds, the amygdalin of which has been removed by alcohol. Liebig and Wöhler in 1837 showed that it is solely the decomposition of this body (under conditions to be explained presently), that occasions the formation of the two compounds above named. Disregarding secondary products (ammonia and formic acid), the reaction takes place as represented in the following equation:

C₂₀H₂₇NO₁₁ + 3 OH₂ = OH₂ · 2 (C₆H₁₂O₆) · NCH · C₇H₆O.

Crystallized Amygdalin. Anhydrous Dextroglucose. Hydro- cyanic acid. Bitter Almond Oil.

This memorable investigation first brought under notice a body of the glucoside class, now so numerous.

Amygdalin may be obtained crystallized when almonds deprived of their oil are boiled with alcohol of 84 to 94 per cent. The product amounts at most to 2½ or 3 per cent. Amygdalin per se dissolves in 15 parts of water at 8-12° C., forming a neutral, bitter, inodorous liquid, quite destitute of poisonous properties.

It would appear from the investigations of Portes (1877) that in young almonds, amygdalin is formed before the emulsin.

When bitter almonds have been freed from amygdalin and fixed oil, cold water extracts from the residue chiefly emulsin and another albuminoid matter separable by acetic acid. The emulsin upon addition of alcohol falls down in thick flocks, which, after draining, form with cold water a slightly opalescent solution. This liquid added to an aqueous solution of amygdalin, renders it turbid, and developes in it bitter almond oil. The reaction takes place in the same manner, if the emulsin has not been previously purified by acetic acid and alcohol, or if an emulsion of sweet almonds used. But after boiling, an emulsion of almonds is no longer capable of decomposing amygdalin.

What alteration the emulsin itself undergoes in this reaction, or whether it suffers any alteration at all, has not been clearly made out. The reaction does not appear to take place necessarily in atomic proportions; it does not cease until the emulsin has decomposed about three times its own weight of amygdalin, provided always that sufficient water is present to hold all the products in solution.

The leaves of Prunus Lauro-cerasus L., the bark of P. Padus L., and the organs of many allied plants, also contain emulsin or a substance analogous to it, not yet isolated. In the seeds of various plants belonging to natural orders not botanically allied to the almond, as for example in those of mustard, hemp, and poppy, and even in yolk of egg, albuminous substances occur which are capable of acting upon amygdalin in the same manner. Boiling dilute hydrochloric acid induces the same decomposition, with the simultaneous production of formic acid.

The distillation of bitter almonds is known to offer some difficulties on account of the large quantity present of albuminous substances, which give rise to bumping and frothing. Michael Pettenkofer (1861) has found that these inconveniences may be avoided by immersing 12 parts of powdered almonds in boiling water, whereby the albuminous matters are coagulated, whereas the amygdalin is dissolved. On then adding an emulsion of only 1 part of almonds (sweet or bitter), the emulsin contained in it will suffice to effect the required decomposition at a temperature not exceeding 40° C. In this manner, Pettenkofer obtained in some experiments performed with small quantities of almonds, as much as 0·9 per cent. of essential oil. In the case alluded to on the opposite page, in which 28 cwt. of almonds were treated, the yield of essential oil amounted to 0·87 per cent. From data obligingly furnished to us by Messrs. Herrings and Co. of London, who distill large quantities of almond cake, it appears that the yield of essential oil is very variable. The yearly averages as taken from the books of this firm, show that it may be as low as 0·74, or as high as 1·67 per cent., which, assuming 57 pounds of cake as equivalent to 100 pounds of almonds, would represent a percentage from the latter of 0·42 and 0·95 per cent. respectively. Mr. Umney explains this enormous variation as due in part to natural variableness in the different kinds of bitter almond, and in part to their admixture with sweet almonds. He also states that the action of the emulsin on the amygdalin when in contact with water, is extremely rapid, and that 200 pounds of almond marc are thoroughly exhausted by a distillation of only three hours.

In the distillation, the hydrocyanic acid and bitter almond oil unite into an unstable compound. From this, the acid is gradually set free, and partly converted into cyanide of ammonium and formic acid. Supposing bitter almonds to contain 3·3 per cent. of Amygdalin, they must yield 0·2 per cent. of hydrocyanic acid. Pettenkofer obtained by experiment as much as 0·25 per cent., Feldhaus (1863) 0·17 per cent.

Some manufacturers apply bitter almond oil deprived of hydrocyanic acid, but such purified oil is very prone to oxidation, unless carefully deprived of water by being shaken with fused chloride of calcium. The sp. gr. of the original oil is 1·061-1·065; that of the purified oil (according to Umney) 1·049. The purification by the action of ferrous sulphate and lime, and re-distillation, as recommended by Maclagan (1853), occasions, we are informed, a loss of about 10 per cent.

Bitter almond oil, C₆H₅(COH), being the aldehyde of benzoic acid, C₆H₅(COOH), is easily converted in that acid by spontaneous or artificial oxidation. The oil boils at 180°C. and is a little soluble in water; 300 parts of water dissolve one part of the oil.

There are a great number of plants which if crushed, moistened with water, and submitted to distillation, yield both bitter almond oil and hydrocyanic acid. In many instances the amount of hydrocyanic acid is so extremely small, that its presence can only be revealed by the most delicate test,—that of Schönbein.[956]

Among plants capable of emitting hydrocyanic acid, probably always accompanied with bitter almond oil, the tribes Pruneæ and Pomeæ of the rosaceous order may be particularly mentioned.

The farinaceous rootstocks of the Bitter Cassava, Manihot utilissima, Pohl, of the order Euphorbiaceæ, the source of tapioca in Brazil, have long been known to yield hydrocyanic acid.

A composite, Chardinia xeranthemoides Desf., growing in the Caspian regions, has been shown by W. Eichler also to emit hydrocyanic acid.[957] The same has been observed by the French in Gaboon[958] with regard to the fruits of Ximenia americana L. of the order Olacineæ, and the fact has been confirmed by Ernst of Caracas,[959] near which place the plant abounds. Mr. Prestoe of the Botanical Garden, Trinidad, informs us (1874) that in that island a convolvulaceous plant, Ipomœa dissecta Willd., contains a juice with a strong prussic acid odour. According to Lösecke, a common mushroom, Agaricus oreades Bolt., emits hydrocyanic acid.[960]

This acid is consequently widely diffused throughout the vegetable kingdom. Yet amygdalin has thus far only been isolated from a few plants belonging to the genus Prunus or its near allies.[961] In all other plants in which hydrocyanic acid has been met with, we know nothing as to its origin. Ritthausen and Kreusler (1871) have proved the absence of amygdalin in the seeds of a Vicia, which yield bitter almond oil and hydrocyanic acid. These chemists followed the process which in the case of bitter almonds easily affords amygdalin.

Commerce—See preceding article.

Uses—Bitter almonds are used almost exclusively for the manufacture of Almond Oil, while from the residual cake is distilled Bitter Almond Oil. An emulsion of bitter almonds is sometimes prescribed as a lotion.

Adulteration—The adulteration of bitter almonds with sweet is a frequent source of loss and annoyance to the pressers of almond oil, whose profit largely depends on the amount of volatile oil they are able to extract from the residual cake.

FRUCTUS PRUNI.

Prunes; F. Pruneaux à médecine.

Botanical Origin—Prunus domestica L., var. ζ. Juliana DC.—It is from this tree, which is known as Prunier de St. Julien,[962] that the true Medicinal Prunes of English pharmacy are derived. The tree is largely cultivated in the valley of the Loire in France, especially about Bourgueil, a small town lying between Tours and Angers.

History—The plum-tree (P. domestica L.) from which it is supposed the numerous cultivated varieties have descended, is believed to occur in a truly wild state in Greece, the south-eastern shores of the Black Sea (Lazistan), the Caucasus, and the Elburz range in Northern Persia, from some of which countries it was introduced into Europe long before the Christian era. In the days of Pliny, numerous species of plum were already in cultivation, one of which afforded a fruit having laxative properties.

Dried prunes, especially those taking their name from Damascus (Pruna Damascena), are frequently mentioned in the writings of the Greek physicians, by whom as well as at a later period by the practitioners of the Schola Salernitana, they were much employed.

In the older London pharmacopœias, many sorts of plum are enumerated, but in the reformed editions of 1746, 1788, and 1809, the French Prune (Prunum Gallicum) is specially ordered, its chief use being as an ingredient of the well-known Lenitive Electuary; and this fruit is still held by the grocers to be the legitimate prune. The same variety is regarded in France as the prune of medicine.

Description—The prune in its fresh state is an ovoid drupe of a deep purple hue, not depressed at the insertion of the stalk, and with a scarcely visible suture, and no furrow. The pulp is greenish and rather austere, unless the fruit is very ripe; it does not adhere to the stone. The stone is short (⁷/₁₀ to ⁸/₁₀ of an inch long, ⁵/₁₀ to ⁶/₁₀ broad), broadly rounded at the upper end and slightly mucronulate, narrowed somewhat stalk-like at the lower, and truncate; the ventral suture is broader and thicker than the dorsal.

The fruit is dried partly by solar and partly by fire-heat, that is to say, it is exposed alternately to the heat of an oven and to the open air. Thus prepared, it is about 1¼ inches long, black and shrivelled, but recovers its original size and form by digestion in warm water. The dried pulp or sarcocarp is brown and tough, with an acidulous, saccharine, fruity taste.

Microscopic Structure—The skin of the prune is formed of small, densely packed cells, loaded with a dark solid substance; the pulp consists of larger shrunken cells, containing a brownish amorphous mass which is probably rich in sugar. This latter tissue is traversed by a few thin fibro-vascular bundles, and exhibits here and there crystals of oxalate of calcium. By perchloride of iron, the cell-walls, as well as the contents of the cells, acquire a dingy greenish hue.

Chemical Composition—We are not aware of any analysis having been made of the particular sort of plum under notice, nor that any attempt has been made to discover the source of the medicinal property it is reputed to possess. Some nearly allied varieties have been submitted to analysis in the laboratory of Fresenius, and shown to contain saccharine matters to the extent of 17 to 35 per cent., besides malic acid, and albuminoid and pectic substances.[963]

Uses—The only pharmaceutical preparation of which the pulp of prunes is an ingredient, is Confectio Sennæ, the Electuarium lenitivum of the old pharmacopœias. The fruit stewed and sweetened is often used as a domestic laxative.

Substitute—When French prunes are scarce, a very similar fruit, known in Germany as Zwetschen or Quetschen, is imported as a substitute.[964] It is the produce of a tree which most botanists regard as a form of Prunus domestica L., termed by De Candolle var. Pruneauliana. K. Koch,[965] however, is decidedly of opinion that it is a distinct species, and as such he has revived for it Borkhausen’s name of Prunus œconomica. The tree is widely cultivated in Germany for the sake of its fruit, which is used in the dried state as an article of food, but is not grown in England.

The dried fruit differs slightly from the ordinary prune in being rather larger and more elongated, and having a thicker skin; also in the stone being flatter, narrower, pointed at either end, with the ventral suture much more strongly curved than the dorsal. The fruits seem rather more prone to become covered with a saccharine efflorescence.

CORTEX PRUNI SEROTINÆ.

Cortex Pruni Virginianæ; Wild Black Cherry Bark.

Botanical Origin—Prunus serotina Ehrhart (P. virginiana Miller non Linn., Cerasus serotina DC.)—A shrub or tree, in favourable situations growing to a height of 60 feet, distributed over an immense extent of North America. It is found throughout Canada as far as 62° N. lat., and from Newfoundland and Hudson’s Bay in the east, to the valleys west of the Rocky Mountains.[966] It is also common in the United States.

The tree is often confounded with P. virginiana L., from which, indeed, it seems to be separated by no fixed character, though American botanists hold the two plants as distinct. It is also nearly allied to the well-known P. Padus L. of Europe, the bark of which had formerly a place in the Materia Medica.

History—Experiments on the medicinal value of Wild Cherry Bark were made in America about the end of the last century, at which time the drug was supposed to be useful in intermittent fevers.[967] The bark was introduced into the United States Pharmacopœia in 1820. An elaborate article by Bentley[968] published in 1863 contributed to bring it into notice in this country, but it is still much more employed in America than with us.

Description—The inner bark of the root or branches is said to be the most suitable for medicinal use. That which we have seen is evidently from the latter; it is in flattish or channelled pieces, ⅒ to ¹/₂₀ of an inch in thickness, ½ an inch to 2 inches broad, and seldom exceeding 5 inches in length. From many of the pieces, the outer suberous coat has been shaved off, in which case the whole bark is of a deep cinnamon brown; in others the corky layer remains, exhibiting a polished satiny surface, marked with long transverse scars. The inner surface is finely striated, or minutely fissured and reticulated. The bark breaks easily with a short granular fracture; it is nearly without smell, but if reduced to coarse powder and wetted with water it evolves a pleasant odour of bitter almonds. It has a decided but transient bitter taste.

The bark freshly cut from the stem is quite white, and has a strong odour of bitter almonds and hydrocyanic acid.

Microscopic Structure—The chief mass of the tissue is made up of hard, thick-walled, white cells, the groups of which are separated by a brown fibrous prosenchyme. The liber is crossed in a radial direction by numerous broad medullary rays of the usual structure. The parenchymatous portion is loaded both with very large single crystals, and crystalline tufts of calcium oxalate. There is also an abundance of small starch granules, and brown particles of tannic matters. Thin slices of the bark moistened with perchloride of iron, assume a blackish coloration.

Chemical Composition—The bitterness and odour of the fresh bark depend no doubt on the presence of a substance analogous to amygdalin, which has not yet been examined. Hydrocyanic acid and essential oil are produced when the bark is distilled with water, and must be due to the mutual action of that substance alluded to, and some principle of the nature of emulsin. From the fact that an extract of the bark remained bitter although the whole of the essential oil and hydrocyanic acid had been removed, Proctor inferred the existence of another substance to which the tonic properties of the bark are perhaps due.

The fresh bark was found by Perot[969] to yield ½ per mille of hydrocyanic acid in April, 1 per mille in June, and 1·4 in October. The best time for collecting the bark is therefore the autumn.

Uses—In America, wild cherry bark is held in high estimation for its mildly tonic and sedative properties. It is administered most appropriately in the form of cold infusion or syrup, the latter being a strong cold infusion, sweetened; a fluid extract and a dry resinoid extract are also in use. The bark is said to deteriorate by keeping, and should be preferred when recently dried.

FOLIA LAURO-CERASI.

Common Laurel or Cherry-laurel Leaves; F. Feuilles de Laurier-cerise; G. Kirschlorbeerblätter.

Botanical Origin—Prunus Lauro-cerasus L., a handsome evergreen shrub, growing to the height of 18 or more feet, is a native of the Caucasian provinces of Russia (Mingrelia, Imeritia, Guriel), of the valleys of North-western Asia Minor, and Northern Persia. It has been introduced as a plant of ornament into all the more temperate regions of Europe, and flourishes well in England and other parts, where the winter is not severe and the summer not excessively hot and dry.

History—Pierre Belon, the French naturalist, who travelled in the East between 1546 and 1550, is stated by Clusius[970] to have discovered the cherry-laurel in the neighbourhood of Trebizond. Thirty years later, Clusius himself obtained the plant through the Imperial ambassador at Constantinople, and distributed it from Vienna to the gardens of Germany. Since it is mentioned by Gerarde[971] as a choice garden shrub, it must have been cultivated in England prior to 1597. Ray,[972] who like Gerarde calls the plant Cherry-bay, states that it is not known to possess medicinal properties.

In 1731, Madden of Dublin drew the attention of the Royal Society of London[973] to some cases of poisoning that had occurred by the use of a distilled water of the leaves. This water he states had been for many years in frequent use in Ireland among cooks, for flavouring puddings and creams, and also much in vogue with dram drinkers as an addition to brandy, without any ill effects from it having been noticed. The fatal cases thus brought forward occasioned much investigation, but the true nature of the poison was not understood till pointed out by Schrader in 1803 (see art. Amygdalæ amaræ, p. 248, note 2). Cherry-laurel water, though long used on the Continent, has never been much prescribed in Great Britain, and had no place in any British Pharmacopœia till 1839.

Description—The leaves are alternate, simple, of leathery texture and shining upper surface, 5 to 6 inches long by 1¾ to 2 inches wide, oblong or slightly obovate, attenuated towards either end. The thick leafstalk, scarcely half an inch in length, is prolonged as a stout midrib to the recurved apex. The margin, which is also recurved, is provided with sharp but very short serratures, and glandular teeth, which become more distant towards the base. The under side, which is of a paler colour and dull surface, is marked by 8 or 10 lateral veins, anastomosing towards the edge. Below the lower of these and close to the midrib, are from two to four shallow depressions or glands, which in spring exude a saccharine matter, and soon assume a brownish colour. By the glands with which the teeth of the serratures are provided, a rather resinous substance is secreted.[974]

The fresh leaves are inodorous until they are bruised or torn, when they instantly emit the smell of bitter almond oil and hydrocyanic acid. When chewed they taste rough, aromatic and bitter.

Microscopic Structure—The upper surface of the leaf is constituted of thin cuticle and the epidermis made up of large, nearly cubic cells. The middle layer of the interior tissue exhibits densely packed small cells, whereas the prevailing part of the whole tissue is formed of larger, loose cells. Most of them are loaded with chlorophyll; some enclose crystals of oxalate of calcium.

Chemical Composition—The leaves when cut to pieces and submitted to distillation with water, yield Bitter Almond Oil and Hydrocyanic Acid, produced by the decomposition of Laurocerasin. This is an amorphous yellowish substance isolated by Lehmann (1874) in Dragendorff’s laboratory. He extracted the leaves with boiling alcohol, and purified the liquid by gently warming it with hydroxide of lead. From the liquid, crude laurocerasin was precipitated on addition of ether; it was again dissolved repeatedly in alcohol and precipitated by ether. The yield of the leaves is about 1⅓ per cent. Laurocerasin is readily soluble in water, the solution deviates the plane of polarization to the left, yet not to the same amount as amygdalin. The molecule of laurocerasin, C₄₀H₆₇NO₃₀, would appear to include those of amygdalin, C₂₀H₂₇NO₁₁, amygdalic acid, C₂₀H₂₆O₁₂ and 7 OH₂.

The proportion of hydrocyanic acid in the distilled water of the leaves has been the subject of many researches. Among the later are those of Broeker (1867), who distilled a given weight of the leaves grown in Holland under precisely similar circumstances, in each month of the year. The results proved that the product obtained during the winter and early spring was weaker in the acid in the proportion of 17 to 24, 28, or 30, the strongest water being that distilled in July and August. This chemist found that a stronger product was got when the leaves were chopped fine, than when they were used whole. According to Christison,[975] the buds and very young leaves yield ten times as much essential oil as the leaves one year old. We have ascertained that leaves collected in January when they were thoroughly frozen yielded a distillate containing about ten times less of hydrocyanic acid than in summer. The product obtained from the leaves collected in January, but previously dried for several days at 100° C. (212° F.), still proved to contain both essential oil and hydrocyanic acid.

The unwounded leaves of the cherry-laurel in vigorous vegetation have been shown by our friend Prof. Schaer, not to evolve naturally a trace of hydrocyanic acid, though they yield it on the slightest puncture. We are ignorant of the mode of distribution in the living tissue of the laurocerasin, and of the substances causing its decomposition, and how these two bodies are packed so as to prevent the slightest mutual reaction. The leaves may be even dried at 100° C. and powdered without the evolution of any odour of hydrocyanic acid, but the latter is at once developed by the addition of a little water; on distilling its presence is proved by means of all the usual tests in the first drops of the product.

Besides the substances concerned in the production of the essential oil, the leaves contain sugar which reduces cupric oxide in the cold, a small quantity of an iron-greening tannin, and a fatty or waxy substance.

Schoonbroodt (1868) treated the aqueous extract of the fresh leaves with alcoholic ether, which yielded ¼ per mille of bitter, acicular crystals; these quickly reduced cupric oxide, losing their bitterness.

Bougarel (1877) isolated from the leaves under notice and several others, Phyllinic acid, a crystalline powder melting at 170° C.

Uses—The leaves are only employed for making cherry-laurel water (Aqua Lauro-cerasi), the use of which in England is generally superseded by that of the more definite hydrocyanic acid.

FLORES KOSO.

Flores Brayeræ, Cusso, Kousso, Kosso.

Botanical Origin—Hagenia abyssinica Willd. (Brayera anthelminthica Kunth), a handsome tree growing to a height of 60 feet, found throughout the entire table-land of Abyssinia at an elevation of 3,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea-level.[976] We have never noticed it growing in any botanic garden. The tree[977] is remarkable for its abundant foliage and fine panicles of flowers, and is generally planted about the Abyssinian villages.

History—The celebrated Bruce[978] during his journey to discover the source of the Nile, 1768-1773, found the koso tree in Abyssinia, observed the uses made of it by the natives, and published a figure of it in the narrative of his travels. It was also described in 1799 by Willdenow who called it Hagenia in honour of Dr. K. G. Hagen of Königsberg.

The anthelmintic virtues of koso were investigated by Brayer, a French physician of Constantinople, to which place parcels of the drug are occasionally brought by way of Egypt, and he published a small pamphlet on the subject.[979] Several scattered notices of koso appeared in 1839-41, but no supply of it reached Europe until about 1850, when a Frenchman who had been in Abyssinia obtained a large stock (1,400 lb., it was said), a portion of which he endeavoured to sell in London at 35s. per ounce! The absurd value set upon the drug produced the usual result: large quantities were imported, and the price gradually fell to 3s. or 4s. per lb. Koso was admitted a place in the British Pharmacopœia of 1864.

Description—The flowers grow in broad panicles, 10 to 12 inches in length. They are unisexual, but though male and female occur on the same tree, the latter are chiefly collected. The panicles are either loosely dried, often including a portion of stalk and sometimes a leaf, or they are made into cylindrical rolls, kept in form by transverse ligatures. Very often the panicles arrive quite broken up, and with the flowers in a very fragmentary state. They have a herby, somewhat tea-like smell, and a bitterish acrid taste.

The panicle consists of a zigzag stalk, which with its many branches is clothed with shaggy simple hairs, and also dotted over with minute stalked glands; it is provided at each ramification with a large sheathing bract. At the base of each flower are two or three rounded veiny membranous bracts, between which is the turbinate hairy calyx, having ten sepals arranged in a double series. In the male, the outer series consists of much smaller sepals than the inner; in the female, the outer in the ultimate development become enlarged, obovate and spreading, so that the whole flower measures fully ½ an inch across. In both, the sepals are veiny and leaf-like. The petals are minute and linear, inserted with the stamens in the throat of the calyx. These latter are 10 to 25 in number, with anthers in the female flower, effete. The carpels are two, included in the calycinal tube; and each surmounted by a hairy style. The fruit is an obovate one-seeded nut.

Koso as seen in commerce has a light brown hue, with a reddish tinge in the case of the female flowers, so that panicles of the latter are sometimes distinguished as Red Koso.

Chemical Composition—Wittstein (1840) found in koso, together with the substances common to most vegetables (wax, sugar, and gum), 24 per cent. of tannin, and 6·25 of an acrid bitter resin, which was observed by Harms (1857) to possess acid properties.

The researches of Pavesi (1858), and still more those of Bedall[980] have made us acquainted with the active principle of the drug, which has been named Koussin or Kosin. It may be obtained by mixing the flowers with lime, exhausting them with alcohol and then with water; the solutions mixed, concentrated, and treated with acetic acid, deposit the kosin. We are indebted to Dr. Bedall for a specimen of it, which we find to consist chiefly of an amorphous, resinoid substance, from which we got a few yellow crystals by means of glacial acetic acid.

Mr. Merck favoured us with kosin prepared in his laboratory at Darmstadt. It is a tasteless substance of a yellow colour, forming fine crystals of the rhombic system,—readily soluble in benzol, bisulphide of carbon, chloroform or ether, less freely in glacial acetic acid, and insoluble in water. We found a solution of kosin in 20 parts of chloroform to be destitute of rotatory power. Of alcohol, sp. gr. 0·818, 1000 parts dissolve at 12° C. only 2·3 parts of this kosin. It is abundantly soluble in alkalis, caustic or carbonated, yet has nevertheless no acid reaction, and may be precipitated from these solutions by an acid without having undergone any alteration. It is then however a white amorphous mass, which yields the original yellow crystals by re-solution in boiling alcohol, in which it dissolves readily. The analysis which we have performed of kosin assigns it the formula C₃₁H₃₈O₁₀.

Kosin fuses at 142° C., and remains after cooling an amorphous, transparent yellow mass; but if touched with alcohol, it immediately assumes the form of stellate tufts of crystals. This may be repeated at pleasure, kosin not being altered by cautious fusion.

Kosin is not decomposed by boiling dilute acids. It dissolves in strong sulphuric acid, giving a yellow solution which becomes turbid by the addition of water, white amorphous kosin being thrown down. At the same time a well-marked odour exactly like that of Locust Beans, due to isobutyric acid, CH₃·CH₃·CH·COOH, is evolved. It would thus appear that in all probability kosin is a compound ether of that acid. It is very remarkable that the active principle of fern root, the filicic acid (see Rhizoma Filicis), by decomposition yields butyric acid. If the sulphuric solution of kosin is allowed to stand for a week, it gradually assumes a fine red; and then yields, on addition of much water, an amorphous red mass which after drying is not soluble in bisulphide of carbon, and may thus be purified. We have not succeeded in obtaining this red derivative of kosin in a crystalline state.[981]

In its anthelmintic action, kosin is nearly allied with filicic acid.[982]

Distillation with water separates from the flowers of koso a stearoptene-like oil having the odour of koso, and traces of valerianic and acetic acid. No such body as the Hagenic Acid of Viale and Latini (1852) could be detected by Bedall.

Commerce—Koso is brought to England by way of Aden or Bombay; some appears also to reach Leghorn, probably carried thither direct from Egypt.

Uses—The drug is employed solely as a vermifuge, and is effectual for the expulsion both of Tænia solium and of Bothriocephalus latus. The Abyssinian practice is to administer the flowers in substance in a very ample dose, which is sometimes attended with alarming and even fatal results.

The notion that the action of the drug is partially mechanical and due to the hairs of the plant, prevails in England, and has led to the use of an unstrained infusion of the coarsely powdered flowers. This remedy, from the quantity of branny powder (2 to 4 drachms) that has to be swallowed, is far from agreeable; and as it occasions strong purgation and sometimes vomiting, it is not often prescribed.[983]

The fruit of the koso tree, a small indehiscent achene, is stated by M. Th. von Heuglin[984] to act even more powerful than the flowers; he calls it (or the seed?) Kosála. It would appear that the fruits have been used as an anthelmintic two centuries ago in Abyssinia.[985] Dragendorff (1878) found them to be rich in fatty matters, but devoid of an alkaloid.

PETALA ROSÆ GALLICÆ.

Flores Rosæ rubræ; Red Rose Petals, Rose Leaves, True Provins Roses; F. Pétales de Roses rouges, Roses de Provins; G. Essigrosenblätter.

Botanical Origin—Rosa gallica L., a low-growing bush, with a creeping rhizome throwing up numerous stems. The wild form with single flowers occurs here and there in the warmer parts of Europe,[986] including Central and Southern Russia, and Greece; also in Asia Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan, and the Caucasus. But the plant passes into so many varieties, and has from a remote period been so widely cultivated, that its distribution cannot be ascertained with any exactness. As a garden plant it exists under a multitude of forms.

History—The use in medicine of the rose dates from a very remote period. Theophrastus[987] speaks of roses being of many kinds, including some with double flowers which were the most fragrant; and he also alludes to their use in the healing art. Succeeding writers of every age down to a recent period have discussed the virtues of the rose,[988] which however is scarcely now admitted to possess any special medicinal property.

One of the varieties of R. gallica is the Provins Rose, so called from having been long cultivated at Provins, a small town about 60 miles south-east of Paris, where it is said to have been introduced from the East by Thibaut VI., Count of Champagne, on his return from the Crusades, a.d. 1241. But it appears that he went then to Navarre and in later times never resided in the Champagne. Be this as it may, Provins became much celebrated not only for its dried rose petals, but also for the conserve, syrup and honey of roses made from them,—compositions which were regarded in the light of valuable medicines.[989]

It is recorded that when, in a.d. 1310, Philippe de Marigny, archbishop of Sens, made a solemn entry into Provins, he was presented by the notables of the town with wine, spices, and Conserve of Roses; and presents of dried roses and of the conserve were not considered beneath the notice of Catherine de Medicis, and of Henry IV.[990]

We find that Charles Estienne, in 1536, mentions both the Rosæ purpureæ odoratissimæ, which he says are called Provinciales, and those known to the druggists as incarnatæ,—the latter we presume a pale rose.[991] Rosæ rubeæ are named as an ingredient of various compound medicines by Valerius Cordus.[992]

Production—The flowers are gathered while in bud and just before expansion, and the petals are cut off near the base, leaving the paler claws attached to the calyx. They are then carefully and rapidly dried by the heat of a stove, and having been gently sifted to remove loose stamens, are ready for sale. In some districts the petals are dried entire, but the drug thus produced is not so nice.

In England, the Red Rose is cultivated at Mitcham, though now only to the extent of about 10 acres. It is also grown for druggists’ use in Oxfordshire and Derbyshire. At Mitcham, it is now called Damask Rose, which is by no means a correct name. The English dried roses command a high price.

There is a much more extensive cultivation of this rose on the continent at Wassenaar and Noordwijk in Holland; in the vicinity of Hamburg and Nuremberg in Germany, and in the villages round Paris and Lyons. Roses are still, we believe, grown for medicinal use at Provins, but are no longer held in great esteem.

There appears to be a considerable production of dried roses in Persia, judging from the fact that in the year 1871-72, 1163 cwt. were exported from the Persian Gulf to Bombay.[993]

Description—The petals adhere together loosely in the form of little cones, or are more or less crumpled and separate. When well preserved, they are crisp and dry, with a velvety surface of an intense purplish crimson, a delicious rosy odour, and a mildly astringent taste. The white basal portion of the petals should be nearly absent. For making the confection, the petals are required in a fresh state.

Chemical Composition—Red rose petals impart to ether, without losing their colour, a soft yellow substance, which is a mixture of a solid fat and Quercitrin. Filhol has shown (1864) that it is the latter body, and not tannic acid, of which the petals contain but a trace, that produces the dark greenish precipitate with ferric salts. The same chemist found in the petals 20 per cent. (?) of glucose which, together with colouring matter and gallic acid, is extracted by alcohol after exhaustion by ether. According to Rochleder (1867), the gallic acid in red roses is accompanied by querci-tannic acid.

The colouring matter which is so striking a constituent of the petals, is according to Senier an acid, which appears to form crystallizable salts with potassium and sodium.[994] An infusion of the petals is pale red, but becomes immediately of a deep and brilliant crimson if we add to it an acid, such as sulphuric, hydrochloric, acetic, oxalic, or tartaric. An alkali changes the pale red, or the deep crimson in the case of the acidulated infusion, to bright green.

Uses—An infusion of red rose petals, acidulated with sulphuric acid and slightly sweetened, is a very common and agreeable vehicle for some other medicines. The confection made by beating up the petals with sugar, is also in use.

PETALA ROSÆ CENTIFOLIÆ.

Flores Rosæ pallidæ v. incarnatæ; Provence Rose, Cabbage Rose; F. Pétales de Roses pâles; G. Centifolienrosen.

Botanical Origin—Rosa centifolia L.—This rose grows in a wild state and with single flowers in the eastern part of the Caucasus.[995] Cultivated and with flowers more or less double, it is found under an infinity of varieties in all the temperate regions of the globe. The particular variety which is grown in England for medicinal use, is known in English gardens as the Cabbage Rose, but other varieties are cultivated for similar purposes on the Continent.

R. centifolia L. is very closely allied to R. gallica L.; though Boissier maintains the two species, there are other botanists who regard them as but one. The rose cultivated at Puteaux near Paris for druggists’ use, and hence called Rose de Puteaux, is the Rosa bifera of Redouté, placed by De Candolle though doubtfully under R. damascena.

History—We are unable to trace the history of the particular variety of rose under notice. That it is not of recent origin, seems evident from its occurrence chiefly in old gardens. The Rosa pallida of the older English writers on drugs[996] was called Damask Rose, but that name is now applied at Mitcham to Rosa gallica L., which has very deep-coloured flowers.

Production—The Cabbage Rose is cultivated in England to a very small extent, rose water, which is made from its flowers, being procurable of better quality and at a lower cost in other countries, especially in the south of France. At Mitcham, whence the London druggists have long been supplied, there are now (1873) only about 8 acres planted with this rose, but a supply is also derived from the market gardens of Putney, Hammersmith and Fulham.

Description—The Cabbage Rose is supplied to the druggists in the fresh state, full blown, and picked off close below the calyx. A complete description is scarcely required: we need only say that it is a large and very double rose, of a beautiful pink colour and of delicious odour. The calyx is covered with short setæ tipped with a fragrant, brown, viscid secretion. The petals are thin and delicate (not thick and leathery as in the Tea Roses), and turn brown on drying.

In making rose water, it is the custom in some laboratories to strip the petals from the calyx and to reject the latter; in others, the roses are distilled entire, and so far as we have observed, with equally good result.

Chemical Composition—In a chemical point of view, the petals of R. centifolia agree with those of R. gallica, even as to the colouring matter. Enz in 1867 obtained from the former, malic and tartaric acid, tannin, fat, resin, and sugar.

In the distillation of large quantities of the flowers, a little essential oil is obtained. It is a butyraceous substance, of weak rose-like, but not very agreeable odour. It contains a large proportion of inodorous stearoptene. For further particulars see remarks under the head Attar of Rose.

Uses—Cabbage roses are now scarcely employed in pharmacy for any other purpose than making rose water. A syrup used to be prepared from them, which was esteemed a mild laxative.

OLEUM ROSÆ.

Attar or Otto[997] of Rose, Rose Oil; F. Essence de Roses; G. Rosenöl.

Botanical Origin—Rosa damascena Miller, var.—This is the rose cultivated in Turkey for the production of attar of rose; it is a tall shrub with semi-double, light-red (rarely white) flowers, of moderate size, produced several on a branch, though not in clusters. Living specimens sent by Baur[998] which flowered at Tübingen, were examined by H. von Mohl and named as above.[999]

R. damascena is unknown in a wild state. Koch[1000] asserts that it was brought in remote times to Southern Italy, whence it spread northward. In the opinion of Baker[1001] Rosa damascena is to be referred to Rosa gallica (see p. 259 above); it must be granted that the Rose mentioned in footnote 2, as grown with one of us, approaches very much to Rosa gallica.

History—Much as roses were prized by the ancients, no preparation such as rose water or attar of rose was obtained from them. The liquid that bore the name of Rose Oil (ῤόδινον ἔλαιον) is stated by Dioscorides[1002] to be a fatty oil in which roses have been steeped. In Europe a similar preparation was in use down to the last century, Oleum rosarum, rosatum or rosaceum, signifying an infusion of roses in olive oil in the London Pharmacopœia of 1721.

The first allusion to the distillation of roses we have met with, is in the writings of Joannes Actuarius,[1003] who was physician to the Greek emperors at Constantinople towards the close of the 13th century. Rose water was distilled at an early date in Persia; and Nisibin, a town north-west of Mosul, was famous for it in the 14th century.[1004]

Kämpfer speaks[1005] with admiration of the roses he saw at Shiraz (1683-4), and says that the water distilled from them is exported to other parts of Persia, as well as to all India; and he adds as a singular fact, that there separates from it a certain fat-like butter, called Ættr gyl, of the most exquisite odour, and more valuable even than gold. The commerce to India, though much declining, still exists; and in the year 1872-73, 20,100 gallons of rose water, valued at 35,178 rupees (£3,517), were imported into Bombay from the Persian Gulf.[1006] Rose oil itself is no longer exported from Persia, as it still used to be from Shiraz in the time of Niebuhr (1778).

Rose water was much used in Europe during the middle ages, both in cookery and at the table. In some parts of France, vassals were compelled to furnish to their lords so many bushels of roses, which were consumed in the distillation of rose water.[1007]

The fact that a butyraceous oil of delicious fragrance is separable from rose water, was noticed by Geronimo Rossi[1008] of Ravenna in 1582 (or in 1574?) and by Giovanni Battista Porta[1009] of Naples in 1589; the latter in his work on distillation says—“Omnium difficillime extractionis est rosarum oleum atque in minima quantitate sed suavissimi odoris.”[1010] The oil was also known to the apothecaries of Germany in the beginning of the 17th century, and is quoted in official drug-tariffs of that time.[1011] Angelus Sala, about 1620, in describing the distillation of the oil speaks of it as being of “ ... candicante pinguedine instar Spermatis Ceti.” In Pomet’s time (1694) it was sold in Paris, though, on account of its high price, only in very small quantity. The mention of it by Homberg[1012] in 1700, and in a memoir by Aublet[1013] (1775) respecting the distillation of roses in the Isle of France, shows that the French perfumers of the last century were not unacquainted with true rose oil, but that it was a rare and very costly article.

The history of the discovery of the essence in India, is the subject of an interesting and learned pamphlet by Langlès,[1014] published in 1804. He tells us on the authority of oriental writers, how on the occasion of the marriage of the Mogul emperor Jehan Ghir with Nur-jehan, a.d. 1612, a canal in the garden of the palace was filled with rose water, and that the princess observing a certain scum on the surface, caused it to be collected and found it of admirable fragrance, on which account it received the name of Atar-jehanghiri, i.e. perfume of Jehan Ghir. In later times, Polier[1015] has shown that rose oil is prepared in India by simple distillation of the flowers with water. But this Indian oil has never been imported into Europe as an article of trade.

As already stated, the supplies at present come from European Turkey; but at what period the cultivation of the rose and manufacture of its oil were then introduced, is a question on which we are quite in the dark. There is no mention of attar in the account given by Savary[1016] in 1750 of the trade of Constantinople and Smyrna, but in the first years of the present century some rose oil was obtained in the Island of Chios as well as in Persia.[1017]

In English commerce, attar of rose was scarcely known until the commencement of the present century. It was first included in the British tariff in 1809, when the duty levied on it was 10s. per ounce. In 1813 the duty was raised to 11s. 10½d.; in 1819 it was 6s., and in 1828, 2s. per ounce. In 1832 it was lowered to 1s. 4d. per lb., in 1842 to 1s. and in 1860 it was altogether removed.[1018]

On searching a file of the London Price Current, the first mention of “Otto of Rose” is in 1813, from which year it is regularly quoted. The price (in bond) from 1813 to 1815, varied from £3 to £5 5s. per ounce. The earliest notice of an importation is under date 1-8 July, 1813, when duty was paid on 232 ounces, shipped from Smyrna.

Production—The chief locality for attar of rose, and that by which European commerce is almost exclusively supplied, is a small tract of country on the southern side of the Balkan mountains, the “Tekne” of Kazanlik or Kisanlik, an undulated plain famous for its beauty, as picturesquely sketched by Kanitz[1019] and many other travellers. The principal seat of the trade is the town of Kizanlik, in the valley of the Tunja. The other important districts are those of Philippopli, Eski Zaghra, Yeni Zaghra, Tchirpan, Giopca, Karadsuh-Dagh, Kojun-Tepe, Pazandsik. North of the Balkans, there is only Travina to be mentioned as likewise producing attar. All these places with Kizanlik were estimated in 1859 to include 140 villages, having 2,500 stills.

The rose is cultivated by peasants in gardens and open fields, in which it is planted in rows as hedges, 3 to 4 feet high. The best localities are those occupying southern or south-eastern slopes. Plantations in high mountainous situations generally yield less, and the oil is of a quality that easily congeals. The flowers attain perfection in April and May, and are gathered before sunrise; those not wanted for immediate use are spread out in cellars, but are always used for distilling the same day. The apparatus is a copper still of the simplest description, connected with a straight tin tube, cooled by being passed through a tub fed by a stream of water. The largest establishment, “Fabrika,” at Kizanlik has 14 such stills. The charge for a still is 25 to 50 lb. of roses, from which the calyces are not removed. The first runnings are returned to the still; the second portion, which is received in glass flasks, is kept at a temperature not lower than 15° C. for a day or two, by which time most of the oil, bright and fluid, will have risen to the surface. From this, it is skimmed off by means of a small tin funnel having a fine orifice, and provided with a long handle. There are usually several stills together.

The produce is extremely variable. According to Baur,[1020] whose interesting account of attar of rose is that of an eye-witness, it may be said to average 0·04 per cent. Another authority estimates the average yield as 0·037 per cent.

The harvest during the five years 1867-71 was reckoned to average somewhat below 400,000 meticals,[1021] or 4226 lb. avoirdupois; that of 1873, which was good, was estimated at 500,000 meticals, value about £70,000.[1022]

Roses are cultivated to a considerable extent about Grasse, Cannes and Nice in the south of France; and besides much rose water, which is largely exported to England, a little oil is produced. The latter, which commands a high price, fuses less easily than the Turkish.

There is a large cultivation of the rose for the purpose of making rose water and attar, at Ghazipur on the Ganges, Lahore, Amritsar and other places in India, but the produce is wholly consumed in the country. The species thus cultivated is stated by Brandis[1023] to be R. damascena. Medinet Fayum, south-west of Cairo, supplies the great demand of Egypt for rose vinegar and rose water.

Tunis has also some celebrity for similar products, which however do not reach Europe. A recent traveller[1024] states that the rose grown there, and from which attar is obtained, is Rosa canina L., which is extremely fragrant; 30 lb. of the flowers afford about 1½ drachms, worth 15s. When at Genoa, in 1874, one of us (F.) had the opportunity of ascertaining that excellent oil of rose is occasionally imported there from Tunis.

The butyraceous oil which may be collected in distilling roses in England for rose water is of no value as a perfume.

Description—Oil of rose is a light yellow liquid, of sp. gr. 0·87 to 0·89. By a reduction of temperature, it concretes owing to the separation of light, brilliant, platy crystals of a stearoptene, the proportion of which differs with the country in which the roses have been grown, the state of the weather during which the flowers were gathered, and other circumstances less well ascertained. The oil produced in the Balkans solidifies, according to Baur, at from 11 to 16° C. In some experiments made by one of us[1025] in 1859, the fusing point of true Turkish attar was found to vary from 16 to 18°; that of a sample from India was 20° C.; of oil distilled in the south of France, 21 to 23°, of an oil produced in Paris, 29°; of oil obtained in distilling roses for rose water in London, 30 to 32° C.

From these data, it appears that a cool northern climate is not conducive to the production of a highly odorous oil; and even in Bulgaria experience shows that the oil of the mountain districts holds a larger proportion of stearoptene than that of the lowlands.

Turkish oil of rose is stated by Baur to deviate a ray of polarized light 4° to the right, when examined in a column of 100 mm. The oil from English roses which we examined exhibited no rotation.

Chemical Composition—Rose oil is a mixture of a liquid constituent containing oxygen, to which it owes its perfume, and the solid hydrocarbon or stearoptene already mentioned, which is entirely destitute of odour. The proportion which these bodies bear to each other is extremely variable. From the Turkish oil, it may be obtained to the extent of 18 per cent., and from French and English to 35, 42, 60 or even 68 per cent.

Though the stearoptene can be entirely freed from the oxygenated oil, no method is known for the complete isolation of the latter. As obtained by Gladstone[1026], it had a sp. gr. of 0·881 and a boiling point of 216° C.

With regard to the stearoptene of rose oil, the analyses of Théodore de Saussure (1820) and Blanchet (1833) long since showed its composition to accord with the formula CₙH₂ₙ. The experiments of one of us[1027] confirm this striking fact, which assigns to the stearoptene in question a very exceptional place among the hydrocarbons of volatile oils, all of which are less rich in hydrogen.

Rose stearoptene separates when attar of roses is mixed with alcohol. We have isolated it also from oil obtained from Mitcham roses, by diluting the oil with a little chloroform and precipitating with glacial acetic acid or spirit of wine, the process being several times repeated. The stearoptene was lastly maintained for some days at 100° C.; thus obtained, it is inodorous, but when heated evolves an offensive smell like that of heated wax or fat. At 32·5° it melts; at 150° vapour is evolved; at 272° C. it begins to boil, soon after which it turns brown and then blackish. Stains of the stearoptene on paper do not disappear by the heat of the water-bath and the relapse of some days.

If cautiously melted by the warmth of the sun, the stearoptene forms on cooling microscopic crystals of very peculiar shape. Most of them have the form of truncated hexahedral pyramids, not however belonging to the rhombohedric system, as the angles are evidently not equal; many of them are oddly curved, thus §. Examined under the polarizing microscope, these crystals from their refractive power make a brilliant object.

Rose stearoptene is a very stable body, yet by boiling it for some days with fuming nitric acid, it is slowly dissolved, and converted into various acids of the homologous series of fatty acids, and into oxalic acid. Among the former, we detected butyric and valerianic. The chief product is however succinic acid, which we obtained in pure crystals, showing all the well-known reactions.

The same products are obtained even much easier by treating paraffin with nitric acid; it yields however less of succinic acid. The general behaviour and appearance of paraffin is in fact nearly the same as that of rose stearoptene. But what is called paraffin, is a series of extremely similar hydrocarbons, answering to the general formula CₙH₍₂ₙ₊₂₎ (n being equal to more than 16), the separation of which has not yet been thoroughly effected. The fusion point of the different kinds of paraffin generally ranges from 42 to 60° C., yet one sort from the bituminous shale of Autun, prepared and examined by Laurent,[1028] melts at 33° C., and in this respect agrees with our stearoptene. It is therefore possible that the latter actually belongs to the paraffin series.

We have not ascertained the correctness of Baur’s strange experiments (1872, Jahresbericht der Pharm. p. 460), by which he believes to have converted the liquid part of rose oil into the stearoptene by means of a current of hydrogen.

Commerce—Formerly attar of rose came into commerce by way of Austria; it is now shipped from Constantinople. From the interior, it is transported in flattened round tin bottles called kunkumas, holding from 1 to 10 lb., which are sewed up in white woollen cloth. These sometimes reach this country, but more commonly the attar is transferred at Constantinople to small white glass bottles, ornamented with gilding, imported from Germany.

Uses—Attar of rose is of no medicinal importance, but serves occasionally as a scent for ointments. Rose water is sometimes made with it, but is not so good as that distilled from the flowers. Attar is much used in perfumery, but still more in the scenting of snuff.

Adulteration—No drug is more subject than attar of rose to adulteration, which is principally effected by the addition of the volatile oil of an Indian grass, Andropogon Schœnanthus L. This oil, which is called in Turkish Idris yàghi, and also Entershah, and is more or less known to Europeans as Geranium Oil, is imported into Turkey for this express purpose, and even submitted to a sort of purification before being used.[1029] It was formerly added to the attar only in Constantinople, but now the mixing takes place at the seat of the manufacture. It is said that in many places the roses are absolutely sprinkled with it before being placed in the still. As grass oil does not solidify by cold, its admixture with rose oil renders the latter less disposed to crystallize. Hence arises a preference among the dealers in Turkey for attar of the mountain districts, which, having a good proportion of stearoptene, will bear the larger dilution with grass oil without its tendency to crystallize becoming suspiciously small. Thus, in the circular of a commercial house in Constantinople, dated from Kizanlik, occur the phrases—“Extra strong oil,”—“Good strong congealing oil,”—“Strong good freezing oil;”—while the 3rd quality of attar is spoken of as a “not congealing oil.” The same circular states the belief of the writers, that in the season in which they wrote, “not a single metical of unadulterated oil” would be sent away.

The chief criteria, according to Baur, for the purity of rose oil are:—1. Temperature at which crystallization takes place: a good oil should congeal well in five minutes at a temperature of 12·5° C. 2. Manner of crystallizing.—The crystals should be light, feathery, shining plates, filling the whole liquid. Spermaceti, which has been sometimes used to replace the stearoptene, is liable to settle down in a solid cake, and is easily recognizable. Furthermore, it melts at 50° C. and so do most varieties of paraffin. The microscopic crystals of the latter are somewhat similar to those of rose stearoptene, yet they may be distinguished by an attentive comparative examination.

FRUCTUS ROSÆ CANINÆ.

Cynosbata; Fruit of the Dog-rose, Hips; F. Fruits de Cynorrhodon; G. Hagebutten.

Botanical Origin—Rosa canina L., a bush often 10 to 12 feet high, found in hedges and thickets throughout Europe except Lapland and Finland, and reaching the Canary Islands, Northern Africa, Persia and Siberia; universally dispersed throughout the British Islands.[1030]

History—The fruits of the wild rose, including other species besides R. canina L., have a scanty, orange, acid, edible pulp, on account of which they were collected in ancient times when garden fruits were few and scarce. Galen[1031] mentions them as gathered by country people in his day, as they still are in Europe. Gerarde in the 16th century remarks that the fruit when ripe—“maketh most pleasant meats and banqueting dishes, as tarts and such like.“ Though the pulp of hips preserved with sugar which is here alluded to, is no longer brought to table, at least in this country,[1032] it retains a place in pharmacy as a useful ingredient of pill-masses and electuaries.

Description—The fruit of a rose consists of the bottle-shaped calyx, become dilated and succulent by growth, and sometimes crowned with 5 leafy segments, enclosing numerous dry carpels or achenes, containing each one exalbuminous seed. The fruit of R. canina called a hip, is ovoid, about ¾ of an inch long, with a smooth, red, shining surface. It is of a dense, fleshy texture, becoming on maturity, especially after frost, soft and pulpy, the pulp within the shining skin being of an orange colour, and of an agreeable sweetish subacid taste. The large interior cavity contains numerous hard achenes, which, as well as the walls of the former, are covered with strong short hairs.

For medicinal use, the only part required is the soft orange pulp, which is separated by rubbing it through a hair sieve.

Microscopic Structure—The epidermis of the fruit is made up of tabular cells containing red granules, which are much more abundant in the pulp. The latter, as usual in many ripe fruits, consists of isolated cells no longer forming a coherent tissue. Besides these cells, there occur small fibro-vascular bundles. Some of the cells enclose tufted crystals of oxalate of calcium; most of them however are loaded with red granules, either globular or somewhat elongated. They assume a bluish hue on addition of perchloride of iron, and are turned blackish by iodine. The later colouration reminds one of that assumed by starch granules under similar circumstances; yet on addition of a very dilute solution of iodine, the granules always exhibit a blackish, not a blue tint, so that they are not to be considered as starch granules. The hairs of the pulp are formed of a single, thick-walled cell, straight or sometimes a little crooked.

Chemical Composition—The pulp examined by Biltz (1824) was found to afford nearly 3 per cent. of citric acid, 7·7 of malic acid, besides citrates, malates and mineral salts, 25 per cent. of gum, and 30 of uncrystallizable sugar.

Uses—Hips are employed solely on account of their pulp, which mixed with twice its weight of sugar, constitutes the Confectio Rosæ caninæ of pharmacy.

SEMEN CYDONIÆ.

Quince Seeds, Quince Pips; F. Semences ou Pepins de Coings; G. Quittensamen.

Botanical Origin—Pirus Cydonia L. (Cydonia vulgaris Pers.), the quince tree, is supposed to be a true native of Western Asia, from the Caucasian provinces of Russia to the Hindu Kush range in Northern India. But it is now apparently wild also in many of the countries which surround the Mediterranean basin.

In a cultivated state, it flourishes throughout temperate Europe, but is far more productive in southern than in northern regions. Quinces ripen in the south of England, but not in Scotland, nor in St. Petersburg, or in Christiana.

History—The quince was held in high esteem by the ancients, who considered it an emblem of happiness and fertility; and, as such, it was dedicated to Venus, whose temples it was used to decorate. Some antiquarians maintain that quinces were the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. The name Cydonia alludes to the town of Kydon, now Canea, in Creta; in the Talmud quinces are called Cretan apples.

Porcius Cato in his graphic description of the management of a Roman farmhouse, alludes to the storing of quinces both cultivated and wild; and there is much other evidence to prove that from an early period the quince was abundantly grown throughout Italy. Charlemagne, a.d. 812, enjoined its cultivation in central Europe.[1033] At what period it was introduced into Britain is not evident, but we have observed that Baked Quinces are mentioned among the viands served at the famous installation feast of Nevill, archbishop of York in 1466.[1034]

The use of mucilage of quince seeds has come to us through the Arabians; it is still met with in Turkestan.

Description—The quince is a handsome fruit of a golden yellow, in shape and size resembling a pear. It has a very agreeable and powerful smell, but an austere, astringent taste, so that it is not eatable in the raw state. In structure, it differs from an apple or a pear in having many seeds in each cell, instead of only two.

The fruit is, like an apple, 5-celled, with each cell containing a double row of closely-packed seeds, 8 to 14 in number, cohering by a soft mucilaginous membrane with which each is surrounded. By drying, they become hard, but remain agglutinated as in the cell. The seeds have an ovoid or obconic form, rather flattened and 3-sided by mutual pressure. From the hilum at the lower pointed end, the raphe passes as a straight ridge to the opposite extremity, which is slightly beaked and marked with a scar indicating the chalaza. The edge opposite the raphe is more or less arched according to the position of the individual seed in the cell. The testa encloses two thick, veined cotyledons, having a straight radicle directed towards the hilum.

Quince seeds have a mahogany-brown colour, and when unbroken a simply mucilaginous taste. But the kernels have the odour and taste of bitter almonds, and evolve hydrocyanic acid when comminuted and mixed with water.

Microscopic Structure—The epidermis of the seed consists of one row of cylindrical cells, the walls of which swell up in the presence of water and are dissolved, so as to yield an abundance of mucilage. This process can easily be observed, if thin sections of the seed are examined under glycerine, which acts on them but slowly.

Chemical Composition—The mucilage of the epidermis is present in such quantity, that the seed easily coagulates forty times its weight of water. By complete exhaustion, the seeds afford about 20 per cent. of dry mucilage, containing considerable quantities of calcium salts and albuminous matter, of which it is not easily deprived. When treated with nitric acid, it yields oxalic acid. After a short treatment with strong sulphuric acid it is coloured blue by iodine. Tollens and Kirchner (1874) assign to it the formula C₁₈H₂₈O₁₄, regarding it as a compound of gum, C₁₂H₂₀O₁₀, and cellulose, C₆H₁₀O₅, less one molecule of water.

Quince mucilage has but little adhesive power, and is not thickened by borax. That portion of it which is really in a state of solution and which may be separated by filtration, is precipitable by metallic salts or by alcohol. The latter precipitate after it has been dried is no longer dissolved by water either cold or warm. Quince mucilage is, on the whole, to be regarded as a soluble modification of cellulose.

The seeds on distillation with water afford a little hydrocyanic acid, and, probably, bitter almond oil.

Commerce—Quince seeds reach England from Hamburg; and are frequently quoted in Hamburg price-currents as Russian; they are also brought from the south of France and from the Cape of Good Hope. They are largely imported into India from the Persian Gulf, and by land from Afghanistan.

Uses—A decoction of quince seeds is occasionally used as a demulcent external application in skin complaints. It is also sometimes added to eye-lotions. Quince seeds are in general use among the natives of India as a demulcent tonic and restorative. They have been found useful by Europeans in dysentery.

HAMAMELIDEÆ.

STYRAX LIQUIDUS.[1035]

Balsamum Styracis; Liquid Storax; F. Styrax liquide; G. Flüssiger Storax.

Botanical Origin—Liquidambar orientalis Miller (L. imberbe Aiton), a handsome, umbrageous tree resembling a plane, growing to the height of 30 to 40 feet or more,[1036] and forming forests in the extreme south-western part of Asia Minor. In this region the tree occurs in the district of Sighala near Melasso, about Budrum (the ancient Halicarnassus) and Moughla, also near Giova and Ullà in the Gulf of Giova, and lastly near Marmorizza and Isgengak opposite Rhodes. It also grows in the valley of the El-Asi (the ancient Orontes), as proved by a specimen in the Vienna herbarium, collected by Gödel, Austrian Consul at Alexandretta. In this locality it was seen by Kotschy in 1835, but mistaken for a plane. The same traveller informed one of us that he believed it to occur at Narkislik, a village near Alexandretta.

The tree is not known to grow in Cyprus, Candia, Rhodes, Kos, or indeed in any of the islands of the Mediterranean.[1037]

History—Two substances of different origin have been known from a remote period under the name of Styrax or Storax, namely the resin of Styrax officinalis L. (see further on), and that of Liquidambar orientalis Miller, the latter commonly distinguished as Liquid Storax.

According to Krinos of Athens, who has carefully investigated the history of the drug,[1038] the earliest allusions to Liquid Storax occur in the writings of Aëtius and of Paulus Ægineta,[1039] who name both Storax and Liquid Storax (στνραξ νγρὸϛ). Of these Greek physicians, who lived respectively in the 6th and 7th centuries, the second also mentions the resin of Ζυγία, which is regarded by Krinos as synonymous with the latter substance.[1040]

We find in fact the term Sigia frequently mentioned by Rhazes (10th century) as signifying Liquid Storax. This and other Arabian physicians were also familiar with the same substance under the name of Miha (may’a), and also knew how and whence it was obtained.[1041]

A curious account of the collecting of Liquid Storax from the tree Zygia, and from another tree called Stourika, is given in the travels through Asia Minor to Palestine of the Russian abbot of Tver in a.d. 1113-1115.[1042]

The wide exportation and ancient use of Liquid Storax are very remarkable: even in the first century, as appears by the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, Storax, by which term there can be but little doubt Liquid Storax was intended, was exported by the Red Sea to India. Whether the Storax and Storax Isaurica offered to the Church of Rome under St. Silvester, a.d. 314-335, by the emperor Constantine,[1043] was Liquid Storax or the more precious resin of Styrax officinalis L., is a point we cannot determine. That the Chinese used the drug was a fact known to Garcia de Orta (1535-63): Bretschneider[1044] has shown from Chinese sources that, together with olibanum and myrrh, it was imported by the Arabs into China during the Ming dynasty, a.d. 1368-1628. This trade is still carried on: the drug is conveyed by way of the Red Sea to Bombay, and thence shipped to China. Official returns show that the quantity thus exported from Bombay in the year 1856-57 was 13,328 lb. In the time of Kämpfer (1690-92), Liquid Storax was one of the most profitable articles of shipment to Japan.[1045]

Liquid Storax is known in the East, at least in the price-currents and trade statistics of Europeans, by the strange-sounding name of Rose Malloes (Rosa Mallas, Rosum Alloes, Rosmal), a designation for it in use in the time of Garcia de Orta. Clusius[1046] considered it to be Arabic, which, however, the scholars whom we have consulted do not allow. Others identify it with Rasamala, the Malay name for Altingia excelsa. (See further on.)

The botanical origin of Liquid Storax was long a perplexing question to pharmacologists. It was correctly determined by Krinos, but his information on the subject published in a Greek newspaper in 1841, and repeated by Kosté in 1855,[1047] attracted no attention in Western Europe. The question was also investigated by one of the authors of the present work, whose observations, together with a figure of Liquidambar orientalis Miller, were published in 1857.[1048]

Method of Extraction—The extraction of Liquid Storax is carried on in the forests of the south-west of Asia Minor, chiefly by a tribe of wandering Turcomans called Yuruks. The process has been described on the authority of Maltass and McCraith of Smyrna, and of Campbell, British Consul at Rhodes.[1049] The outer bark is said to be first removed from the trunk of the tree and rejected; the inner is then scraped off with a peculiar iron knife or scraper, and thrown into pits until a sufficient quantity has been collected. It is then boiled with water in a large copper, by which process the resin is separated, so that it can be skimmed off. This seems to be performed with sea water; some chloride of sodium can therefore be extracted from the drug. The boiled bark is put into hair bags and squeezed under a rude lever, hot water being added to assist in the separation of the resin, or as it is termed yagh, i.e. oil. Maltass states that the bark is pressed in the first instance per se, and afterwards treated with hot water. In either case the products obtained are the opaque, grey, semi-fluid resin known as Liquid Storax, and the fragrant cakes of foliaceous, brown bark, once common[1050] but now rare in European pharmacy, called Cortex Thymiamatis.

We are indebted to M. Felix Sahut of Montpellier for a specimen of the bark of Liquidambar orientalis, cut from the trunk of a fine tree on his property at the neighbouring village of Lattes. The bark which is covered with a very thick corky layer and soaked in its own fragrant resin, shows no tendency to exfoliate. The investigations of Unger[1051] in Cyprus are consequently to us inexplicable; he asserts that the bark scales off, like that of the plane, by continued exfoliation, which is not the case with that of M. Sahut’s tree.

Description—Liquid Storax is a soft viscid resin, usually of the consistence of honey, heavier than water, opaque and greyish brown. It always contains water, which by long standing rises to the surface. In one sample that had been kept more than 20 years, the resin at the bottom of the bottle formed a transparent layer of a pale golden brown. When liquid storax is heated, it becomes by the loss of water dark brown and transparent, the solid impurities settling to the bottom. Spread out in a very thin layer, it partially dries, but does not wholly lose its stickiness. When free from water (which reddens litmus) it dissolves in alcohol, spirit of wine, chloroform, ether, glacial acetic acid, bisulphide of carbon, and most of the essential oils, but not in the most volatile part of petroleum (“petroleum ether”). It has a pleasant balsamic smell, especially after it has been long kept; when recent, it is contaminated with an odour of bitumen or naphthalene that is far from agreeable. Its taste is sharply pungent, burning and aromatic.

When the opaque resin is subjected to microscopic examination, small brownish granules are observed in a viscid, colourless, transparent liquid, besides which large drops of a mobile watery liquid may be distinguished. In polarized light, numerous minute crystalline fragments with a few larger tabular crystals are obvious. But when thin layers of the resin are left on the object glass in a warm place, feathery or spicular crystals (styracin) shoot out on the edge of the clear liquid, while in the large, sharply-defined drops above mentioned, rectangular tables and short prisms (cinnamic acid) make their appearance. On applying more warmth after the water is evaporated, all the substances unite into a transparent, dark brown, thick liquid, which exhibits no crystalline structure on cooling, or only after a very long time. Among the fragments of the bark occurring in the crude resin, liber-fibres are frequently observable.

Chemical Composition—The most abundant constituent of Styrax is probably the Storesin, C₃₆H₅₅(OH)₃, discovered in 1877 by W. von Miller, or rather cinnamic ethers of it and of an isomeric substance. Storesin is an amorphous substance melting at 168° C., readily soluble in petroleum ether. Several other compound ethers have also been observed in the drug, as for instance cinnamic ether of phenylpropyl, cinnamic ether of ethyl, cinnamic ether of benzyl, and especially cinnamate of cinnamyl, C₉H₇O₂·C₉H₉, the so-called Styracin. This substance, discovered by Bonastre in 1827, can be removed by ether, benzol or alcohol, after the separation from the resin of the cinnamic acid; it is insoluble in water, and volatile only in super-heated steam. It crystallizes in tufts of long rectangular prisms, which melt at 38° C., but it frequently does not solidify in a crystalline form, or only after a long time, or remains as an oily liquid. In its pure state it is inodorous and tasteless. By concentrated solution of potash, it is resolved into a cinnamate, and cinnamic alcohol (Styrone) C₉H₁₀O, which latter is not present in Liquid Storax. The cinnamic acid may be extracted to a small extent by boiling water, more completely by means of a boiling solution of carbonate of sodium, as it is present in the drug partly in the free state. Its compound ethers may be decomposed by caustic lye. The yield of cinnamic acid accordingly varies from 6 to 12 per cent.—or even, according to Löwe, as much as 23 per cent. of crystallized cinnamic acid can be obtained. The acid dissolves abundantly in ether, alcohol, or hot water, slightly in cold water; it is inodorous, but has an acrid taste. It fuses at 133° C., and boils at 290° C.; at a dull red heat it is resolved into carbonic acid and styrol, which latter is therefore related to it in the same manner as benzol (benzene) to benzoic acid. Liquid styrax is in fact the best source of cinnamic acid.

Another constituent of styrax is a fragrant substance, perhaps ethylvanillin, occurring in but small quantity.

Laubenheimer (1872) has shown that probably Benzylic Alcohol, C₇H₈O, boiling at 206° C., likewise occurs in Liquid Storax; it has not been found by Miller. The latter chemist also showed that water removes from the drug a little benzoïc acid; he observed moreover a substance similar to caoutchouc among the constituents of liquid styrax.

There is further to be mentioned as having been met with in Liquid Storax a hydrocarbon, C₈H₈, first prepared by Simon in 1839, which exists in the resin as a liquid, and also in a polymeric form as a solid. The former called Styrol, Cinnamene, or Cinnamol, has a sp. gr. of 0·924, and a boiling point of 146° C. It is a colourless, mobile liquid which may be obtained by distilling with water liquid storax, the odour and burning taste of which it possesses. When heated for a considerable time to 100°, or for a shorter period to 200° C., it is converted without change of composition into the colourless, transparent solid Metastyrol, which, unlike styrol, is not soluble in alcohol or ether. It has a sp. gr. of 1·054, and may be cut with a knife. By prolonged heating, it can be converted into its original liquid form.

Styrol is to be regarded as phenylated ethylene; it can be artificially obtained by shaking powdered cinnamic acid with saturated hydrobromic acid, when crystalline hydrobromated cinnamic acid, C₆H₅·CH₂·CHBr·COOH, is formed. One part of the latter, 10 parts of water, and a little more carbonate of sodium than the quantity required for saturation are mixed. The bromhydrocinnamate of sodium partly splits up immediately, even at 0°, according to the following equation

C₆H₅·CH₂·CHBr·COONa = ·CO₂ + NaBr + C₆H₅·CH·CH₂.

Bromhydrocinnamate of sodium. Styrol.

24 parts of bromhydrocinnamic acid, recrystallized from boiling bisulphide of carbon, yield about 7 parts of styrol; no other method affords as much as this.

Styrol has been discovered in Styrax, but is not regularly, and at all events to a minute amount only, found in the drug of the present day. We have no explanation for the strange fact that it was apparently more abundantly met with in former times.

Lastly there has been found in Liquid Storax, by J. H. van t’Hoff (1876), about 0·4 per cent. of an essential oil, probably C₁₀H₁₆O; Miller also pointed out a compound ether of probably the same (alcoholic) substance as occurring in styrax.

By the action of oxidizing agents, as nitric or chromic acids, or peroxide of lead, the cinnamyl compounds are easily reduced, carbonic acid and water being evolved; and at the same time benzoic acid, bitter almond oil, and hydrocyanic acid are produced. These compounds are in fact abundantly evolved when 6 parts of Liquid Storax are gently warmed with 1 p. of caustic soda, and then mixed with 3 p. of permanganate of potassium dissolved in 20 p. of water.

We have examined several samples of Liquid Storax of average quality, and found by exposure of small quantities to the heat of the steam bath, that it lost from 10 to 20 per cent. of water. The remainder treated with alcohol yielded a residue amounting to 13 to 18 per cent., consisting chiefly of fragments of bark and inorganic impurities. The percentage of the drug soluble in alcohol, to which is due its therapeutic value, thus amounts to 56 to 72. This part, as may be inferred from the foregoing statements, consists chiefly of storesin, the various compound ethers above mentioned, of cinnamic acid and of styracin, no doubt in greatly varying proportions.

Commerce—The annual production of Liquid Storax was estimated by Campbell in 1855 as about 490 cwt. for the districts of Giova and Ullá, and 300 cwt. for those of Marmorizza and Isgengak. The drug is exported in barrels to Constantinople, Smyrna, Syra and Alexandria. Some is also packed with a certain proportion of water in goatskins, and sent either by boats or overland to Smyrna, where it is transferred to barrels and shipped mostly to Trieste.

The chief consumption of Liquid Storax would appear to be in India and China. In the fiscal year 1866-67, Bombay imported 319 cwt. from the Red Sea. Liquid Storax is seldom seen in the London drug-sales.

Uses—Liquid Storax, which the British Pharmacopœia directs to be purified by solution in spirit of wine, is an ingredient in a few old-fashioned preparations but is hardly ever prescribed on its own account. It is stated to be expectorant and stimulant, and useful in chronic bronchial affections. It has been recommended by Pastau, Berlin (1865), as an external application for the cure of scabies, for which purpose it is mixed with linseed oil and now largely used.

Adulteration—The drug is occasionally mixed with sand, ashes, and other substances; these would be detected by solution in spirit of wine, as well as by the microscope.

Allied Substances.

Styrax Calamita (Storax en pain Guibourt)—The substance that now bears this name is by no means the Styrax Calamita of ancient times, but is an artificial compound made by mixing the residual Liquidambar bark called Cortex Thymiamatis (p. 273), coarsely powdered, with Liquid Storax in the proportions of 3 to 2. It is at first a clammy mass, acquiring after a few weeks an appearance of mouldiness, due to minute silky crystals of styracin. It is usually imported in wooden drums, and has a very sweet smell. When the bark is scarce, common sawdust is substituted for it, while qualities still inferior are made up with the help of olibanum, honey, and earthy substances. This drug is manufactured at Trieste, Venice and Marseilles.

Several other odoriferous compounds, of which Liquid Storax appears to be the chief ingredient, are made in the East and may still be found in old drug warehouses.[1052]

Resin of Styrax officinalis L.; True Storax—This was a solid resin somewhat resembling benzoin, of fragrant, balsamic odour, held in great estimation from the time of Dioscorides and Pliny down to the close of the last century. It was perhaps the “storace odorifero” exported in the 12th century from Pantellaria[1053] and Sicily. The drug was obtained from the stem of Styrax officinalis L. (Styraceæ), a native of Greece, Asia Minor and Syria, now found also in Italy and Southern France. This plant when permitted to grow freely for several years, forms a small tree, in which state alone it appears to be capable of affording a fragrant resin. But in most localities it has been reduced by ruthless lopping to a mere bush, the young stems of which yield not a trace of exudation. True storax has thus utterly disappeared.

Professor Krinos of Athens has informed us (1871) that about Adalia on the southern coast of Asia Minor, a sort of solid storax obtained from S. officinalis is still used as incense in the churches and mosques. The specimen of it which he has been good enough to send us, is not however resin, but sawdust; it is of a pale cinnamon-brown, and pleasant balsamic odour. By keeping, it emits an abundance of minute acicular crystals (styracin?). The substance is interesting in connection with the statement of Dioscorides, that the resin of Styrax is adulterated with the sawdust of the tree itself, and the fact that the region where this sawdust is still in use is one of the localities for the drug (Pisidia) which he mentions.

Resin of Liquidambar styraciflua L.—a large and beautiful tree, native of North America from Connecticut and Illinois southward to Mexico and Guatemala. In the United States, where it is called Sweet Gum, the tree yields from natural fissures or by incision, small quantities of a balsamic resin, which is occasionally used for chewing. We have before us an excellent sample of it collected for Messrs. Wallace Brothers of Statesville, N. Carolina.[1054]

In Central America this exudation is far more freely produced; an authentic specimen from Guatemala in our possession is a pale yellow, opaque resin of honey-like consistence, becoming transparent, amber-coloured and brittle by exposure to the air. It has a rather terebinthinous, balsamic odour. In the mouth it softens like benzoin or mastich, and has but little taste. Another specimen also from Guatemala, a thick, fluid oleo-resin, of a golden brown hue, was contributed to the Paris Exhibition in 1878.

The resin of L. styraciflua L. has been ascertained by Procter[1055] to contain cinnamic, but not benzoic acid. Harrison[1056] found it to contain styracin and essential oil (styrol?).

Resin of Liquidambar formosana Hance—This tree, which we suppose may be the Styrax liquida folio minore, which Ray names[1057] as occurring in a collection of plants from Amoy, is a native of Formosa and Southern China, where it affords a dry terebinthinous resin, of agreeable fragrance when heated. Of this resin, which is used by the Chinese, a specimen collected in Formosa by Mr. Swinhoe has been presented to us by Dr. Hooker. A tree figured under the name of Fung-heang in the Pun-tsao[1058] is, we presume, this species.