Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY,

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK,

EDITED BY BENJAMIN W. McCREADY, M. D. PROFESSOR OF MATERIA MEDICA AND PHARMACY IN THE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY,

ASSISTED BY A PUBLISHING COMMITTEE, CONSISTING OF
JOHN H. CURRIE, THOMAS B. MERRICK, EUGENE DUPUY,
WM. HEGEMAN, GEORGE D. COGGESHALL.

VOLUME I.

NEW YORK: JOSEPH W. HARRISON, PRINTER, NO. 197 CENTRE, NEAR CANAL STREET.

1852.

{1}

NEW YORK

JOURNAL OF PHARMACY.

JANUARY, 1852.

TO OUR READERS.

The College of Pharmacy was founded with a view to the elevation of the professional standing and scientific attainments of Apothecaries, as well as to guard their material interests by raising a barrier against ignorance and imposture. What they have accomplished and how far they have been successful it does not become the Board of Trustees to state; if the results have not, in all respects, been what might be desired, it has not arisen from want of earnest effort and honest intention on their part. As a further means of benefiting their profession, of keeping its members acquainted with the progress it is making at home and abroad, and of inspiring among them a spirit of scientific inquiry, they believe that the establishment of a Journal, devoted to the pursuits and the interests of Apothecaries, would be of the highest utility.

By far the wealthiest and most populous city in the Union, New York, with its environs, contains several hundred Apothecaries, among whom are many of great experience and eminent ability; it contains numerous Laboratories where chemicals are manufactured on a large scale, and where the appliances and refinements of modern science are compelled into the service of commerce; it contains within itself all the means of scientific progress, and yet these means lie, for the most part, waste and idle; the observations that are made and the processes that are invented profit only the observer and the inventor. Both they and their consequences—for even apparently trivial observations may contain in themselves the germ of important discoveries, and no man can tell what fruit they may produce in the minds of others—are lost to the world.

New York is the commercial centre of the Union, the point to which our products are brought for exportation, and from which various goods, {2} obtained from abroad, are distributed to the remainder of the United States. It is the chief drug mart of the Union; the source from which the largest part of our country draws its supplies of all medicines that are not the products of their own immediate vicinities. It is thus connected more intimately with the Druggists of a large portion of our country than any other city; many visit it annually or oftener; most have business relations with it. Is the spirit of trade incompatible with that of science? Is money-getting to absorb all our faculties to the exclusion of anything nobler or higher? Are we ever to remain merely the commercial metropolis of our Union, but to permit science and art to centre in more congenial and less busy abodes? Shall we not rather attempt to profit by our many advantages, to use the facilities thrown in our way by the channels of trade for the diffusion of scientific knowledge, and in return avail ourselves of the information which may flow into us from the interior?

But it is not alone, we hope, by the information it would impart that a Journal such as is contemplated would be useful. A higher and no less useful object would be that it would excite a spirit of inquiry and emulation among the profession itself; it would encourage observation and experiment; it would train our young men to more exact habits of scientific inquiry. In diffusing information it would create it, and would be doubly happy in being the means of making discoveries it was intended to promulgate.

Such are the views which have determined the Trustees of the College to publish a Journal of Pharmacy. It will appear on the first day of every month, each number containing thirty-two octavo pages. It will be devoted exclusively to the interests and pursuits of the Druggist and Apothecary. While it is hoped that its pages will present everything that is important relating to the scientific progress of Pharmacy, it is intended to be mainly practical in its character, subserving the daily wants of the Apothecary, and presenting, as far as possible, that kind of information which can be turned to immediate account, whether it relates to new drugs and formulæ, or improved processes, manipulations, and apparatus. Such are the aims and ends of the New York Journal of Pharmacy; and the Druggists of New York are more particularly appealed to to sustain it, not only by their subscriptions, but by contributions from their pens. This last, indeed, is urgently pressed upon them; for, unless it receives such aid, however successful otherwise, it will fail in one great object for which it was originated. When special information is wanted on any {3} particular subject, the conductors of the Journal, if in their power, will always be happy to afford it.

It is no part of the intention of the College to derive an income from the Journal. As soon as the state of the subscription list warrants it, it is intended to increase its size so that each number shall contain forty-eight instead of thirty-two pages.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF COLLEGE OF PHARMACY AS AMENDED.

The Committee to whom was referred the subject of the establishment of a Journal of Pharmacy in the city of New York, have given their attention to the subject, and beg leave to report as follows:

1. That in their opinion it is all important that a Journal of Pharmacy should be established in this city as soon as practicable, for reasons well known, and therefore unnecessary here to enumerate.

2. They recommend that the first number of a Journal of thirty-two octavo pages be issued on the 1st day of January next, and one number each month thereafter, to be called the New York Journal of Pharmacy.

3. The general control of the Journal shall be vested in a committee of five, which shall review every article intended for publication, four of whom shall be elected annually by the Board of Trustees at the first stated meeting succeeding the annual election of officers; and a committee of the same number shall be now elected, who shall act until the next annual election, to be denominated the Publishing Committee. The President of the College of Pharmacy shall be “ex officio” a member of this Committee, and the whole number of this Committee shall be five, two of whom may act.

4. That an Editor be appointed by the Publishing Committee who shall attend to all the duties of its publication, and cause to be prepared all articles for the Journal, and to have the entire management of it under the control and direction of the Publishing Committee.

5. The compensation for the services of the Editor, together with all financial matters connected with the Journal, shall be subject to the control of the Publishing Committee. {4}

6. The matter to be published in the Journal shall be original communications, extracts from foreign and domestic journals, and editorials. No matter shall be published except what may relate directly or indirectly to the subject of Pharmacy, and the legitimate business of Druggists and Apothecaries. No advertisements of nostrums shall be admitted.

7. The subscription list shall be kept in the hands of the Publishers, subject to the disposal of the Publishing Committee.

(Signed) T. B. MERRICK,

_Chairman_.

The Board then balloted for members of the Publishing Committee, when the following were found to be elected.

MESSRS. JNO. H. CURRIE,
THOS. B. MERRICK,
C. B. GUTHRIE,
EUGENE DUPUY,
with Ex Officio, GEO. D. COGGESHALL,
_President of the College_.

ON TWO VARIETIES OF FALSE JALAP.

BY JOHN H. CURRIE.

Two different roots have for some time back been brought to the New York market, for the purpose of adulterating or counterfeiting the various preparations of Jalap. They differ materially from the Mechoacan and other varieties of false Jalap which formerly existed in our markets, as described by Wood and Bache in the United States Dispensatory, while some of the pieces bear no slight resemblance to the true root. The specimens I have been able to procure are so imperfect, and so altered by the process of drying, that the botanists I have consulted are unable to give any information even as to the order to which they belong. I have not been able either to trace their commercial history, nor do I know how, under the present able administration of the law for the inspection of drugs, they have obtained admission to our port. The article or articles, since {5} there are at least two of them, come done up in bales like those of the true Jalap, and are probably brought from the same port, Vera Cruz.

No. 1 appears to be the rhizome or underground stem of an exogenous perennial herb, throwing up at one end each year one or more shoots, which after flowering die down to the ground. It comes in pieces varying in length from two to five inches, and in thickness from the third of an inch to three inches. In some of the pieces the root has apparently been split or cut lengthwise; in others, particularly in the large pieces, it has been sliced transversely like Colombo root. The pieces are somewhat twisted or contorted, corrugated longitudinally and externally, varying in color from a yellowish to a dark brown. The transverse sections appear as if the rhizome may have been broken in pieces at nodes from two to four inches distant from each other, and at which the stem was enlarged. Or the same appearance may have been caused by the rhizome having been cut into sections of various length; and the resinous juice exuding on the cut surfaces, has hindered them from contracting to the same extent as the intervening part of the root. On the cut or broken surfaces are seen concentric circles of woody fibres, the intervening parenchyma being contracted and depressed. The fresh broken surfaces of these pieces exhibit in a marked manner the concentric layers of woody fibres. The pieces that are cut longitudinally, on the other hand, are heavier than those just described, though their specific gravity is still not near so great as that of genuine Jalap. Their fracture is more uniform, of a greyish brown color, and highly resinous.

This variety of false Jalap, when exhausted with alcohol, the tincture thus obtained evaporated, and the residuum washed with water, yielded from 9 1/2 to 15 1/2 per cent. of resin, the average of ten experiments being 13 per cent. Its appearance was strikingly like that of Jalap resin. It had a slightly sweetish mucilaginous taste, leaving a little acridity, and the odor was faintly jalapine. It resembled Jalap resin in being slowly soluble in concentrated sulphuric acid, but unlike Jalap resin it was wholly soluble in ether. In a dose of ten grains it proved feebly purgative, causing two or three moderate liquid stools. Its operation was unattended with griping or other unpleasant effect, except a slight feeling of nausea felt about half an hour after the extract had been swallowed, and continuing for some time.

This variety of false Jalap is probably used, when ground, for the purpose of mixing with and adulterating the powder of true Jalap, or is sold {6} for it, or for the purpose of obtaining from it its resin or extract, which is sold as genuine resin or extract of Jalap. The powder strikingly resembles that of true Jalap, has a faint odor of Jalap, but is destitute, to a great extent, of its flavor. The dust, too, arising from it, is much less irritating to the air passages.

The second variety is a tuber possibly of an orchidate plant, a good deal resembling in shape, color and size, a butternut, (Juglans cinerea.) Externally it is black or nearly so, in some places shining as if varnished by some resinous exudation, but generally dull, marked by deep longitudinal cuts extending almost to the centre of the tubers; internally it is yellow or yellowish white, having a somewhat horny fracture, and marked in its transverse sections with dots as if from sparse, delicate fibres. When first imported the root is comparatively soft, but becomes dry and brittle by keeping. Its odor resembles that of Jalap, and its taste is nauseous, sweetish, and mucilaginous.

This root contains no resin whatever. Treated with boiling water it yields a large amount (75 per cent.) of extract. This is soluble, to a great extent, likewise in alcohol. With iodine no blue color is produced.

The extract obtained from this drug appears, in ordinary doses, perfectly inert, five or ten grains producing, when swallowed, no effect whatever. Is this root employed for the purpose of obtaining its extract, and is this latter sold as genuine extract of Jalap?

Of the effect which frauds of this kind cannot fail to have on the practice of medicine it does not fall within my province to speak, but commercially its working is sufficiently obvious. One hundred pounds of Jalap at the market price, 60 cents per pound, will cost $60. In extracting this there will be employed about $5 worth of alcohol, making in all $65. There will be obtained forty pounds of extract, costing thus $1 62 1/2 per pound.

One hundred pounds of false Jalap, No. 1, may be obtained for $20; admitting the alcohol to cost $5, it will make in all $25. This will produce thirty-six pounds of extract, costing rather less than 70 cents per pound.

One hundred pounds of variety No. 2 may be had for $20, and no alcohol is necessary in obtaining the extract. The yield being seventy-five pounds, the extract will cost rather less than twenty-seven cents per pound.

{7}

VIRGIN SCAMMONY,

WITH SOME REMARKS UPON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SCAMMONY RESIN.

BY B. W. BULL.

The more extended use in medicine which this substance has acquired within a few years, and its consequent greater consumption, render the knowledge of its peculiarities and the modes of ascertaining its purity doubly important to the druggist and apothecary.

An instance occurred a few weeks since, showing the necessity of careful and thorough examination of every parcel of this drug, and possessing some interest, from the fact that no description of any similar attempt at falsification has, I believe, been before published.

The commercial house with which I am connected, purchased a parcel of what purported to be virgin scammony from the importer, who obtained it direct from Smyrna. A sample of it was examined and found to contain seventy per cent. of resinous matter, but when the whole lot was received, it was found to consist evidently of two different grades of the article.

The whole of it was composed of amorphous pieces, possessing externally a similar appearance. Upon breaking them, however, a manifest difference was observable. Some of the pieces possessed the resinous fracture, and the other characteristics of virgin scammony, while the remainder, which constituted about five eighths of the whole, exposed a dull, non-resinous surface when freshly broken.

I selected two samples, each possessing in the highest degree the characteristics of the two varieties, and subjected them to the action of sulphuric ether with the following results, designating the resinous or best No. 1, and the other specimen No. 2:―

No. 1. No. 2.
Specific gravity 1,143 1,3935

Per cent. Per cent.
Resinous matter and water 94.35 49.86
Vegetable substance insoluble in ether 3.20 45.16
Inorganic matter 2.45 4.98
──── ────
100.00 100.00

{8}

The vegetable substance in No. 2 was principally, if not entirely, farinaceous or starchy matter, of which the other contained not a trace. The result shows that this parcel of scammony was composed partly of true virgin scammony mixed with that of an inferior quality; and also indicates the necessity of examining the whole of every parcel, and of not trusting to the favorable result of the examination of a mere sample.

The powder in the two specimens was very similar in shade, and they possessed in about the same degree the odor peculiar to the substance, showing the fallacy of relying upon this as a means of judging of the comparative goodness of different samples. This fact may appear anomalous, but on different occasions the powder of No. 2 was selected as having the most decided scammony odor.

Since examining the above, I have had an opportunity of experimenting upon a portion of scammony imported from Trieste as the true Aleppo scammony, of which there are exported from Aleppo not more than from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds annually.

The parcel consisted of a sample of one pound only, which was obtained from a druggist of respectability in that place by one of my partners, who was assured that the sample in question was from the above source, and the kind above alluded to. This scammony was in somewhat flattish pieces, covered externally with a thin coating of chalk in which it had been rolled, the structure was uniformly compact, the color of the fracture greenish, and it possessed in a high degree the caseous odor.

The fracture was unusually sensitive to the action of moisture. By merely breathing upon a freshly exposed surface, a film resembling the bloom upon fruit was at once perceived. Its specific gravity was 1,209, which, it will be observed, approximates with unusual accuracy to that given by Pereira as the specific gravity of true scammony, viz. 1,210. It contained―

Resinous matter and water 89.53 per cent. Vegetable substance insoluble in ether 7.55 per cent. Inorganic matter 2.92 per cent.

There was no starchy matter present in the portion examined.

The mode of deciding upon the value or goodness of different samples of scammony, by ascertaining the amount of matter soluble in sulphuric ether, has seemed to me productive of a negative result in showing {9} how much non-resinous matter was present, rather than a certain method of ascertaining the actual amount of scammony resin present; but some experiments upon the resinous residuum lead to a more favorable conclusion.

The results of the analyses made by Johnston, who seems to be the only chemist who has paid any attention to its ultimate composition, show that it varies in composition materially from many other resins.

According to his analyses, as contained in Löwig, it has the formula C‗{40} H‗{33} O‗{8} While that of Guaiac resin is C‗{40} H‗{23} O‗{10} Of Colophony C‗{40} H‗{30} O‗{4}

Or expressed in per cents:―

Scammony. Guaiac. Colophony.
Carbon 56.08 70.37 79.81
Hydrogen 7.93 6.60 9.77
Oxygen 35.99 23.03 10.42
────── ────── ──────
100.00 100.00 100.00

The resin analysed by Johnston was obtained by evaporating the alcoholic solution, and he describes it as opaque, pale yellow, hard, and brittle; when obtained, however, by evaporating the ethereal solution I have found it transparent.

It might be inferred that, with a composition so different from that of the substances above adduced, its behavior with re-agents would be different from theirs; and its action with strong acids confirms the supposition, as may be seen by reference to the appended papers from a late number of the Paris Journal of Pharmacy.

The Edinburgh Pharmacopœia has an extract of scammony among its officinal preparations, prepared by treating scammony with proof spirit, and evaporating the solution. It is described as of a dirty greenish brown color. This color, however, is not a necessary accompaniment, but is owing either to some coloring matter being dissolved in the menstruum or to the partial oxydation of the dissolved substance under the influence of the air and the heat of the operation.

The ethereal solution of scammony resin, when gradually evaporated, and without exposure to heat, leaves a colorless or amber-colored resin, perfectly transparent and soluble in alcohol; when heated, however, {10} during the operation, more or less insoluble matter of a dark color is found. Sometimes the ethereal solution, when spontaneously evaporated, leaves a dark residuum, but a second solution and evaporation leave it as above described.

This product, obtained from several different parcels of virgin scammony, I have considered free from admixture with any of the substances with which scammony is said to be adulterated, and from the similarity of their behavior, and, as the circumstances under which the sample from Trieste above alluded to was obtained are such as to make its genuineness very certain, feel warranted in so doing.

Sulphuric acid does not immediately decompose it, but produces the effect described by M. Thorel.

Nitric acid produces no discoloration, nor does hydrochloric acid immediately.

If scammony should be adulterated with colophony, sulphuric acid would be a very ready method of detection, though it would seem that this substance would hardly be resorted to, unless an entirely new mode of sophisticating the article should be adopted abroad.

The introduction of farinaceous substances and chalk is effected while the scammony is in a soft condition, in which state it would be difficult to incorporate colophony completely with the mass.

An admixture of resin of guaiac is also detected by the same agent, a fact which seems to have escaped observation.

When brought in contact with sulphuric acid, resin of guaiac immediately assumes a deep crimson hue, and this reaction is so distinct that a proportion of not more than four or five per cent. is readily detected.

The deep red mixture of sulphuric acid with resin of guaiac becomes green when diluted with water, a remarkable change, which adds to the efficacy of the test. Scammony resin, on the contrary, suffers no alteration by dilution.

In addition, nitric acid affords a ready mode of ascertaining the presence of resin of guaiac. It is well known that nitric acid, when mixed with an alcoholic solution of guaiac, causes a deep green color, which soon passes into brown, or if the solution is dilute, into yellow.

This reaction is manifest when scammony resin is mixed with guaiac resin in the proportion above mentioned, though the greenish blue tinge is then very transient, and sometimes not readily perceived.

Chloride of soda is a delicate test for the presence of guaiac resin. {11} Added to an alcoholic solution, a beautiful green color appears, while it produces no effect on scammony resin. This reaction is very evident, though transient, when a very small proportion of guaiac is present. Nitrate of silver causes a blue color in a solution of guaiac resin, as does also sesqui-chloride of iron, neither of which agents affects the color of a solution of scammony resin. In fact, the evidences of the presence of guaiac are so numerous and distinct that there can be no possibility of an undetected adulteration with this substance.

The high price of resin of jalap would seem to be sufficient to prevent its being resorted to as a means of sophisticating scammony; but in case this substance should be made use of, the method proposed for detecting it by means of ether is defective, since, according to authorities, resin of jalap is partially soluble in that substance.

It becomes of interest to know whether in the preparation of scammony the juice of the plant from which it is obtained is ever mixed with that of other plants of similar properties, or with that of plants destitute of efficacy. This information can, of course, only be furnished by those familiar with the localities and with the mode of its preparation.

[1]“In advancing the opinion that scammony should only be employed for therapeutic purposes in the state of resin, I mean that this resin should only be prepared by the apothecary himself. When, however, it is impossible for the apothecary to do so, and the commercial article is in consequence resorted to, there arises a liability to deception. We must then be enabled to recognise its purity.

To avoid detection of the fraud, the admixture must either be in small quantity, or it must possess nearly the same action. In this latter case, resin of jalap would be employed as being less in price and nearly as active.

The method I propose for detecting an adulteration of this nature, in case it should be attempted, is based on the one side upon the entire insolubility of resin of jalap in rectified sulphuric ether, and on the other, upon the solubility of scammony resin in this liquid. Nothing is easier than the detection of a mixture of these two resins, since eight grammes of ether dissolve completely ten centigrammes of scammony resin. {12}

Thus by agitating for a short time a mixture of twenty centigrammes of suspected resin with sixteen grammes of sulphuric ether, we shall be certain of the presence of resin of jalap, provided there is no other admixture, if a portion remains undissolved. This undissolved portion, dried and weighed, gives the proportion of the two resins.

Other more culpable sophistications may be attempted, either by the addition of resin of guaiac, or by that of colophony or other substances.

The resin of guaiac may easily be detected by means of the solution of gum, which I have specified as one of the most certain re-agents (Repertoire du Pharmacien, vol. iv., 1848), or by the means of nitrous gas, or bichloride of mercury.

Many re-agents disclose the presence of common resin or of pitch in the resin of scammony. First, spirits of turpentine, which dissolves the common resin at the ordinary temperature, and which leaves scammony resin almost untouched. The most certain re-agent, however, in my opinion, is sulphuric acid. This acid possesses the property of dissolving many resins—modifying their composition more or less.

Thus, if a small quantity is poured on common resin, an intense red color is produced by contact; poured on scammony resin, on the contrary, it does not produce an immediate change; only after some minutes, and with exposure to the air, does it become colored, and then but feebly, with the production of a color resembling the lees of wine, while in the first case the color is a very deep scarlet.

By this method one twentieth part of colophony may be detected in scammony resin. It is sufficient to pour upon twenty-five or thirty centigrammes of resin, placed in a glass or porcelain mortar, four or five grammes of commercial sulphuric acid, and to give one or two turns of the pestle; if colophony is present, the mixture will redden immediately upon contact; if, on the contrary, it is pure, the liquid will only become colored after the lapse of some time.

Colophony being more soluble in sulphuric acid is acted upon with more rapidity.”

[2]“Scammony resin obtained by alcohol of 86 degrees occurs in form of powder or in thin transparent scales, if the alcoholic solution has been evaporated on a stove upon plates, or upon sheets of tin. {13}

It is characterized by the peculiar odor of the substance from which it is obtained, the _odeur de brioche_, or of rancid butter.

If scammony resin has been mixed with one twentieth of common resin, trituration in a mortar developes the odor of the latter to a sufficient degree to cause detection of the fraud. Heated in a tube, a peculiar odor manifests itself with sufficient distinctness to indicate its purity.

This pure resin is soluble in all proportions in ether of 56 degrees (·752). This property affords a means of purifying it, by means of which it is obtained in thin flakes, by exposure to the air on plates.

Solution of ammonia at 24 degrees (·910) dissolves scammony resin completely. The solution has a more or less green color. These different properties, which the resin of scammony, obtained by alcohol, possesses, are sufficiently distinct to assist in distinguishing it from other resins or to establish its purity.”

_December, 1851._

[1] Methods for detecting Resin of Jalap, Resin of Guaiac, and Colophony, in Resin of Scammony. By MR. THOREL.—_From the Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, for Nov. 1851._

[2] Note by MR. DUBLANC.—_From the Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, Nov. 1851._

ON THE PREPARATION OF STRAMONIUM OINTMENT.

BY EUGENE DUPUY, PHARMACEUTIST, NEW YORK CITY.

The powerful narcotic and sedative properties of the Datura stramonium; added to the fact of its luxuriant growth in the vacant grounds of the inhabited districts of the United States, has made its use popular with most of our practising physicians. Besides its use smoked as tobacco in asthmatic cases, its properties analogous to those of hyosciamus and belladonna, have enabled practitioners to use it with success for producing dilatation of the pupil and in anodyne fomentations. In fact, the consequence of its demonstrated efficient activity as a remedial agent, has prompted its adoption in the United States Pharmacopœia, where the leaves and seeds are recognised, and the Tincture, Extract, and Ointment are officinal. According to our Pharmacopœia, last edition, to prepare the ointment, one drachm of the extract of stramonium is mixed to the proportion of one ounce of lard. Such a mixture, though possibly as effectual as need be, lacks the green color and homogeneity to which both patients and physicians have been accustomed. To remedy these objections, I have found the {14} following process to give a good preparation both in quality and appearance. I am inclined to think that the objections which have been made to the former officinal ointment are chiefly ascribable to the difficulty of obtaining readily an ointment which would keep one year, that is free from water of vegetation or not impaired by a too protracted ebullition, and consequent decomposition, which deprives it of its properties, spoiling its appearance, and giving it an unpleasant pyrogenous odor, which shows the extent of the alteration it has undergone, making of it an irritating rather than a soothing unguent. In the process I now submit to the opinion of the profession, I had in view, 1st. To obtain at all seasons an ointment fulfilling the reasonable expectations of practitioners; 2d. Which could be easily prepared by competent Pharmaceutists throughout the United States. It is as follows:

Stramonium Leaves, half a pound. Alcohol at 95°, a sufficient quantity. Prepared lard, fourteen ounces.

Moisten the leaves, previously reduced to a coarse powder, with sufficient alcohol, in a tight vessel having a suitable cover; melt the lard in a pan three times in capacity to the bulk of the lard, and stir in it gradually the prepared stramonium; keep the mixture in a warm place for five hours, stirring occasionally, till the alcohol has disappeared from the ointment, which may be ascertained by placing a lighted match on the surface of the warm ointment just stirred. Filter the mixture through flannel, in an appropriate vessel. The stramonium ointment thus prepared is a reliable preparation, possessed of a handsome green color, a rather pleasant herbaceous odor, and forms a homogeneous mass containing all the valuable constituents of the Datura stramonium, if the leaves have been gathered while the plant is in bud, and properly preserved. For the warm days of summer the substitution of two ounces of beeswax for the same quantity of lard gives it the consistence which it has at the low temperature of the remaining seasons.

{15}

COMPOUND FLUID EXTRACT OF SENNA AND DANDELION.

BY EUGENE DUPUY, PHARMACEUTIST, NEW YORK CITY.

Senna (officinal), two pounds. Torrefied Dandelion Root, one pound. Chamomile, quarter of a pound. Sugar, twenty ounces. Carbonate of Potash or Soda, one ounce. Oil of Gaultheria, half a drachm. Alcohol, two ounces. Water, half a gallon.

Mix the dry plants, previously reduced to a coarse powder, with the water holding the alkaline carbonate in solution; let the mixture stand twelve hours; introduce it in a percolator, and gradually pour in water until a gallon of liquid shall have passed; evaporate it to twenty ounces by means of a water bath, then add the sugar, filter, and make the addition of the alcoholic solution of gaultheria when cold. By following this process, I believe that a kind of saponification takes place, which allows of the more ready solution of the active principle of the senna in the aqueous vehicle, probably because chlorophylle being united to a dried essential oil, participating in the properties of resins, is rendered soluble, and the extractive portion being denuded of its resinoid covering, is more readily extracted by the percolating liquid. I make use of a percolator possessed of a convenient hydraulic power; it has rendered readily, within thirty hours, a highly saturated liquid, containing in a gallon all the soluble principles of this extract. Ordinary percolators will answer also; but the ingredients needing to be more loosely packed, do not yield so fully or so readily. The addition of torrefied dandelion root is intended to give to this fluid extract some greater value on account of its peculiar action on the hepatic system. I employ in preference the German chamomile (Camomila vulgaris[3]), because of its pleasant aroma and its carminative properties, joined to a bitter principle, which seems to increase the purgative effect of the senna.

[3] Matricaria.

This extract has become a favorite anti-bilious purgative with many of {16} our practitioners, who, some of them at least, have used it with success with children, who can take it readily, as well as for adults, where an anti-bilious purgative is desirable, seldom producing pain or nausea, and not liable to induce constipation.

ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY A VERY SMALL DOSE OF SANTONINE GIVEN TO A CHILD.

Santonine, being a tasteless vermifuge, is easily given to children, consequently its employment becomes daily more and more frequent; we therefore think it useful to expose the accidents which may follow the use of this medicine, when given in too large a dose. We refer to a case given in the Bulletin de Thérapeutique, by Dr. Spengler (d’Herborn). The patient, a child of four years old, who had been suffering for several months from intestinal worms, had taken at different times, and with success, a dose of a grain and a half. One day they gave him three grains in two doses; after the first dose he became troubled with pains in the epigastrium, colic, and vomiting. He had frequent stools, in which were found a number of ascarides. Notwithstanding these numerous evacuations, the bad symptoms continued to increase; his body became cold, his face livid, his eyes had a blue circle round them, a cold sweat broke out, his respiration became embarrassed, and his extremities convulsed. Besides these symptoms, M. Spengler mentions that there were dilatation of the pupils and great pain in the abdomen (not, however, increased by pressure). He prescribed milk in abundance, and after several evacuations, the potion of Rivière in an oily emulsion. The little patient was placed in a very warm bed; during the night he was much disturbed; the following day he took some doses of calomel, after which several worms were evacuated, and from that time he became convalescent. We have related this fact as a caution against the accidents which may result from the use of santonine, although the severity of the symptoms and the smallness of the dose may make us doubt whether the santonine was pure, or whether some other cause might not have produced the terrible results attributed to it.—_Journal de Pharmacie et Chimie._

{17}

ON POISONING BY NICOTINE.

_Read before the National Academy of Medicine._

BY M. ORFILA.

GENTLEMEN,—In laying before the Academy a memoir on Nicotine, on the 20th of last month, I stated that I did not think I ought to read it, fearing that it might exercise some influence on the proceedings which were to take place at Mons, eight days afterwards. My scruples are now entirely removed, because I was present at the three first sittings of the Court of Assizes at Hainault, and have heard the examination of the accused persons, and the depositions of some of the witnesses. My memoir, supposing it to be published to-morrow, and consequently much before the sentence will have been pronounced, will not aggravate the situation of the accused, nor increase the power of the ministers of justice. You will see, in fact, that after describing nicotine, I came to the conclusion, that it may be easily detected in the digestive canal, the liver, the lungs, and all those organs into which it has been carried after its absorption. Now, M. de Bocarmé confesses that he prepared some nicotine, that Gustave Fougnies took an appreciable dose of it, and died very shortly afterwards. Consequently, he cannot dispute the fact of M. Stas having found this alkaloid in the body of his brother-in-law. It is of little importance to us that Madame de Bocarmé accuses her husband of being the author of the crime, whilst he, on the other hand, attributes the death of Gustave to a mistake of his wife’s, who might inadvertently have poured the nicotine into a glass instead of wine. It will be for the jury to decide what truth there is in these assertions; as scientific men, we ought to confine ourselves in this case to the solution of the chemical and medical problems relating to this subject.

I think I ought to read to the Academy the textual memoir, without the preamble, which I composed a fortnight ago, when the principal circumstances, which have since been developed, were but imperfectly known.

The principal object of this paper is to show:―

1. That we may characterize pure nicotine as easily as we can a poison derived from the mineral kingdom.

2. That we may detect this alkali in the digestive canal, and assert its existence there, although it is present only to the extent of a few drops. {18}

3. That it is sufficiently easy to prove its presence in the liver and the other organs, after it has been absorbed.

1. _Pure Nicotine may be characterised as easily as a Poison derived from the Mineral Kingdom._—Nicotine, discovered in 1809 by the illustrious Vauquelin, was studied in 1828 by Messrs. Posselt and Reimann, who found it in different species of nicotiana, in macrophylla rustica, and glutinosa. Messrs. Boutron, Charlard, and Henry described some of its properties in 1836. Havanna tobacco contains two per cent., that of Maryland 2·3, that of Virginia 6·9, that of Alsace 3·2, that of Pas-de-Calais 4·9, that of the Nord 6·6, and that of Lot 8. It is classed among the _natural volatile_ vegetable alkalies, which are only three in number, namely, _conicine_, _theobromine_, and _nicotine_. This last is entirely composed of hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen. It may be represented as a compound of one equivalent of ammonia (H‗{3}N), and of one of a hydro-carbon containing four equivalents of hydrogen and ten of carbon (H‗{4}C‗{10}). It is now obtained by a much more simple process than was formerly adopted, which consists in passing the vapor of tobacco into water acidulated with sulphuric acid. Sulphate of nicotine is thus speedily produced, and this has to be decomposed by a strong alkali. It is then only necessary to apply sufficient heat to volatilize the nicotine. This mode of preparation indicates that smokers in respiring the smoke of tobacco introduce into their bodies a certain quantity of the vapor of nicotine.

_Characters of pure Nicotine._—It is in the form of an oleaginous, transparent, colorless, tolerably fluid, anhydrous liquid, of the density of 1·048, becoming slightly yellow with keeping, and tending to become brown and thick from contact with the air from which it absorbs oxygen; its acrid odor resembles but slightly that of tobacco; its taste is very burning. It volatilizes at 77° F., and leaves a carbonaceous residue. The vapor which rises presents such a powerful smell of tobacco, and is so irritating, that it is difficult to breathe in a room in which one drop of it has been spilt. If this vapor be approached with a lighted taper, it burns with a white smoky flame, and leaves a carbonaceous residue as an essential oil would do. It _strongly blues_ reddened litmus paper. _It is very soluble in water_, in alcohols, and in fat oils, as also in _ether_, which easily separates it from an aqueous solution. The great solubility of nicotine in both water and ether forms an important fact in its chemical history, as the greater number of vegetable alkalies, not to say all, if they dissolve easily in one of these liquids, are not readily soluble in the other. {19}

Nicotine combines directly with acids, disengaging heat. Concentrated pure sulphuric acid, without heat, produces with it a wine-red color; on the application of heat to this it becomes thick, and acquires the color of the dregs of wine; if it be boiled it blackens and disengages sulphurous acid. With cold hydrochloric acid it disengages white vapors as ammonia does; if the mixture be heated it acquires a violet color, the intensity of which increases with prolonged ebullition. Nitric acid, aided with a little heat, imparts to it an orange-yellow color, and white vapors of nitric acid are first given off, then red vapors of hyponitrous acid. If it be further heated the liquor becomes yellow, and by ebullition it acquires a red color resembling that of chloride of platinum. Prolonged ebullition gives a black mass. Heated with stearic acid it dissolves and forms a soap, which congeals on cooling, and is slightly soluble in water, and very soluble in heated ether. The simple salts of nicotine are deliquescent, and difficultly crystallizable. The double salts which it yields with the different metallic oxides crystallize better.

The aqueous solution of nicotine is colorless, transparent, and strongly alkaline. It acts like ammonia on several reagents; thus, it gives a white precipitate with bichloride of mercury, acetate of lead, protochloride and bichloride of tin; a canary yellow precipitate with chloride of platinum, which precipitate is soluble in water; a white precipitate with salts of zinc, which is soluble in excess of nicotine; a blue precipitate with acetate of copper. This precipitate is gelatinous and soluble in excess of nicotine, forming a blue double acetate, similar to that formed by ammonia with the same salt. It gives an ochre-yellow precipitate with salts of the sesqui-oxide of iron, insoluble in excess of nicotine. With sulphate of protoxide of manganese it gives a white precipitate of oxide, which speedily becomes brown by contact with the oxygen of the air. It separates the green sesqui-oxide from the salts of chromium. The red permanganate of potash is instantly decolorized by nicotine, as by ammonia, although this latter alkali acts more slowly and must be used in larger proportion.

The following reactions may serve to distinguish the aqueous solutions of nicotine from ammonia. Chloride of gold yields a reddish-yellow precipitate, _very soluble in an excess of nicotine_. Chloride of cobalt yields a blue precipitate, which changes to green; the oxide thus formed does not readily dissolve in excess of nicotine, whilst ammonia dissolves the green precipitate and forms a red solution. Aqueous solution of iodine gives a yellow precipitate with solution of nicotine, as chloride of platinum would {20} do; with an excess of nicotine it acquires a straw color, and it is decolorized by the action of heat. Ammonia, on the contrary, immediately decolorizes the aqueous solution of iodine without rendering it turbid. Pure tannic acid gives with nicotine an abundant white precipitate. Ammonia gives no precipitate, but imparts a red color.[4]

[4] It is interesting to compare the physical and chemical properties of nicotine with those of conicine.

Conicine is yellow; _its smell resembles that of the urine of the mouse_, and differs entirely from that of nicotine; it strongly blues reddened litmus paper. Added to water and shaken with it, it floats on the surface and is not readily dissolved. Ether dissolves it easily. When heated in a capsule it forms white vapors, _having a strong smell of celery mixed with that of the urine of the mouse_. Weak tincture of the iodine yields a white precipitate, which acquires an olive color with excess of the tincture. Pure and concentrated sulphuric acid _does not alter it_; when the mixture is heated it acquires a greenish brown color, and if the heat be continued it becomes blood-red and afterwards black. Nitric acid imparts to it a _topaz color_, which is not changed by the action of heat. Hydrochloric acid yields white vapors as ammonia does, and renders it violet, especially when heated. Tannic acid gives a white precipitate, and chloride of platinum a yellow precipitate. The red permanganate of potash is immediately decolorized. Corrosive sublimate yields a white precipitate. Acetate of copper gives a gelatinous blue precipitate, less soluble in an excess of conicine than is that formed with nicotine. Chloride of cobalt behaves with it as it does with nicotine. Chloride of gold gives a light yellow precipitate. _Neutral acetate of lead does not give any precipitate_; neither does the subacetate. Chloride of zinc gives a white gelatinous precipitate soluble in excess of the conicine. Sulphate of sesquioxide of iron gives a yellow precipitate. The words in italics indicate the means of distinguishing conicine from nicotine.

If to these chemical characters which permit one so easily to distinguish nicotine, we add those resulting from the action which it exercises on the animal economy, it will no longer be possible to confound it with any other body. The following are the results of the experiments I undertook in 1842 on this alkali, and which I published in 1843. (See the 4th edition of my work on Toxicology.)

_First Experiment._—I applied three drops of nicotine on the tongue of a small but sufficiently robust dog; immediately afterwards, the animal became giddy, and voided urine; at the end of a minute, its breathing was quick and panting. This state lasted for forty seconds, and then the animal fell on its right side, and appeared intoxicated. Far from showing any stiffness or convulsions, it was feeble and flabby, although the fore paws slightly trembled. Five minutes after the administration of the {21} poison, he uttered plaintive cries, and slightly stiffened his neck, carrying his head slightly backwards. The pupils were excessively dilated; the respiration was calm, and in no way accelerated. This state lasted ten minutes, during which the animal was not able to stand. From this time the effects appeared to diminish, and soon after it might have been predicted that they would speedily disappear entirely. Next day, the animal was quite well. The nicotine I used was evidently not anhydrous.

_Second Experiment._—I repeated the experiment with five drops of nicotine on a dog of the same description. The animal showed the same effects, and died at the end of ten minutes, although during four minutes he showed slight convulsive movements.

_Opening of the Body the day following._—The membranes of the brain were slightly injected, and the superficial vessels were gorged with blood; this injection was especially observed on the left side, and in the lower part of the brain. The brain itself of the ordinary consistence, had the two substances of which it is composed, slightly disintegrated, the striated substance was much injected, as well as the _pons varolii_. The membranes which envelope the cerebellum were still more injected than the other parts. Between the first and second cervical vertebræ on the right side, that is, on the side on which the animal fell, there was a rather considerable effusion of blood. The lungs appeared to be in their natural state. The heart, the vessels of which were gorged with blood, was greatly distended, especially on the right side, with clots of blood; the auricles and the right ventricle containing much, and the left ventricle none. The superior and inferior _vena cava_, and the aorta, were equally distended with clots of semi-fluid blood. The tongue was corroded along the middle line, and towards the posterior part, where the epithelium separated with facility. In the interior of the stomach there were found a black pitchy matter and a bloody liquid, which appeared to have resulted from an exudation of blood. The duodenum was inflamed in patches; the rest of the intestinal canal appeared in a healthy state.

Since the above period I have made the following experiments, which I have frequently repeated with the same results, only that in some cases I have found the blood contained in the cavities of the heart in a fluid state, even when proceeding to dissection immediately after death; nevertheless the blood speedily coagulated.

_Third Experiment._—At eleven o’clock I administered, to a dog of moderate size, twelve drops of nicotine. A few instants afterwards {22} giddiness came on, and _he fell on the right side_; he soon manifested convulsive movements, slightly at first, then sufficiently strong to constitute a tetanic fit with opisthotonos; he was in a remarkable state of drowsiness, and uttered no cry. His pupils were dilated; there was no action of the bowels, nor vomiting. He died at two minutes after eleven. The body was immediately opened. The abdomen and thorax, on being cut open, _sometimes_ emitted a very decided smell of tobacco. The heart contained a considerable quantity of _black coagulated_ blood. There was more in the right auricle and ventricle than in the left. The lungs appeared in a normal state. The stomach contained about forty grammes of a thick, yellow, slimy liquid; and here and there parts of the mucous membrane were inflamed. The œsophagus, the intestines, the liver, the spleen, and the kidneys, were in a normal state. The epithelium was easily detached from the tongue; the base of this organ was red and slightly excoriated. The brain was more injected than its enveloping membranes; the _pons varolii_ was the same as in the second experiment.

_Fourth Experiment._—I applied on the eye of a dog of moderate size one drop of nicotine; the animal instantly became giddy and weak in its limbs; a minute afterwards he fell on his right side and manifested convulsive fits, which became more and more powerful; the head was thrown back. At the end of two minutes the convulsions ceased, and extreme weakness ensued. Five minutes afterwards the animal could stand, but was unable to walk. Ten minutes later he was in the same state without having vomited or had any action of the bowels. Urged to walk, he made a few undecided steps, then vomited about one hundred grammes of a greyish alimentary paste. At the end of half an hour he was in the same state. It was evident that he was recovering. The conjunctiva was sensibly inflamed, and the transparent cornea was, to a great extent, opaque.

2. _We may detect nicotine in the digestive canal, and affirm its existence there, although it may be only present to the extent of a few drops._ I would call the particular attention of the Academy to this paragraph; I have never, in the course of my numerous experiments, seen animals whose death has been almost instantaneous, either vomit or have any action of the bowels.[5] If it be the same with man, as everything tends to prove it is, the Chemist will, under such circumstances, be in the most favorable {23} condition for detecting the poison, as there will most frequently be a sufficient quantity in the canal to determine its presence.

[5] If life is prolonged the animals vomit.

Before describing the two processes to which I had recourse for the determining the existence of nicotine in the stomach and intestines, as well as in the œsophagus, it may be observed that I acted separately on the liquid and solid matters contained in these organs, and on the organs themselves.

_First Process._—The contents of the stomach and intestines, or the organs themselves, are placed in a considerable proportion of sulphuric ether; after twelve hours of maceration, it is to be filtered; the ether passes through, holding nicotine in solution; most frequently when the matters on which the ether has acted are fatty, the ether holds in solution a soap composed of nicotine and one or several fatty acids; it may also happen that it contains non-saponified nicotine. The ethereal liquid is evaporated almost to dryness by very gentle heat. The greasy and soapy product obtained rarely shows any alkaline reaction. It is to be agitated, without heat, with caustic soda dissolved in water, to decompose the soap and set free the nicotine. The whole is then to be put into a retort furnished with a receiver plunged in cold water, and heat applied to the retort until no more liquid remains in it. The liquid condensed in the receiver contains either all, or at least a large proportion of the nicotine. It is well to know that, 1st, when heat is applied to the retort, the matter froths, augments in volume, and would certainly pass into the receiver, if the retort was not very large in relation to the quantity of liquid operated upon; 2ndly, even at a temperature of 212° Fahr., the vapor of water carries with it a certain quantity of nicotine, therefore the operation should be carried on as much as possible in close vessels. If these precautions be observed, the distilled liquid will be limpid and colorless; it suffices then to concentrate it over a water-bath, to about a sixth of its volume, to obtain with it all the reactions of nicotine.