LOBELIACEÆ…

LOBELIACEÆ

HERBA LOBELIÆ.

Lobelia, Indian Tobacco; F. Lobelie enflée; G. Lobeliakraut.

=Botanical Origin=—Lobelia inflata L., an annual herb, 9 to 18 inches high, with an angular upright stem, simple or more frequently branching near the top, widely diffused throughout the eastern part of North America from Canada to the Mississippi, growing in neglected fields, along roadsides, and on the edges of woods, and thriving well in European gardens.

=History=—Lobelia inflata was described and figured by Linnæus[1460] from specimens cultivated by him at Upsala about 1741, but he does not attribute to the plant any medicinal virtues.

The aborigines of North America made use of the herb, which from this circumstance and its acrid taste, came to be called Indian Tobacco. In Europe it was noticed by Schöpf,[1461] but with little appreciation of its powers. In America it has long been in the hands of quack doctors, but its value in asthma was set forth by Cutler in 1813. It was not employed in England until about 1829, when, with several other remedies, it was introduced to the medical profession by Reece.[1462]

=Description=—The leaves are 1 to 3 inches long, scattered, sessile, ovate-lanceolate, rather acute, obscurely toothed, somewhat pubescent. The edge of the leaf bears small whitish glands, and between them isolated hairs which are more frequent on the under than on the upper surface. They are usually in greater abundance on the lower and middle portions of the stem.

The stem of the growing plant exudes when wounded a small quantity of acrid milky juice, contained in laticiferous vessels running also into the leaves. The inconspicuous blossoms are arranged in a many-flowered, terminal, leafy raceme. The five-cleft, bilabiate corolla is bluish with a yellow spot on the under lip, its tube being as long as the somewhat divergent limb of the calyx.

The capsule is ovoid, inflated, ten-ribbed, crowned by five elongated sepals which are half as long as the ripe fruit. The latter is two-celled, and contains a large number of ovate-oblong seeds about ¹/₅₀ of an inch in length, having a reticulated, pitted surface.

The herb found in commerce is in the form of rectangular cakes, 1 to 1¾ inches thick, consisting of the yellowish-green chopped herb, compressed as it would seem while still moist, and afterwards neatly trimmed. The cakes arrive wrapped in paper, sealed up and bearing the label of some American druggist or herb-grower.

[1459] Stillé, Therapeutics and Mat. Med. i. (1868) 756. Garrod (Med. Times and Gazette, 26 March, 1864), gave lactucarium in drachm doses, repeated 3 or 4 times a day, without being able to perceive that it had any effect either as an anodyne or hypnotic.

[1460] Acta Soc. Reg. Scient. Upsal. 1746. 23.

[1461] Mat. Med. Americana, Erlangæ, 1787. 128.

[1462] Treatise on the Bladder-podded Lobelia, Lond. 1829.

Lobelia has a herby smell and, after being chewed, a burning acrid taste resembling that of tobacco.

=Chemical Composition=—Lobelia has been examined by Procter, Pereira (1842), Reinsch (1843), Bastick (1851), also by F. F. Mayer.[1463] The first-named chemist[1464] traced the activity of the plant to an alkaloid which he termed Lobelina, and his observations were confirmed by the independent experiments of Bastick.[1465] Lewis (1878) obtained it by mixing the drug with charcoal and exhausting the powder with water containing a little acetic acid. The liquid is cautiously evaporated to the consistency of an extract and triturated with magnesia, from the excess of which the aqueous solution of lobeline is separated by filtration. It is agitated with amylic alcohol (or ether), which by spontaneous evaporation affords the alkaloid. The latter is again dissolved in water and filtered through animal charcoal; from the dried powder lobeline is to be removed by ether.

Lobeline is an oily, yellowish fluid with a strong alkaline reaction, especially when in solution. In the pure state it smells slightly of the plant, but more strongly when mixed with ammonia. Its taste is pungent and tobacco-like, and when taken in minute doses, it exercises in a potent manner the poisonous action of the drug. Lobeline is to some extent volatile, but its decomposition begins when it is heated to 100° C. either pure or in presence of dilute acids or caustic alkalis. Lobeline dissolves in water, but more readily in alcohol or ether, the latter of which is capable of removing it from its aqueous solution. It neutralizes acids, forming with some of them crystallizable salts, soluble in water or alcohol.

The herb likewise contains traces of essential oil (the Lobelianin of Pereira?), resin and gum. The seeds afforded Procter about 30 per cent. of fixed oil, sp. gr. 0·940, which was found to dry very rapidly. The Lobeliin of Reinsch appears to be an indefinite compound.

In 1871 Enders at our request performed some researches on Lobelia in order to isolate the acrid substance to which the herb owes its taste. He exhausted the drug with spirit of wine and distilled the liquid in presence of charcoal, which then retained the acrid principle. The charcoal was washed with water, and then treated with boiling alcohol. This on evaporation yielded a green extract, which was further purified by means of chloroform. Warty tufts were thus finally obtained, yet always of a brownish colour. The tufts are readily soluble in ether and chloroform, but only slightly in water; they possess the acrid taste of lobelia. This substance, which we may term Lobelacrin, is decomposed if merely boiled with water; by the influence of alkalis or acids it is resolved into sugar and Lobelic Acid. The latter is soluble in ether, water, and alcohol, and is non-volatile; it yields a soluble salt with baryum oxide, whereas its plumbic salt is insoluble in water.

[1463] American Journ. of Pharm. xxxvii. (1866) 209; also Jahresbericht of Wiggers and Husemann, 1866. 252.

[1464] Am. Journ. of Pharm. iii. (1838) 98; vii. (1841) 1; Pharm. Journ. x. (1851) 456.

[1465] Pharm. Journ. x. (1851) 270.

Lewis suggests that lobelacrin is nothing else than lobeliate of lobeline, which he believes to exist ready formed in the plant. From a decoction of the drug, on addition of sulphate of copper, lobeliate of copper is precipitated. By decomposing the latter with sulphuretted hydrogen, concentrating the solution and shaking it with warm ether, Lewis obtained a yellow solution affording on evaporation a crystalline mass of lobelic acid.

=Uses=—Lobelia is a powerful nauseating emetic; in large doses an acro-narcotic poison. It is prescribed in spasmodic asthma.

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ERICACEÆ

FOLIA UVÆ URSI.

Bearberry Leaves; F. Feuilles de Busserole; G. Bärentraubenblätter.

=Botanical Origin=—Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi Sprengel (A. officinalis Wimmer et Grabowsky, Arbutus Uva-ursi L.), a small, procumbent, evergreen shrub, distributed over the greater part of the northern hemisphere. It occurs in North America, Iceland, Northern Europe, and Russian Asia, and on the chief mountain chains of Central and Southern Europe. In Britain it is confined to Scotland, the north of England, and Ireland.

=History=—The bearberry was used in the 13th century by the Welsh “Physicians of Myddfai,” described by Clusius in 1601, and recommended for medicinal use in 1763 by Gerhard of Berlin and others.[1466] It had a place in the London Pharmacopœia for the first time in 1788.

=Description=—The leaves are dark green, ¾ to 1 inch in length by ²/₈ to ⅜ of an inch in breadth, obovate, rounded at the end, gradually narrowed into a short petiole. They are entire, with the margin a little reflexed, and in the young state slightly pubescent, otherwise the whole leaf is smooth, glabrous, and coriaceous; the upper surface shining, deeply impressed with a network of veins; the under minutely reticulated with dark veins.[1467] The leaves have a very astringent taste, and when powdered a tea-like smell.

=Chemical Composition=—Kawalier (1852) has shown that a decoction of bearberry treated with basic acetate of lead yields a gallate of that metal, thus proving that gallic acid exists ready-formed in the leaves. When the filtrate, freed from lead by sulphuretted hydrogen, is properly concentrated, it deposits acicular crystals of Arbutin, a bitter neutral substance, easily soluble in hot water, less so in cold, dissolving in alcohol, but sparingly in ether.

By contact for some days with emuslin, or by boiling with dilute sulphuric acid, arbutin is resolved, according to Hlasiwetz and Habermann (1875), as follows:—

C₂₅H₃₄O₁₄ + 2 OH₂ = C₆H₁₂O₆ · C₆H₄(OH)₂ · C₆H₄(OH·OCH₃) Arbutin. Glucose. Hydrokinone. Methyl-hydrokinone.

Yet possibly arbutin is a mixture of the glucoside compounds of both hydrokinone and methyl-hydrokinone.

[1466] Murray, Apparatus Medicaminum, ii. (1794) 64-81.

[1467] Microscopic structure of the leaves, see Pocklington, Pharm. Journ. v. (1874) 301.

By heating arbutin with peroxide of manganese and dilute sulphuric acid, on the other hand, Kinone, C₆H₄O₂, and formic acid are produced. If a concentrated decoction of the leaves is allowed to stand for some months, a decomposition of the arbutin takes place, and a certain quantity of hydrokinone can be isolated by shaking the liquid with ether.

Arbutin is apparently widely distributed among the plants belonging to the order Ericaceæ. Maisch in 1874 showed it to occur in Arctostaphylos glauca Swindley, Gaultheria procumbens L. (Wintergreen) and several other allied American plants. Kennedy (1875) isolated arbutin from Kalmia latifolia L. (Spoonwood), where it occurs in smaller quantity than in bearberry leaves.

Kinic acid (see p. 363) is probably absent in all these plants containing arbutin.

Uloth (1859) had already noticed pyrocatechin (p. 244) and hydrokinone among the products of the distillation of an aqueous extract of bearberry leaves. Arbutin itself also yields hydrokinone by means of dry distillation. Hydrokinone forms colourless crystals, melting at 169° C.

In the mother-liquor from which the arbutin has crystallized, there remains a small quantity of the very bitter substance called Ericolin, occurring in greater abundance in Calluna, Ledum, Rhododendron, and other Ericaceæ. Ericolin is an amorphous yellowish mass, softening at 100° C. and resolved, when heated with dilute sulphuric acid, into sugar and Ericinol, a colourless, quickly resinifying oil of a peculiar, not disagreeable odour; its composition[1468] agrees with the formula C₁₀H₁₆O. The same, or C₂₀H₃₂O₂, is to be assigned to Ursone, which H. Trommsdorff, in 1854, obtained from bearberry leaves by exhausting them with ether (in which however it is but slightly soluble). Ursone is a colourless and tasteless crystallizable substance. It melts at 200° C., and sublimes apparently unchanged. Tonner (1866) met with it in the leaves of an Australian Epacris, a plant of the same order as the bearberry.

[1468] Gmelin, Chemistry, xvi. (1864). 28.

Lastly, tannic acid is present in the leaves under notice; their aqueous infusion is nearly colourless, but assumes a violet hue on addition of ferrous sulphate. After a short time a reddish precipitate is produced, which quickly turns blue. By using ferric chloride, a bluish black precipitate immediately separates.

=Adulteration=—The leaves of Vaccinium Vitis-idæa L., called Red Whortleberry or Cowberry, have been confounded with those of bearberry, which in form they much resemble. But they are easily distinguished by being somewhat crenate towards the apex, dotted and reticulate on the under surface and more revolate at the margin.

=Uses=—An astringent tonic used chiefly in affections of the bladder.

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EBENACEÆ

FRUCTUS DIOSPYRI.

Indian Persimmon.

=Botanical Origin=—Diospyros Embryopteris Pers. (Embryopteris glutinifera Roxb.), a middle-sized or large evergreen tree, native of the western coast of India, Ceylon, Bengal, Burma, Siam, and also Java.[1469]

=History=—The tree, which is mentioned in the earliest epic poems of the Sanskrit literature under the name of tinduka,[1470] was also known about the year 1680 to Rheede, and was figured in his Hortus Malabaricus.[1471] The circumstance that the unripe fruit abounds in an astringent viscid juice which is used by the natives of India for daubing the bottoms of boats, was communicated by Sir William Jones to Roxburgh in 1791. The introduction of the fruit into medicine, which is due to O’Shaughnessy,[1472] has been followed by its admission to the Pharmacopœia of India, 1868.

=Description=—The fruit is usually solitary, subsessile or pedunculate, globular or ovoid, 1½ to 2 inches long, and as much as 1½ inch in diameter, surrounded at the base by a large and deeply 4-lobed calyx. It is of a yellowish colour, covered with a rusty tomentum; internally it is pulpy, 6-to 10-celled, with thin flat solitary seeds. The fruit is used only in the unripe and fresh state; the pulp is then excessively astringent. At maturity, in the month of April near Bombay, the fruit becomes eatable, but is very little appreciated.

=Chemical Composition=—No analysis has been made of this fruit, but there can be no doubt that in common with that of other species of Diospyros, it is, when immature, rich in tannic acid. Charropin (1873),[1473] who has examined the fruit of the American D. virginiana L., found it to contain a tannic acid which he considered identical with that of nutgalls, besides an abundance of pectin, glucose, and a yellow colouring matter insoluble in water but dissolving freely in ether.

=Uses=—The inspissated juice has been recommended as an astringent in diarrhœa and chronic dysentery.

[1469] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, part 18 (1877).

[1470] As we learn from Dr. Rice.—Prof. Dymock (1876) gives Timbooree as the Bombay name.

[1471] Tom. iii. tab. 41.

[1472] Bengal Dispensatory, Calcutta, 1842. 428.

[1473] Etude sur le Plaqueminier (Diospyros), thèse, Paris, 1873. 28-30.

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STYRACEÆ

RESINA BENZOË.

Benzoïnum; Benzoin, Gum Benjamin; F. Benjoin; G. Benzoëharz.[1474]

=Botanical Origin=—Styrax Benzoin Dryander, a tree of moderate height, with stem as thick as a man’s body and beautiful crown of foliage, indigenous to Sumatra and Java, in the first of which islands benzoin is produced.

[1474] Benzoin in Malay and Javanese is termed Kamâñan, Kamiñan, and Kamayan, abbreviated to mâñan and miñan (Crawfurd); it is called in Siamese kom-yan or kan-yan; in Chinese ngán-si-hiáng.

The name Benzoin is also applied to the beautiful prisms C₁₄H₁₂O₂ obtained by treating Bitter Almond Oil with an alcoholic solution of potash.

The tree yielding the superior benzoin of Siam, though commonly referred to this species, has never been examined botanically, and is actually unknown. The French expedition for the exploration of the Mekong and Cochin China (1866-68), reported the drug to be produced in the cassia-yielding forests on the eastern bank of the river in question in about N. lat. 19°. Whether any benzoin is obtained from S. Finlaysoniana Wall, as conjectured by Royle, we know not.

=History=—There is no evidence that the Greeks and Romans,[1475] or even the earlier Arabian physicians, had any acquaintance with benzoin; nor is the drug to be recognized among the commodities which were conveyed to China by the Arab and Persian traders between the 10th and 13th centuries, though the camphor of Sumatra is expressly named.

The first mention of benzoin known to us (disregarding the word kalanusari, which in the St. Petersburg Dictionary is given as the old Sanskrit name of benzoin) occurs in the travels of Ibn Batuta,[1476] who having visited Sumatra during his journey through the East, A.D. 1325-49, notes that the island produces Java Frankincense and camphor. The word Java was at that period a designation of Sumatra, or was even used by the Arabs to signify the islands and productions of the Archipelago generally.[1477] Hence came the Arabic name Lubán Jáwí, i.e. Java Frankincense, corrupted into Banjawi, Benjui, Benzui, Benzoë and Benzoïn, and into the still more vulgar English Benjamin.

We have no further information about the drug until the latter half of the following century, when we find a record that in 1461 the sultan of Egypt, Melech Elmaydi, sent to Pasquale Malipiero, doge of Venice, a present of 30 rotoli of Benzoi, 20 rotoli of Aloes Wood, two pairs of Carpets, a small flask of balsam (of Mecca), 15 little boxes of Theriaka, 42 loaves of Sugar, 5 boxes of Sugar Candy, a horn of Civet, and 20 pieces of Porcelain.[1478] Agostino Barberigo, another doge of Venice, was presented in a similar manner in 1490 by the sultan of Egypt with 35 rotoli of Aloes Wood, the same quantity of Benzui and 100 loaves of Sugar.[1479]

Among the precious spices sent from Egypt in 1476 to Caterina Cornaro, queen of Cyprus, were 10 lb. of Aloes Wood and 15 lb. of Benzui.[1480] These notices indicate the high value set upon the drug when first brought to Europe.

The occurrence of benzoin in Siam is noticed in the journal of the voyage of Vasco da Gama,[1481] where, in enumerating the kingdoms of India, it is stated that Xarnaux (Siam[1482]) yields much benzoin worth 3 cruzados, and aloes worth 25 cruzados per farazola. According to the same record, the price of benzoin (beijoim) in Alexandria was 1 cruzado per arratel, half the value of aloes wood.

[1475] Crawfurd suggests that the Malabathrum of the ancients is possibly benzoin.—Dict. of Indian Islands, 1856. 50.

[1476] Voyages d’Ibn Batoutah, traduit par Defrémery et Sanguinetti, Paris, 1853-59. iv. 228. 240.

[1477] Yule, Book of Ser Marco Polo, ii. (1871) 228.

[1478] Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, xxii. (1733) 1170.—100 rotoli = 175 lb. avoirdupois.

[1479] L. de Mas Latrie, Hist. de l’île de Chypre, etc. iii. (1861) 483.

[1480] Ibid. iii. 406.

[1481] Roteiro da Viagem de Vasco da Gama em 1497, par Herculano e o Barão Castello de Paiva, segunda edição, Lisboa, 1861. 109.

The Roteiro is also found in Flückiger, Documente zur Geschichte der Pharmacie, Halle, 1876. 13.

[1482] Yule, op. cit. ii. 222.

The Portuguese traveller Barbosa[1483] visited in 1511 Calicut on the Malabar Coast, and found Benzui to be one of the more valuable items of export, one farazola (22 lb. 6 oz.) costing 65 to 70 fanoes; camphor fetched nearly the same price, and mace only 25 to 30 fanoes. From other sources we gather that benzoin was an article of Venetian trade in the beginning of the 16th century.

Garcia de Orta, writing at Goa (1563), was the first to give a lucid and intelligent account of benzoin, detailing the method of collection, and distinguishing the drug of Siam and Martaban from that produced in Java and Sumatra.

It began then to be regularly imported into Europe,[1484] being frequently called Asa dulcis. The chemists of that time submitted it, like many other substances, to dry distillation. Benzoic acid occasionally separating from the oily products (“oleum Benzoës”) was noticed already by Nostredame,[1485] Rosello,[1486] Liebaut,[1487] Blaise de Vigenère,[1488] and others. It was a common pharmaceutical preparation, under the name of Flores Benzoës, since the 17th century.[1489]

In the early part of the 17th century, there was direct commercial intercourse between England and both Siam and Sumatra, an English factory existing at Ayuthia (Siam) until 1623; and benzoin was doubtless one of the commodities imported. The import duties levied upon it in England in 1635 amounted to 10_s._ per lb.[1490]

=Production=—Benzoin is collected in Northern and Eastern Sumatra, especially in the Batta country, lying southward of the state of Achin.[1491] The tree grows in plenty also in the highlands of Palembang in the south and its resin is collected. It is chiefly on the coast regions that considerable plantations are found. Teysmann saw the cultivation in the tracts of the river Batang Leko, the trees being planted about 15 feet apart. The benzoin from the interior is mostly from wild trees, which occur at the foot of the mountains at an elevation of 300 to 1000 feet.

The trees, which are of quick growth, are raised from seeds grown on the [edges of?] rice-fields; they require no particular attention beyond being kept clear of other plants, until about 6 or 7 years old, when they have trunks 6 to 8 inches in diameter, and are capable of yielding the resin. Incisions are then made in their stems, from which there exudes a thick, whitish, resinous juice, which soon hardens by exposure to the air, and is carefully scraped off with a knife.

[1483] Flückiger, l.c., page 14.

[1484] Cardanus, Les livres de la subtilité, Paris, 1556 (first edition, 1550), page 160 b. states: “belzoi est de vil prix pour l’abondance.”

[1485] Excellent et moult utile opuscule à touts necessaire qui desirent avoir cognoissance de plusieurs exquises receptes, 1556.

[1486] Alexii Pedemontani (or Hieron. Rosello), De secretis libri vi., Basil, 1560, page 107.

[1487] Quatre livres de secrets de medecine et de la philosophie chimique, Paris, 1579, page 146.

[1488] Traicté du feu et du sel, Paris, 1622, page 99.—Vigenère speaks distinctly of “filamens ou aiguilles,” i.e. crystals.—He died in 1596.

[1489] Flückiger, Pharm. Journ. vi. (1876) 1022.

[1490] The Rates of Marchandizes, London, 1635.

[1491] Miquel, Prodromus Floræ Sumatranæ, 1860. 72; Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra, London, 1783. 123.—The latter author resided at Bencoolen, as an official of the English Government.

The statement of Crawfurd, l.c., that benzoin is collected in Borneo “on the northern coast in the territory of Brunai” is to us inexplicable. Mr. St. John, British Consul in Borneo, in an official report on the trade of Brunai, dated from that place 29 January 1858, enumerates the various productions of the district, but does not name benzoin.

The trees continue to yield at the rate of about three pounds per annum for 10 or 12 years, after which period they are cut down. The resin which exudes during the first three years is said to be fuller of white tears, and therefore of finer quality, than that which issues subsequently, and is termed by the Malays Head Benzoin. That which flows during the next 7 or 8 years, is browner in colour and less valuable, and is known as Belly Benzoin; while a third sort, called Foot, is obtained by splitting the tree and scraping the wood; this last is mixed with much bark and refuse.[1492]

Benzoin is brought for sale to the ports of Sumatra in large cakes called Tampangs, wrapped in matting. These have to be broken, and softened either by the heat of the sun or by that of boiling water, and then packed into square cases which the resin is made to fill.

The only account of the collection of Siam Benzoin is that given by Sir R. H. Schomburgk, for some years British Consul at Bangkok.[1493] He represents that the bark is gashed all over, and that the resin which exudes, collects and hardens between it and the wood, the former of which is then stripped off. This account is confirmed by the aspect of some of the Siam benzoin of commerce as well as by that of pieces of bark in our possession; but it is also evident that all the Siam drug is not thus obtained. Schomburgk adds, that the resin is much injured and broken during its conveyance in small baskets on bullocks’ backs to the navigable parts of the Menam, whence it is brought down to Bangkok.[1494]

Whether benzoin owes its original fluidity to a volatile oil holding the resin in solution, and its solidification to the volatilization of this oil, or whether the resin itself hardens by oxidation,—what occasions the remarkable diversity of aspect between the opaque and milk-like, and the completely transparent resin, are questions to be investigated by some future observer.

=Description=—Benzoin (always termed in English commerce Gum Benjamin) is distinguished as of two kinds, Siam and Sumatra. Each sort occurs in various degrees of purity, and under considerable differences of appearance.

1. Siam Benzoin—The most esteemed sort is that which consists entirely of flattened tears or drops, an inch or two long, of an opaque, milk-like, white resin, loosely agglutinated into a mass. More frequently the mass is quite compact, consisting of a certain proportion of white tears of the size of an almond downwards, imbedded in a deep, rich amber-brown, translucent resin. Occasionally the translucent resin preponderates, and the white tears are almost wanting. In some packages, the tears of white resin are very small, and the whole mass has the aspect of a reddish-brown granite. There is always a certain admixture of bits of wood, bark, and other accidental impurities.

[1492] The terms Head, Belly and Foot, equivalent to our words superior, medium and inferior, are used in the East to distinguish the qualities of many other commodities, as Borneo Camphor, Esculent Birds’-nests, Cardamoms, Galbanum, &c.

[1493] This account must have been derived from others, for Sir R. H. Schomburgk never visited the region producing benzoin.

[1494] Pharm. Journ. iii. (1862) 126.

The white tears when broken, display a stratified structure with layers of greater or less translucency. By keeping, the white milky resin becomes brown and transparent on the surface.

Siam benzoin is very brittle, the opaque tears showing a slightly waxy, the transparent a glassy fracture. It easily softens in the mouth and may be kneaded with the teeth like mastich. It has a delicate balsamic, vanilla-like, fragrance, but very little taste. When heated it evolves a more powerful fragrance, together with the irritating fumes of benzoic acid; its fusing point is 75° C. The presence of benzoic acid may be shown by the microscopical examination of splinters of the resin under oil of turpentine.

Siam benzoin is imported in cubic blocks, which takes their form from the wooden cases in which they are packed while the resin is still soft.

2. Sumatra Benzoin—Prior to the renewal of direct commercial intercourse with Siam in 1853, this was the sort of benzoin most commonly found in commerce.

It is imported in cubic blocks exactly like the preceding, from which it differs in its generally greyer tint. The mass however, when the drug is of good quality, contains numerous opaque tears, set in a translucent, greyish-brown resin, mixed with bits of wood and bark. When less good, the white tears are wanting, and the proportion of impurities is greater. We have even seen samples consisting almost wholly of bark. In odour, Sumatra benzoin is both weaker and less agreeable than the Siam drug, and generally falls short of it in purity[1495] and handsome appearance, and hence commands a much lower price. The greyish-brown portion melts at 95°, the tears at 85° C.

A variety of Sumatra benzoin is distinguished by the London drug-brokers as Penang Benjamin or Storax-smelling Benjamin. We have seen it of very fine quality, full of white tears (some of them two inches long), the intervening resin being greyish.[1496] The odour is very agreeable, and perceptibly different from that of Siam benzoin, or the usual Sumatra sort. Whether this drug is produced in Sumatra and by Styrax Benzoin we know not; but it is worthy of note that S. subdenticulata Miq., occurring in Western Sumatra, has the same native name (Kajoe Kĕminjan) as S. Benzoin, and that Miquel remarks of it—“An etiam benzoiferum?”[1497]

=Chemical Composition=—Benzoin consists mainly of amorphous resins perfectly soluble in alcohol and in potash, having slightly acid properties, and differing in their behaviour to solvents. If two parts of the drug are boiled with one part of caustic lime and 20 parts of water, benzoin acid is removed. From the residue the excess of lime is dissolved by hydrochloric acid, and the remaining resins washed and dried. About one-third of them will be found readily soluble in ether, the prevailing portion dissolves in alcohol, and a small amount remains undissolved.

[1495] In the Public Ledger, May 2, 1874, the prices are quoted thus:—Siam Gum Benjamin, 1st and 2nd qualities, £10 to £28 per cwt.; Sumatra, 1st and 2nd, £7 10_s._ to £12.

[1496] There were 8 cases of this drug offered at Public Sale, 13 April 1871.

[1497] Prod. Floræ Sumatranæ, 1860. 474.

By distilling the resin of benzoin with ten times its weight of zinc dust, Ciamician (1878) chiefly obtained toluol, C₆H₅(CH₃).

Subjected to dry distillation, benzoin affords as chief product Benzoic Acid, C₇H₆O₂, together with empyreumatic products, among which Berthelot has proved the presence (in Siam benzoin) of Styrol (p. 274). The latter has been obtained in 1874 by Theegarten from Sumatra benzoë by distilling it with water. When the resin is fused with potash, it is partly decomposed and then, according to Hlasiwetz and Barth (1866), yields among other products, protocatechuic acid (more than 5 per cent.), C₆H₃(OH)₂COOH, para-oxybenzoic acid, C₆H₄(OH)COOH, and pyrocatechin, C₆H₄(OH)₂.

Benzoic acid exists ready-formed in the drug to the extent of 14 to 18 per cent.[1498] Although the acid dissolves in 12 parts of boiling water, the resin in which it is imbedded precludes its complete extraction by this means. It is however easily accomplished by the aid of an alkali, most advantageously by milk of lime, which does not combine with the amorphous resins.

Benzoin is not manifestly acted on by bisulphide of carbon, but if kept in contact with it for a month or two, very large colourless crystals of benzoic acid make their appearance. Brought into a warm room, the crystals quickly dissolve, but are easily reproduced by exposure to cold.

Most pharmacopœias require not the inodorous acid obtained by a wet process, but that afforded by sublimation, which contains a small amount of fragrant empyreumatic products. The resin, when repeatedly subjected to sublimation, affords as much as 14 per cent. of benzoic acid. It has long been known that the opaque white tears of benzoin are less rich in benzoic acid than the transparent brown resin in which they lie. From the latter, S. W. Brown (1833) extracted 13 per cent. of impure acid, but from the former scarcely 8½ per cent. We are by no means sure that such difference is constant.

Bitter almond oil, which by oxidation yields benzoic acid, is wanting in benzoin. Very little volatile oil is in fact to be got; half a pound of the best Penang benzoin yielded us by distillation with water only a few drops of an extremely fragrant oil (styrol?).

Ferric chloride imparts to an alcoholic solution of benzoin a dark brownish green, which is not acquired under the same circumstances by the aqueous decoction of the powdered resin. Benzoin dissolves in cold oil of vitriol, forming a solution of splendid carmine hue, from which water separates crystals of benzoic acid.

Kolbe and Lautemann in 1860 discovered in Siam and Penang benzoin together with benzoic acid, an acid of different constitution, which in 1861 they recognized as Cinnamic Acid, C₉H₉O₂. Aschoff (1861) found in a sample of Sumatra benzoin, cinnamic acid only, of which he got 11 per cent.; and in amygdaloid Siam and Penang benzoin only benzoic acid. In some samples of the latter, one of us (F.) has likewise met with cinnamic acid. On triturating this sort with peroxide of lead and boiling the mixture with water, the odour of bitter almond oil, due to the oxidation of cinnamic acid, is evolved.

[1498] Löwe (1870) and Rump (1878) attempted to prove that the acid is partly present in the form of a compound, but they have not shown with which substance it is combined in the drug.

The simultaneous occurrence of benzoic and cinnamic acids, or the absence of one or other of them in benzoin, is due to circumstances at present unexplained. Rump is of the opinion that the last named acid exclusively is present in the Penang (or Sumatra) benzoin and that no variety of the drug contains both those acids.

Rump (1878) treated Siam benzoic with caustic lime (see p. 407), precipitated the benzoic acid with hydrochloric acid, and agitated the liquid with ether. The latter on evaporating afforded a mixture of benzoic acid and Vanillin (see article Vanilla).

=Commerce=—The statistics of Singapore,[1499] the great emporium of the commerce of the Indian Archipelago, show the imports of Gum Benjamin in 1871 as 7442 cwt., of which quantity 6185 cwt. had been shipped from Sumatra and 405 cwt. from Siam. In 1877 only 1871 peculs (2227 cwts.) were exported from Singapore. Penang, which is also a mart for this drug was stated in 1871 to have received from Sumatra for trans-shipment, 4959 cwt. of Gum Benjamin.

Padang in Sumatra exported in 1870, 4303 peculs (5122 cwt.); and in 1871, 4064 peculs (4838 cwt.) of benzoin.[1500]

The imports of Gum Benjamin into Bombay in the year 1871-72 were no less than 5975 cwt., and the exports 1043 cwt.[1501]

=Uses=—Benzoin appears to be nearly devoid of medicinal properties, and is but little employed. It is chiefly imported for use as incense in the service of the Greek Church.

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OLEACEÆ

MANNA.

Manna; F. Manne; G. Manna.

=Botanical Origin=—Fraxinus Ornus L. (Ornus europæa Pers.), the Manna-ash, is a small tree found in Italy, whence it extends northwards as far as the Canton of Tessin in Switzerland and the Southern Tyrol. It also occurs in Hungary (Buda) and the eastern coasts of the Adriatic, in Greece, Turkey (Constantinople), in Asia Minor about Smyrna and at Adalia on the south coast. It grows in the islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, and is found in Spain at Moxente in Valencia.[1502] As an ornamental tree it has been introduced into Central Europe, where it is often seen of greater dimensions, sometimes acquiring a height of about 30 feet. It blossoms in early summer, producing numerous feathery panicles of dull white flowers which give it a pleasing appearance. The foliage exhibits great variation in shape of leaflets, even where the tree is uncultivated; and the fruits also are very diverse in form.

In some districts of Sicily, a little manna is obtained from the Common Ash, F. excelsior L.

[1499] Blue Book for the Colony of the Straits Settlements, Singapore, 1872.

[1500] Consular Reports, August 1873. 953.

[1501] Statement of the Trade and Navigation of the Presidency of Bombay for 1871-72, pt. ii. 26. 79.

[1502] Fraxinus Bungeana DC., a tree of Northern China, appears to be hardly distinct from F. Ornus.

=History=—The name Manna, though originally applied to the aliment miraculously provided for the sustenance of the ancient Israelites during their journey to the Holy Land, has been used to designate other substances of distinct nature and origin. Of these, the best known and most important is the saccharine exudation of Fraxinus Ornus L., which constitutes the Manna of European medicine.

It appears evident[1503] that previous to the 15th century, the manna in Europe was imported from the East and was not that of the ash. Raffaele Maffei, called also Volaterranus, a writer who flourished in the second half of the 15th century, states that manna began to be gathered in Calabria in his time, but that it was inferior to the oriental.[1504] At this period the manna collected was that which exuded spontaneously from the leaves of the tree, and was termed Manna di foglia or Manna di fronda: that which flowed from the stem bore the name of Manna di corpo and was less esteemed. All such manna was very dear.

About the middle of the 16th century, the plan of making incisions in the trunk and branches was resorted to, and although it was strenuously opposed even by legislative enactment, the more copious supplies which it enabled the collectors to obtain led it to being generally adopted. The Ricettario Fiorentino of the year 1573[1505] states that the manna “fatta con arte,” i.e. obtained by incisions, came from Cosenza in Calabria and differed not little from Syrian “manna mastichina.”[1506]

Manna di foglia became in fact utterly unknown, so that Cirillo of Naples, writing in 1770, expresses doubt whether it ever had any existence.[1507]

With regard to the history of manna-production in Sicily, there is this curious fact, that near Cefalù there exists an eminence in the Madonia range, called Gebelman or Gibelmanna, which in Arabic signifies manna-mountain. This name is not of modern origin, but is found in a diploma of the year 1082, concerning the foundation of the bishopric of Messina; and it has been held to indicate that manna was there collected during the Saracenic occupation of Sicily, A.D. 827 to 1070. We have not been successful in finding any evidence whether this supposition is well founded. On the other hand, it is remarkable that no writer, so far as we know, mentions manna as a production of Sicily, before Paolo Boccone of Palermo, who, after naming many localities for the drug in continental Italy, states that it is also obtained in Sicily.[1508]

Manna was also produced until recently in the Tuscan Maremma, but neither from that locality, nor from the States of the Church, where it was collected in the time of Boccone, is any supply now brought into commerce, though the name of Tolfa, a town near Civita Vecchia, is still used to designate an inferior sort of the drug.

The collection of manna in Calabria, which was imported up to the end of last century, has now almost entirely ceased.[1509]

[1503] Hanbury, Historical Notes on Manna, Pharm. Journ. xi. (1870) 326; or Science Papers, 355.

[1504] Commentarii Urbani, Paris, 1515. lib. 38. f. 413.

[1505] P. 46; we have not seen the edition of 1498.

[1506] Mastichina alludes probably to the granular form of that manna—perhaps it was that of Alhagi, which we shall mention further on, p. 414.

[1507] Phil. Trans. lx. (1771) 233.

[1508] Museo di Fisica, Venet. 1697. Obs. xiv.-xv.

[1509] Hanbury in Giornale Botanico Italiano, Ottobre 1872. 267; Pharm. Journ. Nov. 30. 1872. 421; Science Papers, 365.

=Production=—The manna of commerce is collected at the present day exclusively in Sicily. The principal localities producing the drug are the districts around Capaci, Carini, Cinisi, and Favarota, small towns 20 to 25 miles west of Palermo near the shores of the bay of Castellamare; also the townships of Geraci, Castelbuono, and other places in the district of Cefalù, 50 to 70 miles eastward of Palermo.

The manna-ash, in the districts whence the best manna is obtained, does not at the present day form natural woods, but is cultivated in regular plantations called frassinetti. The trees, which attain a height of from 10 to 20 feet, are planted in rows and stand about 7 feet apart, the soil between being at times loosened, kept free from weeds, and enriched by manure. After a tree is 8 years old and when its stem is at least 3 inches in thickness, the gathering of manna may begin; and may continue for 10 or 12 years, when the stem is usually cut down, and a young one brought up from the same root takes its place. The same stump thus has often two or three stems rising from it.

To obtain manna, transverse cuts from 1½ to 2 inches long and 1 inch apart, are made in the bark, just reaching to the wood. One cut is made daily, beginning at the bottom of the tree, the second directly above the first, and so on while dry weather lasts. In the following year, cuts are made in the untouched part of the stem, and in the same way in succeeding seasons. When after some years the tree has been cut all round and is exhausted, it is felled. Pieces of sticks or straws are inserted in the incisions, and become encrusted with the very superior manna, called Manna a cannolo, which however is unknown in commerce as a special sort. The fine manna ordinarily seen appears to have hardened on the stem of the tree. The manna which flows from the lower incisions, and is often collected on tiles or on a cup-shaped piece of the stem of the prickly pear (Opuntia), is less crystalline, and more gummy and glutinous, and is regarded of inferior quality.

The best time for notching the stems is in July and August, when the trees have ceased to push forth more leaves. Dry and warm weather is essential for a good harvest. The manna after removal from the tree, is laid upon shelves in order that it may dry and harden before it is packed. The masses left adhering to the stem after the finer pieces have been gathered, are scraped off and form part of the Small Manna of commerce.[1510]

=Secretion=—We have examined microscopically the bark of stems of Fraxinus Ornus that had been incised for manna at Capaci. It exhibits no peculiarity explaining the formation of manna, or any evidence that the saccharine exudation is due to an alteration of the cell-walls as in the case of tragacanth. The bark is poor in tannic matter; it contains starch, and imparts to water a splendid fluorescence due to the presence of Fraxin.

[1510] Our account of the production of manna has been derived from the observations of Stettner, who visited Sicily in the summer of 1847 (Archiv der Pharm. iii. 194; also Wiggers’ Jahresbericht, 1848. 35; Hooker’s Journ. of Bot. i. 1849. 124), from those of Cleghorn (Trans. of the Bot. Soc. of Edinburgh, x. 1868-69. 132), and from personal investigations made by one of us in the neighbourhood of Palermo in May 1872. See Hanbury, Science Papers, 367.

=Description=—Various terms have been used by pharmacological writers to designate the different qualities of manna, but in English commerce they are not now employed; and the better kinds of the drug are called simply Flake Manna, while the smaller pieces, usually loosely agglutinated and sold separately, are termed Small Manna or Tolfa Manna.

Owing to the gradual exudation of the juice and the deposition of one layer over another, manna has a stalactitic aspect. The finest pieces are mostly in the form of three-edged sticks, sometimes as much as 6 to 8 inches long and an inch or more wide, grooved on the inner side, which is generally soiled by contact with the bark; of a porous, crystalline, friable structure and of a pale brownish yellow tint, becoming nearly pure white in those parts which have been most distant from the bark of the tree. The pieces which are of deeper colour, and of an unctuous or gummy appearance, are less esteemed. Good manna is crisp and brittle, and melts in the mouth with an agreeable, honey-like sweetness, not entirely devoid of traces of bitterness and acridity. Its odour may be compared to that of honey or moist sugar.

Manna of the best quality dissolves at ordinary temperatures in about six parts of water, forming a clear, neutral liquid. It contains besides mannite, a small proportion of sugar and gum.

The manna which exudes from the older stems and from the lower parts of even young trees, contains more or less considerable quantities of gum and fermentable sugar, as well as extraneous impurities. The less favourable weather of the later summer and autumn promotes an alteration in the composition of the juice, and impairs its property of concreting into a crystalline mass.

=Chemical Composition=—The predominant constituent of manna, at least of the better sorts, is Manna-sugar or Mannite, C₆H₈(OH)₆ which likewise occurs, though in much smaller quantity, in many other plants besides Fraxinus. Artificially, it is produced by treating glucose, C₆H₁₂O₆, with sodium amalgam, and indirectly in the fermentation of glucose or of cane-sugar. It is isomeric with dulcite or melampyrin; crystallizes in shining prisms or tables, belonging to the rhombic system; melts at 166° C., and in very small quantity may by careful heating be sublimed and decomposed. It dissolves in 6·5 parts of water at 16° C., less freely in aqueous alcohol, very sparingly in absolute alcohol, and not in ether. The solution has an extremely weak rotatory power, and is not altered by boiling with dilute acids or alkalis, or with alkaline cupric tartrate.

Berthelot has shown that mannite is susceptible of fermentation, though not so easily as sugars belonging to the group of carbo-hydrates. The quantity of mannite in the best manna varies from 70 to 80 per cent.

When a solution of manna is mixed with alkaline cupric tartrate, rapid reduction to cuprous hydrate takes place even in the cold. This effect is due to the presence of a sugar which, according to Backhaus (1860), consists of ordinary dextro-glucose. It may amount to as much as 16 per cent., and is found in the best flake manna, but most abundantly in the unctuous varieties. Buignet[1511] has pointed out that the rotatory power of this sugar being inconsiderable, it probably consists of a mixture of Cane-sugar and Levulose. He found however that an aqueous solution of manna deviates powerfully to the right, a fact which he considers due to the presence of a large proportion of Dextrin. The best kinds of manna, according to Buignet, contain about 20 per cent. of dextrin; the inferior much more.

[1511] Journ. de Pharm. vii. (1867) 401; viii. (1868) 5.

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

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

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

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

1869 1870 1871 2546 cwt., 1564 cwt., 3038 cwt., val. £15,972. val. £10,220. val. £19,528.

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

[1512] Report by Consul Dennis on the Commerce and Navigation of Sicily in 1869, 1870 and 1871.

[1513] Direzione generale delle Gabelle—Movimento commerciale del regno d’Italia nel 1870, Milano, 1871.

[1514] Annual Statement of the Trade and Navigation of the U.K. for 1870, p. 102.

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

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

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

Other sorts of Manna.

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

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

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

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

[1515] On artificial Flake Manna, in Pharm. Journ. xi. (1870) 629.

[1516] Tchihatcheff, l’Asie mineure, ii. (1856) 355.

[1517] Archiv der Pharmacie, 193 (1870) 32-52.

[1518] Stewart, Punjab Plants, Lahore (1869) p. 57; Davies, Report on the trade and resources of the countries on the N. W. boundary of British India, Lahore, 1862.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1519] Angelus, Pharm. Persica (see appendix) p. 359.

[1520] Stewart, op. cit. p. 92.

[1521] Comptes Rendus, liii. (1861) 583; Pharm. Journ. iii. (1862) 274.

[1522] Archiv d. Pharmacie, 192 (1870) 246.

[1523] Loc. cit.

[1524] Davies in the work quoted at page 414, note 4.

[1525] Ed. Sontheimer, i. (1840) 375.

[1526] Tacuini Sanitatis, Argentorati (1531) 24.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1527] Further particulars, see Flückiger, Ueber die Eichenmanna von Kurdistan, in Archiv der Pharmacie, 200 (1872) 159.

[1528] Loc. cit. p. 35.

[1529] Hanbury, Science Papers, p. 438.

[1530] Geoffroy, Mat. Med. ii. (1741) 584.

[1531] Dillon, Travels through Spain (1780) p. 127.

[1532] Gmelin, Chemistry, xv. 296.

[1533] Pharm. Journ. iv. (1863) 108.

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

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

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OLEUM OLIVÆ

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

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

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

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

[1534] Comptes Rendus, xlvi. (1858) 1276; Gmelin, Chemistry, xv. 299.

[1535] Belon, Singularitez (1554) l. 2. cap. 91; Guibourt, Comptes Rendus (1858) 1213; Hanbury, Journ. Linn. Soc., Zoology, iii. (1859) 178; also Science Papers, 158.

[1536] Dobson, Proceedings of Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, i. (1851) 234; Pharm. Journ. iv. (1863) 108; Flückiger, Wittstein’s Vierteljahresschrift, xvii. (1868) 161; Archiv der Pharmacie, 196 (1871) 7; abstracted in the Yearbook of Pharmacy, 1871. 188.

[1537] Readers desiring full information about the olive tree, its oil, its history, etc., should refer to the extremely exhaustive work of Coutance, l’Olivier, Paris, 1877, 456 pages, 120 figures.

[1538] Grisebach states the elevation above the sea of olive-cultivation thus:—Portugal (Algarve) 1400 feet; Sierra Nevada 3000; do., southern slope 4200; Nice 2400; Etna 2200; Macedonia 1200; Cilicia 2000.—Die Vegetation der Erde nach ihrer klimatologischen Anordnung, i. (1872) 262. 283. 342.

[1539] Forest Flora of North-western and Central India, 1874, 307.

[1540] Brugsch-Bey, Reise nach der grossen Oase Kargeh, Leipzig, 1878. 80. etc.—See also Journ. of Botany, 1879. 52.

[1541] Erdkunde von Asien, vii. (part 2. 1844) 516-537.

[1542] Géographique Botanique (1855) 912.

[1543] Bot. Zeitung, 1868. 860.

[1544] Arnoux, Revue des Deux Mondes, Janvier 1879. 381.

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

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

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

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

[1545] Perez-Rosales, Essai sur le Chili, Hambourg, 1857. 133.

[1546] Hehn, Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere in ihrem Uebergange aus Asien nach Griechenland und Italien, Berlin, 1877. 88-142,—an interesting account of the importance of the olive in ancient times.

[1547] Specimens may be seen among the antiquities found at Pompei.

[1548] Diploma of Chilperic, A.D. 716.—Pardessus, Diplomata, Chartæ, etc., Paris, ii. (1849) 309.

[1549] Winter, in Pharm. Journ. Sept. 7, 1872.

[1550] De Luca in Journ. de Pharm. xlv. (1864) 65.—Some further researches by Harz on the formation of olive oil may be found in the Jahresbericht of Wiggers and Husemann (1870) 392.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1551] The Grocer, April 25, 1868, supplement; Pereira, Elem. of Mat. Med. ii. (1850) 1505.

[1552] This according to our experience is the case even with oil as it runs from the pulp and therefore in the freshest condition; but the acrid after-taste is more perceptible in oil which has been long kept.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1553] Exposition de 1867 à Paris, Rapports du Jury International, xi. 108.—In the work of Coutance, quoted p. 417, note 7, nearly 400,000 hectolitres are calculated for the year 1866.

[1554] Pharm. Journ. v. (1864) 387. 495, with figures.

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

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APOCYNEÆ

=CORTEX ALSTONIÆ.=

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

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

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

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

[1555] Annales de Chimie et de Physique, March, 1869. 309.

[1556] From Dita, the name of the tree in the island of Luzon.

[1557] So named in honour of Charles Alston, Professor of Botany and Materia Medica (1740-1760) in the University of Edinburgh.—The plant is figured in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Pl. part 25 (1877).

[1558] Hortus Malabaricus, i. tab. 45.

[1559] Herb. Amboin. ii. tab. 82.

[1560] Pharm. Journ. xii. (1853) 422.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1561] Geneesk, Tijdschr. Nederl. Indië, x. (1863) 209; also Archiv der Pharmacie, 212 (1878) 439.

[1562] Jahresbericht of Wiggers and Husemann, 1873. 51.

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

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

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ASCLEPIADEÆ

=RADIX HEMIDESMI.=

Hemidesmus Root, Nunnari Root, Indian Sarsaparilla.

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

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

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

[1563] Yearbook of Pharm. 1878. 624, from Proc. of the American Pharm. Association, 1877.

[1564] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, part 6 (1876).

[1565] There is an Indian root figured as Palo de Culebra by Acosta (Tractado de las Drogas ... de las Indias Orientales, 1578, cap. lv.) which is astonishingly like the drug in question. He describes it moreover as having a sweet smell of melilot. The plant he says is called in Canarese Duda sali. The figure is reproduced in Antoine Colin’s translation, but not in that of Clusius.

[1566] Lond. Med. and Phys. Journ. lxv. 189.

[1567] Taken from excellent specimens obligingly sent to us from India by Dr. L. W. Stewart and Mr. Broughton.

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

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

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

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

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CORTEX MUDAR

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1568] Pharm. of India, 457; also Chem. Gazette, 1843. 378.

[1569] Hence the specific name gigantea.

[1570] The botanical distinctions between the two species may be stated thus:—

C. procera, corolla cup-shaped, petals somewhat erect, flower-buds spherical, appendages of corona with a blunt upward point. See Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, part 25 (1877).

C. gigantea, corolla opening flat, flower-buds bluntly conical or oblong, appendages of corona rounded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1571] Information for which we are indebted to Dr. Rice.

[1572] Ibn Baytar, translated by Sontheimer, ii. (1842) 193.

[1573] De Plantis Ægypti, Venet. 1592. cap. xxv.

[1574] Rarior. plantar. hist. ii. (1601) lxxxvii.

[1575] Hortus Malabaricus, ii. tab. 31.

[1576] Illustrations of Indian Botany, Madras, ii. (1850) tab. 155.—C. procera is figured by the same author in his Icones Plantarum Indiæ Orientalis, iv. tab. 1278.

[1577] Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. xxxii. (1829) 60.

[1578] We are indebted for an authentic specimen to Dr. E. Burton Brown of Lahore.

[1579] Roots of C. gigantea kindly supplied to us by Dr. Bidie of Madras consist of light, woody truncheons, ½ to 2¼ inches in diameter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1580] It is evidently with a view to the retention of this juice, that the Pharmacopœia of India orders the bark to be stripped from the roots when the latter are half-dried. Moodeen Sheriff remarks of C. gigantea, that although it is frequently used in medicine, no part of it is sold in the bazaars,—no doubt from the circumstance that the plant is everywhere found wild and can be collected as required.

[1581] List’s Asclepione (Gmelin’s Chemistry, xvii. 368) might then be sought for.

[1582] Supplement to the Pharmacopœia of India, Madras, 1869. 364; for further information on the therapeutic uses of mudar, see also Pharm. of India, 458.

[1583] Drury, Useful Plants of India, 2nd ed. 1873. 101.

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FOLIA TYLOPHORÆ

Country or Indian Ipecacuanha.

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

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

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

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

[1584] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, part 29 (1878).

[1585] Flora Indica, ed. Carey, ii. (1832) 33.

[1586] Fleming, Catalogue of Indian Plants and Drugs, Calcutta, 1810. 8.

[1587] Bengal Dispensatory (1842) 455.

[1588] Catalogue of Madras Exhibition of 1855,—list of Mysore drugs; also Pharm. of India, 458.

[1589] Drawn up from an ample specimen kindly presented to us, together with one of the root, by Mr. Moodeen Sheriff of Madras.

[1590] A figure of the leaves may be found in a paper on Unto-mool by M. C. Cooke, Pharm. Journ. Aug. 6, 1870. 105; and one of the whole plant in Wight’s Icones Plantarum Indiæ Orientalis, iv. (1850) tab. 1277.

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

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

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

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LOGANIACEÆ

=NUX VOMICA.=

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

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

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

[1591] Roxburgh’s assertion that the pulp “seems perfectly innocent,” induced us to examine it chemically, which we were enabled to do through the kindness of Dr. Thwaites, of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Ceylon. The inspissated pulp received from Dr. T., diluted with water, formed a very consistent jelly having a slightly acid reaction and very bitter taste. Some of it was mixed with slaked lime, dried, and then exhausted by boiling chloroform. The liquid left on evaporation a yellowish resinoid mass, which was warmed with acetic acid. The colourless solution yielded a perfectly white, crystalline residue, which was dissolved in water, and precipitated with bichromate of potassium. The crystallized precipitate dried, and moistened with strong sulphuric acid, exhibited the violet hue characteristic of strychnine.

To confirm this experiment, we obtained through the obliging assistance of Dr. Bidie of Madras, some of the white pulp taken with a spoon from the interior of the ripe fruit, and at once immersed per se in spirit of wine. The alcoholic fluid gave abundant evidence of the presence of strychnine.

[1592] According to Cleghorn by the hornbill (Buceros malabaricus); according to Roxburgh by “many sorts of bird.” Beddome (Flora Sylvatica, Madras, 1872. 243) says the pulp is quite harmless, and the favourite food of many birds.

In Garnier, Exploration en Indo-China ii. (Paris, 1873) 488, allusion is made to a tree similar to that under notice having fruits which are devoid of poison before maturity.

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

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

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

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

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

[1593] Catalogue of Indian Med. Plants and Drugs, Calcutta, 1810. 37.

[1594] Hist. Stirpium, edited by C. Gesner, Argentorat. 1561. lib. iv. c. 21.

[1595] Clusius and others held the opinion that the Nux methel of the Arabs was the fruit of a Datura, and an Indian species was accordingly named by Linnæus D. Metel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1596] It is remarkable that parasitic plants of the order Loranthaceæ growing on Strychnos Nux vomica acquire the poisonous properties of the latter.—Pharm. of India, 1868. 108.

[1597] For further information on igasurine, consult Gmelin, Chemistry, xvii. (1866) 589; Watts, Dictionary of Chemistry, iii. (1865) 243; Pharm. Journ. xviii. (1859) 432.

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

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

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

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

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

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SEMEN IGNATII

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

[1598] Jahresbericht der Chemie, 1875. 856.

[1599] We have seen 1136 packages offered in a single drug sale (30 March 1871).

[1600] Statement of the Trade and Navigation of Bombay for 1871-72, pt. ii. 62.

[1601] No later returns are accessible.

[1602] The plant and seeds are known in the Bisaya language by the names of pangaguason, aguason, canlara, mananaog, dancagay, catalonga or igasur; in the islands of Bohol and Çebu, where the seeds are produced, by that of coyacoy, and by the Spaniards of the Philippines as Pepita de Bisaya or Pepita de Catbalogan (Clain, Remedios Faciles, Manila, 1857. p. 610). The name St. Ignatius’ Bean applied to them in Europe, is employed in South America to designate the seeds of several medicinal Cucurbitaceæ, as those of Fenillea trilobata L., Hypanthera Guapeva Manso and Anisosperma Passiflora Manso.

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

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

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

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

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

[1603] Materia Medica, Stockholm, 1778. i. 146.—We omit citing the Linnean Ignatia amara, as it has been shown by Bentham that the plant so named by the younger Linnæus is Posoqueria longiflora Aubl. of the order Rubiaceæ, a native of Guiana.

[1604] Flora Cochinchinensis, ed. Willd. i. (1793) 155.

[1605] Flora de Filipinas, ed. 2. 1845. 61.

[1606] London Med. and Phys. Journ. January 1832.

[1607] The only specimen of the fruit I have seen was in the possession of my late friend Mr. Morson. It measured exactly 4 inches in diameter, and when opened (15 January 1872) was found to contain 17 mature, well-formed seeds, with remnants of dried pulp.—D. H. I have seen another one in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.—F. A. F..

[1608] Reisen in den Philippinen, Berlin, 1873. 213.

[1609] Apparatus Medicaminum, vi. (1792) 26.

[1610] Phil. Trans., xxi. (1699) 44. 87; Ray, Hist. Plant. iii. lib. 31. 118.

[1611] The Philippines were unknown to the Europeans of the Middle Ages. They were discovered by Magellan in 1521, but their conquest by the Spaniards was not effectually commenced until 1565. Previous to the Spanish occupation, they were governed by petty chiefs, and were frequented for the purposes of commerce by Japanese, Chinese, and Malays.

[1612] Martiny, Encyklopädie der Rohwaarenkunde, i. (1843) 576.

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

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

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

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

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RADIX SPIGELIÆ

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

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

[1613] Pink Root is sometimes erroneously latinized in price-lists, “Radix caryophylli.”

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

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

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

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

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

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GENTIANEÆ

RADIX GENTIANÆ.

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

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

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

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

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

[1614] De la famille des Loganiacées, 1856. 130.

[1615] Therapeutics and Materia Medica, Philadelphia, ii. (1868) 651.

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

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

Another constituent of gentian root is Gentianin or gentisin

{CH₃ C₁₄H₁₀O₅ or (OH)₂C₆H₃·CO·C₆H₂ {O \. {O /

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

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

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

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

[1616] Th. Martius, Pharm. Journ. xii. (1853) 371.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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HERBA CHIRATÆ

Herba Chirettæ vel Chiraytæ; Chiretta or Chirayta.

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

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

[1617] Grisebach (Die Vegetation der Erde, i. 1872. 223) gives very interesting particulars relating to the area of growth of Gentiana purpurea, G. punctata and G. pannonica. He is decidedly of the opinion that they are distinct species.

[1618] In Norway it is, strange to say, called sweetroot, “Sötrot,” according to Schübeler, Pflanzenwelt Norwegens, 1873-1875, p. 259.

[1619] Ὀϕέλλειν, to bless, in allusion to the medical virtues of the herb.—Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, part 7 (1876).

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1620] Cours d’Histoire nat. pharmaceutique, ii. (1828) 395.

[1621] The other kinda of chiretta to be named presently are usually much shorter.

[1622] For full details, see Archiv der Pharmacie, 189 (1869) 229.

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

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

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

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

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

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CONVOLVULACEÆ

SCAMMONIUM.

Scammony; F. Scammonée; G. Scammonium.

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

[1623] Moodeen Sheriff, Suppl. to the Pharmacopœia of India, 1869. pp. 138. 189.—Consult also Pharmacopœia of India, 1868. pp. 148-9.

[1624] Mr. E. A. Webb has pointed out a case of false-packing in which the roots of Rubia cordifolia L. (Munjit) had been enclosed in the bundles of chiretta.

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

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

[1625] Such is the opinion expressed by the Rev. O. Cockayne. The letter of Helias to Alfred is imperfect, and mentions only balsam, petroleum, theriaka, and a white stone used as a charm. But from the reference to these four articles in another part of the MS., in connection with scammony, ammoniacum, tragacanth, and galbanum, there is ground for believing that the latter (Syrian and Persian) drugs were included in the lost part of the patriarch’s letter.—See Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England, edited by Cockayne (Master of the Rolls Series), vol. ii. pages xxiv. 289. 175, also 273. 281.

[1626] Medical Observations and Inquiries, i. (1757) 12.

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

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

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

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

[1627] Named probably from Σκάυυα, a trench or pit, in allusion to the excavation made around the root.

[1628] The one was the late Mr. S. H. Maltass of Smyrna, whose interesting paper may be found in Pharm. Journ. xiii. (1854) 264; the other is Mr. Edward T. Rogers, formerly of Caiffa, now (1874) British Consul at Cairo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1629] Presented to Parliament, July 1873.

[1630] Dragendorff’s Jahresbericht, 1876. 158.

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

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

Radix Scammoniæ.

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

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

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

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

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

[1631] Scammony was quoted in a London price current, April 1874, at 8_s._ to 36_s._ per lb., Resin of Scammony at 14_s._ per lb.

[1632] Thus 100 bales were offered in a drug sale, 3 July 1873.

[1633] Such was the case at Aleppo, as we know by a private letter from Mr. Consul Skene.—D. H.

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

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RADIX JALAPÆ

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1634] Thus at Ootacamund, Mr. Broughton, in a letter to one of us (15 January 1870), speaks of receiving “a cluster of tubers” weighing over 9 lb., and remarks that the plant grows as easily as yam.

[1635] Monardes, Hist. des Medicamens, trad. par Colin, ed. 2. 16.—The first edition of this work seems to be unknown.

[1636] Hill, History of the Mat. Med. Lond. 1751. 549.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1637] American Journal of Med. Sciences, v. (1829) 300. pl. 1-2.

[1638] It is plain that such a proceeding is irrational. The roots should be dug up when the aerial stems have died down.

[1639] Linnæa, iii. (1830) 473; Pharm. Journ. viii. (1867) 652.—We are not aware of any more recent account.

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

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

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

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

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

[1640] Guibourt obtained of it 17 per cent., Umney 21·5, Squibb 11 to 16, T. and H. Smith “not more than 15,” D. Hanbury 11 to 15·8. Jalap grown in Bonn afforded to Marquart 12 per cent.; a root cultivated at Münich gave Widnmann 22 per cent.; from plants produced in Dublin W. G. Smith got 9 to 12 per cent.; and fine tubers from Ootacamund in India yielded to one of us 18 per cent. of resin. Broughton is of opinion that exposure of the sliced tuber to the air in the process of drying, favours the formation of resin, by the oxidation of a hydrocarbon.

[1641] Gmelin, Chemistry, xvi. (1864) 159.

[1642] As by Pereira, Elem. of Mat. Med. ii. (1850) 1463.

[1643] Gmelin, op. cit. xvi. 154.

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

C₈H₁₆ {COOH {COOH

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

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

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

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

=Uses=—Jalap is employed as a brisk cathartic.

Other kinds of Jalap.

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

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

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

[1644] For information about some of these, consult Guibourt, Histoire des Drogues, ii. (1869) 523.

[1645] Journ. de Chimie méd. x. (1834) 1-22. pl. 1. 2. (with unsatisfactory figures).

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

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

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

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

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

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

[1646] The name is ill-chosen and misleading, but having been adopted in standard works, it might occasion greater confusion to attempt to supersede it, and its several derivatives.

[1647] It is at least a fact, that of numerous samples of jalapin that we have examined (1871), every one is completely soluble in ether.

[1648] Hanbury, On a species of Ipomœa, affording Tampico Jalap, Journ. of Linn. Soc., Bot. xi. (1871) 279, tab. 2; Pharm. Journ. xi. (1870) 848; American Journ. of Pharm., xviii. (1870) 330; Science Papers, 1876. 349.

[1649] Pharm. Journ. ix. (1868) 282.

[1650] Ibid. ix. (1868) 330.

[1651] Etude sur les Convolvulacées purgatives (thèse) Paris, 1864. 31.

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SEMEN KALADANÆ

Semen Pharbitidis; Kaladana.

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

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

=Description=—The shape of the seeds is that which would result if a nearly spherical body were divided perpendicularly around its axis into 6 or 8 almost equal segments, only that the back is less regularly vaulted. The seeds are ¼ of an inch high and nearly as much broad; 100 of them weigh on an average about 6 grammes. There is a smaller variety imported from Calcutta, of which 100 seeds weigh but little over 3 grammes; in every other respect the two sorts are identical. Both are of a dull black, excepting at the umbilicus, which is brown and somewhat hairy. The adjacent parts of the thin shell (testa) crack in various directions, if the seed is kept for a short time in cold water. If it is removed from the upper part of the vaulted back, the radicle becomes visible, surrounded by the undulated folds of the cotyledons, which join perpendicularly, but cannot be easily unfolded by reason of the thin seminal integument. Cut transversely, the cotyledons show the same curled structure. Throughout their tissue, small bright glands in considerable number are observable, even without a lens. The kernel, which is devoid of albumen, has at first a nutty taste, with subsequently a disagreeable persistent acridity. When bruised in a mortar, the seeds evolve a heavy earthy smell.

=Microscopic Structure=—The seed is covered with a dark blackish cuticle, formed of a densely packed tissue, the cells of which show zigzag outlines. The dark brown epidermis is composed of very close cylindrical cells, about 70 mkm. in length and 5 to 7 mkm. in diameter; they require to be treated with chromic acid in order that their structure may be distinctly seen.

The tissue of the kernels is made up of thick-walled cells. Between this tissue and the shell there is a colourless layer, about 70 mkm. thick, of thin-walled corky parenchyme. The cotyledons contain in their narrow tissue numerous granules of albuminous matter, mucilage, a little tannic acid, crystals of oxalate of calcium, and a few starch granules. The glands or hollows, before alluded to as occurring throughout the tissue of the cotyledons, are about 70 mkm. in diameter, and contain an oily liquid.

[1652] In Hindustani Nil signifies blue, and Kaladana, black seed.

[1653] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, part 22 (1877).

[1654] Pharm. Journ. vii. (1866) 496.

=Chemical Composition=—By exhausting the seeds dried at 100° C. with boiling ether, we obtained a thick light brownish oil having an acrid taste and concreting below 18° C. The powdered seeds yielded of this oil 14·4 per cent. Water removes from the seeds a considerable amount of mucilage, some albuminous matter and a little tannic acid. The first is soluble to some extent in dilute spirit of wine, and may be precipitated therefrom by an alcoholic solution of acetate of lead.

The active principle of kaladana is a resin, soluble in alcohol, but neither in benzol nor in ether. From the residue of the seeds after exhaustion by ether, treatment with absolute alcohol removed a pale yellowish resin in quantity equivalent to 8·2 per cent. of the seed.

Kaladana resin, which has been introduced into medical practice in India under the name of Pharbitisin,[1655] has a nauseous acrid taste and an unpleasant odour, especially when heated. It melts about 160° C. The following liquids dissolve it more or less freely, namely, spirit of wine, absolute alcohol, acetic acid, glacial acetic acid, acetone, acetic ether, methylic and amylic alcohol, and alkaline solutions. It is on the other hand insoluble in ether, benzol, chloroform, and sulphide of carbon. With concentrated sulphuric acid, it forms a brownish yellow solution, quickly assuming a violet hue. This reaction however requires a very small quantity of the powdered resin. If a solution of the resin in ammonia, after having been kept a short time, is acidulated, no precipitate is formed; but the solution is now capable of separating protoxide of copper from an alkaline solution of the tartrate, which originally it did not alter. Heated with nitric acid, the resin affords sebacic acid (see p. 446).

From these reactions of kaladana resin, we are entitled to infer that it agrees with the resin of jalap or Convolvulin. To prepare it in quantity, it would probably be best to treat the seeds with common acetic acid, and to precipitate it by neutralizing the solution. We have ascertained that the resin is not decomposed when digested with glacial acetic acid at 100° C., even for a week.

We have had the opportunity of examining a sample of kaladana resin manufactured by Messrs. Rogers and Co., chemists of Bombay and Poona, which we found to agree with that prepared by ourselves. It is a light yellowish friable mass, resembling purified jalap resin, and like it, capable of being perfectly decolorized by treatment with animal charcoal.

=Uses=—Kaladana seeds have cathartic powers like jalap. Besides the resin, an extract, tincture and compound powder have been introduced into the Pharmacopœia of India. In many parts of India the natives take the roasted seeds as a purgative.

[1655] Pharmacopœia of India, 1868, 156.

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SOLANACEÆ

STIPES DULCAMARÆ.

Caules Dulcamaræ; Bitter-sweet, Dulcamara, Woody Nightshade; F. Douce-amère, Morelle grimpante; G. Bittersüss.

=Botanical Origin=—Solanum Dulcamara L., a perennial shrubby plant, having small purple flowers and red berries, occurring throughout Europe, except in the extreme north. It is also found in Northern Africa, and in Asia Minor, and has become naturalized in North America. It is common in moist, shady hedges and thickets.[1656]

=History=—Bitter nightshade, “manyglog,” was an ingredient, together with wild sage and betony, of a drink which the Welsh “Physicians of Myddfai” in the 13th century prepared for the bite of a mad dog.[1657] The stalks of bitter-sweet were also used in the medical practice by the German physicians and botanists of the 16th century, one of whom, Tragus (1552), has figured and described it, under the name of Dulcis amara or Dulcamarum.

[1656] Solanum nigrum L. which slightly resembles dulcamara, is a low-growing annual or biennial, with herbaceous stems, and berries usually black.

[1657] Meddygon Myddvai (see Appendix) 185. 293. 375.

=Description=—The older stems are woody; the upper and younger are soft and green, long and straggling, attaining by the support of other plants a height of 6 feet or more, and dying back in the winter. For medicinal use, the shoots of a year or two old should be gathered, either late in the year, or early in the spring before the leaves come out. These shoots are several feet long, by about ⅕ of an inch thick, of a light greenish-brown, sometimes cylindrical, at others indistinctly 4-or 5-sided, slightly furrowed longitudinally, or somewhat warty.

The thin, shining cork-bark easily exfoliates, showing beneath it the mesophlœum which is rich in chlorophyll. The stalks are mostly hollow, and partially filled with a whitish pith. The wood when dried is about half or one-third as broad as the hollow centre, and the green bark considerably narrower than the wood; the latter has a radiate structure, and in older stems exhibits two or three sharply-defined annual rings. The stems are usually cut into short lengths before being dried for use.

The odour, which is rather fœtid and unpleasant, is to a great extent dissipated by drying. The taste, at first slightly bitter, is afterwards sweetish. The bitter appears to be more predominant in the spring than in the autumn.

=Microscopic Structure=—The epidermis of younger shoots consists of tabular thick-walled cells, many of them being elevated from the surface as short blunt hairs. The older stems are covered with the usual suberous envelope. The boundary between the mesophlœum and the endophlœum is marked by a ring of strong liber-fibres, some of which also occur in the pith. The woody part is rich in large vessels. In the parenchymatous tissue of bitter-sweet, small crystals of oxalate of calcium, not of a well-defined outline, and minute starch granules are deposited.

=Chemical Composition=—The taste of bitter-sweet appears due, according to Schoonbroodt (1867), to a bitter principle yielding by decomposition, sugar and Solanine,—the latter in very small amount. Solanine is an alkaloid; it was first prepared in 1820 by Desfosses, a pharmacien at Besançon, from the berries of Solanum nigrum L., and was subsequently detected by the same chemist in the leaves and stalks of S. Dulcamara, and by Peschier in the berries. Winckler (1841) observed that the alkaloid of dulcamara stems can be obtained only in an amorphous state, and that it behaves to platinic and mercuric chlorides differently from the solanine of potatoes. Moitessier (1856) confirmed this observation, and obtained only amorphous salts of the solanine of bitter-sweet.

Zwenger and Kind on the one hand, and O. Gmelin on the other (1859 and 1858), found that solanine, C₄₃H₆₉NO₁₆ (or C₄₂H₈₇NO₁₅, according to Hilger, 1879), is a conjugated compound of sugar and a peculiar crystallizable alkaloid, Solanidine, C₂₆H₃₉NO (or C₂₆H₄₁NO₂?). The latter, under the influence of strong hydrochloric acid, gives up water, and is converted into the amorphous and likewise basic compound, Solanicine.

Wittstein (1852) stated another alkaloid, dulcamarine, to be present in the stems of bitter-sweet. But Geissler (1875) proved that this substance, when perfectly pure, contains no nitrogen, and is not an alkaloid. Geissler obtained his Dulcamarin by warming an aqueous decoction of the drug with charcoal, which he dried and exhausted with boiling alcohol. This on evaporation afforded a yellowish amorphous matter, which was dissolved in water and mixed with a very little ammonia; a substance containing nitrogen then separated. The liquid was evaporated, the residue again dissolved in alcohol, and the alcohol distilled. Dulcamarin thus obtained is a yellowish powder of at first bitter and subsequently permanently sweet taste. It dissolves in water or alcohol, not in ether, chloroform, bisulphide of carbon. By boiling dulcamarin with dilute acids it splits up according to the following equation:—

C₂₂H₃₄O₁₀ + 2 OH₂ = C₆H₁₂O₆ · C₁₆H₂₆O₆. Dulcamarin. Sugar. Dulcamaretin.

Dulcamaretin, a dark brown, tasteless mass, is soluble in alcohol, not in water or ether.

=Uses=—Dulcamara is occasionally given in the form of decoction, in rheumatic or cutaneous affections; but its real action, according to Garrod, is unknown. This physician remarks[1658] that it does not dilate the pupil or produce dryness of the throat like belladonna, henbane or stramonium. He has given to a patient 3 pints of the decoction per diem without any marked action, and has also administered as much as half a pound of the fresh berries with no ill effect.

[1658] Essentials of Materia Medica, 1855. 196.

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FRUCTUS CAPSICI

Pod Pepper, Red Pepper, _Guinea Pepper_, Chillies, Capsicum; F. Piment ou Corail des Jardins, _Poivre d’Inde ou de Guinée_; G. _Spanischer Pfeffer_.

=Botanical Origin=—The plants, the fruits of which are known as Pod Pepper, have for a long period been cultivated in tropical countries, and are now found in such numerous varieties that an exact determination of the original species is a point of great difficulty. Of several species having pungent fruits, the two following are those which supply the spice found in British commerce:—

1. Capsicum fastigiatum Blume,[1659] a small ramous shrub, with 4-sided, fastigiate, diverging branches; fruit-bearing peduncles sub-geminate, slender, erect; fruit very small, subcylindrical, oblong, straight, with calyx obconical and truncate. It occurs apparently wild in Southern India, and is extensively cultivated in Tropical Africa and America.

Roxburgh, who describes this plant under the name C. minimum, terms it East Indian Bird Chilly or Cayenne Pepper Capsicum. Wight says that it is consumed by the natives of India, but that it is not the sort preferred. It is this species that the authors of the British Pharmacopœia have cited as the source of the Fructus Capsici to be used in medicine, and it certainly furnishes the greater part of the Pod Pepper now found in the London market.

2. C. annuum L., an herbaceous (sometimes shrubby?) plant, with fruit extremely variable in size, form, and colour, in some varieties erect, in others pendulous. According to Naudin, in whose opinion we concur, C. longum DC.[1660] and C. grossum Willd. are not specifically distinct from this plant. It furnishes the larger kinds of Pod Pepper and, as we believe, much of the Cayenne Pepper which is imported in the state of powder.

=History=—All species of Capsicum appear to be of American origin; no ancient Sanskrit or Chinese name for the genus is known, and the Latin and Greek names that have been referred to it are extremely doubtful.[1661]

The earliest reference to the fruit as a condiment that we have met with, occurs in a letter written in 1494 to the Chapter of Seville by Chanca, physician to the fleet of Columbus in his second voyage to the West Indies. The writer in noticing the productions of Hispaniola, remarks that the natives live on a root called Age, which they season with a spice they term Agi, also eaten with fish and meat.[1662] The first of these words signifies yam, the second is the designation of Red Pepper, and still the common name for it in Spanish. Capsicum and its uses are more particularly described by Fernandez, who reached Tropical America from Spain in A.D. 1514.[1663]

[1659] Wight, Icones Plant. Indiæ Orient. iv. (1850) tab. 1617; Capsicum minimum Roxb. Flor. Ind. i. (1832) 574. Faire has ascertained that this is the Capsicum frutescens of the Species Plantarum of Linnæus, but not that of the Hortus Cliffortianus of the same botanist, to which latter the name C. frutescens is usually applied.

[1660] The chief distinction between C. annuum and C. longum is that the former has an erect, the latter a pendulous fruit.

[1661] Dunal in De Cand. Prodromus, xiii. i. 412.

[1662] Letters of Christopher Columbus, translated by Major (Hakluyt Society), 1870. 68.

[1663] Historia de las Indias, Madrid, i. (1851) 275.

In the Historia Stirpium of Leonhard Fuchs, published at Basle in 1542, fol. 733, may be found the first and excellent figures of Capsicum longum DC. under the name of Siliquastrum or Calicut Pepper; the author states that the plant has been introduced into Germany from India a few years previously. From this might be inferred an Indian origin; but on the other hand, Clusius asserts that the plant was brought from Pernambuco by the Portuguese, whose commercial intercourse with India would easily explain it being carried thither at an early period. He further states, that the American capsicum had been generally introduced into the gardens at Castille, and that it was used all the year round, green or dried, as a condiment and as pepper. He also saw it cultivated in abundance at Brünn in Moravia in 1585.[1664]

[1664] Caroli Clusii Curæ posteriores, Antverp., 1611. 95.

Capsicum longum DC. was grown in England by Gerarde (1597 et antea), who speaks of the pods as well known, and sold “in the shops at Billingsgate by the name of Ginnie Pepper.”

=Description=—As already indicated, the Pod Pepper of commerce is of two kinds, namely:—

1. Fruits of Capsicum fastigiatum—These are ½ to ¾ of an inch in length, by about ²/₁₀ of an inch in diameter, of an elongated, subconical form, tapering to a blunt point, and slightly contracted towards the base. The calyx, which is not always present, is cup-shaped, 5-toothed, 5-sided, supported on a slender, straight pedicel, ¾ to 1 inch long. The fruits, which are somewhat compressed and shrivelled by drying, and also brittle when old, have a leathery, smooth, shining translucent, thin, dry pericarp, of a dull orange-red, enclosing about 18 seeds, attached in two cells to a thin central partition. The seeds have the form of roundish or ovate discs, about ⅛ of an inch in diameter, somewhat thickened at the edges; the embryo is curved, almost into a ring. The taste of the pericarp, and likewise of the seeds, is extremely pungent and fiery. The dried fruit has an odour by no means feeble, which we cannot compare to that of any other substance.

2. Fruits of Capsicum annuum of the commonest variety resemble those of C. fastigiatum, except that they are of longer size, being from 2 to 3 or more inches in length, often rather more tapering towards the extremity. The seeds scarcely surpass in size those of C. fastigiatum.

=Microscopic Structure=—The pericarp consists of two layers, the outer being composed of yellow thick-walled cells. The inner layer is twice as broad and exhibits a soft shrunken parenchyme, traversed by thin fibro-vascular bundles. The cells of the outer layer especially are the seat of the fine granular colouring matter. If it is removed by an alcoholic solution of potash, a cell-nucleus and drops of fat oil make their appearance. The structural details of this fruit afford interesting subjects for microscopical investigation.

=Chemical Composition=—Bucholz in 1816, and about the same time Braconnot, traced the acridity of capsicum to a substance called Capsicin. It is obtained by treating the alcoholic extract of ether, and is a thick yellowish-red liquid, but slightly soluble in water. When gently heated, it becomes very fluid, and at a higher temperature is dissipated in fumes which are extremely irritating to respiration. It is evidently a mixed substance, consisting of resinous and fatty matters.

Felletár in 1869 exhausted capsicum fruits with dilute sulphuric acid, and distilled the decoction with potash. The distillate, which was strongly alkaline and smelt like conine, was saturated with sulphuric acid, evaporated to dryness, and exhausted with absolute alcohol. The solution, after evaporation of the alcohol, was treated with potash, and yielded by distillation a volatile alkaloid having the odour of conine.

From experiments made by one of us (F.) we can fully confirm the observations of Felletár. We have obtained the volatile base in question, and find it to have the smell of conine. It occurs both in the pericarp and in the seeds, but in so small proportion that we were unsuccessful in isolating it in sufficient quantity to allow of accurate examination.

Dragendorff states (1871) that petroleum ether is the best solvent for the alkaloid of capsicum; he obtained crystals of its hydrochlorate, the aqueous solution of which was precipitated by most of the usual tests, but not by tannic acid.

The colouring matter of capsicum fruits is sparingly soluble in alcohol, but readily in chloroform. After evaporation, an intensely red soft mass is obtained, which is not much altered by potash; it turns first blue, then black with concentrated sulphuric acid, like many other yellow colouring substances. By alcohol chiefly palmitic acid is extracted from the fruit, as shown by Thresh in 1877.

The fruits of Capsicum fastigiatum have a somewhat strong odour; on distilling consecutively two quantities, each of 50 lb., we obtained a scanty amount of flocculent fatty matter, which possesses an odour suggestive of parsley. Both this matter, as well as the distilled water, were neutral to litmus paper, and the water tasteless. We separated the latter, and exposed the remaining greasy mass to a temperature of about 50° C., when it for the most part melted. The clear liquid on cooling solidified, and now consisted of tufted crystals, which we further purified by recrystallization from alcohol. Thus about 2 centigrammes were obtained of a neutral white stearoptene, having a decidedly aromatic, not very persistent taste, by no means acrid, but rather like that of the essential oil of parsley. The crystals melted at 38° C. On keeping them for some days at the temperature of the water-bath, covered with a watch-glass, some drops of essential oil were volatilized, which had the same taste and did not solidify; the crystals were consequently accompanied by a liquid oil. When kept for some days more in that condition, the crystals themselves began to be volatilized, and the part remaining behind acquired a brownish hue. This no doubt points out another impurity, as we ascertained by the following experiment. With boiling solution of potash, the stearoptene produces a kind of soap, which on cooling yields a transparent jelly. If this is dissolved and diluted, it becomes turbid by addition of an acid. This probably depends upon the presence of a little fatty matter, a suggestion which is confirmed by the somewhat offensive smell given off by our stearoptene if it is heated in a glass tube.

Buchheim’s “Capsicol”[1665] is in our opinion a doubtful substance.

Thresh (1876-1877) succeeded in isolating a well defined, highly active principle, the Capsaicin, from the extract which he obtained by exhausting Cayenne pepper with petroleum. From the red liquor dilute caustic lye removes capsaicin, which is to be precipitated in minute crystals by passing carbonic acid through the alkaline solution. They may be purified by recrystallizing them from either alcohol, ether, benzine, glacial acetic acid, or hot bisulphide of carbon; in petroleum capsaicin is but very sparingly soluble, yet dissolves abundantly on addition of fatty oil. The latter being present in the pericarp is the cause why capsaicin can be extracted by the above process.

The crystals of capsaicin are colourless and answer to the formula C₉H₁₄O₂; they melt at 59° C. and begin to volatilize at 115° C., but decomposition can only be avoided by great care. The vapours of capsaicin are of the most dreadful acridity, and even the ordinary manipulation of that substance requires much precaution. Capsaicin is not a glucoside; it is a powerful rubefacient, and taken internally produces very violent burning in the stomach.

=Commerce=—Chillies or Pod Pepper are shipped from Zanzibar, Western Africa and Natal, but no general statistics of the quantity imported into Great Britain are accessible.

The exports from Sierra Leone in 1871 reached 7258 lb.[1666] The colony of Natal, which produces Cayenne Pepper in the county of Victoria, where sugar cane and coffee are also grown, shipped in the same year 9072 lb.[1667]

Official returns[1668] show that in 1871 Singapore imported 1071 cwt. (119,952 lb.) of chillies, chiefly from Penang and Pegu. The spice is largely consumed by the Chinese.

Bombay imported of dried chillies in the year 1872-3, 5567 cwt. (623,504 lb.) principally from the Madras Presidency, and exported 3323 cwt.[1669]

=Uses=—Capsicum on account of its pungent properties is often administered as a local stimulant in the form of gargle, and occasionally as a liniment; and internally to promote digestion. In all warm countries it is much employed as a condiment.

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RADIX BELLADONNÆ

Belladonna Root; F. Racine de Belladone; G. Belladonnawurzel.

=Botanical Origin=—Atropa Belladonna L., a tall, glabrous or slightly downy herb, with a perennial stock, native of central and Southern Europe, where it grows in the clearings of woods. The plant extends eastward to the Crimea, Caucasia and Northern Asia Minor. In Britain it is chiefly found in the southern counties, but even of these it is a doubtful native.

[1665] Jahresbericht of Wiggers and Husemann, 1873. 567; also Yearbook of Pharm. 1876. 251.

[1666] Blue Book of the Colony of Sierra Leone for 1871.

[1667] Do. of Natal for 1871.

[1668] Do. of the Straits Settlements for 1871.

[1669] Statement of the Trade and Navigation of Bombay for 1872-73, pt. ii. 58. 91.

In a few localities in England and France, as well as in North America, the plant is cultivated for medicinal use.

=History=—Although a plant so striking as belladonna can hardly have been unknown to the classical authors, it cannot with certainty be identified in their writings.

Saladinus of Ascoli,[1670] who wrote an enumeration of medicinal plants about A.D. 1450, names the leaves of both Solatrum furiale and Solatrum minus, the former of which is probably Belladonna. However this may be, the first indubitable notice of it that we have met with, is in the Grand Herbier printed at Paris, probably about 1504.[1671] The plant is also mentioned about this period as Solatrum mortale or Dolwurtz, in the writings of Hieronymus Brunschwyg.[1672]

In 1542 belladonna was well figured as Solanum somniferum or Dollkraut by the German botanist Leonhard Fuchs, who fully recognized its poisonous properties.[1673] Yet it was confounded by other writers of this period as Tragus,[1674] who reproduced Fuchs’ figure as “Solanum hortense!” Strygium and Strychnon were other names not unfrequently applied to Atropa during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Matthiolus, who terms the plant Solatrum majus, states[1675] that it is commonly called by the Venetians Herba Bella donna, from the circumstance of the Italian ladies using a distilled water of the plant as a cosmetic. Gesner[1676] was also familiar with the name Belladonna. The introduction of the root of belladonna into British medicine is of recent date, and is due to Mr. Peter Squire of London, who recommended it as the basis of a useful anodyne liniment, about the year 1860.

=Description=—Belladonna has a large, fleshy, tapering root, 1 to 2 inches thick, and a foot or more in length, from which diverge stout branches. Externally the fresh roots are of an earthy brown, rough with cracks and transverse ridges. The bark is thick and juicy, and as well as the more fibrous central portion, is internally of a dull creamy white. A transverse section of the main root shows a distinct radiate structure. The root has an earthy smell with but very little taste at first, but a powerfully acrid after-taste is soon developed.

Dried root of Belladonna is sold in rough irregular pieces of a dirty greyish colour, whitish internally, breaking easily with a short fracture, and having an earthy smell not unlike that of liquorice root. The bark being probably the chief seat of the alkaloid, roots not exceeding the thickness of the finger should be preferred. The drug is for the most part imported from Germany, and is often of doubtful quality. English-grown root purchased in a fresh state (the large and old being rejected), then washed, cut into transverse segments and dried by a gentle heat, furnishes a more reliable and satisfactory article.

[1670] Compendium Aromatariorum, 1488.

[1671] Le Grant Herbier en francoys, contenāt les qualitez, vertus et proprietez des herbes etc., Paris (no date) 4°. cap. De Solastro rustico.

[1672] Das destillier Buch (sub voce Nachtschet Wasser). Strassburg, 1521, fol. 93 b. The figure probably refers to Atropa, but that given in the edition of the same work of the year 1500 shows Solanum nigrum.

[1673] Historia Stirpium, Basil. 1542. 689.

[1674] De Stirpium ... historia, Argentorati, 1552. 301.

[1675] Comment. in lib. vi. Dioscoridis, Venetiis, 1558. 533.

[1676] De hortis Germaniæ, Argentorat. 1561, fol. 282.

=Microscopic Structure=—There is a considerable structural difference between the main root and its branches, the former alone containing a distinct pith. This pith is included in a woody circle, traversed by narrow medullary rays. In the outer part of the woody circle, parenchymatous tissue is more prevalent than vascular bundles. The transverse section of the branches of the root exhibits a central vascular bundle instead of a medullary column. The outer vascular bundles show no regular arrangement; and medullary rays are not clearly obvious in the transverse section.

The woody parts, both of the main root and its branches, contain very large dotted vessels accompanied by a prosenchymatous tissue. The cells of the latter, however, are always thin-walled; the absence of proper so-called ligneous tissue explains the easy fracture of the root. Sometimes the prosenchyme in which the vessels are imbedded assumes a brownish hue and a waxy appearance, and such parts exhibit a very irregular structure.

In the cortical portion of belladonna root, many of the cells of the middle layer, and likewise some of the central parts of the root, are loaded with extremely small octahedric crystals of calcium oxalate. But most of the parenchymatous cells are filled up with small starch granules.

=Chemical Composition=—In 1833 Mein prepared from the root, and Geiger and Hesse from the herb, the crystallizable alkaloid Atropine. The researches of Lefort (1872) have proved that the roots contain it in very variable proportions, the young being much richer in alkaloid than the old.[1677] The maximum proportion obtained was 0·6 per cent.; this was from root of the thickness of the finger. Large old roots, 7 or 8 years of age, afford from 0·25 to 0·31 per cent. They have besides a smaller proportion of bark than young roots, and it is chiefly in the bark that the alkaloid appears to reside. Manufacturers of atropine employ exclusively the root.

Ludwig and Pfeiffer (1861), by decomposing atropine with potassium chromate and sulphuric acid, obtained benzoic acid and propylamine. Other products are formed when atropine is treated with strong hydrochloric acid, baryta water or caustic soda, thus—Atropine, C₁₇H₂₃NO₂ + H₂O = Tropic Acid, C₉H₁₀O₃ + Tropine, C₈H₁₅NO.

Tropic acid, C₆H₅C(OH) {CH₃ {COOH,

being further boiled with the same agents is converted into

atropic acid, C₆H₅C {CH₂ {COOH,

which, especially by using hydrochloric acid, is gradually transformed into isotropic acid. Both these acids are isomeric to cinnamic acid, C₉H₈O₂, but otherwise remarkably dissimilar.

Tropine is a strongly alkaline body, readily soluble both in water and alcohol, and furnishing tabular crystals by the evaporation of its solution in ether. Neither tropine nor tropic acid, it is stated by Kraut (1863), is present in the leaves and root of belladonna.

Hübschmann (1858) detected in belladonna root a second but uncrystallizable alkaloid, called Belladonnine; it has a resinous aspect, is distinctly alkaline, and when heated emits, like atropine, a peculiar odour.

[1677] For Lefort’s process for estimating atropine, see p. 458.

The root further contains, according to Richter (1837) and Hübschmann, a fluorescent substance, as well as a red colouring matter called Atrosin.[1678] The latter occurs in greatest abundance in the fruit, and would probably repay further investigation.

=Uses=—Belladonna root is chiefly used for the preparation of atropine, which is employed for dilating the pupil of the eye. A liniment made with belladonna root is used for the relief of neuralgic pains.

=Adulteration=—We may point out that the roots of Mandragora microcarpa, M. officinarum, and M. vernalis Bertoloni are very nearly allied to the root under notice, both in external appearance and in their structure. They are not likely to be confounded with Belladonna root, their mother plants being indigenous in the South of Europe.

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FOLIA BELLADONNÆ

Belladonna Leaves; F. Feuilles de Belladone; G. Tollkraut.

=Botanical Origin=—Atropa Belladonna L. (p. 455).

=History=—Belladonna Leaves and the extract prepared from them were introduced into the London Pharmacopœia of 1809. For further particulars regarding the history of belladonna, see the preceding article.

=Description=—Belladonna or Deadly Nightshade produces thick, smooth herbaceous stems, which attain a height of 4 to 5 feet. They are simple in their lower parts, then usually 3-forked, and afterwards 2-forked, producing in their upper branches an abundance of bright green leaves, arranged in unequal pairs, from the bases of which spring the solitary, pendulous, purplish, bell-shaped flowers, and large shining black berries.

The leaves are 3 to 6 inches long, stalked, broadly ovate, acuminate, attenuated at the base, soft and juicy; those of barren roots are alternate and solitary. The young shoots are clothed with a soft, short pubescence, which on the calyx is somewhat more persistent, assuming the character of viscid, glandular hairs. If bruised, the leaves emit a somewhat offensive, herbaceous odour which is destroyed by drying. When dried, they are thin and friable, of a brownish-green on the upper surface and greyish beneath, with a disagreeable, faintly bitter taste. Of fresh leaves 100 lb. yield 16 lb. of dried (Squire).

=Chemical Composition=—The important constituent of belladonna leaves is Atropine. Lefort (1872)[1679] estimated its amount by exhausting the leaves previously dried at 100° C. by means of dilute alcohol, concentrating the tincture, and throwing down the alkaloid with a solution of iodohydrargyrate of potassium. The precipitate thus obtained was calculated to contain 33·25 per cent. of atropine. Lefort examined leaves from plants both cultivated and growing wild in the environs of Paris, and gathered either before or after flowering. He found cultivation not to affect the percentage of alkaloid,—that the leaves of the young plant were rather less rich than those taken at the period of full inflorescence,—and that the latter (dried) yielded 0·44 to 0·48 per cent. of atropine.

[1678] Gmelin, Chemistry, xvii. (1866) 1.

[1679] Journ. de Pharm. xv. (1872) 269. 341.

Larger percentages are recorded by Dragendorff;[1680] as much as 0·95 per cent. of atropine as obtained from the dried unripe fruits, 0·83 from the dried leaves, 0·21 from the root. The estimation was performed in nearly the same way as that followed by Lefort.

Belladonna herb yields Asparagin, which according to Biltz (1839) crystallizes out of the extract after long keeping. The crystals found in the extract by Attfield (1862) were however chloride and nitrate of potassium. The same chemist obtained by dialysis of the juice of belladonna, nitrate of potassium, and square prisms of a salt of magnesium containing some organic acid; the juice likewise affords ammonia.[1681] The dried leaves yielded us 14·5 per cent. of ash consisting mainly of calcareous and alkaline carbonates.

=Uses=—The fresh leaves are used for making Extractum Belladonnæ, and the dried for preparing a tincture. They should be gathered while the plant is well in flower.

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HERBA STRAMONII

Stramonium, Thornapple; F. Herbe de Stramoine; G. Stechapfelblätter.

=Botanical Origin=—Datura[1682] Stramonium L., a large, quick-growing, upright annual, with white flowers like a convolvulus, and ovoid spiny fruits. It is now found as a weed of cultivation in almost all the temperate and warmer regions of the globe. In the south of England it is often met with in rich waste ground, chiefly near gardens or habitations.

=History=—The question of the native country and early distribution of D. Stramonium has been much discussed by botanical writers. Alphonse De Candolle,[1683] who has ably reviewed the arguments advanced in favour of the plant being a native respectively of Europe and America or Asia, enounces his opinion thus:—that D. Stramonium L. appears to be indigenous to the Old World, probably the borders of the Caspian Sea or adjacent regions, but certainly not of India; that it is very doubtful if it existed in Europe in the time of the ancient Roman Empire, but that it appears to have spread itself between that period and the discovery of America.

Stramonium was cultivated in London towards the close of the 16th century by Gerarde, who received the seed from Constantinople and freely propagated the plant, of the medicinal value of which he had a high opinion. The use of the herb in more recent times is due to the experiments of Störck.[1684]

[1680] Werthbestimmung stark wirkender Droguen, Petersburg, 1876. 28.

[1681] The fresh juice kept for a few days has been known to evolve red vapours (nitrous acid?) when the vessel containing it was opened.—H. S. Evans in Pharm. Journ. ix. (1850) 260.

[1682] Datura from the Sanskrit name D’hustùra, applied to D. fastuosa L. The origin of the word Stramonium is not known to us.

[1683] Géographie Botanique, ii (1855) 731.

[1684] Libellus quo demonstratur Stramonium, Hyoscyamum, Aconitum ... esse remedia, Vindob. 1762.

=Description=—Stramonium produces a stout, upright, herbaceous green stem, which at a short distance from the ground, throws out spreading forked branches, in the axil of each fork of which arises a solitary white flower, succeeded by an erect, spiny, ovoid capsule. At each furcation and directed outwards is a large leaf. This arrangement of parts is repeated, and as the plant grows vigorously, it often becomes much branched and acquires in the course of the summer a considerable size.

The leaves of stramonium have long petioles, are unequal at the base, oval, acuminate, sinuate-dentate with large irregular pointed teeth or lobes, downy when young, glabrous at maturity. When fresh they are somewhat firm and juicy, emitting when handled a disagreeable fœtid smell. The larger leaves of plants of moderate growth attain a length of 6 to 8 or more inches.

For medicinal purposes, the entire plants are pulled up, the leaves and younger shoots are stripped off, quickly dried, and then broken and cut into short lengths, so as to be conveniently smoked in a pipe, that being the method in which the drug is chiefly consumed in England. The offensive smell of the fresh plant is lost by drying, being replaced by a rather agreeable tea-like odour. The dried herb has a bitterish saline taste.

=Chemical Composition=—The leaves of stramonium contain, in common with the seeds, the alkaloid Daturine (see p. 461), but in extremely small proportion, not exceeding in fact ²/₁₀ to ³/₁₀ per mille. They are rich in saline and earthy constituents; selected leaves dried at 100° C. yielded us 17·4 per cent. of ash.

=Uses=—Scarcely employed in any other way than in smoking like tobacco for the relief of asthma.—Col. Grant (1871) found the herb to be smoked in pipes by the Nubians for chest-complaint.

=Substitute=—Datura Tatula L.—This plant is closely allied to D. Stramonium L., propagating itself on rich cultivated ground with nearly the same facility; but it is not so generally diffused.

De Candolle is of opinion that it is indigenous to the warmer parts of America, whence it was imported into Europe in the 16th century, and naturalized first in Italy, and then in South-Western Europe. By many botanists it has been united to D. Stramonium, but Naudin,[1685] who has studied both plants with the greatest attention, especially with reference to their hybrids, is decidedly in favour of considering them distinct. D. Tatula differs from D. Stramonium in having stem, petiole, and nerves of leaves purplish instead of green; and corolla and anthers of a violet colour instead of white,—characters which, it must be admitted, are of very small botanical value.

D. Tatula has been recommended for smoking in cases of asthma, on the ground of its being stronger than D. Stramonium; but we are not aware of any authority as to the comparative strength of the two species.

[1685] Comptes Rendus, lv. (1862) 321.

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SEMEN STRAMONII

Stramonium Seeds; F. Semences de Stramoine; G. Stechapfelsamen.

=Botanical Origin=—Datura Stramonium L., see preceding article.

=Description=—The spiny, ovoid capsule of stramonium opens at the summit in four regular valves. It is bilocular, with each cell incompletely divided into two, and contains a large number (about 400) of flattened, kidney-shaped seeds. The seeds are blackish or dark brown, about 2 lines long and ½ a line thick, thinning off towards the hilum which is on the straighter side. The surface of the seed is finely pitted and also marked with a much coarser series of shallow reticulations or rugosities. A section parallel to the faces of the seed exhibits the long, contorted embryo, following the outline of the testa, and bedded in the oily white albumen. The cylindrical form of the embryo is seen in a transverse section of the seed.

The seeds have a bitterish taste, and when bruised a disagreeable odour. When the entire seeds are immersed in dilute alcohol, they afford a tincture displaying a beautiful green fluorescence, turning yellow on addition of ammonia.

=Microscopic Structure=—The testa is formed of a row of radially extended, thick-walled cells. They are not of a simply cylindrical form, but their walls are sinuously bent in and out in the direction of their length. Viewed in a direction tangential to the surface, the cells appear as if indented one into the other. Towards the surface of the seed the cell-walls are elevated as dark brown tubercles and folds, giving to the seed its reticulated and pitted surface. The albumen and embryo exhibit the usual contents, namely fatty oil and albuminoid substances.[1686]

=Chemical Composition=—The active constituent of stramonium seeds is the highly poisonous alkaloid Daturine, of which they afford only about ⅒ per cent., while the leaves and roots contain it in still smaller proportion.[1687] Daturine was discovered in 1833 by Geiger and Hesse, and regarded as identical with atropine by A. von Planta (1850), who found it to have the same composition as that alkaloid. The two bodies exhibit the same relations as to solubility and fusing point (88-90° C.); and they also agree in crystallizing easily. The experiments of Schroff (1852), tending to show that although daturine and atropine act in the same manner, the latter has twice the poisonous energy of the former, raised a further question as to the identity of the two alkaloids. Poehl (1876) also stated solutions of daturine to be levogyrate, those of atropine being devoid of rotatory power. From the observations of Erhard (1866), it would appear that the crystalline form of some of the salts of atropine and daturine is different. In stramonium seeds daturine appears to be combined with malic acid. The seeds yielded to Cloëz (1865) 2·9 per cent. of ash and 25 per cent. of fixed oil.

=Uses=—Stramonium seeds are prescribed in the form of extract or tincture as a sedative or narcotic.

[1686] We have not seen W. G. Mann, Onderzoek van het zaad van Datura Stramonium, Enschede, 1875.

[1687] Günther in Wiggers and Husemann’s Jahresbericht for 1869. 54.

SEMEN ET FOLIA DATURÆ ALBÆ.

Seeds and Leaves of the Indian or White-flowered Datura.

=Botanical Origin=—Datura alba Nees, a large, spreading annual plant, 2 to 6 feet high, bearing handsome, tubular, white flowers 5 to 6 inches long. The capsules are pendulous, of depressed globular form, rather broader than high, covered with sharp tubercles or thick short spines. They do not open by regular valves as in D. Stramonium, but split in different directions and break up into irregular fragments.

D. alba appears to be scarcely distinct from D. fastuosa L. Both are common in India, and are grown in gardens in the south of Europe.[1688]

=History=—The mediæval Arabian physicians were familiar with Datura alba, which is well described by Ibn Baytar[1689] under precisely the same Arabic name (Jouz-masal) that it bears at the present day; they were also fully aware of its poisonous properties.

Garcia de Orta[1690] (1563) observed the plant in India, and has narrated that its flowers or seeds are put into food to intoxicate persons it was designed to rob. It was also described by Christoval Acosta, who in his book on Indian drugs[1691] mentions two other varieties, one of them with yellow flowers, the seeds of either being very poisonous, and often administered with criminal intent, as well as for the cure of disease. Graham[1692] says of the plant that it possesses very strong narcotic properties, and has on several occasions been fatally used by Bombay thieves, who have administered it in order to deprive their victims of the power of resistance.

The seeds and fresh leaves have a place in the Pharmacopœia of India, 1868.

=Description=—The seeds of D. alba are very different in appearance from those of D. Stramonium, being of a light yellowish-brown, rather larger size, irregular in shape and somewhat shrivelled. Their form has been likened to the human ear; they are in fact obscurely triangular or flattened-pearshaped, the rounded end being thickened into a sinuous, convoluted, triple ridge, while the centre of the seed is somewhat depressed. The hilum runs from the pointed end nearly half-way up the length of the seed. The testa is marked with minute rugosities, but is not so distinctly pitted as in the seed of the D. Stramonium; it is also more developed, exhibiting in section large intercellular spaces to which are due its spongy texture. The seeds of the two species agree in internal structure as well as in taste; but those of D. alba do not give a fluorescent tincture.

[1688] Seeds of D. alba sent to us from Madras by Dr. Bidie, were sown by our friend M. Naudin of Collioure (Pyrénées Orientales), and produced the plant under three forms, viz.:—1. The true D. alba as figured in Wight’s Icones.—2. Plants with flowers, violet without and nearly white within (D. fastuosa).—3. Plants with double corollas of large size and of a yellow colour.

[1689] Sontheimer’s translation, i. 269.

[1690] Aromatum historia, 1574, lib. 2. c. 24.

[1691] Tractado de las Drogas ... de las Indias Orientales, Burgos, 1578. 85.

[1692] Catalogue of Bombay Plants, 1839. 141.

The leaves, which are only employed in a fresh state, are 6 to 10 inches in length, with long stalks, ovate, often unequal at the base, acuminate, coarsely dentate with a few spreading teeth. They evolve an offensive odour when handled.

=Microscopic Structure=—The testa is built up of the same tissues as in D. Stramonium, but the thick-walled cells constituting the spongy part are far larger, and distinctly show numerous secondary deposits, making a fine object for the microscope.

=Chemical Composition=—Neither the seeds nor the leaves of D. alba have yet been examined chemically, but there can scarcely be any doubt that their very active properties are due to Daturine, for the preparation of which the former would probably be the best source.

=Uses=—The seeds in the form of tincture or extract have been employed in India as a sedative and narcotic, and the fresh leaves, bruised and made into a poultice with flour, as an anodyne application.

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