r
JOURNAL
or THE
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY.
EDITED BY
R. E. GRIFFITH, M.D.
Lecturer on Materia Medica and Pharmacy in the Philadelphia School of
Medicine, <$fc. >>,
ASSISTED BY A PUBLISHING COMMITTEE, CONSISTING OF ' ' »
DANIEL B. SMITH, CHARLES ELLIS, S. P. GRIFFITTS, Jr,
AND - * ' >
GEORGE B. WOOD, M.D. Professor of Materia Medica in the College,* tyc.
VOL. III.
PUBLISHED BY THE COLLEGE.
Printed by James Kay, Jun. 8f Co. Printers to the Philadelphia Medical and Ameri- can Philosophical Societies, JVo. 4, Minor Street.
1832,
4\ o /
PREFACE.
In terminating our third volume, we avail ourselves of the opportunity, to make a few observations, naturally aris- ing out of the subject. When, on the death of the late Dr Ellis, the present editor assumed the supervision of the work, at the second number of the present volume, he was wholly unprovided with materials for its successful continuance; the industry and zeal of its promoters and friends, however, has enabled us to present to its patrons, a series of original papers alike honourable* to their authors and of permanent utility to science. Most of these, it will be perceived, are of practical importance to the pharmaceutist; but as the plan of the Jour- nal embraces a wider field than mere pharmacy, the Committee have been anxious to obtain communications of a more gene- ral nature; in this it will be seen that we have been partially successful, and we are in hopes, that we shall be enabled to present a succession of papers on improvements in those arts which are based on chemical processes, that will be generally useful. There is another class of communications to which we would invite the attention of those who feel an interest in the work — the Pharmaceutical Notices; practical observations of this character are admirably calculated to advance the art, and tend to obviate many of the difficulties invariably met with, especially among the younger members of the profession. We earnestly solicit a continuance of them, and would remind pur brethren, that it is only by the collection of isolated facts, that the fabric of science is to be erected, and that they should not withhold, what to them may appear trivial and
iv
Preface.
commonplace details, as these very data may furnish the links that are now wanting in the chain of knowledge.
As the Journal of Pharmacy is the only publication of the kind in the United States, and is devoted exclusively to the furtherance of the pharmaceutic art, we trust that it will con- tinue to receive such support as will enable the Committee to increase its usefulness. This, however, can only be accom- plished by an extended patronage, and we would suggest to all those who feel an interest in its success, that it is by their exertions alone it can attain that rank to which it is entitled. Hitherto, most of the Original Communications have emanated from our Philadelphia brethren, but we hope that our friends at a distance will step forward and contribute their share to its further support.
We would also call the attention of our subscribers to the fact, that on a promptness in transmitting their annual pay- ments, the existence of the Journal depends; we are sorry to say that it is only by unceasing exertions on the part of the Committee, that they are enabled to fulfil their engagements. Let it not be said that the Pharmaceutists of this country felt too great an apathy, and so little zeal in their profession, as to permit the only journal devoted to the objects of their pursuits, to languish and die.
In conclusion, we would state, that some alterations in the arrangement of the articles, &c. will be made in the next vol- ume, and from the support which has been promised, the Committee are in hopes that no delay will take place in the publication of the respective numbers; much however de- pends, as we have before said, on the exertions of our distant friends.
CONTENTS,
No. I.
Original Communications.
Liriodendrine, or the Bitter Principle of the Liriodendron Tulipifera; Tulip Tree or American Poplar. By John P. Emmet. 5
On the Liriodendron Tulipifera, American Poplar or Tulip
Tree. By Benjamin Ellis, M.D. - - - - 11
On Ichthyocolla. By Daniel B. Smith. - - - - 17
Dissertation upon the subject of Peruvian Bark. By George
B. Wood, M.D. 22
Selected Articles,
On the Balsam of Copaiba; extracted from a Report made to the Societe de Pharmacie. By MM. Lecanu, Blondeau and Guibourt. ...---.-39
On the Bitter of Aloes employed in colouring. - - - 45
Memoir on the Quantity of Extract furnished by different spe- cies of Sarsaparilla. By M. Thubeuf. - - - - 46
On the Adulteration of the Hydriodate of Potash. By J.
Pereira, Esq. F.L.S. , - 49
Some account of the Copperas Mines and Manufactory in
Strafford, Vt. By Dr John Locke. - - - -55
On the Action of Acids upon Salicine. By Peschier. - - 60
Review.
The Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America. By authority of the National Medical Convention held at Washington 1830. ------- 64
Miscellany
87
Vi
Contents.
No. II.
Original Communications,
On Sanguinaria Canadensis. By Daniel B. Smith. - - 93 Dissertation upon the subject of Peruvian Bark. By George
B.Wood, M.D. 96
On Borax. By Daniel B. Smith. 119
Selected Articles.
On a Process for preparing economically the Muriate of Mor- phia. By William Gregory, M.D. , &c. - - - 124
On the Analysis of Elaterium and its active principle. By
John D. Morries, Esq. - - - - - - 130
On Oxamide, a Substance which approximates to some Animal
Bodies. By M. Dumas. - - - - - - 134
On the Distillation of Nitric Acid. By E. Mitscherlich. - 137
On the Volatility of Oxalic Acid. By Edward Turner, M.D.
F.R.S.,&c. &c. 139
Method of obtaining Volatile Oils in Organic Analysis. By
M. Bonastre. - - - - - - - - 143
Sulphuric Ether. - 146
Effects of Animal Charcoal on Solutions. By Thomas Gra- ham, A.M. Lecturer on Chemistry, Glasgow. - - 148
On the Mode of Ascertaining the Commercial Value of Ores
of Manganese. By Edward Turner, M.D. , &c. &c. 153
On Indigo. ^By Andrew Ure, M.D. F.R.S., &,c. - - 157
Review.
Researches on the Chemical and Medical Properties of the Root of the Kahinca. By MM. Francois, D.M., Caven- tou and Pelletier, Pharmaciens, &c. Translated by John Baxter, M.D., &,c. - - - - - - - 164
Minutes of the College. - - - - - - 171
Miscellany.
- 173
Contents,
vii
No. nr.
Original Communications.
Notes on Ipecacuanha. By R. Eglesfeld Griffith, M.D., &c. 181 Pharmaceutical Notices. - - - - - - -196
Observations on certain preparations in the Pharmacopoeia of
the United States. By George B. Wood, M.D. - - 200 Remarks upon " Oil of Cantharidin," &c. &c By Joseph
Scattergood. - - - - - - - - 210
On Salicine, the Active Principle of Willow Bark. By P. T.
Tyson and W. R. Fisher* Grad. Col. Pharmacy. : - 213
Selected Articles,
Peculiar substance discovered in the Leaves of the Peach Tree.
By M. Crousseilles. 216
Observations on Prussian Blue. By M. Gay Lussac. - - 218
Observations on the Sennas, and especially on that called
Moka. By M. Fee. 223
Observations on the Extraction of Morphine by means of Al- cohol and Ammonia. By M. Regimbeau, Sen., Phar- maceutist, Montpellier. - 229
Notes on Salicine, Jalapine, and Cetrarine. By M. E. Her-
berger of Munich. - - 235
Physiological and Chemical Observations on the Berries of
the Juniper. By A. C. Nicolet. - - - 239
Memoir on the preparation and medical uses of the Proto-tar- trate of Mercury and Potash. By MM. F Carbonell, M.D. and Bravo. - - - 242
Reviews,
A Manual of Materia Medica and Pharmacy, comprising a concise description of the articles used in Medicine, &c. &c. From the French of H. M. Edwards, M.D. and P. Vavasseur, M.D. Corrected and adapted to British prac- tice. By John Davies, M.R.C.S. - 246
The Edinburgh New Dispensatory, &c. By Andrew Dun- can, M.D. - - 250
Miscellany,
25S
viii Contents.
No. IV.
Original Communications. On Frasera Walteri. By R. Eglesfeld Griffith, M.D. - - 269 On the Bitter Principle of Podophyllum Peltatum. By Wil- liam Hodgson, Jun. ------- 273
On the Green Colour and Nature of the Colouring Agent of the Water of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, near the first lock on the Chesapeake side. By Elias Durand. 276 On Sugar from the Seckel Pear. - - - 277 On Nitro-muriatic or Nitro-hydrochloric Acid. By Daniel
B. Smith. - - - 287
Pharmaceutical Notices, No. 2. .... - 289
On the Sap of the Siphonia Cahuchu. By Elias Durand. 292 Observations on certain preparations in the Pharmacopoeia of
the United States. By George B. Wood, M.D. - - 297
Selected Articles,
On the Extraction of the Alkaloids of Peruvian Bark. By
MM. Henry, Jun. and Plisson. ----- 305
Phenomena presented by Acetate of Lead, when exposed to the action of heat, and the products thus obtained. By
C. Matteuci. 308
Process for preparing extemporaneously the Medicinal Prussic
Acid. By Thomas Clark. 309
On Borotartrate of Potassa. - - - - - - 312
On Tartrite of Iron and Ammonia. By C. R. Aikin. - 314
Review.
Observations, Chemical and Practical, on the Dublin Pharma- copoeia, with a Translation annexed. By F. Barker, M.D., Professor of Chemistry in Trinity College, Dublin, &c. and Wm. F. Montgomery, A.M., M.B. Professor of Midwifery in the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland, &c. - 322
Minutes op the College. - 342
Obituary.
Notice of Dr Benjamin Ellis. - 345
Miscellany
353
IL,iei[<DlIMET}lB!R'DI? TTTMIPIIFEIRA ,
JOURNAL
OF THE
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY.
APRIL 1831.
(BvtQiml <£oromuutcatuiH&
Article I. — Liriodendrine, or the Bitter Principle of the Liriodendron Tulipifera ; Tulip Tree or American Fop- lar. By John P. Emmet, Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica in the University of Virginia.
[Read before the College, February 1831.]
AS this substance appears to have every claim to be consi- dered a new and very well characterised proximate principle, and inasmuch as it exhibits no alkaline or acid properties, it will, in conformity with the prevailing practice, be described under the name of Liriodendrine. The decoction made from the bark of the tulip tree yields an abundant precipitate up- on the addition of aqua ammonise, the caustic fixed alkalies, or their carbonates, and at the same time the solution loses its intense bitterness. This circumstance induced me to ex- amine, more particularly, the substance thrown down, and although the result has shown the absence of an organic alkali, it led me to the discovery of a substance, interesting not only for its medical properties, but for its chemical habi- Vol. III. — B
6
Original Communications.
tudes. The Liriodendrine is indeed a very peculiar body, and it is not at all singular that hitherto it has passed for a resin. When not crystallized, but simply fused, the general resemblance is very great; but in its chemical properties it differs from every other substance with which I am acquainted.
The bark of the tulip tree, it is well known, has long been in use as a tonic and febrifuge, yet it must be admitted that its administration hitherto has failed to secure to it the re- putation of an uniform and active medicine. Without as- signing to the Liriodendrine more efficacy than exists in the bark itself, I am of opinion that its properties will readily account for much of this want of uniformity. A tempera- ture of about 270° F. is sufficient to volatilize rapidly this bitter principle, and at the same time partly to decompose it. This circumstance struck me very forcibly before I suc- ceeded in obtaining the Liriodendrine crystallized. An in- fusion or decoction of the bark has a hot and very bitter taste, leaving an impression upon the tongue similar to that produced by the canella alba, yet, when the solution is free- ly evaporated to dryness, these properties become so much im- paired, that the residuary matter seems to be almost tasteless. Hence, so far from its being possible to form an extract from the Liriodendron Tulipifera by the usual process, it seems impracticable to boil the bark with water in covered vessels without effecting the decomposition of the active principle.
Mode of preparing Liriodendrine. — All the soluble salts, when added in sufficient quantity to saturate the aqueous solution of the bark, seem to occasion the precipitation of this substance ; but as it is rendered soluble by the presence of colouring matter, it will be more completely displaced by the addition of some active bases, as the alkalies and earths. The objection to the use of the former is that the pectic acid, which abounds in the fresh bark, forms gelati- nous salts, which interfere with the subsequent filtration ; and when lime or magnesia is employed, it is difficult to ef- fect a complete decomposition within the bark. The fol-
Bitter Principle of the Liriodendron.
1
lowing I found to be a much more convenient process. The bark is to be stripped from the roots, dried, and finely pulverized; it is then to be steeped for several hours in cold alcohol. The fluid, when saturated, is to be removed, and fresh portions added until the bark becomes exhausted. By employing the alcohol hot, and straining forcibly through a strong cloth, this result will be accomplished, after three or four repetitions. The alcoholic solutions are next to be filtered, and transferred to a large retort, or alembic, and heated until at least two-thirds of the fluid have been reco- vered by distillation. Towards the end of the process, the impure Liriodendrine will separate, and collect at the bottom in large semi-fluid masses; it may be readily obtained by pouring out the contents of the vessel, and allowing the whole to cool. The remaining liquid is then to be gently evaporated in an open vessel, until it assumes the consis- tency of honey. The temperature should not exceed 200° F. This dark resinous looking mass is to be incorporated with the portion which separates during the distillation, and then triturated with a warm solution of caustic potassa, soda, or aqua ammonia?. The alkalies remove a large quan- tity of colouring matter, and the Liriodendrine, being insolu- ble, separates, and may be brought together by a spatula. This treatment with caustic alkali must continue until the so- lution passes off colourless. The Liriodendrine in this state has a drab colour (which becomes lighter by exposure to soft water) and a waxy lustre. At a temperature of 30° or 40° it is hard and brittle, but softens in the hand, and bears a close resemblance to putty.
It appears, from an examination made upon a small scale, that the recent bark taken from the root, and dried at a temperature of 70° F., loses, by the repeated action of alco- hol (holding 11 percent of water, according to the cen- tesimal alcohometer of Gay Lussac), as much as 40 per cent. Of this amount the Liriodendrine composes more than 7 per cent ; but it was not easy to determine the exact proportion, inasmuch as the alkaline solutions always carry off a portion.
8
Original Communications.
I incline to believe that, on a large scale, it will be found more convenient to boil the impure tincture of the bark with calcined magnesia until the fluid assumes an olive green colour. It may then be concentrated by distillation, until it appears turbid, and in this state, when removed and gradually mixed with cold water (the fluids being agitated at each addition), the Liriodendrine readily precipitates as a white powder, or, by repose, will separate in the crystalline state.
The peculiarities of this substance prevent us from ob- taining it crystallized from hot concentrated alcoholic solu- tions. In this particular Liriodendrine differs essentially from salicine and the bitter vegetable principles hitherto described. If such a solution be examined with an eye glass, it will ap- pear saturated with exceedingly minute globules of an olive green colour, but there will be no indications of crystalliza- tion even after spontaneous evaporation; the Liriodendrine merely separates as a transparent varnish ; water seems ne- cessary for its crystallization, and in this state there is great reason for believing that it is a hydrate. The water, how- ever, should be added gradually until the colour of the solu- tion becomes pearl white, and the temperature should be as low as 40° or 50°. The crystals obtained in this manner and by spontaneous evaporation are very pure; but always pre- sent different forms, among which may be observed triangu- lar and rhomboidal plates, interspersed with plumose or stellated prisms; some of them are perfectly limpid, while others have the micaceous appearance of boracic acid. As the Liriodendrine may be washed with cold alkaline and acid solutions, without any loss, it is evident that it admits of complete purification.
The difference between Liriodendrine in its crystalline and fused states is very striking; crystallized, it freely dis- solves in alcohol, forming a colourless solution, which readi- ly furnishes crystals by spontaneous evaporation, and with- out the necessity of adding water; when gently heated, the crystals fuse, slightly effervesce (owing to the escape of
Bitter Principle of the Liriodendron.
9
water), and then become olive coloured, without any appear- ance of crystallization upon cooling. In the fused state, on the other hand, the alcoholic solution is always olive green, and scarcely gives any indication of a regularly formed de- position, unless the alcohol employed is dilute.
The alcoholic solutions of both varieties possess an in- tensely bitter taste, but always leave the impression of heat upon the tongue. Perhaps the combination of these pro- perties may add to its value as an article of the materia me- dica ; they seem at all events to be characteristic of the Lirio- dendrine in its purest state. The proper solvent for this substance is sulphuric ether.
Jn addition to the foregoing, it will here be proper to add the following remarks. Crystallized Liriodendrine is solid, brittle, and inodorous at 40°, fusible at 180°, and volatile at 270° F. When carefully heated in a glass tube closed at one end, it gives off a white vapour, which condenses again, without signs of crystallization, and is the Liriodendrine un- altered. But it is impossible, even with the utmost care, to effect the complete sublimation of this substance. About one half of it remains and appears to consist of a solid brit- tle resin. I could discover no trace of benzoic acid or of ammonia in the sublimed portion, even when the tempera- ture was raised so as to effect the decomposition of the Li- riodendrine. The vapour is aromatic and indicative of the plant.
Weak acid or alkaline solutions have no other effect upon this substance than to occasion its complete precipitation from dilute alcohol; but the case is quite different when the Liriodendrine is exposed to these bodies in a concentrated state. Thus,
Caustic potassa or soda, dissolved in a small quantity of water and boiled with the crystals, appears to convert them into oxalic acid. In this respect Liriodendrine differs mate- rially from the resins.
Cold concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves, and at the same time decomposes it with the greatest facility, forming
I 0
Original Communications.
a yellow or orange red solution, according to the quantity employed. Upon diluting the acid, a white matter sepa- rates.
Cold concentrated nitric acid dissolves the crystals rapid- ly, without in the least discolouring them, and the solution is effected without the escape of any gaseous matter. The acid may be even gently evaporated, and the Liriodendrine recovered without any material alteration. Boiling the acid produces complete decomposition, and a yellow resinous mat- ter remains.
Cold concentrated muriatic acid has little or no action ; but, when heated, the Liriodendrine effervesces and assumes a deep emerald green colour. A small portion, however, seems to escape decomposition, and may be precipitated from the acid by the addition of water.
Iodine, in substance, almost immediately imparts to the crystals a bright chrome yellow colour, and, in the end, forms an insoluble matter, which retains a grass green colour after all the excess of iodine has been removed by a gentle heat. This is, no doubt, a definite compound ; for it assumes its original yellow tint when water or alcohol is added. In this state, also, the Liriodendrine is scarcely soluble in alcohol. Although the colour produced by iodine is not so intense as that resulting from the action of the same substance upon boiled starch, it appears to be no less characteristic of small quantities; for, notwithstanding the almost complete insolu- bility of the Liriodendrine in cold water, if a particle of the iodine be placed upon the surface of this very weak solution, it very soon becomes surrounded by an opaque yellow film. This compound is immediately decomposed by nitric acid, which liberates the iodine and dissolves the Liriodendrine.
Chlorine and bromine produced no marked effects upon this bitter principle. Both in its fused and crystallized state it is heavier than water, at the ordinary temperature; but as the fluid approaches the boiling point, it floats upon the surface.
When the crystals are thrown upon a burning coal, they
Bitter Principle of the Liriodendron.
11
melt and volatilize in an instant without undergoing combus- tion ; but when touched by a fragment of warm spongy pla- tinum, they become absorbed and then may be kindled by a candle ; they burn with a brilliant white flame, giving much soot, like resins and oils.
When Liriodendrine is fused, it bears a close resemblance to a soft resin; in this state, also, it seems to be incapable of crystallizing; but its volatility, very low point of fusion, inca- pacity to unite without decomposition with the alkalies, extremely bitter taste, and the definite combination which it seems capable of forming with water, all exhibit a very marked difference between it and any resin with which we are acquainted. I attempted, in vain, to form a crystalline hydrate of common resin, (it always separated in transpa- rent globules), and, as we have no satisfactory evidence that resins ever occur crystallized, this condition of the Lirioden- drine may be regarded as alone sufficiently distinctive. It is true that M. Pelletier states his having seen the balsam of copaiba in a crystalline form; but the article, besides being of a compound nature, was at least thirty years old at the time of observation.
To conclude, I may observe that the properties of Lirio- dendrine seem to place it with camphor, as a connecting link between the resins and volatile oils.
Art. II. — On the Liriodendron Tulipifera, American Pop- lar or Tulip Tree. By Benjamin Ellis, M.D.
Our readers will perceive by the preceding essay that this tree has acquired an increased interest, from the discovery of a new organic principle in the bark of its root, by profes- sor Emmet of the University of Virginia. This circumstance has induced us to furnish a brief sketch of its natural histo-
12
Original Communications .
ry, accompanied with a plate, with the view of rendering more complete the very interesting article on " Lirioden- drine"
The tulip tree may indeed be called the pride of the American forest; noble in all its dimensions, attaining an altitude of from seventy-five to one hundred feet, and measur- ing from two to five feet in diameter. It is surpassed by few or none in the richness of its foliage, the beauty of its flow- ers, the uniform straightness of its trunk, and the regular dis- position of its branches ; its wood is abundantly employed in the arts and in rural and domestic economy, and its bark has been highly extolled as a remedy in fever and some other diseases. It is known by different names in different parts of the country ; such as, white wood, canoe wood, American poplar, American tulip tree, tulip bearing poplar, &c. The term tulip tree is obviously the most proper, from the palpable resemblance of its flowers to the garden tulip, and it is to be wished, for the sake of avoiding confusion, that this name were universal ; but American poplar is by far the most common throughout the United States. According to Michaux, the northern limit of this tree may be placed at the southern extremity of Lake Champlain, in lat. 45°, and it seldom extends further east than the Connecticut river, in long. 72°. From these points it is widely diffused to the south and west, attaining its great- est degree of development and perfection in the rich bottom lands of the western states; it is generally found mingled with other trees, such as the hickory, black walnut, butter- nut, wild cherry tree, &c, but sometimes it was observed by Michaux to constitute pretty large tracts of forest in Kentucky, where he found this tree larger than in any other part of the United States.
Its vegetation is repressed in the colder climates of the northern states ; and in the eastern parts of the Carolinas and Georgia it does not flourish well, owing to the nature of the soil, which is either too dry and sterile, as in the pine barrens, or too wet, as in the swamps. " The genus
On the Liriodendron Tulipifera.
13
Liriodendron, to which Linnaeus has assigned four species of trees, is characterised by a double calyx ; the outer of two, the inner of three leaves; petals six ; seeds imbricated into a cone. The species tulipifera, the only one in America, is remarkably distinguished by its lobed and truncated leaves; together with several other of our finest flowering trees and shrubs, the Liriodendion is found in the class polyandria, and order poly gynia, and the natural orders coadunatce of Linnaeus, and magnolice of Jussieu." In the structure of its buds and the development of its leaves it is no less pecu- liar than in their outline; each leaf-bud is composed of scales closely applied upon each other, and it forms an oval sack, in which is enclosed the young leaf, to be unfolded as it acquires sufficient maturity to bear exposure to the light and air; several sacks are thus embraced, one within the other, which swell, burst, and evolve the leaves in succession, so that from one original or principal sack, five or six leaves will unfold on young and vigorous trees.
These sacks or sheaths swell to a large size before burst- ing, and the remains of them, being converted into stipulce, continue attached to the leaves until they are half-grown. In the warm and damp weather of our spring these leaves grow very rapidly, and acquire a breadth of six or eight inches. They are supported on long petioles, alternate, somewhat fleshy, very smooth, and of a bright green colour; in form, as before observed, they are altogether peculiar, and are adistinguishing feature of the tree. They are divided in- to three lobes, of which the middle one is horizontally notched at its summitjwhich gives it the appearance of being four-lobed; and the truncated extremity, which gives to the leaf its sin- gularity, bears considerable resemblance to the tail of a fish. The two lower lobes are rounded at the base, and in the larger leaves they are furnished with a tooth or additional lobe on the outside.
There is one variety of this tree whose leaves are not pointed, but very obtuse.
The flowers are" bell shaped, large, brilliant, and on de- Vol. III.— C
14
Original Communications.
tached trees very numerous. They are variegated with dif- ferent colours, among which the shades of yellow predomi- nate, and they are in common seasons fully expanded about the middle of May. Their odour, though faint, is agreeable, and they produce a singularly beautiful effect when sur- rounded with the luxuriant foliage of this magnificent tree.
"The outer calyx has two triangular leaves, which fall off as the flower expands ; the inner calyx consists of three large, oval, concave, veined leaves of a green colour, spreading at first, but afterwards reflexed. Petals six, sometimes more, obtuse, concave, veined of a pale yellowish green, marked with an irregular indented crescent, of a bright orange on both sides, towards the base.
"Stamens numerous, with long linear anthers opening out- wardly, and short filaments ; pistil, a large conical acute body, its upper half covered with minute, blackish, recurved stigmas, its lower furrowed, being a mass of coalescing styles and germs."
The fruit is a cone of two or three inches in length, formed of a great number of very thin narrow scales, attached to a common axis, and pointed at the summit. Each of these, when well filled, consists of sixty or seventy seeds, of which never more than one third, and some seasons not more than seven or eight of the whole number are productive. It is stated that all of these seeds prove abortive for the first ten years, and even after the trees have attained that age, the seeds from the summit branches of the large ones possess the power of germinating in the greatest perfection.
Until the diameter of the tulip tree exceeds seven or eight inches, the bark is smooth, even, and of a brownish colour; afterwards it cracks, and the depth of these fissures, and the thickness of the bark, are in proportion to the age and size of the tree. The branches, which are not very nume- rous, when of one summer's growth, are pithy and of a shin- ing blue colour; those of two seasons old are covered with a smooth brown bark, and, when broken, emit a strong but rather agreeable odour.
On the Liriodendron Tulipifera.
15
The bark of the trunk, branches and root, is brought to our druggists by those who derive a slender revenue from collectingour indigenous articles of the materia medica. That from the tree and limbs is in pieces of three or four inches long, deprived of its epidermis, of a yellowish white colour, very light, and easily broken. The taste is pungent and aromatic, somewhat camphoraceous, bitter and very slightly astringent. That from the root comes in irregular pieces, three or four lines in thickness, rather browner than the preceding, and partially stripped of its epidermis.
When drying it gives off a heavy and not very agreeable odour; the taste is perhaps more heating and aromatic than in that taken from the tree, and it is rapidly diffused over the tongue and fauces, leaving a tolerably permanent impression of warmth in the mouth.
The tincture of the bark of the root is of an orange yellow with a shade of red, not very unlike the colour of Teneriffe wine ; the taste in a high degree warm, bitter, aromatic and penetrating. The odour of the alcohol conceals that of the bark. The colour of the aqueous infusion resembles that of the spirituous^ but is rather paler; the smell is more per- ceptible, but the taste is more feeble, and not very agree- able.
The bark of the Liriodendron has long enjoyed some repu- tation as a remedy in the cure of intermittent and other forms of fever, as well as in rheumatism, dyspepsia, &c. It is pro- bably much more frequently used in domestic than in regu- lar practice. By Dr Young, formerly of Philadelphia, it was strongly recommended in a letter addressed to Gov. Clayton of Delaware, which was published in the American Museum for December 1792.
The latter gentleman in reply, remarked that he consider- ed it more bitter and aromatic, though less astringent, than the Peruvian bark, and found it, combined with the barks of the dog wood and white oak, beneficial in every case to which the cinchona was applicable. The specimens I have
16
Original Communications.
tasted do not certainly manifest this striking bitterness, and the superiority which he ascribes to it in this respect over the bark of Peru, can only be accounted for by the fact, that it is only a few years since the physicians of this coun- try were acquainted with more than one kind of cinchona, and that was the Carthagena bark, an article now justly es- teemed nearly worthless.
Dr Young ascribes to it great efficacy as a febrifuge ; as a remedy in consumption, dyspepsia, hysteria (combined with laudanum), cholera infantum, and finally as a vermifuge. For the latter purpose, we are informed, the infusion is given in large quantities to horses in some parts of the country. Sometimes it excites vomiting, and cannot be borne without the addition of laudanum; at others it operates as a cathartic. It should never be given in acute diseases, before the ex- citement has been subdued by proper depletion. As the ac- tive properties of this bark evidently depend on a volatile principle, it loses its virtues by time, and should therefore be kept secluded from the air, and collected annually for medicinal purposes. The bark of the roots is believed to be more energetic than that of the tree or L ranches, and the proper season for gathering it is in the winter, before the sap begins to circulate. Michaux states, that in Paris a spiritu- ous liquor is made from the fresh bark of the poplar roots, with the addition of a sufficient quantity of sugar to render it agreeable.
The dried or recent leaves steeped in boiling water are considered by some as a specific in the cure of inflammation of the jaw and face, and I have been assured that the relief procured by this kind of fomentation was very prompt and complete.
The bark is introduced into the materia medica of the United States Pharmacopoeia, but it has no officinal prepa- rations.
It may be given in the form of tincture, infusion or powder. The latter is considered the most efficacious, and its superiority over the aqueous preparations has been
On the Liriodendron Tulipifera. 17
accounted for by professor Emmet. The dose in substance may be from B] to 3ij.
The colour and quality of the wood of the tulip tree are said to be greatly influenced by the nature of the soil and the kind of exposure. From the appearance of the wood, it is distinguished by the names of white and yellow poplar by the mechanics; and although there are some general fea- tures by which a practised eye can judge with tolerable accuracy between the two while standing, yet the differ- ence can only be ascertained with certainty by cutting into the trees.
The wood of the white poplar is of a coarser grain, harder, and the yellow heart bears a much smaller proportion to the sap than in the yellow variety. It is consequently much less valuable for the purposes of the mechanic, and is subject to decay more rapidly. This tree has been transplanted to Europe, and is carefully cultivated as a rare ornament of the park and pleasure grounds. It flourished well both in England and on the continent, and is highly valued for the attractions it possesses, in the beauty of its flowers and foliage, in its magnitude and utility.
Art. III. — On Ichthyocolla. By Daniel B. Smith.
The swimming bladder, with which most fishes are fur- nished, is an important and valuable material in the arts, and deserving of more attention than it has yet received from the fishermen of our coasts. This bladder or air bag is placed in the anterior part of the abdominal cavity, and adheres to the spine. Its use in the vital economy of fishes is not fully understood. By some it is supposed that the fish has the power of contracting or expanding it so as to enable
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Original Communications.
it to sink or rise in the water. By others it is considered as a reservoir of air, secreted by the blood into this organ, to be thrown out again into the system for the support of life. This opinion has received some colour from the experiments of Biot upon the air contained in the bladders of fishes caught at various depths in the ocean. It was found to consist of oxygen and nitrogen in various proportions. In the common mullet (mugil cephalus) the quantity of oxy- gen was insensible ; while in a fish called the piper (trigla lyra) it constituted eighty-seven per cent of the mixture. The proportion of oxygen was found to increase with the depth at which the fish was caught.
The air bladder in most fishes communicates with the stomach or with the oesophagus by means of a duct, which, in the sturgeon, is nearly an inch in diameter. In the cod, the haddock and some other fishes, no communication has been discovered between the two, and in these cases the surface of the air bladder is attached to a red coloured organ con- sisting of a great number of folded or doubled membranes. In those fishes which possess the duct spoken of, this red substance is either very small or entirely wanting. The shape of the air bag varies according to the species. " In the herring and some other fishes it is oblong and pointed at both ends. In the salmon it is obtuse at both ends. In the turbot it is obtuse in the lower end, and bifid at its su- perior extremity. In the carp it is divided transversely, and in the silurus longitudinally into two lobes."
The bladder is entirely wanting in the cartilaginous fishes with fixed bronchiae, which include the lamprey, the shark, the ray fish and the saw fish, and in some osseous fishes, as the flounder and the mackerel.
This organ consists almost entirely of pure gelatine, con- taining only about three per cent of earthy salts. The greater part of the isinglass found in commerce is furnished by the Russians, and the best is prepared from the air blad- ders of sturgeons caught in the Caspian sea and its tributary streams. There are four species of this genus found in the
On Ichthyocolla.
19
Caspian sea, viz. the common sturgeon, Jlcipenser sturio ; the sterlet, d. ruthenus ; the starred sturgeon, A. stellatus ; and the beluga of the Russians, Jl. huso. From three hun- dred thousand to four hundred thousand of the first named species are caught in a year. The second is prized as the greatest delicacy for the table ; but the best isinglass is made from the «/?. stellatus, of which a million and a half, valued at seven hundred thousand dollars, are sometimes taken in a year. The beluga attains an enormous size ; one of them being sometimes a sufficient load for three horses. One hundred thousand of this species have been caught in a year.
In preparing the isinglass, the sounds are taken from the fish while fresh and sweet, cut open, washed, and well cleaned from the surrounding membranes. They are then exposed to stiffen a little in the air, and formed into rolls about the thickness of a finger. The extremities of the roll are turned inward and pinned together with a small wooden peg, and the proper shape given to the staple with the finger. It is then laid on boards or hung up in the air to dry. The book isinglass is made from the thicker mem- branes, which are not easily worked into the form of staples. The staple isinglass was formerly accounted the best, but much inferior isinglass of that kind has latterly been brought to this country, and the fine book sort is now in much es- teem. The finest membranes exhibit a beautiful opalescence when held in certain positions. The ordinary book and staple isinglass are said to be made of the intestines and peritoneum of the fish. A still inferior kind, called cake \ isinglass, is made by melting the fragments and scraps of the other sorts in water, and drying them in a pan. We have sometimes met with this sort rolled into small globular masseso
The sounds of the cod (gadus morhua) and the ling (gadus molva) also furnish isinglass of a good quality; al- though they are principally used for salting, as an article of food. As it is difficult to separate them from the spine, the fishermen throw that part of the back-bone which is cut off
20
Original Communications.
previous to salting the fish, into heaps, which are left for a few days, after which the sounds are readily separated. The Iceland fishermen beat the bones on a block with a thick stick, in order to separate the sound entire. If the sounds have been cured by salting, they must be steeped in fresh water, until the salt is washed out, before they can be used for making isinglass. In order to use them for isin- glass the membrane must be well scraped on both sides, steeped for a few minutes in lime water to absorb the oil, then washed in clean water and dried. The isinglass thus made is little inferior to the Russian; although in using it for clarifying liquors, it falls more speedily and compactly to the bottom.
Tooke, in his survey of the Russian empire, says, that the air bladder of the shad is much used for making an isinglass of an inferior quality.
The didion atinga, a species of the globe fish or sea hedge-hog — a native of the tropical seas, furnishes an isin- glass equal in quality to that obtained from the acipenser huso.
The air bag of the silurus glanis also furnishes an excel- lent isinglass. This silurus is a large fish, which sometimes attains the length of fifteen feet, and inhabits the larger rivers of the old continent. It belongs to the same division, and was formerly included in the same genus with the catfishes (pi- milodes) of the Ohio and Atlantic rivers.
An isinglass of a good quality is likewise said to be made from the skins of some of the species of the perch (perea.)
In addition to the book and staple isinglass imported from Russia, there are several other varieties of this drug found in our market.
The air bladder of a large fish, which js unknown to me, is brought from Brazil, from which country it is said to be an article of extensive exportation. It is simply dried with- out altering the natural shape of the bag, which is oblong, tapering and pointed at one end and bifid at the other, from which also proceeds the pneumatic duct that connects the
On Ichthyocolla. \sl$, p 21
bladder with the stomach or oesophagus. These ftfr^suae from five to eight inches in length, and weigh from two to four ounces and upwards. The quality of the isinglass is said to be very good, and it is much used in fining liquors.
An isinglass of inferior price and quality is prepared on the coast of New England, which has been much used in this country. It is in thin ribbands, several feet long, and from an inch and a half to two inches in width, and is evidently prepared from the intestines of a fish. It is less soluble than the Russian isinglass, and the glue which it forms is compa- ratively weak and dark coloured.
Within the last year or two, small quantities of isinglass of a very good quality have been furnished by the New York druggists. This sort is merely the dried sounds of the weak fish, and perhaps some other species which are caught in the harbour of New York. The air bladder is separated and dried in its natural shape, or merely cut open. It is proba- ble from their appearance when dried that the bladders are obtained from several fishes, for they differ in texture and size, weighing from a drachm up to an ounce. This isin- glass is very soluble, makes a strong clear jelly, and is fur- nished at a very reasonable price, much below that at which the imported drug can be sold.
It is much to be wished that more attention were paid to the development of the great resources of the United States in reference to this and other productions, which are now wasted. There are few objects more worthy of a premium at our great exhibitions of national industry, than the prepa- ration of a certain quantity of good isinglass from the fishes of our rivers and seas. The cod, the sturgeon, the cat-fish, and even the shad and the herring which visit us in . uch innumerable shoals, could thus be made to furnish a new source of wealth, from what is now considered as worthless offals.
The works which have been chiefly consulted in compil- ing the above account, are the Edinburgh Encyclopedia^ Vol, III.— D
22 Original Communications.
Art. Ichthyocolla; Malte Brun's Geography, Art. Caspian Sea ; and a paper by Humphrey Jackson, Esq. in the 63d vol. of the Philosophical Transactions.
Art. IV .—Dissertation upon the subject of Peruvian Bark, By George B. Wood, M.J).
As no generally accessible work exists in this country, containing a satisfactory account of Peruvian Bark in its relations to natural history, commerce, and pharmacy, a condensed treatise on the subject may be acceptable if not useful to the readers of this Journal. The following remarks do not profess to embrace all that can be said on a theme so fruitful. The object is to give a general view of the present state of knowledge in reference to this highly im- portant medicine, with such particulars of its history as may seem most deserving of notice; and it is intended that no- thing shall be overlooked which is likely to be of peculiar interest to the pharmaceutist. A consideration of its medical powers and application to the treatment of disease, be- longs to a different profession. The remarks, which it is proposed to make, may be included under the three heads of its botanical, commercial, and pharmaceutic history : in the present number, those only will be given which belong to the botanical department.
Though the use of Peruvian Bark was introduced into Europe so early as 1640, it was not until the year 1737 that the plant which produced it was known to naturalists. In that year, La Condamine, one of the French Academists who were sent into South America to make observations relative to the figure of the earth, on his journey to Lima, through the province of Loxa, had an opportunity of examining the
On Peruvian Bark.
23
tree, of which, upon his return, he published a description in the Memoirs of the Academy. Soon afterwards Linnaeus gave it the name of Cinchona officinalis, in honour of the countess of Chinchon, who is said to have first taken it to Europe ; but in his description of the plant he is stated by Humboldt to have united the species discovered by La Con- damine with the C. pubescens, a specimen of which had been sent him from Santa Fe de Bogota. For a long time botan- ists were ignorant that more than one species of this genus existed, and the C. officinalis continued till a comparatively recent date to be recognised by the Pharmacopoeias as the only source of the Peruvian Bark of commerce. A plant was at length discovered in Jamaica, having the generic characters of the Cinchona as then established, and received the title of C. Carihcea. Analogous species were afterwards met with in various parts of the West Indies; Forster found one in the island of Tongataboo in the South Pacific; Rox- burgh another on the Coromandel Coast of Hindostan ; Nec a third in the Philippines ; many new species were discovered in various parts of New Granada and Peru by Mutis, Zea, Ruiz and Pavon, Humboldt and Bonpland, and Tafalla; se veral Brazilian plants appeared to certain botanists worthy of ranking in the same genus ; and even the southern por- tion of our own country, and the distant isles of Bourbon and Mauritius were made to burthen with their productions the already greatly overloaded catalogue. Not less than forty- six different plants have, by various authors, been brought under the genus Cinchona; and the number would be great- ly augmented were we to admit as distinct species all the va- rieties for which this rank is claimed by one or another bo- tanist. But in thus throwing together the productions of so many and such distant climates, botanists compelled an as- sociation which nature never intended, which many authors, indeed, have never acquiesced in, and which is now dissolv- ed by universal consent. Between some of the plants thus associated, there exists scarcely any resemblance in appear- ance, or habitudes, or medicinal properties; and a compara-
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Original Communications.
lively small number have been found to afford products, possessing the chemical characters which distinguish those of the genuine Cinchona. According to De Candolle there exists sufficient ground for distributing these various species into eight genera, viz. Cinchona, Buena, Rimijia, Exostemma, Pinckneya, Hymenodyction, Luculia, and Danais. They all belong to the class and order Pentandria Monogynia, natural order Rubiaceae of Jussieu ; and may be considered as con- stituting a distinct tribe of this family. The distinguishing botanical characters of these various genera are given in a paper by De Candolle, a translation of which was published in the last two numbers of this Journal. The Cinchona is confined exclusively to Colombia and Peru. The Buena includes two Peruvian and one Brazilian species, the former of which, before the change of name, were designated as the Cinchona acuminata, and Cinchona obtusifolia. The genus Remijia was established by De Candolle, and embraces three shrubs of Brazil, which were ascribed by August, de St Hi- laire to the Cinchona, and the bark of which is used as a febri- fuge by the natives of the country. To the Exostemma be- long the West India species, of which there are not less than nine, formerly known as the Cinchona Caribcea, C.floribun- da, &c. To the same genus belong the former Cinchona Philippica of the Philippine islands, fourspecies indigenous to Peru, and two discovered by M. de St Hilaire in Brazil. The Pinkneya consists of a single species inhabiting Geor- gia and South Carolina, discovered by Michaux the elder, and described in some botanical works by the name of Cin- chona Caroliniana. The Hymenodyction is an East India genus, including the Cinchona excelsa of Roxburgh, found on the Coromandel Coast. The Lucidia is also of the East Indies. The Danais inhabits Bourbon and the Isle of France. Of these various genera, the Cinchona, the Buena or Cosmi- buena of Ruiz and Pavon, and the Exostemma have been most generally confounded. The last, however, is decidedly distinguished by the projection of the stamina beyond the corolla, a character expressed in the name of the genus.
On Peruvian Bark.
25
The two former are still frequently combined by scientific writers. The Buena was originally suggested as a distinct genus by Ruiz and Pavon, has been recognised by De Candolle and some other writers, and appears to be suffi- ciently characterized. A botanical description of it may be seen by consulting the paper of De Candolle before alluded to. The genera, which have at various times been confound- ed with the true Cinchona, have been thus briefly noticed, because the barks of some of them have been substituted for the genuine febrifuge of Peru, and in the description of the false barks of commerce, there will be occasion to allude to them. I shall now proceed to consider the proper Cinchona.
It has been stated that La Condamine was the first botan- ist who had an opportunity of examining the cinchona tree. The species observed by him was in the vicinity of Loxa, and has subsequently received from Humboldt the name of Condaminea. In the year 1739, two years after the visit of La Condamine, Joseph de Jussieu was in the same neigh- bourhood, where he gathered numerous specimens which are still preserved in Jussieu's collection at Paris, and among which Humboldt recognised his own C. Condaminea, and the C. pubescens of Vahl. From the period at which Lin- naeus drew up the description of his C. officinalis from a spe- cimen of the latter species, the knowledge of botanists with regard to the Cinchona remained stationary till the year 1772, when Mutis, a Spanish physician, who had long resided in Santa Fe de Bogota, discovered cinchona trees upon the mountains in the neighbourhood of that city. Not less than four species were described by this author as inhabiting the vice royalty of New Granada. A few years afterwards other species of the same genus were discovered in the mountain- ous provinces to the north west of Lima, whither a botanical expedition had been sent by the Spanish government under the direction of Ruiz and Pavon, the celebrated authors of the Flora Peruviana. By these gentlemen, associated with Tafalla, not less than thirteen species were described, seve- ral of which, however, have been subsequently found to be
26
Original Communications.
identical with one another, or mere varieties of some species before described. The country of the Cinchona was after- wards visited by Humboldt and Bonpland, whose personal researches resulted in the discovery of at least two new spe- cies, and by whom much light has been thrown upon the intricate subject of the botanical and commercial history of Peruvian Bark. Besides the botanists above mentioned, se- veral others have at different times directed much attention to the natural history of this genus of plants, and by the examination of dried specimens, or by the critical acumen which they have carried into their investigations of the works of other botanists, have assisted in the determination of the several species. Among these may be mentioned Zea, the pupil and friend of Mutis ; Lambert, vice president of the Linnean Society of London; Vahl, a distinguished Danish botanist ; Bergen, author of a recent German work on the subject of Peruvian Bark ; and the celebrated De Candolle, whose paper on cinchona in the Bibliotheque Uni- verselle has attracted considerable attention. Laubert, a French physician of eminence, and Guibourt, a distinguished pharmaceutist of Paris, may be mentioned among those who have contributed to illustrate this difficult subject, rather, however, in the department of pharmacy than of botany.
It has been stated that the genuine cinchona trees are con- fined exclusively to the continent of South America. With- in these limits, however, they are very widely diffused, extending from La Paz in the former vice royalty of Buenos Ayres, to the mountainous regions of Santa Martha on the northern coast. Those which yield the bark of commerce grow at various elevations on the Andes, seldom less than four thousand feet above the level of the sea, and require a temperature considerably lower than that which usually pre- vails in tropical countries.
There appears to have been much difficulty in arranging the plants belonging to this genus into their appropriate spe- cies ; and botanists have not only differed among themselves on this point, but have, in some instances, exhibited a de-
On Peruvian Bark.
27
gree of excitement unbecoming the dignity of science. Ruiz and Pavon, in the Flora Peruviana, describe thirteen new species, while Mutis reduced all those observed by him to seven, and professor Zea has attempted to prove that almost all the efficacious species of Ruiz and Pavon are reducible to the four described by Mutis in the year 1793, in the Literary News of Santa Fe de Bogota. It appears from the best testimony that the number of the species has been unnecessarily augmented by certain botanists, mere fugitive differences depending on peculiarities of situation or growth, having been exaggerated into permanent character- istics. One source of the difficulty of a proper discrimina- tion is stated by Humboldt to be the varying shape of the leaves of the same species, according to the degree of eleva- tion upon the mountainous declivities, to the severity or mildness of the climate, the greater or less humidity of the soil, and to various circumstances in the growth of individual plants. Even the same tree often produces foliage of a di- versified character ; and a person not aware of this fact, might be led to imagine that he had discovered different species from an examination of the leaves which have grown upon one and the same branch. The fructification partakes to a certain extent of the same varying character with the foliage; and the difficulty is thus still further augmented.
Lambert, in his " Illustrations of the Genus Cinchona," af- ter admitting with Humboldt the identity of several varie- ties which had received specific names from other botanists, describes nineteen species exclusive of the two Peruvian Buence. De Candolle enumerates only sixteen well ascer- tained species, but admits the probable existence of several others not yet published.
In the present state of our knowledge, it is impossible to decide from which species of Cinchona the several varieties of bark are respectively derived. The former references of the yellow bark to the C. cordifolia, of the pale to the C. lan- cifolia, and of the red to the C. oblongifolia, have been very properly abandoned in the last edition of the United States
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Original Communications.
Pharmacopoeia, though still retained in those of the London and Edinburgh Colleges. It will be shown hereafter, that the valuable barks, which are now known in the market by these titles, are at least in two of these instances, not the product of the species to which they have been ascribed. It is stated by Humboldt, that the property of curing agues belongs to the barks of all the Cinchonse with hairy and woolly blossoms, and to these alone. In Lambert's catalogue, this division includes seventeen species. The most prominent of these will be particularly noticed in this paper, the others merely mentioned.
1. C. lancifolia. — Not a little difference of opinion has existed on the subject of this species of Cinchona. The name was applied by Mutis to a tree, first noticed by him- self, which flourishes in the neighbourhood of SanttL Fe de Bogota, and the bark of which is known at that place by the title of cascarilla naranjanda, or orange coloured bark. From specimens which he received of the Cinchona originally observed by La Condamine, from which the celebrated cas- carilla jina de Uritusinga was derived, he was induced to consider this tree as identical with the C. lancifolia. But Loxa, in the vicinity of which this fine bark is collected, is separated from Bogota, the residence of Mutis, and the lo- cality of his C. lancifolia, by no less than eight degrees of latitude, and was never visited by this botanist, so that he had no opportunity of personally inspecting the plant in its natural state. While Mutis, five hundred miles to the north of Loxa, was thus identifying the cascarilla Jina de Uritu- singa with his own cascarilla naranjanda, Ruiz was claim- ing for his C. nitida, which grows at an almost equal distance to the south of that place, the honour of being the plant seen and described by La Condamine. But Ruiz also laboured under the disadvantage of never having visited Loxa, and like Mutis was compelled to form his opinions up- on uncertain grounds. Humboldt and Bonpland, who were themselves in that neighbourhood, and had the opportunity of personally inspecting the tree in its native forests, assert
On Peruvian Bark.
29
that it is neither the lancifolia of Mutis, nor the nitida of Ruiz and Pavon — plants which have since been satisfactorily ascertained to be identical — but a distinct species never be- fore accurately described, which they name in honour of its first observer, C. Condaminea. Lambert, however, gives his opinion in favour of Mutis, stating that the scrobiculi on the leaves, which Bonpland regards as a permanent differ- ential character, are found more or less numerous in all the species of the genus. Much weig ht is due to the opinion of this botanist, as he had specimens of both plants before him. A. T. Thomson in his dispensatory states that the C Conda- minea, if not precisely the same with the & lancifolia, is evi- dently a variety of that species; and M.Guibourt, in a report recently presented to the Society of Pharmacy at Paris, coin- cides with Lambert. If this opinion can be relied on, the C. lancifolia would appear to be very widely spread over the mountainous regions of New Granada and Peru ; for Bogota, where it was found by Mutis, is between 4° and 5° of north latitude; while the forests of Huamilies and Xauxa, where the C. nitida of Ruiz and Pavon, now acknowledged to be identical with it, was observed, are from 10° to 12° south of the equator ; and the C. Condaminea occupies an interven- ing station between these two extremes. To this species are also reduced by the best authors the C. glabra and C. angusti- folia of the Quinologia of Ruiz, and the C. lanceolata of the FloraPeruviana; and the process of condensation has beencar- ried still further by professor Zea. But giving its due weight to the authority of Mutis, supported by the botanists who have been mentioned, it is impossible not to hesitate, unless with ampler means of forming a correct opinion than we are at present possessed of, in pronouncing Humboldt and Bon- pland to have been mistaken ; for these celebrated travellers, from their abundant opportunities of personal inspection, from their access to all the knowledge of their predecessors, and from their high scientific qualifications and habits of observation, are indisputably the first authority at present existing, on the subjectof the natural history of the Cinchona. Vol. III.— E
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Original Communications.
In the remarks, therefore, which follow, the C. Condaminea of Humboldt and Bonpland, and the C. lancifolia of Mutis, will be considered separately, without the pronunciation of any decided opinion as to the identity of their botanical characters. It is proper, in the present place, to observe, that the causes which tend to perplex botanists in arranging the different species of the genus Cinchona, are particularly applicable in the individual case before us; as, in the lan- guage of Humboldt, " the C. Condaminea varies amazingly in its leaves."
The C. Condaminea grows under the fourth degree of south latitude, on the declivities of the mountains, at an ele- vation of from about one mile to a mile and a half, and in a mean temperature of 67° of Fahrenheit. It is confined to the neighbourhood of Loxa, where it grows near the vil- lage of Ayavaca, and in the vale of Rio Calvas. When full grown its stem is about eighteen feet high and a foot in thickness, with branches arranged in opposite pairs, of which the lower are horizontal, the higher rise upwards at the extremities. The leaves are shining, of a lively green colour, generally, when full grown, about four inches long and less than half as broad, and furnished with glands or small convex prominences upon their upper surface, with corresponding scrobiculi or depressions up- on the under. In very young plants they are much broad- er in proportion to their length ; and it is an observation of Humboldt, that the older the tree, the narrower is the leaf. The bark of the trunk is of an ash-gray colour, with clefts or fissures, and yields on incision a bitter, astringent juice; that of the small branches has a grayish hue, is smooth and glossy, and easily separable from the wood. It is this plant which yields the cascarilla fina of Loxa, the original Peru- vian bark, which was valued so highly in Spain as to be the subject of royal monopoly, and was received in other parts of the world only through the channels of illegitimate com- merce. The name of crown bark of Loxa, by which it is very generally known, evidently originated in this circum- stance.
On Peruvian Bark.
31
The C. lancifolia, or that variety of the species which was discovered by Mutis in New Granada, is a very hand- some tree, from thirty to forty-five feet in height, with a trunk from one to four feet in diameter. It is quite solitary, never clustering like other Cinchonae of the same neighbour- hood, which are often so crowded together as to form almost closely connected shrubberies. This solitary character ap- pears to pertain to all the more valuable species, and has led to their scarcity in the regions where bark has been long col- lected. When a tree has been felled, no suckers, as in the inferior species, arise from the roots, and assist to propagate the plant. Perhaps the superiority in size of the full grown C. lancifolia of Mutis over the C. Condaminea, as described by Humboldt, is attributable to the fact, that the bark has been gathered in Loxa from the earliest periods of its use as a medicine, while in New Granada the commerce in the drug is comparatively of recent date. The C. lancifolia requires a colder climate than the C. Condaminea, growing between the fourth and fifth degrees of north latitude, at an elevation upon the mountains of from four thousand five hundred to near ten thousand feet, and in a mean temperature of 61° of Fahrenheit. In the highest situations in which it is found the thermometer often sinks to 50°, and in the nights is some- times at the freezing point. Judging from the botanical characters of this species as given by Mutis, it scarcely dif- fers from the Condaminea, unless we consider the absence of glands upon the leaves as sufficiently distinctive. That it yields the same kind of bark is to be inferred from the fact, that the cascarilla fina de Urilusinga or crown bark of Loxa, admitted to be the product of the Condaminea, was consider- ed by the experienced Mutis as identical with the cascarilla naranjanda derived from his C. lancifolia ; while Ruiz and Pavon, without any communication with Mutis, and at the distance of nearly a thousand miles, claimed a similar iden- tity for the bark of their C. nitida, now acknowledged to be the same tree with the C. lancifolia. The crown bark of Loxa is universally ranked among the pale barks, while that
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Original Communications.
of the C. lancifolia growing near Bogota is called " orange coloured;" and this difference of title might appear to indicate a difference in their nature ; but the difficulty vanishes when we consider that the latter name was derived from the co- lour of the internal surface of the bark, the former from that of the powder, and that the pale barks are orange coloured in their natural state. It is probable that much if not most of the pale bark of commerce is derived from varieties of the C. lancifolia.
2. C. cor difolia.— This plant was originally described by Mutis, who found it in the mountains about Bogota; and it is said to flourish also in those of Loxa and Cuenca in the ancient kingdom of Quito. Like ihe other medicinal spe- cies it grows on the elevated plains, and on the declivities of the Andes, at heights varying from five thousand eight hundred to nine thousand five hundred feet. It is a spread- ing tree, fifteen or twenty feet high, rising on a single, erect, round stem, which is covered with a smooth bark of a brownish gray colour. The smaller branches have a lighter coloured bark, and are covered with a fine down. The leaves vary much in form, but some of a heart shape are to be found on almost every branch, and have given origin to the name of the species. They are usually about nine inches long, smooth and shining on the upper surface, ribbed and pubescent on the under. The down upon the leaves and smaller branches has given rise to the name of velvet bark, by which the tree is known to the common people of New Granada.
In the British Pharmacopoeias the C. cordifolia\s recog- nized as the source of the officinal yellow bark. It undoubt- edly produces the variety known to the Spaniards as the quina amarilla or yellow bark of Santa Fe : but this is by no means the article which circulates in the commerce of this country, England and France, by the name of yellow or Calisaya bark, and which is so largely consumed in the manufacture of Sulphate of Ovinia. This will at once be rendered obvious by the statement, that the valuable yeL
On Peruvian Bark. 33
low or Calisaya bark is derived exclusively from the western coast of South America on the Pacific ; while the C. cordi- folia of Mutis flourishes most about Bogota, of which the commercial outlet is Carthagena on the northern coast of the continent. The fact seems to be that this species yields the yellow Carthagena bark, which is probably identical with the Quinia Amarilla de Santa Fe of the Spaniards ; and the British colleges have simply followed Mutis in ascribing the yellow bark to the C cordifolia, without taking into consideration the total want of similarity, except in the co- lour, between the medicine known to him by that title, and the valuable variety which they intended to adopt as offici- nal. The yellow bark described by Thomson in the London Dispensatory as derived from the C. cordifolia is in all re- spects identical with the Calisaya, and totally different from the yellow Carthagena bark, which is probably the real pro- duct of this species. In the late edition of the United States Pharmacopoeia this error of the British Colleges has been corrected.
By some authors, the C. pubescens of Vahl and the C. hirsuta of the Flora Peruviana are considered mere syno- nymes of the C. cordifolia : but. others pronounce them to be distinct ; and the latter opinion is supported by the fact, that though these trees grow in Quito and Peru, no bark is brought from the Pacific identical with the yellow bark of Carthagena, which it can hardly be doubted is the product of the C. cordifolia.
3. C. pubescens. — This was described and named by Vahl, who received his specimens from the collection of Jussieu at Paris, whither it was brought by Joseph de Jus- sieu from the neighbourhood of Loxa. It is admitted to be identical with the C ovata of the Peruvian Flora even by the authors of that work. Bonpland has pronounced it to be the same with the C. cordifolia ; but Lambert, though he admits their similarity, decides from dried specimens in his possession that they are quite distinct, and states the cha- racters in which they differ. The C. pubescens grows about
34
Original Communications.
Loxa, also in the warmer regions of the Andes near Pozuzo and Panao, and in the forests of Huanuco to the north west of Lima. It resembles the C. cordifolia in the pubescent character of its leaf, from which its name was derived. It contributes to furnish the bark of commerce, though it is impossible to ascertain with certainty the particular variety which it affords. Ruiz calls its product cascarilla palido ; and it is not improbable that a portion of the pale bark of Loxa and Lima is derived from it.
4. C. Hirsuta. — Humboldt, upon the authority of Zea, er- roneously referred this species to the C. cordifolia, and the error has been copied by De Candolle. The two species have not the least resemblance ; and Zea himself has ac- knowledged his mistake*. The C. Hirsuta derives its name from th'd hairs on its leaves and flowers. It grows in lofty and cold situations on the Peruvian Andes, near Pillao, and Acomayo. It attains the height of about fifteen feet, and is then surrounded by shoots springing upwards from its roots, and forming with the parent tree, an oval surface, having the appearance of a dome. Its bark is called delgada or slender, is very thin, and may be ranked among the pale va- rieties of English and American pharmacy, the gray of the French. Though a valuable bark, it is seldom gathered, as its extreme fineness renders its collection much less profita- ble than that of the larger varieties.
5. The C. purpurea of the Flora Peruviana, which Lam- bert identifies with the C. Scrobiculata of Humboldt and Bonpland, grows in the mountains of Panatahuas and Hua- nuco. The tree examined by Humboldt flourishes near the city of Jaen de Bracamoros, where it forms immense forests. It is a large tree, attaining the height of forty feet, with leaves from four to twelve inches in length, and from two to six in breadth. Humboldt and Bonpland tell us that the bark of its younger branches so much resembles that of the
* Lambert's illustrations, A.D. 1821.
On Peruvian Bark.
35
C. Condaminea, that it is difficult to distinguish the two varieties. It cannot, therefore, as stated by De Candolle, be one of the red barks of commerce; for the product of the C. Condaminea is universally classed among the pale or gray barks. It is called by the natives cascarilla fina, and probably contributes to form the packages which come to us under the name of Loxa bark. The C. purpurea yields a bark denominated cascarilla morada, or mulberry bark. It is brought into the market, mixed with the other pale barks from the same neighbourhood, and as Lima is the en- trepot for the produce of the country about Huanuco, it pro- bably takes the name of that city. The pale barks of Lima, however, are all confounded in this country with those of Loxa, which shows the folly of attempting to designate the particular varieties from the places where they grow.
6. Cinchona oblongifolia. — This tree was discovered by Mutis in New Granada, where it is very abundant, especially in the vicinity of Mariquita, in about four degrees of north latitude. It grows at an elevation of from four thousand to eight thousand five hundred feet, and is one of the largest trees of the genus, rising to a great height, on a single, erect, round stem, which is covered with a smooth, brown - ish ash-coloured bark. The leaves which are opposite have an oblong oval shape, and attain a great size, being fre- quently one or two feet in length. Botanists generally agree with Humboldt and Bonpland in uniting with this species the C. Magnifolia of the Flora Peruviana, which grows to the south of the equator upon the mountains of the Panatahuas, near Cuchero, Chinchao, and Chacahuassi, where it was seen by Ruiz and Pavon in the year 1780. Lambert, however, describes them as distinct species.
The C. oblongifolia is called by the natives cascarilla de Jlor deazahar, from the resemblance of its flowers in odour to those of the orange. Till very recently it has been con- sidered as indisputably the source of the best red bark of commerce, which is ascribed to it by the British Pharmaco- pceias. A little reflection might have convinced those ac-
3G
Original Communications.
quainted with the commerce in bark, that this reference was incorrect; for who ever hears of the officinal red bark as com- ing from Carthagena ; and yet this is the port from which the product of the C. oblongifolia growing in New Granada is shipped. The mistake originated in that implicit acqui- escence with which the statements of Mutis have been re- ceived. The tree does, undoubtedly, as asserted by Mutis, produce a red bark ; but it is the red Carthagena bark, a comparatively valueless variety, wholly distinct from the gen- uine red bark, brought from the Pacific, and so highly es- teemed as a febrifuge. There will be occasion hereafter to say more on this subject.
7. Cinchona micrantha. — This is a large and handsome tree, which was seen for the first time by Tafalla in the year 1797, in the cold and elevated regions of San Antonio Playa Grande, in the Peruvian Andes. Its bark is called in the country cascarillafina, a name which indicates the value at- tached to it by the natives : but we are in possession of no information by which it might be identified among other va- rieties.
8. The C. macrocarpa of Vahl, identical with the C. ova- lifolia of Mutis, inhabits the provinces of Loxa and Cuenca, where it forms considerable forests. It was also found by Mutis in New Granada, and grows as far north as Santa Martha. It derived its name from the extraordinary magni- tude of its fruit. Its bark is called by the Spaniards Quina Blanca or white bark, probably from the colour of the epi- dermis. May not this species be the source of that commer- cial variety brought from Maracaybo and Santa Martha, in the neighbourhood of which the tree is said by Humboldt to be found*?
9. The C. glandulifera of the Flora Peruviana is a shrub about twelve feet high, having usually three or four stems united together, each about three inches in diameter. It was found by Ruiz and Pavon in the forests of Chicoplaya, and on the banks of the Taso, to the north of Huanuco, where the temperature is moderate. Its bark is among those which
On Peruvian Bark.
37
the French call gray, and is more particularly designated by the name of the Peruvian city near which it grows; although, as in the case of the Loxa barks, those of Huanuco are by no means confined to a single species.
Besides the species already enumerated, several others probably furnish more or less of the bark of commerce. Among these may be mentioned ; 10. C. ovdlifolia of Humboldt and Bonpland, a shrub from six to nine feet high, inhabiting the province of Cuenca, where it forms conside- rable forests, and is called by the natives cascarilla peluda or hairy bark; 11. C. caduciflora of Humboldt and Bon- pland, a very large tree, more than one hundred feet high, growing near the city of Jaen de Bracomoros, and yield- ing a bark called cascarilla bova by the Peruvians ; 12. C. acutifolia of the Flora Peruviana, a tree twenty-four feet high, discovered by Tafalla in the Peruvian mountains north of Huanuco, near the Taso, and yielding the cascarilla hoja aguda; and 13. C. dichotoma, which grows to the height of fifteen feet, was discovered by the same botanist in the same region as the preceding spe- cies, and affords the bark called cascarilla aharquilla by the natives.
Besides these species, several others might be added which, though named and described by botanists, are not known to furnish any of the bark of commerce. Such are the C Macrocalyx, C. Pelalba, and C. Crassifolia of Pa- von, quoted by De Candolle ; and the C. Pavonii, C. Ilum- boldtiana, C. Rotundifolia, and C. Stenocarpa, described by Lambert upon the authority of Pavon, and from speci- mens in his own possession.
In all the preceding species the corolla is more or less hairy or woolly. The C. Rosea is the only one strictly be- longing to this genus which has the corolla entirely smooth. It rises usually to the height of fifteen feet, and when in blos- som presents a very handsome appearance, as well from the Vol. III.— F
38 Original Communications.
richness of its foliage, as from the beauty of its flowers, with which the natives adorn their churches. It inhabits the forests of the Andes near Pozuzo, and San Antonio de Playa Grande, Its bark is called cascarilla pardo.
[To be continued.]
A
39
SELECTED ARTICLES,
Art. V. — On the Balsam of Copaiba ; extracted from a Re- port made to the Societe de Pharmacie. By MM. Lecanu, Blondeau and Guibourt.
The gentlemen above named were appointed to examine a paper presented to the Society of Pharmacy, by M. Faure, Pharmacien, on the solidification of Turpentine and the Bal- sam of Copaiba, by means of calcined magnesia. M. F. has treated different parcels of turpentine with calcined magne- sia, and the several mixtures became solid more or less promptly, according to the quantity of magnesia employed. He therefore proposed to prepare pills of turpentine with fourteen gros of thin, transparent turpentine, and half agros of magnesia calcined ; and he stated, that at the end of twelve hours the mass would assume the pilular consistence, and in four or five days become friable. He thought that advantage might be taken of this property of turpen- tine to incorporate with it a larger proportion of volatile oil than it naturally contains, in order to facilitate its appli- cation in neuralgic affections, for which it has lately been recommended. Consequently he has proposed the follow- ing formula.
Turpentine, thin and transparent, 6 gros.
Volatile Oil of Turpentine, 2 gros.
Calcined Magnesia, £ gros.*
* One gros is equal to 59. 1 troy grains.
40 Selected Articles.
M. F. has also observed, that the Balsam of Copaiba of commerce varies in colour, odour and consistence, accord- ing to the length of time it has been suffered to drain after collection, and to the kind of vessels in which it has been preserved. This deficiency of consistence, according to him, renders it necessary to augment the proportion of calcined magnesia, or at least to expose the balsam to the open air for a few days, in order to evaporate a portion of the essen- tial oil which renders it too fluid.
The consistence may also be augmented by the addition of a little turpentine, and then it will solidify though castor oil should be present.
Balsam Copaiba, that will not solidify with one-sixteenth of magnesia, will assume a pilular consistence by the previous addition of one-sixth of turpentine in six or eight days. And that, which is susceptible of solidification with one-sixteenth of magnesia, may be deprived of this property by the pre- vious admixture of one-twentieth of castor oil : but, if be- fore the magnesia be added to such adulterated balsam one- fifth of turpentine be combined with it, the solidification will still take place, notwithstanding the presence of the castor oil.
So far, then, according to this statement, is the magne- sia from being a test of the purity of Copaiba, that it is lia- ble to lead the pharmacien into error, who should rely on it as a certain means of detecting the sophistication of this ar- ticle.
These are the principal facts contained in the note of M. F., and the committee to whom it was referred were surprised at the statement as one of them had some time before arrived at almost entirely opposite conclusions.
This committee state, that four specimens of Balsam of Copaiba of commerce were procured.
No. 1 was transparent, of a deep yellow and of a tolera- bly thick consistence. Tested with ammonia in the pro- portion of three drops of balsam to one of the alkali, its trans- parency was completely impaired, which fact was then con-
On the Balsam of Copaiba. 41
sidered as a proof that it was adulterated with some fixed oil. No. 2 was perfectly transparent, very liquid, and of a pale yellow. No. 3 was opaque, (trouble), and No. 4 was transparent, but it became opaque afterwards, and deposited a portion of water.
The three latter, tried with ammonia, became perfectly transparent after some minutes of agitation, which induced the belief that they were of better quality than No. 1 ; but being mixed with one-sixteenth of calcined magnesia, No. 1 only, promptly hardened and assumed a pilular consistence. No. 4 was much thickened without becoming hard enough to form pills ; and Nos 2 and 3 were not augmented in consistence.
Desirous of ascertaining the cause of this difference in the results, and possessing two methods, equally recog- nized for testing the purity of Balsam of Copaiba, 2 gros of each number were treated with 12 gros of alcohol of 36°. All of them left an oleiform residue, but those of Nos 1 and 4 were sufficiently thick and coloured, while those of Nos 2 and 3 were white and liquid.
The floating liquid was decanted and replaced by an ounce of new alcohol : then No. 1 left only a very small resi- due, but formed a resinous, solid, transparent coating on the bottom of the bottle. This residue is a resin, insoluble in alcohol, and approaching those of anime and copal. No. 4 left a similar residue, but somewhat unctuous; as to Nos 2 and 3, the residue was oily and liquid and acquired by boiling in water or exposure to the air a strong rancid odour. Thus, these two balsams, which, tested by ammonia, appeared to be superior, contained, nevertheless, a fixed foreign oil ; and as they are the same which acquired no consistence by the addition of calcined magnesia, it becomes apparent that this alkaline base still offers the best means of testing the purity of Balsam of Co- paiba. First conclusion opposed to M. F.
The experiment was then tried on copaiba, No. 2, to as- certain if by evaporation of its volatile oil, or by its transfor-
42
Selected Articles.
mation into a resin, it would acquire the property of harden- ing with magnesia.
One ounce was very carefully weighed in an uncovered capsule ; then covered with a simple paper, and weighed from time to time. A singular fact, but nevertheless easy to explain, occurred at the first weighing, which was that the capsule was slightly augmented in weight at the end of two days.
Afterwards it gradually diminished in weight, without how- ever exceeding a loss of two or three grains. At the end of five days the balsam had become very thick, and was mix- ed with one sixteenth of calcined magnesia without acquir- ing any greater consistence.
This fact is also contrary to that ascribed by M. F.
Finally, no advantage was acquired by adding to the bal- sam Nos 2 and 3, a quantity of fine turpentine, as it did not sensibly augment the property of hardening with magnesia.
All of these experiments were made long anterior to the communication of M. F., nevertheless the following were tried to test the truth of one or the other. Fourteen gros of fine turpentine were mixed with half a gros of calcined mag- nesia, and according to the statement of the author of the note, it ought to acquire the pilular consistence in twelve hours, and become friable in four or five days; but at the end of three days, it had only assumed the consistency of very thick turpentine.
Another mixture of one ounce of turpentine with half a gros of calcined magnesia (the proportions indicated by M. Mialhe), became firmer, but not sufficiently so to form pills.
A more conclusive experiment was tried by mixing four gros of copaiba with eighteen grains of magnesia, and in forty-eight hours the whole had become of a good pilular consistence.
When forty-eight grains of turpentine were mixed with the four gros of copaiba, and eighteen grains of magnesia added to them, the mass was less consistent at the end of eight days than the preceding.
On the Balsam of Copaiba.
43
Thus, contrary to the assertion of M. F., turpentine can- not be employed to falsify the Balsam of Copaiba, and the calcined magnesia may be considered as still an excellent test for the purity of this article. The reporters do not be- lieve that it is possible to incorporate in turpentine pills made with magnesia, a notable quantity of volatile oil; but they think, that by employing one gros of magnesia for one ounce of the turpentine, the mass may be formed into pills very superior to those made in the ordinary way, either by using turpentine that has been dried, or reduced to a proper thickness by the admixture of a large quantity of powder.
The state of the magnesia in the turpentine, and the so- lidified Balsam of Copaiba, forms another very interesting subject for investigation.
According to M. F., when a mixture of magnesia and tur- pentine is treated with alcohol, the whole of this base is left with all its alkaline properties ; which has induced the be- lief that it acts as an absorbent, and exists in the state of simple mixture, and not as a chemical combination.
Notwithstanding, however, that the influence exercised by the magnesia on the turpentine be much more feeble than that which this earth exerts over copaiba, still it is dif- ficult to conceive that there is not a chemical union between a part of the magnesia and the resin of turpentine.
M. F. stated that if solidified copaiba be treated by boiling alcohol, a portion is dissolved, leaving the magnesia with which it was combined. But the resinous part remained undissolved in any quantity of alcohol that might be em- ployed ; while it was readily soluble in sulphuric ether, leav- ing a less quantity of magnesia than was left from the alco- holic solution. It is therefore to be inferred that the mag- nesia was not all separated by these experiments, and the committee have always thought that the magnesia solidified and saponified the resin, and that it was this compound which dissolved the volatile oil, and gave to the mass a medium consistence between the fluidity of the latter and the hard- ness of the saponified resin.
44
Selected Articles.
Our experiments, they observe, do not prove that the magnesia exerts no action on the volatile oil ; but they in- duce us to think that this base acts equally on the two con- stituent parts of copaiba; and that which they do prove without contradiction, is, that the magnesia exists in a state of combination, and not as a mere absorbent.
By treating with sulphuric ether two gros of copaiba that had been solidified for a month with one sixteenth of calcin- ed magnesia, there remained at first a considerable flocculent deposit, which in part disappeared by subsequent treatment with ether. There finally was left a hard, white, tenacious, insoluble residue, which became dry and pulverulent by desiccation. This was not pure magnesia as M. F. believed, but a combination of magnesia and resinous matter ; and it is very probable that this resinous matter is that which is in- soluble in alcohol, and which exists only in small quantities in the copaiba, but which composes almost entirely the re- sins of anime and copal.
The ethereal solution, filtered, and allowed to evaporate spontaneously, left a substance having the transparency and colour of copaiba, but much thicker. Calcined in a crucible it left a considerable quantity of magnesia ; thus proving there existed a combination of this base with the resin and perhaps with the oil of copaiba, and this combination is solu- ble in ether. — Journal de Pharmacie, Sept. 1830.
At a sitting of la Societe de Pharmacie of Paris on the 10th of November 1830, a letter was received from M. Faure of Bordeaux, containing some observations on the re- port which was made to the society on his memoir, relative to the solidification of Balsam of Copaiba by magnesia. He believes that the cause of the difference, between his results and those obtained by the reporters, will be found to exist in the nature of the turpentines on which they severally operat- ed. M. Faure sent a specimen of turpentine which he had employed in his experiments, and requested that the com- mittee would repeat theirs with that article. He believes equally that the contradictory results obtained by himself
On the Balsam of Copaiba.
45
and the committee with the Balsam of Copaiba are to be attri- buted to the difference in the purity of this drug.— Journal de Pharmacie, Nov. 1830.
Art. VI. — On the Bitter of Aloes employed in colouring.
According to professor Liebig, when eight parts of nitric acid are distilled with one part of aloes, and water is added to the remaining liquid, a resinous substance of a yellow red colour is deposited, which, by washing, becomes pulveru- lent.
A larger quantity is procured by using weak nitric acid, and this is the substance known by the name of " Bitter of Aloes." When the yellow liquid in which this substance is formed is evaporated to a certain point, large yellow, opaque, rhomboidal crystals are formed, which are a combination of oxalic acid, and the Bitter of Aloes. After five or six crys- tallizations, this latter separates from the oxalic acid, and combined with salifiable bases, it affords detonating salts. It owes this property to the cyanic acid which it contains, united with a particular substance analogous to that which has been named resin of indigo. The Bitter of Aloes dissolves in from eight hundred to one thousand times of cold, but it is more soluble in hot water, and its solution is of a beauti- ful purple. When silk is boiled in it, it becomes of a pur- ple colour that resists the action of all the acids, except the nitric, which changes it to a yellow ; but by washing it in cold water the purple colour will be restored.
Vol. III.— G
46
Selected Articles.
Art. VII. — Memoir on the Quantity 'of Extract furnished by different species of Sarsaparilla. By M. Thubeuf, Pharmacien at Paris.
It has long been the practice with many physicians to give their preference to certain kinds of sarsaparilla, and for others, on the contrary, to withhold their confidence from all of them. In consequence of these discordant opinions, and for want of sufficient proofs, some, less exclusive in their opinions, have directed them indiscriminately, or at least ap- peared by their silence, to attribute to every variety proper- ties equally medicinal.
The nature of the medicinal principle of the sarsaparillas not having yet been demonstrated by chemical analysis, each conceives his own opinion to be founded in reason, and it is also more than probable that inferior qualities are thrown into market.
It is generally admitted at the present day, that Sarsapa- rilla does not abandon all its active properties to water, even boiling, and that the employment of alcohol of 22° is abso- lutely indispensable to deprive it of all its efficient material. The experiments I have performed lately, have confirmed the opinion I entertained of this excellent process, and it appear- ed to me that a work which would establish correctly the quantity of extract furnished by each species of sarsaparilla, according to the mode indicated, would enable us for the present to estimate with tolerable correctness, the qualities of these roots ; I have therefore undertaken it with all the perseverance and care, required by such an important ope- ration.
The following is the process which I have employed, each sarsaparilla being without stems, and well cleansed.
After cutting the sarsaparilla it was macerated for forty- eight hours in a sufficient quantity of water, when it was taken out and submitted to a press. It was then bruised with a pestle, in order to immerse it for four days in a suf-
On Sarsaparilla.
47
ficient quantity of alcohol of 22°. The aqueous infusion after being strained, was evaporated to the consistence of an extract by a vapour bath, and the first alcoholic maceration being finished, the Sarsaparilla was pressed, the liquor suf- fered to settle, filtered and distilled. The hot product re- maining on the water bath, was filtered and reduced to the form of an extract ; and the sarsaparilla thus treated, was taken up a second and a third time by alcohol of 22°, in which it was macerated, and each maceration submitted to a water bath of about 60° cent, for twelve hours. When arrived at this point it was suffered to cool, and was expressed ; and finally the sarsaparilla was put into a sufficient quantity of cold water for forty-eight hours.
The alcoholic liquors of the second and third macerations after the aqueous infusions were submitted to the same operations as that of the first maceration in alcohol, and con- verted into extracts.
The second aqueous maceration was subjected to the press, strained, and reduced by evaporation to the form of an extract.
THE RESULTS.
Red Sarsaparilla of Jamaica. — Six pounds of this sarsa- parilla produced,
1st operation, Maceration in water 3vj 3ij
2d
3d
4th
5th
1st maceration in alcohol
at 22° gvij 3v
2d maceration in alcohol at 22°, followed by an in- fusion of 12 hours at about 60° cent. giij 3j
3d maceration in alcohol at 22°, followed also by an infusion of 12 hours at about 60° cent. gj 3ij 2d maceration in water 3iij
!>gxxi. 3ij.
i
48
Selected Articles.
Honduras Sarsaparilla. — Six pounds of this sarsaparilla produced,
1st operation giij 3iv
2nd giv 3vj |
3d 3ij 3vij y xi v
4th gj 3iij |
5th gj 3iv J
Sarsaparilla of Portugal.— Six pounds of this sarsaparilla produced,
1st operation gv 3iv
2nd giij 3ivss
3d gj 3vss ^gxiij. 3iss.
4th gj 3ijss |
5th gj 3j J
After having thus ascertained the quantity of extract fur- nished by each species of sarsaparilla, I became curious to know what product could be obtained from the stems or stalks, deprived carefully of all those portions of the root which are usually attached to them. The following results surprising only by the quantity of bad product will serve, if that were necessary, to induce us to reject, as entirely useless, this part of the plant.
Stems of the Sarsaparilla. — Six pounds of the stems, cut fine and bruised, were submitted to the same processes as the sarsaparilla, and yielded the following products,
1st operation gv 3ij ^)
2nd gj 3ivss |
3d gj 3ij J>gix. 3iijss.
4th 3vj I
5th 3v J
All the macerations of the stems, with the exception of the first, which was of a deep black, were of a peculiar yel- lowish colour. The liquor remaining in the water bath af- ter the distillation had the appearance of water in which rhubarb had been boiled, and they deposited a considera- ble quantity of feculent matter. The extract was without
On Sarsaparilla.
49
a well pronounced bitterness, and had, besides, a very disa- greeable taste ; it was almost totally destitute of that belong- ing to the extract procured from good sarsaparillas.
From the observations made during this investigation, I feel confident in recommending the above process for the preparation of the extract of sarsaparilla ; which may be modified by suppressing the fourth and fifth operations. It would also be well, to prolong to four days each the first and second alcoholic macerations. I am persuaded that the compounds made with such an extract would be found to possess all the properties inherent in the sarsaparillas. They would be more active in proportion as the extracts were more concentrated, either by the vapour or the water-bath, for it cannot be doubted that these preparations are sensibly altered by the naked fire, not by the volatilization of some principle, as Galileo Palotta thought, but as M. Souberrain observed by the direct action of caloric.
I may remark here, that the aromatic principle of the sar- saparillas resides in a greasy fixed matter, which I have in- sulated, and which, as is the case with all those found in sarsaparilla, is united with a large quantity of acid. Not having been able to procure at the time the other species of sarsaparilla that I wished to submit to the same treatment, the prosecution of the examination is postponed to a future period. — Journal de Pharmacie, Nov. 1830.
Art. VIII. — On the Adulteration of the Hydriodate of Pot- ash. By J. Pereira, Esq. F.L.S. Lecturer on Che- mistry, Materia Medica, fyc.
Having in two instances lately met with Hydriodate of Potash much adulterated with the carbonate of potash, and
50
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believing that this adulteration is very common, although it has not hitherto been noticed, I have taken the liberty of drawing the attention of the profession to this subject, through the medium of the London Medical and Physical Journal, and of pointing out the easiest methods of detect- ing it.
It is well known that iodine is very sparingly soluble in wa- ter; but that water holding in solution Hydriodate of Potash is capable of dissolving a larger quantity of iodine. In the general dispensary a solution termed liquor iodina is kept, made on this principle ; that is consisting of iodine dissolved in a solution of the hydriodate. My attention was first di- rected to the adulteration of this salt by one of my assistants, who informed me that he had twice failed in making the liquor. Thinking that he might have committed some error, I attempted to make it myself, but found that the iodine was only partially dissolved. Of course, I immediately in- ferred that either the iodine or the hydriodate was impure. The iodine, however, I soon found was quite pure, and I then directed my attention to the hydriodate. This salt was ob- served to contain but very few crystals, those that were noticed, however, had the appearance of the hydriodate.
The greater part of the salt seemed as if it had been heat- ed so as to destroy its crystalline form. To the taste it was powerfully alkaline, and affected very strongly vegetable colours. These characters led me to suspect that it con- tained an alkaline carbonate.
Muriatic acid added to a solution of it produced effer- vescence ; the same takes place with the pure hydriodate, owing to the separation and decomposition of the hydriodic acid ; but in the case of the suspected salt, however, the gas that escaped was conducted by means of a curved tube into lime water, which it immediately rendered milky, prov- ing that carbonic acid was present. A solution of the sus- pected salt added to lime water, gave a white precipitate, soluble with effervescence in muriatic acid. The same co- loured precipitate took place when the suspected solution was added to a solution of muriate of barytes, and effervescence
On Hydriodate of Potash.
51
was produced by the addition of muriatic acid. Sugar of lead gave a white precipitate of carbonate of lead, instead of a beautiful yellow one of iodide of lead, which the true hydrio- date gives. Hence, it was clear that an alkaline carbonate was present ; but was it potash or soda 9 To determine this I proceeded as follows.
It is well known that the salts of potash impart to flame a beautiful pale violet colour ; but those of soda a pure yel- low. Hence, if a salt of soda be mixed with a salt of potash, its presence may be detected by the alteration in the colour of the flame. On this principle, I determined that the sub- stance used to adulterate the hydriodate was carbonate of potash. A piece of clean pack-thread was wetted with a strong solution of the suspected salt. The wetted end was then dipped into the cup of tallow immediately surrounding the wick of a candle, so that it might be enveloped in melted tallow. It was then applied to the exterior of the flame, not quite in contact with the luminous part, but so as to be im- mersed in the cone of invisible but intensely heated air which envelopes it. An irregular sputtering combustion of the tallow on the thread took place, and the invisible cone of heat was rendered luminous, of a pale violet colour. Hence, then, it did not appear, that any salt of soda was pre- sent ; otherwise the colour of the flame would have been ren- dered more or less yellow.
Having thus satisfied myself that the impurity was carbon- ate of potash, I next proceeded to ascertain the quantity of it. Some of the salt was heated in a glass tube over a spi- rit lamp to deprive it of water. Ten grains of the salt thus dried were dissolved in distilled water, and excess of muriate of barytes added. A precipitate consisting of carbonate of barytes took place, which was collected and dried by a water bath ; it weighed eleven grains. Now eleven grains of car- bonate of barytes consist of
Carbonic acid 2.42 Barytes 8.58
Hence, then, there must have been 2.42 grains of carbonic acid in 10 grains of the suspected salt. Assuming from the
s
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strong alkaline taste of the salt, its powerful effect in turning green, vegetable blues, and from its precipitating sulphate of magnesia, that the carbonic acid was combined with potash, in the proportion to form the carbonate, (sub-carbo- nate of the pharmacopoeia,) it must therefore have been com- bined with 5.28 grains of potash.
Consequently the adulterated salt consisted of
Iodide of Potassium,* 2.30 Carbonate of Potash (sub-carbonate P. L.), 7.70
10.00
The quantity of iodide of potassium is here inferred from the quantity of the carbonate of potash present. That this inference is correct, there can be, I think, but little doubt; certainly the quantity of iodide cannot have been larger than is here stated. Now assuming that the equivalent for iodine is 125, it follows that 2.30 grains of iodide of potas- sium contain about 1.66 of iodine. In the following experi- ment I obtained 1.5 of iodine, which is a very close approxi- mation, particularly when we consider the very volatile na- ture of this substance.
Ten grains of the suspected salt perfectly dried were introduced into a glass tube, and strong nitric acid added to it by means of a dropping tube. Effervescence took place, and the iodine vapour which was evolved condensed on the sides of the tube.
The iodine was then cautiously sublimed into another tube inverted near the first one. To guard against moisture, the second tube which contained the iodine was placed under an exhausted air pump receiver, with sulphuric acid for a few minutes. The iodine weighed 1.5 grain : hence, we have a right to conclude, that the above mentioned quan- tity of iodide of potassium is correct. If, as I suspect, the adulteration of Hydriodate of Potash be frequently practised, it will explain why such different statements of the effects of
* When Hydriodate of Potash is heated to drive off its water, it is converted into iodide of potassium; but by solution in water the latter is converted into the Hydriodate of Potash.
On Hydriodate of Potash,
53
this remedy have been made ; when pure it is a most valuable remedy in glandular and other affections. But it must be evi- dent to every one, that very different effects result from the use of sub-carbonate of potash instead of the hydriodate.
I shall now make a few remarks on the best methods of detecting adulterations of this salt. The substances most likely to be met with are the carbonates, sulphates and muriates : which may be detected thus,
1. If the carbonates are present they may be known by lime water, muriate of barytes, or sulphate of magnesia, pro- ducing a white precipitate in a solution of the suspected salt, soluble with effervescence in muriatic acid. Sugar of lead also produces a white precipitate, which effervesces on the addition of muriatic acid, chloride of lead being preci- pitated.
I would, however, here remark, that if any of the above precipitates be small, and the quantity of fluid large, the ef- fervescence may be hardly, or not at all perceptible, owing to the solution of the carbonic acid in the fluid.
It may happen also, that although the hydriodate is adul- terated with the carbonate of potash, yet the white precipi- tate produced by muriate of barytes, may not be wholly so- luble in muriatic acid, owing to the carbonate of potash of the shops usually containing some sulphate mixed with it.
2. The sulphates (as of soda,) may be detected by a solu- tion of sulphate of magnesia producing no precipitate; but a solution of muriate of barytes produces a heavy white preci- pitate, insoluble in muriatic acid. This adulteration is, I believe, very rare.
3. The muriates, according to Chevallier and Robiquet, are frequently present. Indeed, the latter chemist states that they may be one of the results of the operation to form the hydriodate. The peculiar saltish taste would ^ead us to suspect the presence of either muriate of soda or potash. However, we may determine this chemically.
Add a solution of nitrate of silver to the suspected solu- tion, and a yellowish white precipitate will fall down ; to Vol. Ill— H
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which add excess of liquor ammonias and stir the mixture. After letting it stand for a little time, filter. If the filtered liquid throw down a white precipitate on the addition of nitric acid, the suspected salt contained a muriate. The theory of this process is very simple. Nitrate of silver throws down in a solution of the pure hydriodate, a yellow- ish white precipitate of iodide of silver, insoluble in ammonia. From the solution of a muriate, the nitrate of silver throws down a white precipitate of chloride of silver, soluble in ammonia. Hence, then, when a solution of nitrate of silver is added to a solution of the hydriodate, adulterated with a muriate, we obtain a precipitate consisting of the iodide and chloride of silver. Ammonia dissolves the chloride but leaves the iodide. When the liquid is filtered and an acid is added, the chloride of silver is precipitated.
The above is the only easy process for detecting the muriates that I have been able to contrive. Robiquet has published one much more complicated and less certain in its results. It is as follows :
" Take a determinate weight, of quite pure hydriodate (suppose ten grains) : take also, the same quantity of sus- pected salt, dissolve them separately in the same quantities of water ; and introduce them into small tubulated retorts, to which are attached receivers. Introduce into each of these vessels through the tubulure, excess of nitric acid, so as to decompose the hydriodate of potash ; nitrate of potash will be formed and iodine separated. By the application of a sufficient degree of heat, the whole of the iodine maybe volatilized. The iodine in each vessel is to be separately dried and weighed. The difference in weight will indicate the purity of the suspected salt. Afterwards the two dis- tilled liquids are to be tested with nitrate of silver. The liquid obtained from the pure hydriodate will not give any precipitate with the nitrate of silver ; whereas that, which arises from the hydriodate adulterated with a muriate, will produce a white precipitate.
See Diet, des Drogues, tome 3; art. Hydriodate de Potassa.
On the Manufacture of Sulphate of Iron. 55
Art. IX. — Some account of the Copperas Mines and Man- ufactory in Strafford, Ft. By Dr John Locke.
[From the American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. III. p. 326.]
The mine is situated about twelve miles from Dartmouth College, and about five miles from Thetford, Vt. It is near the summit of a hill which rises probably two or three hundred feet above the bed of the streams in the vallies below.
The gangue in which it occurs is mica slate, the strata of which, are very highly inclined to the horizon, and present their long ridges above the surface in various parts of the hill, particularly at its summit, There are occasionally veins of quartz in the slate. The rocks for several miles around are, as far as I observed, principally mica slate. There are no particular indications of iron at any considera- ble distance from the mass of the mine, but the transition from the slate to the pyritic ore is abrupt. The mine has been opened obliquely up the hill, about twenty rods in length and four in breadth. The ore has been traced near half a mile, running pretty much in the direction of the stra- ta of the slate.
The ore consists of an aggregate of quartz and undecom- posed pyrites in small grains. In its granular aggregation, the ore resembles the quartz and feldspar in fine grained granite. The pyrites constitutes the greater proportion. Many specimens contain abundance of needle shaped crys- tals of schorl. Its fracture possesses a metallic lustre, and most of it approaches in colour to pale brass, from which it varies to steel gray.
The ore is very compact and is obtained for manufactur- ing by drilling and blowing. In manufacturing it into cop- peras it goes through the several operations of decomposition, lixiviation and evaporation, each of which constitutes a dis- tinct operation. For several years the manufacturers effect-
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ed the decomposition in the following manner : the ore was broken into fragments of a foot or less in diameter, and heaped upon inclined scaffolds erected and floored with plank for the purpose. Thus exposed to the action of air and moisture, it very gradually decomposes at the surface. Thus from the same mass of ore a solution was obtained? year after year, either by the rains or by the application of water by other means. The solution was received from the inclined scaffolds in plank cisterns.
For three or four years past they have adopted a more expeditious method of decomposition, which was discover- ed in the first place by accident. They break the ore into much smaller fragments, three inches and less in diameter, and throw them into a convenient heap, taking care to leave air holes at the base, so as to allow the air to pass freely through the heap. On applying water, the decomposition commences, and so much heat is evolved, as presently to raise the temperature of the heap to such a degree as to charr wood, boil water, sublime sulphur, &c. Great quan- tities of sulphurous acid gas are evolved during the process and in the course of three or four weeks the whole becomes disintegrated and ready to fall into the state of powder. It then, by Hxiviation with water, yields all its copperas at once; the process is performed in a plank cistern.
When I visited the mine last summer, one of these artifi- cial volcanoes happened to be burning. The sulphurous acid produced had run down the side of the hill below, and kill- ed the grass and leaves of the trees for several rods, as com- pletely as though they had been scorched by fire. It was even dangerous to approach it, except on the windward side. I thrust a stick into it, and it was charred to blackness in a few minutes. I obtained needle-shaped crystals of sulphur which had evidently been formed on the external surface of the heap by sublimation. I was informed that the sulphur usually melted and ran down into the cavities, and that it frequently burned with flame in various parts of the heap.
The manufactory in which the process of evaporation and
On the Manufacture of Sulphate of Iron. 57
crystallization are performed, is placed on the declivity quite below the mine. This gives great facility to all the opera- tions, allowing the various reservoirs to be so arranged one above another, that the liquor may be transferred from one process to another merely by means of a trough.
The bottoms of the evaporating vessels are of lead, and about ten feet square ; the sides are of wood about three or four feet high. The bottom is supported by a number of parallel brick walls, placed at a small distance from each other. The avenues or arches between these walls commu- nicate at one end with the arch in which the fire is placed, and at the other with the common flue.
The ore is a sulphuret of iron, with a small portion of copper ; and the solution, first obtained, is a sulphate of iron and copper, with an excess of acid. During the process of evaporation a leaden vessel, having its sides perforated and containing fragments of old iron is suspended in the liquor. The iron, at the same time that it neutralizes the excess of acid, decomposes the sulphate of copper and the copper is precipitated in the form of a fine powder, which the work- men call " copper mud." In a conversation with professor Cleaveland upon this subject, he observed, that he could not conceive why the copper did not form a pellicle upon the iron. I think its detachment is referable to the constant and active operation of the acid in the hot liquor, removing the copper as fast as it is deposited. Hydrogen gas, which I collected in tumblers and burned, is evolved during the solution of the metallic iron in the acid liquor. When the liquor is first heated it becomes turbid with some earthy ma- terial, probably alumine.
After the liquor has been sufficiently evaporated it is drawn off into cisterns to crystallize. Branches of trees are put into them as a nucleus for the crystals. When the crystallization has proceeded as far as it will go, the remain- ing fluid is drawn oft', and returned to the evaporating ves- sels. The cistern remains lined several inches in thickness with crystals, like a geode. The branches have a fine crop
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of foliage and fruit, composed of beautiful green crystals. The crystals are very large and perfect, presenting numer- ous brilliant facets which are often several inches broad. I obtained some which were perfect four sided prisms with a rhombic base six inches in length and half an inch broad.
Every thing about this mineral manufactory is curiously reddened with iron rust. When a dry day succeeds a rain or a shower, the whole mine becomes covered with a white crystalline efflorescence like a hoar frost, and the rain water which runs down into the cavities of the mine becomes so strong a solution as to crystallize. Wherever the solution dribbles from the rocks, or leaks from the cisterns, large stalactites are formed so precisely like icicles that they would not be distinguished from them were it not for their green colour. These stalactites are very numerous at some seasons and present a very beautiful spectacle.
An ingenious method has been contrived to catch the wash of the whole mine. There has been cut in the com- pact ore, quite across the lower edge of the mine, a chan- nel, into which, by its inclination, the mine discharges the wash of every shower, together with the natural oozing from the hill above. A trough conveys the fluid from the channel to the boilers. To increase the effect of this natu- ral brook of copperas, the ore has been broken into large fragments, and heaped along the upper side of the channel, there to undergo a slow decomposition precisely as it does upon the scaffolds mentioned above.
The mine, where it has not been opened is covered with oxide of iron, which consists principally of incrustations of vegetables.
In the part where I examined these incrustations, they are about three feet deep. The vegetables seem to have been enveloped by a thin uniform crust, but having decayed and disappeared the crust remains an empty mould or pattern of the vegetable. The general figure of the vegetable is pret- ty well preserved in the external form of incrustation ; but the internal cavity is wonderfully perfect, the sinuosities
On the Manufacture of Sulphate of Iron.
59
of the bark, the veins of the leaves and the striae of the buds are preserved to microscopic minuteness. °* The im- pressions are so perfect that it is difficult for one to con- vince himself that the real vegetable is not there. All the vegetables that we should expect to find upon a given spot of ground, in the woods, seem to occur there. I could, in general, recognize the species, and even the varieties. Among the specimens I obtained, were the following : hem- lock branches and cones ; nuts, burrs, and leaves of the beech ; hazel nuts and species of golden rod which I re- cognized by a peculiar swelling, often produced upon this plant by an insect. I could not ascertain that any animals had ever been found incrusted. The incrustations are divi- ded into several strata, by layers of oxide, which have a structure so compact as to present a fracture almost or quite vitreous.
The superintendant told me that four men manufactured one hundred tons of copperas in a year, besides carrying on the business of a small farm.
A small quantity of the ore has been found which had undergone a spontaneous decomposition and was thought to be very rich. The superintendant told me, that a barrel of it afforded three hundred and thirty-three pounds of coppe- ras. When I considered the quantity of iron the liquor dis- solves, and the water it acquires in crystallization, this state- ment seemed less incredible than at first.
I have deposited specimens of the gangue of the ore in its various conditions, the crystals, &c. in the New England Museum, Boston.
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Art. X.~ :On the Action of Acids upon Salicine. By Peschier, Pharmaceutist at Geneva.
[From the Journal de Chimie et de Toxicologic]
Salicine having been acknowledged a crystallizable neu- tral substance, we had reason to believe that its chemical properties would be confined to this character; but experi- ence has proved to the contrary.
Having been informed by Mr Calloud of Anneci that con- centrated sulphuric acid, poured upon salicine, imparted to it a very lively red colour, I wished to ascertain how nitric acid would act upon it, and I was not a little surprised at the result. Immersed in this acid, salicine was soon dissolved and, in the course of about two hours, the liquid concentrat- ed in a porous, yellowish white mass, which, during the night, acquired the form of a mushroom, with edges curled up by scales, placed one over the other, from bottom to top, and furnished with acicular crystals. This mushroom, left exposed to the air, acquires sometimes, in the course of a few days, a pinkish hue, which passes gradually to a lively red. However varied may the quantities of acid be, the results are invariably the same.
Suspecting that these products could not take place with- out a real combination, I dissolved in water, one of those that contained the smallest proportion of acid. The solu- tion having no action on litmus, I could not otherwise ac- count for it, but that the proportions of the ultimate princi- ples of salicine had undergone a conspicuous change, and that this solution had probably past the alkaline state.
This interesting question induced me to study the action of the different acids upon salicine, and the following are the most striking results I obtained from my experiments.
As soon as salicine is covered with sulphuric acid, it ac- quires a very lively red colour, which passes to claret, and even to a dirty pink, if there is an excess of acid. Sulphu- ric acid, diluted with five or six times its weight of water.
On the Action of Acids on Salicine.
61
does not change the colour of salicine, but it combines with it as it does with the concentrated acid. If, after diluting both these liquids with water, the excess of acid be saturat- ed with the carbonates of soda or potassa, and the liquors be evaporated to the consistence of a syrup, and then treated with alcohol, the sulphate of salicine is dissolved, and the alcoholic solution yields, by evaporation, a salt crystallized in silky prisms diverging from the centre to the circumfer- ence, in the process with concentrated acid ; and forming a prismatic vegetation climbing to the sides of the vessels in that with diluted acid. These products have a very bitter taste ; the former is of a brownish colour and the latter white.
The solution of supernitrate of salicine is yellowish, and possesses the peculiar taste of saffron, united with the bit- terness of salicine. Treated in the same way as the super- sulphate, it yields colourless crystalline tufts, resting upon a yellowish sediment of the same nature.
Salicine is dissolved by hydrochloric acid, without altera- tion in its colour, and the solution, submitted to spontaneous evaporation, affords, on the sides of the liquid, small white masses, resembling, as long as they are moist, congealed grease; but exhibiting, when dry, a crystalline appearance.
The phosphoric acid, obtained from the action of nitric acid upon phosphorus, affords prismatic crystals, some with striated faces, others with smooth faces, whilst some may be distinguished among the rest, with two wide and two narrow faces.
Acetic acid yields a salt, forming a handsome vegetation.
From the characteristic form of these salts when carried to the state of perfect neutralization, I had every reason to believe that salicine was converted into an alkaline base, and, in order to ascertain this point, I proceeded to the de- composition of the sulphate of salicine by solution of baryta. After separating the sulphate of baryta thrown down, and ascertaining the absence of this earth in the liquid, I obtain- ed a solution, which brought to the blue colour the reddened Vol. III. — I
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litmus paper, and yielded prismatic crystals, together with small white masses, differing in their forms from those of salicine, and possessing an intensely bitter taste, without, however, partaking of the willow smell that the latter retains.
In order to ascertain with greater precision the total ab- sence of baryta in this product, I evaporated to dryness the mother water, incinerated the matter obtained, and employ- ed all the usual tests for this earth, without discovering the smallest trace of it. Considering that the crystals I had obtained differed, in some very essential points, from the salicine employed in the formation of the sulphate, and that the latter had, altogether or partially, acquired the alkaline properties, I cannot but look upon these facts as evident proofs of the action of sulphuric acid upon salicine.
By decomposing the nitrate of salicine by the carbonates of potassa or ammonia, and separating the soluble nitrate by means of alcohol (permitting the carbonate of ammonia slightly to predominate in the liquid, until evaporated to the point of crystallization), I obtained a liquor of a deep saffron colour, possessing the strong taste of this article, without any alkaline savour; but which, judging from the papillary form of the crystals afforded by it, and from a sort of deto- nation that took place on their being thrown upon live coals, was nothing else but a nitrate of salicine, whose base had undergone a certain point of decomposition ; but the sepa- ration of which from the acid had not been affected by the means resorted to.
As to the degree of capacity for saturation that salicine possesses, it is obvious that it is very small, and, probably, that there is but an inconsiderable portion of that substance, treated with acids, that passes to the alkaline state, for it acts on the test paper only when the liquid has acquired a certain degree of concentration. I acknowledge that I would be the first to consider as absurd the possibility of converting salicine into an alkali by the action of sulphuric acid, diluted with five or six times its weight of water, or by that of hydrochloric or phosphoric acids, without the as-
On the Action of Jlcids on Salicine. 63
sistance of heat, were it not for changes of a similar nature which take place in the acidification of sugar and gum, and in the conversion of starch into sugar by the action of ni- tric and sulphuric acids. Consequently the want of expe- rience is, in this instance, the only impediment that can be urged against admitting as a truth the change which has really taken place, for piperine is almost the only substance that has some analogy with salicine, and yet in the supposi- tion that its character would not be altered by the action of acids, what just inferences could be drawn from that cir- cumstance*? I know but one mode of deciding this question, that is by a comparative analysis of the ultimate principles of the salicine employed in the experiment, with that of the portion which has been converted into an alkali ; but as my occupations do not permit me to undertake the task, I shall see with great pleasure those of my colleagues, who are acquainted with this kind of questions, institute experiments upon it.
E. D.
REVIEW.
The Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America. By authority of the National Medical Convention held at Washington 1830. Philadelphia, 1831.
The convention, which framed the National Pharmacopoeia of 1820, arranged a plan for the election of another to meet in Washington in 1830, for the purpose of revising the work. By this plan the Union was divided into four sections, each of which was entitled to send three delegates to the conven- tion. The president was required to issue writs of election to the several incorporated medical societies in these respec- tive sections, requiring them to ballot for the three delegates. The several institutions were requested to forward to the president, on or before a certain day, " the names of three persons, thus designated by ballot; and the president of the convention is hereby requested on the said day to assort and count the said votes, and to notify the three persons who shall have the greatest number of votes of their elec- tion," &c. The ambiguity of this provision was the cause of serious difficulty. The societies, in the first part of the sen- tence, are required to send the names of the delegates chosen by them, and it appears to have been the impression in many places, that the delegates thus chosen were to pro- ceed to Washington. The convention however was to con- sist of but one set of delegates from each section, and the intention was, that the state of the ballot, and not merely its result, was to be sent for examination to the president; and
Pharmacopoeia of the United States.
65
he was to determine who was elected. It is obvious that, unless a general medical convention be held in each dis- trict, for the purpose of choosing delegates, this plan must fail entirely of its design. It might happen that one of the most respectable medical bodies in a district, deeply sensi- ble of the importance of the object in view, and knowing the impossibility of making the revision in a day or a week, had selected a committee of its most competent and accom- plished members, to undertake a thorough experimental ex- amination of the subject, devoting to it many months; and that it should afterwards elect these men, thus fitted for the duty, as its delegates, in the full confidence that its voice would be heard in the convention. It might happen after all this preparation, that a more numerous, or more ambitious soci- ety in another part of the district should outvote it, and elect a set of deputies unprepared in many respects for the office. It did happen accordingly. When the president counted the ballot which had been sent him, he found that three delegates were chosen for the eastern district, con- sisting of the states east of New York. One of these resid- ed in Boston, one in New Haven, and the other in Berk- shire, Mass. For the middle district consisting of the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, a district in which are situated the three great medical schools of the Union, only one return of the state of the ballot was made to him, although the Philadelphia College of Physicians notified him of the election of its delegates. The three delegates, declared by him to be cho- sen from this district, resided, one in Albany, and the other two in New York ! From the southern and western dis- tricts no returns were made.
The delegates thus appointed, not caring to encounter the fatigues of a journey to Washington, determined to meet in New York on the appointed day. Three, or at most four, of their number met, and finding their body too small to un- dertake the business, adjourned for six months, and agreed to invite the attendance of delegates from the medical soci- eties throughout the country. The convention, consisting of
66
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ten physicians, was accordingly held, and the product of their joint industry and collected knowledge is before the world. In the mean time delegates elected by the medical societies of New Jersey and Delaware, the Philadelphia College of Physicians, the Medico-Chirurgical faculty of Maryland, and the Medical College of Washington, met at this latter city. They invited the attendance of the Surgeon General of the Army, the senior Naval Surgeon and those members of Con- gress who were practitioners of medicine. The convention, thus organized, consisted of thirteen physicians. Delegates had been appointed by the medical society of Louisiana, but were detained upon their passage, so that they did not arrive until the convention had adjourned.
The following account of the proceedings of the delegates, and the measures taken by them to secure the proper revi- sion of the work, is too interesting to be omitted or abridged.
" On the fourth of January 1830, the Convention assembled at Washington, the following delegates being present — Lewis Condict, M.D. and Isaac Pierson, M.D, from the Me- dical Society of New Jersey; Geo. B. Wood, M.D. and Franklin Bache, M.D. from the Philadelphia College of Phy- sicians ; John L. Morris, M.D. from the Medical Society of Delaware ; James H. Miller, M.D. from the Medico-Chirur- gical Faculty of Maryland; and N. W. Worthington, M.D. and Thomas Henderson, M.D. from the Medical College of Washington. The Convention was organized by the ap- pointment of Dr Condict, President, and Dr Henderson, Se- cretary. As many parts of the United States were not represented, it was resolved, in order as far as possible to supply the deficiency, and to give the various medical inter- ests of the country their due weight, that the Surgeon Gene- ral of the Army, the Senior Surgeon of the Navy stationed at Washington, and those members of Congress who were prac- titioners of medicine, should be invited to participate in the proceedings. In compliance with this invitation, the follow- ing gentlemen took their seats in the Convention — Joseph Lovell, M.D., Surgeon General ; Bailey Washington, M.D.,
Pharmacopceia of the United States.
67
Senior Naval Surgeon, stationed at Washington ; and Na- than Gaither, M.D. of Kentucky, G. E. Mitchell, M.D. of Maryland, and Samuel Swan, M.D. of New Jersey, members of Congress.
" After the organization of the Convention, its meetings were held in the Capitol ; and among the earliest proceed- ings was the appointment of a Committee to examine and revise the Pharmacopoeia, with directions to submit the re- vised copy at a future meeting. The following report was presented by this Committee.
" The Committee, appointed on the revision of the Phar- macopoeia of the United States, beg leave to report, that they have examined a revised draught submitted to them by the delegates from Pennsylvania, with as much attention as their limited time would permit, and recommend it to the Convention as the basis of a new edition of that work. As, however, it contains several important modifications, which require a more particular examination than your Committee can possibly give them, they recommend that it be referred to a Committee of Revision, to be appointed from the differ- ent sections of the country ; that the chairman of said Com- mittee be requested to open a correspondence with the sev- eral members, for the purpose of submitting the aforesaid draught to their examination, and of obtaining their remarks and observations thereon; that he be authorized and in- structed to call a meeting of said Committee at as early a period as practicable, to assemble in the city of Philadel- phia, and that any three members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; who, after a careful exami- nation of the several communications that may be submitted to them, shall prepare for the press a revised edition of the Pharmacopoeia, and make the necessary arrangements for its publication.
" This report was adopted ; and it was resolved that the contemplated Committee should consist of a chairman, and of two members from each of the following cities ; viz. Bos- ton, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Charles-
68
Review.
ton, Lexington and Cincinnati. The gentlemen appointed on the Committee were Thos. T. Hewson, M.D. chairman ; Jacob Bigelow, M.D. and John W. Webster, M.D. for Bos- ton ; Alexander H. Stevens, M.D. and John Watts, M.D. for New York ; Geo. B. Wood, M.D. and Franklin Bache, M.D. for Philadelphia; Samuel Baker, M.D. and Elisha De Butts, M.D. for Baltimore ; Thomas Henderson, M.D. and N. W. Worthington, M.D. for Washington ; John R. Trescott, M.D. and James Moultrie, M.D. for Charleston; W. H. Richardson, M.D. and B. W. Dudley, M.D. for Lexington ; and John Morehead, M.D. and Charles E. Pierson, M.D. for Cincinnati.
" The subject which next engaged particular attention was the mode of assembling the Convention of 1840; and the following regulations were adopted as those most likely to secure a full representation.
" 1. That the president of this Convention shall, on the first day of January 1839, issue a notice, requesting the dif- ferent incorporated State Medical Societies, the incorporat- ed Medical Colleges, and the incorporated Colleges of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, throughout the United States, to elect* a number of delegates, not exceeding three, to attend a General Convention to be held at Washington on the first Monday in January 1840.
" 2. That the several incorporated bodies thus addressed be further requested by the president, to submit the Phar- macopoeia to a careful revision, and to transmit the result of their labours, through their delegates, or through any other channel, to the next Convention.
" 3. That the several medical bodies be further requested to transmit to the President of this Convention, the names and residence of their respective delegates, so soon as they shall have been appointed ; a list of whom shall be publish- ed under his authority, for the information of the medical public, in the newspapers and medical journals, in the month of October 1839.
" Considering it necessary to provide against any contin-
Pharmacopoeia of the United States.
69
gency which might prevent the president from performing the duties thus assigned him, the Convention resolved that in the event of his death, resignation, or inability to act, his duties should devolve upon the secretary, and, should the latter be prevented from serving, upon an assistant secretary to be appointed for the purpose. N. W. Worthington, M.D. was accordingly chosen assistant secretary.
" Before its adjournment the Convention also provided for the preservation of the records by adopting the following resolutions : — * First, that the secretary take charge of, and preserve the existing records, until his successor shall be ap- pointed by the Convention of 1840, when it shall be his duty to hand them over to such successor ; secondly, that in case of the death, resignation, or inability to act of the Secretary, his duties shall devolve upon the Assistant Secretary ; and thirdly, that it be recommended to future Conventions to appoint their secretary or secretaries from members residing in the District of Columbia.'
" After the adjournment of the Convention, delegates from the Medical Society of Louisiana arrived at Washington, having been unexpectedly detained upon their passage ; and Edward H. Barton, M.D., one of the delegates, after inspect- ing the draught adopted as the basis of the revised edition, gave it his full approval.
"The chairman of the Committee of Revision, having re- ceived due notice of his appointment, immediately addressed letters to the several members of the Committee, not origin- ally members of the Convention, informing them of their nomination, and of the duties they were requested to per- form. Answers to these letters were received from Boston, Baltimore, Charleston, Lexington and Cincinnati, conveying on the part of the writers, in most instances, either an ex- pression of their confidence in the merits of the work, or promises of co-operation in the revision. Manuscript copies of the draught adopted by the Convention were transmitted to Boston, Washington, and Lexington, for the examination of the several members who had expressed a willingness to Vol. III.— K
70 Review.
participate in the labours of the Committee ; and notice was subsequently sent to them, indicating the eleventh of Octo- ber 1830 as the day of meeting.
" On the day appointed, the Committee met in the hall of the College of Physicians at Philadelphia. The members present at the first meeting were Thomas T. Hewson, M.D. Chairman ; Thomas Henderson, M.D. of Washington ; and George B. Wood, M.D. and Franklin Bache, M.D. of Phila- delphia. On the following day Jacob De La Motta, M.D. of Charleston, appointed by the Medical Society of South Carolina in the place of Dr Moultrie, who had declined, took his seat in the Committee. As the objects of the revision could be accomplished with nearly the same facility by con- tributions from a distance as by the presence of the mem- bers, it was foreseen that, in most instances, this mode of co-operation would be preferred ; and the Convention, to provide against any difficulty which might arise from this circumstance, had determined that three should constitute a quorum.
"The Committee having been duly organized, proceeded to the revision of the work, in which they were assisted by writ- ten communications from Drs Bigelow, Webster, and Wor- thington, absent members, suggesting alterations or addi- tions, many of which, after due consideration, were adopted. * The amendment of the draught having been accomplished, a Committee was appointed, consisting of Drs Hewson, Wood, and Bache, with power to make the necessary arrangements for its publication, and to adopt any modifications, not in- consistent with its general plan and scope, which might be suggested by their own further examination, or by communi- cations which might still be received from others.
" In accordance with the powers granted them, the commit- tee of publication submitted the amended draught to the examination of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, by
* After the adjournment of the committee, a communication was received from Dr Dudley, of Lexington, expressing his approval of the draught.
Pharmacopoeia of the United States.
71
whom, after a careful review by a committee appointed for the purpose, a resolution was adopted, approving the work, and recommending the members of the college ' to use the formulae thereof in their pharmaceutical preparations.' It is proper to add, that many valuable practical suggestions were received from the Committee of the College, of which advantage has been taken in the final arrangement of the work."
We do not think it worth while to enter here upon the discussion of the legitimacy of the two conventions. It is obvious that there was a misunderstanding respecting the arrangements made by the convention of 1820 for the elec- tion of that of 1830, and it is also obvious that the claim of the convention which met in New York, on the score of the regularity of its election, must be vitiated by its own pro- ceedings, and the place of its meeting. The convention which met at Washington was legitimate as to the place of assembling, but irregular as to the manner of its election.
We care but little about the matter, and it will not require an extraordinary degree of superiority in either to deter- mine the public voice in its favour.
The convention of 1830 has judiciously taken the Phar- macopoeia of 1820 as its model, altering nothing without a reason for so doing, and considering it as sufficient authori- ty for the general arrangement and plan pursued. It has confined its labours to correcting the errors, pruning the redundancies, and supplying the deficiencies of the original work; and the success with which all this has been done, the close scrutiny, the exact learning, and extensive research displayed in the labour, will fully vindicate the reputation of our country in this department of science.
It necessarily happens that the improvements made from time to time in such a work as the Pharmacopoeia have an air of minute criticism. This is especially the case with the present revision, in which the alterations are scattered over the volume with a liberal hand, yet are of such a character
72
Review.
that a careless reader would not observe the twentieth part of them.
We open the book at random at the fourth and fifth pages, and will go through the articles enumerated therein in order to give our readers an idea of the manner in which the revision has been made.
Acidum Sulphuricum.
The old Pharmacopoeia says, Agidum sulphuricum. Acidum sulphuricum. Sulphuric acid. The specific gravity to that of
Here not only is the specific gravity corrected, but the description is given in Latin as well as in English, and the words " to that of water as — to 1," omitted as unnecessary, and therefore inelegant.
Acidum tartaricum. — This useful, and now much used acid is added to the materia medica. It is never prepared by the apothecary in small quantities, and therefore proper- ly belongs here, and not to the " Praeparata."
Aconitum. — No alteration.
Adeps. — In the old Pharmacopoeia this is merely called adeps. It is here, with more precision, defined to be adeps curata.
Alcohol. — In the old Pharmacopoeia the synonyme is " alcohol." The specific gravity to that of water as 835 to 1000. The latter phrase is altered as in the case of sulphu- ric acid, and the definition given is, spiritus rectificatus.
Allium. — The old Pharmacopoeia says the part used is the root. The late convention define it with botanical precision to be bulbus, the bulb.
Aloe.— The convention has given the aloe spicata as the plant yielding aloes. We presume they mean to designate
water as 1.850 to I.
The present one has it,
AciDUM SULPHURICUM.
Acidum sulphuricum, cujus pon- dus specificum est 1.8485.
Sulphuric acid of the specific gravity of 1.8485.
Sulphuric acid.
Pharmacopoeia of the United States.
73
the cape aloes as the officinal species, that being almost the only kind brought to this country. The former convention followed the London college in giving the Socotorine and Barbadoes aloes, and referring the former to the A. spicata and the latter to the A. vulgaris. In the uncertainty which exists as to the origin of the different species of this drug, no arrangement can be regarded as permanent.
Alumen. — The old Pharmacopoeia defined this salt to be super-sulphas aluminse et potassse ; the present one calls it aluminas et potassae sulphas, which is the correct nomencla- ture.
Ammoniacum. — The old convention defines this to be a gum resin; in the work before us it is simply called succus concretus. We have our doubts whether this be an improve- ment. The English name in the latter is ammoniac, in the former it is ammoniacum. A recent traveller has discover- ed, it is said, that both gum ammoniac and galbanum have been referred erroneously to the plants which are here sup- posed to furnish them.
Ammonice murias. — The old Pharmacopoeia translates this " muriate of ammonia called sal ammoniac." In the pre- sent edition the word called is omitted as awkward and un- necessary. In the former, the name is repeated in the se- cond column ; while in the latter the name is given but once. This remark applies to all the chemical preparations enu- merated in the Materia Medica.
Amygdala. — This word is translated almond in the old Pharmacopoeia, almonds in the present. Conformably with the practice of ancient Latin authors, the convention has given the names of all articles in the singular number, and has translated them into the plural where our own idiom requires it, as in the present instance. The student, who will com- pare the two books throughout, will find very numerous cor- rections of this class.
Angustura. — This bark is referred to Galipea officinalis on the authority of Dr Hancock. Bonplandia trifoliata is retained as a synonyme.
74 Review.
Anisum, Anthemis, Antimonii Sulphur etum, Argentum. — No alteration.
Aqua. — The apothecary is not restricted to the use of aqua font ana as in the last ; but is left at liberty to use any sort of clear water for the purpose of distillation ; to which operation all the water used in compounding ought to be sub- mitted.
Armoracia. — The old Pharmacopoeia directed the whole plant to be used. The present one more accurately points out the fresh root as the officinal part of the plant.
In looking over the Materia Medica, we perceive many improvements on the old Pharmacopoeia. The botanical re- ferences are made on the authority of the best authors, and many new articles are introduced to notice, such as Iodine, Lupuline, Hemlock pitch, Rhatany root, the Pith of Sassa- fras, and Taraxacum.
The definitions also, where they are altered, are generally given with more accuracy. Elaterium, for example, instead of being called " extractum fructus," is said to be " mate- ria fructus succo demissa." The "fruit" of the " Cassia fistula" is ordered to be kept, and not the " pulp of the fruit," as formerly ; and the Colocynth is directed to be " the fruit deprived of its rind" and not " the fruit deprived of its rind and seeds." This is done, we suppose, in order to conform to circumstances, as it is the pod of the cassia and the pared melon of the colocynth that are always kept in the shops.
"We are glad to find that use has been made of the latest authorities, in referring Senna to the Cassia acutifolia, obova- ta and elongata, the three species from which it is indiscrimi- nately obtained ; in designating the plants which yield the Kino, Myrrh, and Colombo root ; and in assigning their pro- per places in the botanical systems, to various drugs, such as Ipecacuanha, Cardamom, Jalap, Iceland moss, and others.
The botanist will not agree with the convention in calling Lupuline strobilorum pollen ; nor do we think there will be found many good English ears to whom guaiac will seem as good an English word as guaiacum.
Pharmacopoeia of the United States.
75
The convention having formed the chemical nomenclature upon the strict principles of the science, ought, we think, to have called Borax Sodce bi-boras ; it is said to be sodcebo- ras, and in the old Pharmacopoeia is called sodce sub-boras.
It is under the head of " Praeparata," that the convention has made the greatest improvements on the old Pharmaco- poeia. It has rejected many old and unskilful formulae, has introduced nearly all the new preparations that have been brought into use within the last ten years, and given to the whole of this department a symmetry and precision which entitle the work to a high rank among the best Pharmaco- poeias extant. In our last number we had occasion to no- tice the leading defects of the old Pharmacopoeia, and it will therefore be unnecessary to say more in relation to them, than that very few appear to have escaped the atten- tion of the convention.
Among the unnecessary and injudicious formulae expunged from the present revision, are the Black Drop, the place of which is supplied by Dr Hartshorne's acetic tincture of opi- um ; purified Vinegar, the formula for which was an entire failure ; five preparations of Antimony ; the whole section of Collyria, and many recipes for pills, infusions and decoctions of trifling importance. The space which these occupied is now filled with preparations of more value and importance to the physician, such as the new Alkalies and their salts, and Iodine and its preparations.
As a general standard for the composition of those medi- cines in which the experience and judgment of the physician must govern the proportions of the active principle, and the choice of adjuncts, the London Pharmacopoeia has been fol- lowed. In the formulae which may be calculated upon strict chemical principles, and in those where such properties are involved as the solubility of an active ingredient, the con- sistence of an ointment, &c. the convention has inserted nothing that was before doubtful, without a full and deci- sive experiment.
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Review.
We will examine the first two heads of Aceta and Acida as an illustration of the manner in which the revision has been made. In doing this we shall make our extracts from the Latin text, in order to compare the latinity of the two works. The Pharmacopoeia of 1820 was chiefly compiled from those of the three British colleges. Whatever formula was adopted, the language in which it was expressed was also copied, so that the work partook of the inequality of style which mark- ed the three Pharmacopoeias from which it was compiled. The text of that of London is, however, very far superior in purity of style to the others, and is well known to have been from the pen of the celebrated Dr Thomas Young, one of the most accomplished scholars of the age. The late convention therefore adopted it as their model, and they have successfully laboured in executing this part of their duty 5 for the style of the Latin text, and we speak the opinion of competent judges who have carefully exam- ined it, is correct and chaste, and a good model for the physicians of our country. We are disposed to attach much importance to this circumstance, as a recommen- dation of the Pharmacopoeia to general adoption. The Latin is the universal language of the profession ; and it is unhappily too little studied and understood by the majority of American physicians. A critical knowledge of it is indis- pensable to all who wish to become learned in their profes- sion, and to those who are ambitious of , making themselves known to the literary republic of Europe.
A pure and classical Latin Pharmacopoeia, which shall ac- custom our physicians to the correct diction of their science, we therefore conceive to be an object of national importance.
To proceed with our examination; — the first article of the preparations is
ACETUM DE STILL ATUM.
R. Aceti congium.
Destillet acetura, balneo arena, ex retorta vitrea in excipulurn vitreum. Oc- tario primo rejecto, octaiios quinque pioxirne destillatos serva.
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77
The formula of 1820 stands thus,
ACETUM DISTILLATUM. R. Aceti octantes octo. Distillent in vasis vitreis aquae balneo. Octante primo stillato rejecto, octan- tes sex proxiraos serva.
The superior elegance and correctness of expression of the first must be obvious to the tyro in Latin.
The old convention attempted to improve both the formu- la and the latin of the London college. The late convention copied its language and improved its directions. The Lon- don throws away the first pint and directs the next six pints to be preserved ; ours, more judiciously preserves only the next five pints, thereby avoiding the empyreuma which al- ways taints the last portions that come over. The old American pharmacopoeia directs the distillation to be per- formed in a water bath, the heat of which is scarcely suffi- cient for the effectual distillation of the acid.
The black drop is omitted and the Acetum Colchici intro- duced. The recipe for this is somewhat altered from that of the London College, which directs the use of the recent bulb. Being dependent upon the dried bulb for all our preparations of colchicum, the convention has directed it to be used in the same proportions as the London formula. It is much to be wished that careful experiments were instituted to determine the real and comparative value of recent and dry colchicum. The opinions respecting them are so va- rious, and the vinum colchici, is so uncertain a preparation, as ordinarily made ; that one of the most powerful and effi- cient remedies in the materia medica, which it really is, is in danger of being regarded as unworthy of confidence. With respect to the acetum colchici and the syrup which is prepared from it, we doubt whether either have been much used in this country, nor have we ourselves had any ex- perience of their efficacy. But the ivine of colchicum has acquired a considerable reputation, which, when care is taken to form a saturated solution, it seldom fails to support, We Vol. III.— L
7S
Review.
do not find fault with the proportions here used in making the
vinegar ; our design in these observations is to vindicate the convention from the charge of want of skill in its formula for the Vinum colchici, which is ordered to be made with half a pound of the bulb to a pint of wine. It is, perhaps, a waste of the colchicum, but it makes an uniformly good prepara- tion ; which, in the case of so violent a remedy as the colchi- cum, it is of the utmost importance to secure.
The progress of improvement is slow, and confidence in new and powerful remedies often grows out of a mere acci- dent. We well remember that a few ounces of sulphate of quinia remained unsold and unnoticed for more than a year in the shop of one of our most eminent apothecaries, until a citizen of some distinction was cured by it of an intermittent fever. He published a statement of the fact, which attracted great attention on account of the epidemic that then pre- vailed ; and from this circumstance the fortunate individual of whom he purchased it sold many thousand dollars' worth of the new medicine. The active principle of the colchicum is kept in all our principal shops; it is uniform in its qualities, unalterable by age, and its strength can be relied on with the greatest certainty. Are we to wait till some fortunate accident such as we have related shall dispel the fears enter- tained respecting it, and induce our physicians to substitute Veratria, an uniformly active medicine, for one liable to such changes as the colchicum?
The Acetum Scillss of the old work is taken from the Edinburgh ; that of the revised code is a copy of the London and Dublin recipe, excepting that the quantity of alcohol is lessened to correspond with that ordered by the London College in the acetum colchici. We think both alterations judicious; the proportion of squill is that in common use, and with respect to the alcohol the less that will answer the better. The time of maceration is also changed from one to seven days.
The following is the recipe for acetic acid.
Pharmacopoeia of the United States.
79
ACIDUM ACETICUM. R. Sodae acetatis in pulverem triti libram : Acidi Sulphurici libram dimidiam. Acidum sulphuricum retortas vitrese infunde, eique sodae acetatem paulatim ad- jice; dein balneo arenae, igne modico, acidum aceticum destillet, donee residu- um siccum fiat. Hujus acidi pondus specificum est 1.0634.
This formula is undoubtedly a very good one ; we wish the convention had stated, in addition to the specific gravity of the acid, the quantity of carbonate of lime which it will dissolve ; for it is peculiar to this acid that the same specific gravity is indicated by an acid of double the strength of the above preparation. This pure and concentrated glacial acid may be obtained by driving off the water of crystalliza- tion from the acetate of soda previous to distillation. An article of the strength of the above is made by the English chemists, and labelled Concentrated pyroligneous acid No. 1 1 .
Dilute acetic acid of the strength of good vinegar is made by diluting the above with ten parts of water.
Both the above preparations are newly introduced.
The directions for making Benzoic acid are those of the London College ; which are neater than those of the Dublin, that were copied in the old Pharmacopoeia.
The convention terms the Prussic acid of the old Pharma- copoeia, Hydrocyanic acid, and adopts the mode of prepa- ration contrived by Vauquelin ; the old formula was that of Scheele, which is by no means uniform in its results. The method of Vauquelin is the most simple, and has the sanction of the Paris Codex in its favour. The apothecary who pre- pares it must take care to test the acid for any undecomposed cyanide of mercury, which may remain, and to subject the so- lution to the action of a plentiful stream of Hydrosulphuric acid.
The convention has introduced the common Elixir of vitriol under the name of Aromatic Sulphuric Acid, instead of Tincture of sulphuric acid, by which the former convention designated it. The recipe^ and the title are both taken from the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, and we think the original
30
Revieiv.
name decidedly preferable. The Edinburgh College di- rected it to be made with two pounds of alcohol, and half a pound of acid ; or one part in four ; the old convention, chang- ing pounds into measures, directed two pints of alcohol, and three fluid ounces of acid, or one part to about 4.8; the late convention, retaining the fluid ounces and desirous of re- turning to the strength of the original recipe, have ordered, three and a half fluid ounces of the acid, which is one part to about 4.15. We confess we should prefer going back altogether to the original receipt, of which the aliquot pro- portions are a strong recommendation.
In the old Pharmacopoeia no uniform arrangement of the written formulae was adopted. In the recipe for elixir of vitriol for example, the acid and the alcohol are first directed; the apothecary is told to digest them together; then follow the names and quantities of the aromatics used, and the di- rection for proceeding with them. The " Mel Scillae com- positum" is another example of this mode of prescribing, for the tartar emetic which it contains is mentioned in the directions for the mode of preparation, and may easily es- cape the attention of the physician. The late convention has returned to the mode of prescribing adopted in the best models abroad ; namely, of reciting the names and quanti- ties of every article in the compound, and then writing un- derneath the manner of mixing them.
Dilute sulphuric acid is altered back to the London stan- dard. The old convention intended to adopt the Edinburgh formula, but altered the weights as usual to fluid ounces without making the requisite allowance for specific gra- vity. It thus made a diluted acid of twice the strength of any of the British formulas.
We might readily go through the whole work in this manner, and there is scarcely a section of it which does not furnish matter for equally copious criticism. What we have said is, however, sufficient to indicate the thorough manner in which the revision has been made, and we must confine
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ourselves to remarks of a more desultory and general cha- racter.
The omission of the old convention to rectify its sulphu- ric ether is here corrected.
A formula for preparing Spirit of Nitrous Ether, which has long been in use among manufacturing chemists, and adopt- ed in the Pharmacopoeias of Germany, is introduced. It is a far better and safer process than the old one, which it must entirely supersede.
The formula for Aqua ammonise is that of the Edinburgh College, the gas being distilled over and washed previous to its absorption, thus securing the absolute purity of the solu- tion. The old process was that of the London College which put all the water into the retort, and distilled over a certain quantity. It is scarcely possible by this mode to ob- tain a solution free from muriate of ammonia. The specific gravity of the product is stated to be .944, which is equiva- lent to 14.5 per cent of alkali. This is stronger than the liquor ammoniae of the London College, which contains about 9.6 per cent of alkali, although weaker than that of the other colleges which contains nearly 16 per cent. It will be found upon examination that the process is also more eco- nomical; that in the process here adopted 23 per cent only of the ammonia contained in the muriate is lost, while in that of the Dublin the loss is 42 per cent, and in that of the Lon- don College, 54 per cent.
The Hydrosulphuret of Ammonia is prepared with gas, procured by the action of dilute sulphuric acid on sulphuret of iron.
The solution of Carbonate of ammonia of the old Phar- macopoeia was an unskilful preparation ; we are glad to find that it no longer encumbers the work.
The Dublin process for Tartar Emetic is given in place of that of Philips, which was adopted by the old convention.
Antimonial wine is made with two grains to the ounce, in order to agree with the recipe of the London and Dublin Colleges.
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Review.
We copy the recipe for Aqua Cinnamomi, as an example of the improved mode of saturating water with essential oils.
R. Olei Cinnamomi fluidrachmam dimidiam ; Magnesise drachmam dimidiam ; Aquas Destillatae octarios duos. Oleum Cinnamomi primum cum Magnesia tere, deinde cum aqua paulatim instillata, et per chartam cola.
The Confection of Opium is restored to its place in the Pharmacopoeia ; the confection of red roses is made with the Rosa Gallica, and the confection of orange peel with the peel grated, and not entire.
Under the head of Eniplastra, we are glad to see the Em- plastrum Galbani compositum restored to its place; and wish the same care had been extended to Emplastrum Thu- ris, which is an excellent adhesive composition. We notice several improvements in the preparations of Iron, such as the introduction of the sulphuret and sulphate, the omission of several obsolete preparations, and the correction in the proportions used for making the phosphate, and the tincture of the muriate.
The preparations of Mercury have undergone but little change, except in the nomenclature, which is made to cor- respond with the present state of science. The formula of the last edition of the London Pharmacopoeia is adopted for Calomel ; being a shorter process than that of the former edition, although founded on the same principles. We recommend for practice, the mode of preparing Cyanuret of mercury, recently contrived in Europe. It consists in de- composing the Ferro-cyanate of Potassa by sulphuric acid, and passing the disengaged gas through water, in which finely powdered red oxide of mercury is suspended. It is more economical and neater than the process of the Pharma- copoeia, and equally certain in its result.
The following formulae are either new, or so much improv- ed as to be greatly increased in value.
Phai'macopceia of the United States.
83
LINIMENTUM SAPONIS CAMPHORATUM. R. Saponis Vulgaris uncias tres ; Camphorx unciam ; Olei Rosmarini,
Olei Origani, singulorum, fluidrachmam ; Alcoholis octarium.
Camphoram cum Oleis in Alcohole liqua; dein Saponem adjice, et digere, balneo arenas, donee liquetur. Hoc Linimentum frigefactum spissitatem habet unguenti mollis.
MORPHIA.
R. Opii concisi libram ;
Aquae Destillatas octarios sex ;
Alcoholis congium ;
Aquae Ammonias fluiduncias sex. Opium macera cum Aquas Destillatas octariis quatuor, in vase vitreo, per dies sex, saspius agitans ; dein per chartam cola. Residuum Aqua reliqua. lava, et cola ut antea. Liquores colatos inter se misce, hisque adjice primum Alcoholis octarios quinque, dein Aquae Ammonias fluiduncias tres, Alcoholis octario dimidio prius immistas. Post horas viginti quatuor infunde quod reliquum est Aquae Ammonias, Alcoholis octario dimidio ut antea. immistum ; et liquorem sepone per diem unum ut fiant crystalli. Has, ut purae sint, cum Alcohole reliquo coque donee liquentur, liquoremque adhuc calidum cola, et sepone.
MORPHIA SULPHAS. R. Morphias in pulverem tritae unciam ; Aquas Destillatae octarium dimidium ; Acidi Sulphurici Diluti quantum satis sit. Morphiam cum Aqua, misce ; dein Acidum paulatim instilla, assidue movens, donee Morphia saturetur et liquetur. Liquorem balneo aquoso consume, ita ut dum frigescit fiant crystalli. Has super chartam bibulam exsicca.
LIQUOR MORPHLE SULPHATIS. R. Morphias Sulphatis grana octo ; Aquae Destillatae octarium dimidium. Liqua Morphias Sulphatem in Aqua Destillata.
PILUL/E COPAIBA. R. Copaibas uncias duas ;
Magnesias recenter paratae drachmam. Misce, et sepone donee fiat massa ad pilulas fingendas idonea ; deinde in pilu- las ducentas divide.
LIQUOR PLUMBI SUBACETATIS. R. Plumbi Acetatis,
Plumbi Oxidi Semivitrei, singulorum, uncias octo ; Aquas Destillatas octarios duos. Misce in vase vitreo, et coque per tertiam horse partem; turn per chartam co!a>
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POTASSII IODIDUM.
POTASS^E HYDRIODAS.
R. Liquoris Potasses octarios duos ; Iodini quantum satis sit.
Liquori Potasses, calore leni adhibito, paulatim adjice Iodini quantum satis sit ad Potassam saturandam, coloremque fuscum liquori impertiendum. Deinde Aci- dum Hydrosulphuiicum per liquorem, in vase idoneo, tfansmitte, donee color fus- cus evanescat, et Acidi Hydrosulphurici odor in liquore permaneat. Turn per chartam cola, et aqua calida residuo affusa, iterum cola. Liquorem colatum pau- lisper coque ut Acidum Hydrosulphuiicum vaporatione separetur ; turn sulphur, si quid detnissum fuerit, remove, et acidum, si quid adsit, Liquore Potassse sat- ura. Denique liquorem decoque donee sal exsiccatus fuerit.
Acidum Hydiosulphuricum obtinetur ex Ferri Sulphureto, et Acido Sulphurico quadruplice aquae pondere dilute
SYRUPUS ACACLE. R. Acacirc Gummi uncias quatuor; Sacchari libram ; Aquae bullientis octarium. Liqua Gummi in Aqua. ; turn Saccharum adjice, et coque ut fiat syrupus.
SYRUPUS ALLII. R. Allii recentis concisi uncias duas ; Aceti Destillati octarium ; Sacchari libras duas. Allium macerain Aceto, in vase vitreo, per quatuor dies; dein exprime, et se- pone ut feces subsidant ; denique in liquore defaecato Saccharum liqua eodem modo quo de Syrupo prasceptum est.
SYRUPUS RHEI AROMATICUS. R. Rhei contusi uncias duas cum semisse; Caryophylli contusi,
Cinnamomi contusi, singulorum, unciam dimidiam 5 Myristicee contuses drachmas duas ; Alcoholis diluti octarios duos; Syrupi octarios sex.
Rheum et aromatica macera in Alcohole Diluto per dies quatuordecim, et co- la ; dein liquorem, balneo aquoso, consume ad octarium, et adhuc calentem cum Syrupo calefacto misce.
SYRUPUS SARSAPARILLiE. R. Sarsaparillae contusse libras duas ; Guaiaci Ligni rasi uncias tres ; Rosas Gallicae, Sennas,
Glycyrrhizae contuses, singulorum, uncias duas; Olei Sassafras,
Pharmacopoeia of the United States. 85
Olei Anisi, singulorum, minima quinque ;
Olei Gaultheriae minima tria ;
Sacchari libras octo ;
Alcoholis Diluti Octarios decern. Macera Sarsaparillam, Guaiaci Lignum, Rosam, Sennam, et Glycyrrhizam in Alcohole Diluto per dies quatuoidecim ; dein exprime, et per chartam cola. Tinc- turam, balneo aquoso, consume ad octarios quatuor cum semisse ; turn Saccha- rum adjice, etliqua ut fiat syrupus. Huic frigefacto adjice Olea prius cum exiguo syrupi contiita, et misce.
TINCTURA IODINI. R. Iodini unciam dimidiara ; Alcoholis octarium dimidium. Iodinum liqua in Alcohole.
TINCTURA LUPULIN^E, R. Lupulinae uncias quatuor ; Alcoholis octarios duos. Macera per dies quatuoidecim, et per chartam cola.
TINCTURA OPII ACETATA. R. Opii uncias duas;
Aceti fluiduncias duodecim; Alcoholis octarium dimidium, Opium tere cum Aceto ; turn, Alcohole adjecto, macera per dies quatuorde- cim, et per chartam cola.
UNGUENT UM HYDRA RGYRI NITRATIS.
UNGUENTUM CITRINUM.
R. Hydrargyri Purificati unciam ; Acidi Nitrici fluidrachmas undecim ; Olei Bubuli recentis fluiduncias novem ; Adipis uncias tres.
Hydrargyrum in Acido liqua; dein Oleum et Adipem simul liquefac, et cum primum lentescant, liquorem adjice, et misce.
We are warned by the length to which this Preview has been extended, that it is time to draw to a close without no- ticing all the changes and improvements which we have marked for criticism. We have said enough to establish the correctness of the opinion we have more than once express- ed, of the great superiority of the present over the former Pharmacopoeia. It is, as a Latin composition, written in a correct and pure style ; the language of the American trans- Vol. III.— M
86
Review.
lation is clear and concise : there is great symmetry in the arrangement and in the formularies ; the chemical and na- tural history departments have been prepared with learning fully adequate to the task; the pharmaceutic part is neat and elegant ; and we are not able, after the closest scrutiny, to point to a single typographical error.
Before we conclude we cannot withhold the expression of an honest pride and satisfaction, in perceiving how much the Journal of the College of Pharmacy has contributed to the improvements adopted in this revision of the Pharma- copoeia. The convention has introduced into it, with slight variations, Thomas Evans's formula for the Black Oxide of Mercury ; E. Durand's Aromatic Syrup of Rhubarb ; Dr Staple's process for obtaining Morphia ; D. B. Smith's for- mula for Syrup of Garlic and Extract of Lead ; W. R. Fish- er's for Citrine Ointment, and W. Hodgson, Jun.'s for the Compound Syrup of Sarsaparilla. We wish they had also adopted the process given in Franklin R. Smith's paper on Bi-carbonate of Soda, which is that used by the manufac- turing chemists, and is very far superior to the old mode of preparation.
We trust, that before the return of the period for a third revision of this truly national work, the progress of Pharma- ceutic Science in our country will be such, that every de- partment of the Pharmacopoeia will undergo a thorough ex- perimental examination, so that the materials, for a more complete and rigid reformation than even the present, will be at hand, for the use of the convention to whom the deli- cate task may be entrusted.
87
MISCELLANY.
Jilkaline Extract of Jalap, by E. Bur and*— Dr Reese, in his work upon costive-' ness, speaks highly of an alkaline extract of jalap, prepared at the Medical Hall, 170 Piccadilly, London, as the medicine which agrees best with the stomach and small intestines, and to promote fecal secretions of the colon, without irritating the rectum. He gives no recipe for the preparation of this article; but mentions only that it is obtained by gently evaporating, in a water bath, an infusion of jalap in proof spirit, with the addition of a small quantity of carbonate ofpotassa to prevent the separation of the resin from the gum, on the evaporation of the alcoholic men- struum.
Having been requested by several physicians to prepare some of this extract, I operated in the following way: 1 digested for several days, at a common tempera- ture, two pounds of pulverized jalap in one gallon of alcohol of 22° of Baume's areometer; I strained and filtered the liquor which I evaporated slowly, in a water bath, to the consistence of a pilular extract; adding, from the beginning, small portions of carbonate of potassa, every time the resin began to separate from the liquid. The whole amount of alkali used was about twelve drachms.
1 obtained thus seven ounces and a half of a beautiful extract of a reddish brown colour, possessing an alkaline taste; but none of that nauseous, irritating sensation peculiar to the powder or tincture of jalap. As the first part of this operation was made rather hastily, the action of the alcohol was not sufficiently protracted to enable me to obtain all the soluble principles of the jalap; otherwise, I doubt not, that the result would have been nearly double, for the jalap, submitted anew to the action of three quarts of alcohol, yielded a tincture nearly as strongly charged as the first.
The alkaline extracts of jalap and rhubarb may become highly interesting reme- dies in cases where saline purgatives and drastic or alcoholic preparations are to be avoided; it is a well known fact that resinous purgatives, united with soap or alkalies, act more gently and efficaciously, and without irritating the stomach and intestines. The soaps of aloes, scammony, jalap, &c. have of late been in great use in Europe; they are generally prepared by dissolving in alcohol one part of resin with two parts of soap and evaporating. The direct saponification of resin by the carbonate of potassa would have the advantage of containing more of the active principles in a given quantity than in the above soaps.
Dr Reese administers this extract in the form of pills of three grains each, taken one, two or three, as the case requires, every night or every other night. Dr Hor- ner has exhibited it with success, according to the following direction:
88
Miscellany.
Jl. Alkaline extract of jalap, 2 drachms.
Syrup of ginger, 2 ounces,
f. sol. one spoonful at a time. [ This article came too late to be inserted in the department of original matter to which it properly belongs. — Ed.]
On the Chloroxalic Acid. — At a meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences held on the 17th of September last, M. Dumas read a memoir on a new com- pound, which he calls chloroxalic acid, obtained from the action of an excess of dry chlorine upon crystallizable acetic acid, under the influence of the solar rays*. We shall now give a circumstantial account of this discovery.
When dry chlorine is introduced into a bottle containing a small quantity of concentrated acetic acid, and the vessel is exposed to the solar rays in clear weather, white vapours are soon perceived condensing into a liquid that runs by drops along the sides of the glass. Chlorine disappears, and in fifteen or twenty minutes, if there is an excess of acid and if the sun is very hot, the bottle becomes perfectly transparent. In this case, when the stopper is taken off, the vessel is found to be filled with hydrochloric acid and a very penetrating vapour; but the other products generated cannot be easily separated from the excess of acetic acid. When, on the contrary, the acetic acid is used in a quantity less than is necessary to destroy all the chlorine, a new product is obtained, besides hydrochloric acid, which crys- tallized on the sides of the bottle.
If the vessel be exposed the whole day to the solar rays, crystallization takes place towards evening or during the night. These crystals settle in the shape of fern leaves, or they are distinct and isolated. They are colourless and in rhomboidal lamina; sometimes half an inch broad. In order to get them out of the bottle, M. Dumas introduces, by means of a bellows furnished with a long tube, a sufficiency of air to expel the excess of chlorine and hydrochloric acid gas. The vessel is then washed with a small quantity of distilled water, which is evaporated in the vacuum of an air pump, by placing near it two vessels filled, one with quick lime, and the other with sulphuric acid. The product yielded by this evaporation is a white crystalline mass constituting the new compound, which could not be obtained by evaporation in the free air, on account of its great deliquescence. The eva- poration by heat would fail likewise, because the heat and the presence of water would partially decompose it, and it is exceedingly volatile.
Finally, if the experiment were made in a vessel containing a notable excess of acetic acid, no product would be afforded, even when the chloride generated an abundance of crystals on the sides of the glass. The excess of acid causes the mass to remain liquid for a long time in the vacuum of the air pump. The pre- sence of the new compound is easily recognized by the smell; but crystallization is incomplete or null even after two weeks ; whilst, if the product is well prepared and without excess of acetic acid, it takes place in a few hours.
By introducing more chlorine in the vessel that contained an excess of acetic acid
* The hydrated acetic acid may be considered as a compound of equal volumes of hydrogen and oxide of carbon. M. Dumas suspected that by the reaction of chlorine upon that body, hydrochloric acid aud a compound of chlorine and carbon would be produced. The expectations of this chemist have been realized.
Miscellany,
89
and exposing again to the action of the solar rays, we may sometimes succeed in obtaining the new compound, but, generally, crystallization does not take place easily. The proportions adopted by M. Dumas are the following : a litre (a little more than the English quart) of dry chlorine to nine decigrammes at most (13.8996 grains) of crystallizable acetic acid of 14° or 15° -f- 0. Chloroxalic acid is not always obtained in a state of purity from the first crystallization ; it is, generally contaminated with oxalic acid, from which it is separated by exposure to a tempe- rature of 45° to 50° centigrade (113° to 122° Fahr.) ; it fuses at this point, whilst the oxalic acid remains solid. The liquor is now filtered and placed in the vacuum of the air pump for a few hours. It recrystallizes 5 but yet it retains sometimes a small quantity of oxalic acid.
Chloroxalic acid is solid, crytallizes in rhombs with angles from 80° to 100° ; it is exceedingly deliquescent and affords by distillation some hydrochloric acid, car- bonic acid gas and a carbonous sediment. A part of it passes without decomposi- tion. This substance is composed, according to M. Dumas's analysis, of
Chlorine, 1 atom 48.8 parts
Carbon, 2 do 16.6
Oxygen, 2-3 do 33.2
Hydrogen, 1 do 1.4
1U0.0
It is purely white and inodorous ; but leaving upon the tongue a burning sensa- tion with hardly any discernible taste of acid; the tongue becomes white all at once as with oxygenated water. When the first impression is over, it leaves behind an aromatic bitter taste. The chloroxalic acid exercises a powerful reaction upon vegetable colours; it is liquid at about 45° cent (113° Fahr. ) aod crystallizes at 1 degree below that (2° Fahr.). Melted and permitted slowly to cool, it forms voluminous rhomboid crystals. Heated in the vacuum, it boils at 200° cent. (392° Fahr.) and volatilizes wholly in white vapours, which crystallize instantly on the sides of the bell, as a brilliant hoar-frost ; its point of ebullition, under the ordina- ry pressure, must, consequently, be 300° cent (572° Fahr.), It reddens litmus, and dissolves easily in ether which takes it up from its aqueous solution.
The chloroxalates are very soluble; M. Dumas has investigated the properties of several of these salts; but he thinks they are not sufficiently interesting to be submit- ted to the academy. — Journal de Chimieetde Toxicologic, communicated by Jidia Fontenelle. E. D.
JSleeting of the Parisian Society of Pharmacy. — On the 11th of August last, M. Chariot made known to the society, that he had succeeded in bleaching and disin- fecting rancid, faulty substances, by means of the chlorides of the oxides of calcium and sodium.
M. Guesneville, Jun. announced that he had discovered an easy method for sepa- rating the osmium and iridium from the platinum ore. He introduces into a por- celain tube which he carries to red heat, the black residue left by the hydrochloro- nitric acid, and treats it with a current of chlorine. The osmium and iridium are converted into chlorides and sublime. He then takes advantage of the difference of their degree of solubility to separate them.
On the 13th of October, a letter from Mr Etose of Berlin to MM. Robiquet and Serullas announces that a crystallizable principle has been obtained by M. Bistok from the Colombo root. This product is intensely bitter, and has much the ap- pearance of asparagine; it crystallizes in hexahedral prisms.
90
Miscellany.
French Institute. — At a meeting of the institute, held the 18th October, M. Gay Lussac read a letter from M. Leroux, containing a new process for preparing sali- cine more easily than that published some time ago. He presented, at the same time, a bottle full of this febrifuge article, and announced that M. Leroux will be able to furnish tolerably large quantities of this substance, at the rate of five francs per ounce.
JWocle of discovering the quantities of Alkaloid contained in the Barks of the Cin- chona, by Viltman. — This process has, according to its author, the advantage of enabling the operator to experiment upon minute quantities and unites a great de- gree of precision to a tolerably easy execution. Fifty-five grains of finely pulver- ized bark are mixed accurately with an equal quantity of washed quartz sand, of half the size of a poppy seed. To this mixture are added five drops of hydrochlo- ric acid, and twenty drops of alcohol, and the whole pressed gently into a glass tube four or five inches long, and about five lines diameter, one of the ends of which is closed with a piece of muslin, in the form of a small sieve, and plunged into a close vessel. This tube communicates, by means of a bent tube, with a small ma- trass, filled with a mixture of one ounce and a half of alcohol, and twenty drops of hydrochloric acid. The diameter of the bent tube must be about four-fifths of a line, and one of the ends must go to the bottom of the matrass, whilst the other must not go farther down than the surface of the mixture of bark and sand. The alcohol contained in the matrass is carried to ebullition by means of a small spirit lamp, and extracts in this manner all the soluble parts of the mixture in the great tube. If this ebullition is slow, the last drops of alcohol come out colourless.
The alcoholic tincture, of a brownish red colour, is precipitated witk hydrated lime. After the lapse of twelve hours, the precipitate is separated by means of a filter; the alcoholic solution is then rendered very slightly acid, and reduced by evaporation to a soft resinous matter, which is dissolved in two drachms of distilled water, and then precipitated by a few drops of caustic ammonia. The precipitate is dried, and indicates ihe quantity of alkaloid contained in the bark. By means of this process, Mr Viltman has found that:
100 parts of Carthagena bark contain 3,30 parts of alkaloid,
100 " Huantro bark " 3,5 " cinchona,
100 " Royal or Calysaya " 5,0 " quinia,
100 " Red bark " 6,0 " quinia and cinchona.
Journal de Chitnie et de Toxicologic
Jtlcoolatures or Tinctures, prepared with Vegetable Juices. — We find in the Jour- nal de Pharmacie for November 1830 some formulse for preparations that are out of the ordinary track, and as every thing relating to improvements or changes in pharmacy is interesting, we give them an insertion in our Journal.
The author (un inconnu) observes that as by desiccation, certain plants lose part of their most volatile principles or undergo changes in their composition, it is cer- tain that their medicinal action cannot be the same as it was before drying. Tinc- tures being usually made from these dried articles cannot therefore be possessed of the primitive properties of the substances, of which they are composed. This fact is the more worthy of consideration, since the desiccation of plants is in a great measure performed by persons who are ignorant of pharmacy, and they are thrown into market in a truly lamentable state of deterioration.
These considerations furnish sufficient argument in favour of employing the tinc- tures prepared with alcohol, and the vegetable juices. In these new tinctures as
Miscellany.
91
well as in the old ones, it is the " hydralcool," or diluted alcohol, of 22° B. that is employed as the menstruum. By evaporation these alcoolatures furnish ex- tracts less alterable than those obtained by the direct concentration of the juices. The addition of alcohol to a filtered juice determines a precipitate more or less abundant, of which the colour varies according to the species of juice submitted to its action: thus the poisonous sumach furnishes a beautiful white precipitate.
In order to distinguish these tinctures from those prepared with the vegetables entire, the author proposes for them names entirely distinct. Thus he gives the name of alcoolature of the juice of cicuta to that prepared by a mixture of equal parts of the juice of this plant and alcohol; while that made with the leaves them- selves bears the old title of tincture of cicuta.
The alcoolatures are not designed to replace the ordinary tinctures; they con- stitute a distinct class, the operation of which ought to be separately studied.
FORMULAS, Alcoolature of the Juice of Belladonna. R. Rectified alcohol of 35°;
Recent and filtered juice of belladonna, each 1 part.
Alcoolature of the Juice of Digitalis. R. Rectified alcohol of 35°;
Recent and filtered juice of digitalis purpurea, each 1 part.
Of Hyosciamus.
R, Rectified alcohol of 35°;
Recent and filtered juice of the leaves of hyosciamus, each 1 part*
Of the Juice of Tobacco. R. Rectified alcohol of 35°;
Recent and filtered juice of the leaves of the nicotiana tabacum, each 1 part.
There are several others which follow these, but as the principle and proportions are the same in all, it is unnecessary to translate them. There appears to be an oversight with respect to the strength of the alcohol. In the remarks it is stated that it should be the hydralcool of 22° B., while in the formulae it is uniformly di- rected of 35°.
On Nitrate of Silver as a test for detecting the presence of minute quantities of ve- getable and animal matters in mater. — Nitrate of silver dissolved in pure water is not altered by the sun's rays. If the minutest quantity of vegetable or animal mat- ter is present, the solution is discoloured; and with common distilled water, the discolouration is strong. To prove that the case of the change of colour is the one assigned, it is sufficient to allow the coloured matter to subside, decant the colour- less solution, and expose it again to sunshine. However powerful the sun's rays are, no further effect is produced; but add more common distilled water, and the phenomenon will instantly reappear.
92
Note to the Article on Ichthyocolla*
[Ante, page 22.]
Owing to the lateness of the period at which it was writ- ten, this paper was sent to the press in an unfinished state. It is proper to add that the weak fish is the Squeteague of the Narragansett Indians, and the Labrus Squeteague of Dr Mitchell's paper on the fishes of New York. The Doc- tor notices that "its swimming bladder is convertible into good glue," and adds in his characteristic manner, "I have eaten as fine blanc mange from it as from the isinglass of the sturgeon."
In the paper of Humphrey Jackson which I have quoted, it is stated " it is now no longer a secret that our lakes and rivers in North America are stocked with immense quanti- ties of fish, said to be of the same species with those in Muscovy, and yielding the finest isinglass; the fisheries where- of, if duly encouraged, would doubtless supply all Europe with this valuable article. It is further said, " that in con- sequence of public advertisements distributed in various parts of North America offering premiums for the sounds of sturgeon and other fish, for the purpose of making isinglass, several specimens of fine isinglass, the produce offish taken in those parts, have lately been sent to England, with proper attestations as to the unlimited quantity which may be pro- cured."
I
JOURNAL
OF THE
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY,
JULY 1831.
Original CEommttutcattous*
Article XII. — On Sanguinaria Canadensis. By Daniel
B. Smith.
JVat. ord. Papaveraceje, Lin. meth. Polyandria Monogynia. Sanguinaria. Cal. 5-phyl.-deciduous. Petals, 8. Stigma, sessile,2-groov- ed. Capsule, superior, oblong, 1-celled, 2-valved, apex attenuated. Recep- tacles, 2, filiform, marginal. — JVuttall. S. canadensis. Root tuberous, horizontal, giving out a reddish and very acrid lactescent sap. Leaves solitary, radical, reniform and lobed, scape naked, 1-flowered, sheathed at base, petals variable in number. April and May. Perennial. — JVuttall.
THIS beautiful species is one of the earliest flowering plants of North America, and expands its showy white petals along with the Hepatica Triloba^ the Violas and the Epigea Repens beneath the first genial warmth of spring. It grows throughout the United States, and its favourite situation is the shady border of woods in a rich light soil. The root of the Sanguinaria is of a rich brown colour, horizontal, ab- ruptly terminated, fleshy, about the thickness of a finger, Vol. III.— N
94
Original Communications.
frequently twisted, and very juicy. It may be readily dis- tinguished by the colour of its juice, which is of a bright orange, and tinges woollen or silk of a deep and rather per- manent yellowish red. The root is furnished with numerous slender radicles, and makes offsets from the side, which succeed to the old plant, and thus acquire the prsemorse character that marks the species. The leaf and flower spring up together; the folded leaf enveloping the scape and flower bud, and rolling back as the latter expands. The stem is simple, smooth, from six to twelve inches in height, and terminated by a single re ni form or somewhat heart-shaped deeply lobed leaf. The leaf is smooth, of a deep green on the upper surface and pale or light bluish beneath, and strongly marked by veins, which are tinted with the orange-coloured sap that pervades the whole plant.
The scape is one flowered, round and smooth. The calyx is two-leaved and falls off as soon as the flower opens ; its leaves are obtuse and ovate. There are usually eight petals, although they vary from that number to fourteen. The petals are spreading, ovate, obtuse and concave. The stamens are numerous, with yellow filaments, shorter than the corolla and orange-coloured oblong anthers. The germ is oblong, compressed ; the stigma sessile, thick, two-fur- rowed or somewhat lobed, permanent. The capsule is ob- long, sharp at both ends, two-valved. The seeds are nume- rous, round, deep, shining, red, somewhat pointed and having a white arilla.
The blood-root, as it is commonly called, from its most striking peculiarity, is termed Puccoon in the native Indian dialects. It is used as a dye by the Indians to stain their baskets, skins, &c.
Its taste is acrid and bitter, and leaves a strong sensation of heat in the mouth and throat.
Its medical properties are those of an acrid narcotic, act- ing in doses of from ten to twenty grains as a dangerous, irritant, and emetic. The whole plant possesses active pro-
On Sanguinaria Canadensis.
95
perties, although the root is the part which has been most carefully examined.
Dr Dana of the university of New York instituted a set of experiments on this root in 1824, and succeeded in obtaining an alkaline substance from it, which is probably the active principle of the plant. This principle, which he calls san- guinarina, may be obtained by digesting the finely powdered root in absolute alcohol, and adding to the tincture, a solution of ammonia, so long as it occasions any precipitate. A gray powder falls down, which is to be collected and boiled in water with some pure animal charcoal and the liquid then filtered. Alcohol is to be digested on the matter remaining on the filter, and afterwards evaporated to dryness. A white, pearly substance remains, having an acrid taste, rendering brown the yellow of turmeric, and changing the infusion of purple cabbage to a green. This substance is the sanguina- rina. It is very sparingly soluble in water; but is soluble in ether and very soluble in alcohol. With tincture of galls it affords a precipitate soluble in alcohol, but insoluble in am- monia. It combines with acids and forms salts, which all present some shade of red, crimson or scarlet, of great in- tensity and beauty. The salts are soluble in water and alco- hol, and form red coloured solutions of great beauty. The muriate and the acetate are peculiarly pungent and acrid. When the salts of sanguinarina, prepared with diluted acids, are decomposed by potassa, ammonia, lime or magnesia, the vegeto-alkali is obtained in an unaltered state. But, if the salt has been prepared with concentrated acid, the decompo- sition is not complete, but a dark purple precipitate is formed which appears to be a sub-salt.
The experiments of Dr Dana have been so far repeated as to confirm his principal statements, of the characters of this new alkaline principle. The subject is one which merits further elucidation, and we wait with impatience for the pub- lication of the researches of Dr Augustus Hayes, who was engaged in these inquiries at the date of Dr Dana's publica= tion in 1827.
96
Original Communications.
The medicinal properties of sanguinaria have been care- fully investigated by Dr Tully, an eminent practitioner of New Haven, Conn., who attributes to it the virtues of squill, seneka, digitalis, guaiacum and ammoniacum.
The leaves are said by Dr Downey to be in use by the farmers in Maryland, in diseases of horses, to make them sweat, and Dr B. S. Barton says the seeds are violent narco- tics, resembling those of stramonium in their properties.
The plant belongs to the natural order of papaveracese, and possesses the leading properties of that order.
The United States Pharmacopoeia directs a tincture made with four ounces of the bruised root, to two pints of alcohol, the dose of which is a small teaspoonful.
Dr Bigelow says, that many physicians prefer an infusion made with a drachm of the powder to a gill of water, a table spoonful of which is a dose.
It is said to form the principal ingredient in Rawson's bitters, which have gained much celebrity as a remedy in jaundice. The root looses much of its acrimony in drying, and should therefore be frequently renewed in the shops, where it has become a regular article of sale.
A rt. XIII . — Dissert ation upon the subject of Peruvian Bark, By Geo. B. Wood, M.D.
[Continued from page 38.]
Commercial history.— For more than a century after the Cinchona came into use, it was procured almost exclusively from Loxa, and the neighbouring provinces. In a memoir published A.D. 1738, La Condamine speaks of the bark of Rhiobamba, Cuenca, Ayaraca, and Jaen de Bracomeros. Of these places, the two first, together with Loxa, lie within the
Dissertation on Peruvian Bark.
97
ancient kingdom of Quito, at its southern extremity; the others are in the same vicinity, within the borders of Peru. The drug was shipped chiefly at the port of Payta,from which it was carried to Spain, and thence spread over Europe. Beyond the limits above mentioned, the Cinchona was not supposed to exist, till, in the year 1753, a gentleman of Loxa, familiar with the aspect of the tree, discovered it while on a journey from the place of his residence to Santa Fe de Bo- gota, in numerous situations along his route; wherever, in fact, the elevation of the country was equal to that of Loxa, or about six thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea. This discovery extended quite through Quito into the kingdom of New Granada, as far as 2i° north of the equa- tor. But no practical advantage was derived from it; and the information lay buried in the archives of the vice-royalty till subsequent events brought it to light.
To Mutis undoubtedly belongs the credit of making known the existence of the Cinchona in New Granada. He first discovered it in the neighbourhood of Bogota, in the year 1772. A botanical expedition was sometime afterwards or- ganized by the Spanish government, with the view of explo- ring this part of their American dominions; and the direction was given to Mutis. The researches of the expedition even- tuated in the discovery of several species of Cinchona in New Granada; and a commerce in the bark was soon commenced, which was afterwards increased, and carried on with great vigour through the ports of Carthagena and Santa Martha. The English and North Americans, opening a contraband trade with these ports, were enabled to undersell the Span- ish merchant, who received his supplies by the circuitous route of Cape Horn; and the barks of New Granada were soon as abundant as those of Loxa, in the markets of Europe.
To these sources another was added about the same time, A.Dt 1776, by the discovery of the Cinchona in the centre of Peru, in the mountainous region about the city of Huan- uco, which lies on the eastern declivity of the Andes, to the N. E. of Lima, at least 6° to the south of the province of
98
Original Communications.
Loxa. To explore this new mine of wealth, another botani- cal expedition was set on foot, at the head of which were Ruiz and Pavon, the distinguished authors of the Flora Pe- ruviana. These gentlemen spent several years in this region, during which time they discovered the numerous species that were afterwards described in their Flora. Several of their species, however, are now considered identical with the C. lancifolia, previously described by Mutis. Lima became the entrepot for the barks collected around Huanuco; and hence originated the name of Lima bark, so often conferred in com- mon language, not only upon the varieties received through that city, but also upon the medicine generally.
Soon after the last mentioned discovery, two additional localities of the Cinchona were found, one at the northern extremity of the continent near Santa Martha, the other very far to the south, in the provinces of La Paz and Cochabamba, then within the vice-royalty of Buenos Ayres. These latter places became the sources of an abundant supply of excel- lent bark, which received the name of Calisaya, probably from a district of country where it was gathered. It was sent part- ly to the ports on the Pacific, partly by a much longer passage to Buenos Ayres.
The consequence of these discoveries, following each other in such rapid succession, was a vast increase in the supply of bark, which was now shipped from the ports of Guayaquil, Payta, Lima, Buenos Ayres, Carthagena, and Santa Martha. At the same time, the average quality was probably deterio- rated; for, though many of the new varieties were possessed of excellent properties, yet equal care in superintending the collection and assorting of the article could not be exercised, now that the field was so extended, as when it was confined to a small portion of the south of Quito, and north of Peru. The varieties which were poured into the market, soon be- came so numerous, as to burthen the memory, if not to defy the discrimination of the druggist; and the best pharmaceu- tists found themselves at a loss to discover any permanent peculiarities which might serve as the basis of a proper and
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useful classification. This perplexity has continued, more or less, to the present time; though the discovery of the new alkaline principles has presented a ground of distinction which was before unknown. The restrictions upon the com- merce with South America, by directing the trade into irregular channels, also had a tendency to deteriorate the character of the drug. In the complexity of contrivance to which it was necessary to resort, to deceive the vigilance of the government, little attention could be paid to a proper assortment of the several varieties; and not only were the best barks mixed with those of inferior species, and less careful preparation; but the products of other trees bearing no re- semblance to the Cinchona were sometimes added, having been artificially prepared so as to deceive a careless observer. The markets of this country were peculiarly ill-furnished. The supplies, being derived chiefly by means of a contraband trade with Carthagena and other parts of the Spanish main, or indirectly through the Havannah, were necessarily of an inferior character; and our traders, finding a better market in Europe for the superior kinds, brought home only the refuse of their cargoes. A great change, however, in this respect has taken place since the ports on the Pacific have been opened to our commerce. The finest kinds of bark have thus been rendered directly accessible to us; and increased intelligence in the community has co-operated with the facility of supply, to exclude from our markets, that kind of trash with which they were formerly glutted.
A curious account is given by Humboldt of the influence of commercial monopoly, over the reputation of the different kinds of bark. So long as Loxa and its neighbourhood con- tinued to be the only source of supply, the complete control of the trade belonged to a few mercantile houses at Cadiz; but after the discovery of the Cinchona trees by Mutis in New Granada, it was found impossible to confine the commerce in this article within such narrow limits; and it became a matter of importance to those houses to undervalue what they could not make conducive to their own pecuniary advantage,
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Complaisant botanists were found who denied the identity of the species of Cinchona growing about Bogota, with those of the original locality in the south of Quito; and physicians undertook to decide that the efficiency of the various barks depended upon their growth within certain degrees of lati- tude. As the trade in the barks discovered about Huanuco in Peru naturally came into the same hands with that of the barks of Loxa, the former were not found to deserve equal condemnation with those to the north of the equator. So great an influence was exerted over public opinion in Spain, by this self-interested combination, that a quantity of the orange-coloured bark of Santa Fe de Bogota which had been collected by Mutis in New Granada, was condemned to be burned in the public market place of Cadiz. A part of the bark, thus destined to the flames, was secretly bought by English merchants and shipped to London, where it brought great prices. This influence, however, did not extend be- yond Spain and perhaps France; for the barks of New Gra- nada, which were brought by the contrabandists into Europe from Carthagena and Santa Martha, had the preference in England, Germany, and Italy, over those imported by the route of Spain.
The above account, however, though given by Humboldt, should be received with much allowance. This philosophic traveller, having had much intercourse with Mutis, and per- haps enjoyed his hospitality in South America, was very naturally influenced by his representations, which were not those of an impartial observer. The part performed by Mu- tis in the discovery of the barks of New Granada, and in their introduction into use, enlisted his partialities in their favour, and neither he nor his pupils could listen with com- placency to the claims of superiority which might have been honestly urged in favour of those of Quito and Peru. What- ever might have been the motives of the merchants, botanists and physicians, whom Humboldt intimates to have conspired against the produce of the Cinchona of New Granada, it is certain that time has confirmed, to some extent at least, the
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correctness of their representations ; for it is now universally admitted, that the Carthagena barks are in every respect in- ferior to those derived from the ports on the Pacific ; and the conjecture has been ventured, that the bark condemned to be burned at Cadiz might have merited its sentence.
The persons who collect the bark are called in South America, Cascarilleros. Considerable experience and judg- ment are requisite to render an individual qualified for this business. He must not only be able to distinguish the trees which produce good bark from those less esteemed; but must also know the proper season and the age at which a branch should be decorticated, and the marks by which the efficien- cy or inefficiency of any particular product is indicated. The dry season, from September to November inclusive, is the harvest of the bark-gatherers. They separate the bark by making a longitudinal incision with a sharp knife through its whole thickness, and then forcing it off from the branch with the back of the instrument. Other means are resorted to when the trunk or larger limbs are decorticated. They consider the branch to be sufficiently mature, when the inner surface of the bark begins to redden upon exposure to the air, within three or four minutes after its removal. The next object is to dry the bark in the sun. In the drying process it rolls itself up, or in technical language becomes quilled; and the degree to which this effect takes place, is in direct proportion to the thinness of the bark, and in an inverse ratio to the age of the branch from which it was derived.
In packing the bark for exportation, due care is seldom taken to assort the varieties according either to the species of Cinchona by which they are furnished, or to their resem- blance in appearance and character; and it often happens that several different kinds are introduced into the same case. The packages are, in commercial language, called seroons. As found in this market, they are covered with a case of thick and stiff ox hide, which is lined within by a very coarse cloth apparently woven out of some kind of grass. Occasionally even very good bark is bound up in bags of this coarse cloth, Vol. III.— O
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without any covering of skin, so that air and moisture are freely admitted, and the drug is thus exposed to injury. This was the case with some very fine red bark which came under my own notice, recently imported from Guayaquil.
The American druggists, till within a few years, derived their best bark from London, whither it was brought from Cadiz ; but since the commerce with South America has been freely opened to us, we have been enabled to supply our- selves immediately from the places of production. Our ships, trading to the Pacific, run along the American coast from Valparaiso in Chili to Guayaquil, on the western coast of Colombia, stopping at the intermediate ports of Coquimbo, Copiapo, Callao, Truxillo, &c, from all which they probably receive supplies of bark, in exchange for the mercury, piece goods, flour, &c, which constitute their outward cargo.
Means of distinguishing good Bark. — To the druggist and apothecary, it is highly important to possess the means of deciding upon the relative value of the numerous varieties of bark of every quality brought into market, or at least of discriminating between the energetic and inefficient. The following rules are given by men who pretend to a familiar acquaintance with the subject. They are essentially the same with those which, according to Dr Devoti, a physician of Lima, are practised in South America, in choosing the barks proper to be admitted into commerce.
In forming a judgment, it is necessary to consider whether the bark has been taken from a branch of the proper age, and whether it has been carefully dried. Very young bark has not acquired the virtues which render the medicine val- uable ; that derived from the trunk or older branches has often been injured by time, or by the action of parasitic plants ; and to hasten the drying process in some mountain- ous situations where the sun has little power, or to increase the rolling, a certain degree of which renders the drug more saleable to the merchants, it is said not to be an uncommon practice to expose the fresh barks injuriously to artificial heat. Bark more than an inch and a half in width must have come
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from the trunk or great branches; that which is smaller than a goose quill, from young and immature branches ; and both are deemed of inferior quality. The same remark is appli- cable to the degree of thickness; but in forming a judg- ment on this point it is necessary to take the species into consideration. Though, as a general rule, very thin or very thick bark is of inferior quality, yet specimens have been found very effectual upon trial, which have not fallen within the limits usually esteemed the most proper in this respect. That which exceeds a line in thickness is said not to be esteemed at Cadiz. The specific gravity of bark is also con- sidered, in some measure, a criterion of its value, the heaviest being most esteemed. The fracture should be to a certain extent, splintery : if sharp and short, it indicates too great age : if the fibres are very long, there is reason to apprehend a want of maturity. The rolling of a bark affords another ground of judgment, though by no means to be relied on, as some excellent varieties are almost or quite flat. A feeble rolling indicates a bark too old or too slowly dried ; a spi- ral form, one that has been gathered before it was ripe, or afterwards exposed to an improper degree of heat. The effects of heat are also observable in the darker colour of the bark, and the appearance of whitish stripes of a sickly hue on the inside.
Some dependence is placed by the South Americans upon the appearance of the epidermis; and the following com- mercial varieties have had their origin in this source : 1. JYegrilla, blackish; 2. Crespilla, crisped; 3. Pardo- obscura, dark leopard-gray ; 4. Pardo-clara, bright leopard- gray ; 5. Lagartijada, silver or lizard-coloured ; 6. Plan- quissima, very white ; and 7. Cinicienta, ash-coloured. The first three are most esteemed. It is possible that among those well skilled in the subject, and thoroughly acquainted with the Cinchona tree in its natural state, in- ferences may be drawn from these appearances, as to the elevation upon the mountains, the degree of exposure to the sun, and, sometimes, perhaps, as to the species of the
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plant : but little reliance can be placed upon them by per- sons who are not already too well informed to need in- struction.
The properties of colour, taste, and smell, are more impor- * tant. The colour which, according to Dr Devoti, is most highly esteemed is orange ; and the gradations of shades from this to white mark a corresponding diminution in value. A dark colour between red and yellow is considered a sign either of inferiority in species, of improper preparation, or, of injurious exposure to air and moisture. The taste should be bitter and very slightly acid, but not acrid, nauseous, nor very astringent. The odour of bark is never very strong ; but this quality exists in some degree in the better kinds, and affords a favourable sign when it is decided or peculiar, without being disagreeable.
These remarks are of general application : they will be further extended, when the varieties of bark are separately described.
Classification. — To form a correct and lucid system of classification, is the most difficult part of the subject of bark, which is throughout full of perplexities. An arrangement founded on the botanical species, though the most scientific and satisfactory when attainable, is in the present instance utterly out of the question. There are few varieties of the precise origin of which we can be said to have any certain knowledge, by far the greater number being either derived from an unknown source, or but obscurely traceable to their native tree. Pharmaceutists, indeed, are not wanting, who are disposed to ascribe all the genuine barks, yielding quinia and cinchona, to the same species of Cinchona. Guibourt has recently advanced the opinion that they are all derived from varieties of the C. lancifolia ; and adduces in support of it the statement of La Condamine, that when at Loxa he was informed, on good authority, that the barks could not be distinguished by the eye.
The Spanish merchants adopted a system of classification dependent partly on the place of growth, or shipment, and
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partly on some inherent property, or on the supposed rela- tive value of the bark. So long as the sources of the drug were very confined, and the number of varieties small, this plan answered the purposes of trade : but at present it is altogether inadequate ; and though some of the names ori- ginally conferred upon this principle are still retained, they have ceased to be expressive of the fact, are often erro- neously, and almost always confusedly applied. The Loxa barks embrace, among us, not only those which come from that province, but those also from the neighbourhood of Huanuco, whilst others which have received different names are brought from the same place. It is said that by the traders in South America the young, slender, gray barks are called by the name of Loxa, from whatever source they may be derived, while those somewhat larger and older receive their appellation from Lima.
Perhaps the best arrangement for pharmaceutical and medicinal purposes, is that adopted in the United States Pharmacopoeia, founded on difference of colour. It is true that dependence cannot be placed on this property alone ; as barks of a similar colour have been found to possess very different virtues ; and between the various colours considered characteristic, there is an insensible gradation of shade, so that it is not always possible to decide where one ends, and the other begins. Still it has been found that the most valuable barks may be arranged, according to their colour, in three divisions; which, though mingling at their extremes, are very distinctly characterized, in certain specimens, by peculiarity not only in colour, but also in other sensible properties, and even in chemical constitution. The three divisions alluded to are the pale, the yellow, and the red. These may be considered as exclusively the officinal barks : while the inferior varieties, which approach one or other of these classes in colour, but differ in other properties, may be treated as extra-officinal, and considered under a separate head. As these