Chapter V: Part 5

---------------+---------------------------------+----+----+----+---
DISCOVERED BY | | =C=| =H=| =N=| =O=
| | | | |
Wöhler, 1844 | Cotarnine | 12 | 13 | 1 | 3
|Formed by oxidizing narcotine; | | | |
| soluble in water. | | | |
Hesse, 1871 | =1. HYDROCOTARNINE= | 12 | 15 | 1 | 3
|Crystallizable, alkaline, | | | |
| volatile at 100°. | | | |
Matthiessen | APOMORPHINE | 17 | 17 | 1 | 2
and Wright, |From morphine, by hydrochloric | | | |
1869 | acid. Colourless, amorphous, | | | |
| turning green by exposure to | | | |
| air; emetic. | | | |
| | | | |
Wright, 1871 | DESOXYMORPHINE | 17 | 19 | 1 | 2
| | | | |
Sertürner, | =2. MORPHINE= | 17 | 19 | 1 | 3
1816 |Crystallizable, alkaline, | | | |
| levogyre. | | | |
Pelletier and | =3. PSEUDOMORPHINE= | 17 | 19 | 1 | 4
Thibouméry, |Crystallizes with H₂O; does not | | | |
1835 | unite even with acetic acid. | | | |
| | | | |
Matthiessen | APOCODEINE | 18 | 19 | 1 | 2
and Burnside, |From codeine by chloride of zinc;| | | |
1871 | amorphous, emetic. | | | |
| | | | |
Wright, 1871 | DESOXYCODEINE | 18 | 21 | 1 | 2
| | | | |
Robiquet, 1832 | =4. CODEINE= | 18 | 21 | 1 | 3
|Crystallizable, alkaline, soluble| | | |
| in water. | | | |
| | | | |
Matthiessen | NORNARCOTINE | 19 | 17 | 1 | 7
and Foster, | | | | |
1868 | | | | |
| | | | |
Thibouméry, | =5. THEBAINE= | 19 | 21 | 1 | 3
1835 |Crystallizable, alkaline, | | | |
| isomeric with buxine. | | | |
| | | | |
Hesse, 1870 | THEBENINE | 19 | 21 | 1 | 3
| | | | |
Hesse, 1870 | THEBAICINE | 19 | 21 | 1 | 3
|From thebaine or thebenine by | | | |
| hydrochloric acid. | | | |
| | | | |
Hesse 1871 | =6. PROTOPINE= | 20 | 19 | 1 | 5
|Crystallizable, alkaline. | | | |
| | | | |
Matthiessen | METHYLNORNARCOTINE | 20 | 19 | 1 | 7
and Foster, | | | | |
1868 | | | | |
| | | | |
Hesse, 1871 | DEUTEROPINE | 20 | 21 | 1 | 5
|Not yet isolated. | | | |
| | | | |
Hesse, 1870 | =7. LAUDANINE= | 20 | 25 | 1 | 4
|An alkaloid which, as well as its| | | |
| salts, forms large crystals; | | | |
| turns orange by hydrochloric | | | |
| acid. | | | |
| | | | |
Hesse, 1878 | =8. CODAMINE= | 20 | 25 | 1 | 4
|Crystallizable, alkaline; can be | | | |
| sublimed; becomes green by | | | |
| nitric acid. | | | |
| | | | |
Merck, 1848 | =9. PAPAVERINE= | 21 | 21 | 1 | 4
|Crystallizable, also its | | | |
| hydrochlorate; sulphate in | | | |
| sulphuric acid precipitated by | | | |
| water. | | | |
| | | | |
Hesse, 1865 | =10. RHŒADINE= | 21 | 21 | 1 | 6
|Crystallizable, not distinctly | | | |
| alkaline; can be sublimed; | | | |
| occurs also in _Papaver_ | | | |
| _Rhœas_. | | | |
| | | | |
Hesse, 1865 | RHŒAGENINE | 21 | 21 | 1 | 6
|From rhœadine; Crystallizable, | | | |
| alkaline. | | | |
| | | | |
Armstrong, 1871| DIMETHYLNORNARCOTINE | 21 | 21 | 1 | 7
| | | | |
Hesse, 1870 | =11. MECONIDINE= | 21 | 23 | 1 | 4
|Amorphous, alkaline, melts at | | | |
| 58°, not stable, the salts also | | | |
| easily altered. | | | |
| | | | |
T. & H. Smith, | =12. CRYPTOPINE= | 21 | 23 | 1 | 5
1864 |Crystallizable, alkaline; salts | | | |
| tend to gelatinize; | | | |
| hydrochlorate crystallizes | | | |
| in tufts. | | | |
| | | | |
Hesse, 1871 | =13. LAUDANOSINE= | 21 | 27 | 1 | 4
|Crystallizable, alkaline. | | | |
| | | | |
Derosne, 1803 | =14. NARCOTINE= | 22 | 23 | 1 | 7
|Crystallizable, not alkaline; | | | |
| salts not stable. | | | |
| | | | |
Hesse, 1870 | =15. LANTHOPINE= | 23 | 25 | 1 | 4
|Microscopic crystals not | | | |
| alkaline, sparingly soluble in | | | |
| hot or cold spirit of wine, | | | |
| ether or benzol. | | | |
| | | | |
Pelletier, 1832| =16. NARCEINE= | 23 | 29 | 1 | 9
|Crystallizable (as a hydrate), | | | |
| readily soluble in boiling water| | | |
| or in alkalis, levogyre. | | | |
| | | | |
T. & H. Smith, | =17. GNOSCOPINE= | 34 | 36 | 2 | 11
1868 |Crystallizable, melts at 233°, | | | |
| soluble in chloroform and | | | |
| bisulphide of carbon, slightly | | | |
| so in benzol, not in ether. The | | | |
| salts have an acid reaction. | | | |
---------------+---------------------------------+----+----+----+

In the year 1826, Dublanc[261] observed in opium a peculiar substance having neither basic nor acid properties which was afterwards (1832) prepared in a state of purity by Couerbe. It has been called _Opianyl_ or (by Couerbe) _Meconine_. It has the composition C₁₀H₁₀O₄ = C₆H₂·CH₂·O·CO(OCH₃)₂. Meconin forms prisms which fuse under water at 77° C. or _per se_ at 110°, and distil at 155°; it dissolves in about 20 parts of boiling water, from which it may be readily crystallized. Meconin may be formed by heating narcotine with nitric acid.

An analogous substance _Meconoiosin_ C₈H₁₀O₂ = C₆H₂·(OH)₂·(CH₃)₂, has been discovered in 1878 by T. and H. Smith. Meconoiosin is readily soluble in 27 parts of cold water, and melts at 88° C. When heated with slightly diluted sulphuric acid, and when the evaporation has reached a certain point, meconoiosin produces a deep red; with meconin the coloration is a beautiful green.

=Proportion of peculiar constituents=—The substances described in the foregoing section exist in opium in very variable proportion; and as it is on their presence, but especially that of morphine, that the value of the drug depends, the importance of exact estimation is evident.

Opium whether required for analysis or for pharmaceutical preparations has to be taken _exclusively in the dry state_. The amount of water it contains is so uncertain that the drug must be reduced to a fixed standard by complete desiccation at 100° C., before any given weight is taken.

_=Morphine=_—Guibourt[262] who analysed a large number of samples of opium, and whose skill and care in such research are not disputed, obtained from a sample of French opium produced near Amiens, 22·88 per cent. of morphine crystallized from spirit of wine. This percentage has not to our knowledge been ever exceeded. From another specimen produced in the same district he got 21·23 per cent., from a third 20·67. The lowest percentage from a French opium was 14·96,—in each case reckoned on material previously dried.

Chevallier extracted from opium grown by Aubergier at Clermont in the centre of France, 17·50 per cent. of morphine. Decharmes from a French opium obtained 17·6 per cent., and Biltz from a German opium 20 per cent. Opium produced in Württemberg sent to the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 afforded Hesse 12 to 15 per cent. of morphine; and opium from Silesia 9 to 10 per cent.[263]

A pure American opium collected in the State of Vermont yielded Proctor 15·75 per cent. of morphine and 2 percent of narcotine.[264]

The opium of Asia Minor furnishes very nearly the same proportions of morphine as that of Europe. The maximum recorded by Guibourt is 21·46 per cent. obtained from a Smyrna opium sold in Paris. The mean yield of 8 samples of opium sent by Della Sudda of Constantinople to the Paris Exhibition of 1855 was 14·78 per cent. The mean percentage of morphine afforded by 12 other samples of Turkey opium obtained from various sources was 14·66.

[261] _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_, xlix. (1832) 5-20.—The paper was read before the Acad. de Méd., 13th May, 1826.

[262] _Mémoire sur le dosage de l’Opium et sur la quantité de morphine que l’opium doit contenir_, Paris, 1862.

[263] Schroff, _Ausstellungsbericht, Arzneiwaaren_, p. 31.

[264] _Am. Journ. of Pharm._ xviii. (1870) 124.

Chevallier[265] states that Smyrna opium, of which several cases were received by Merck of Darmstadt in 1845, afforded 12 to 13 per cent. of pure morphine reckoned upon the drug in its _fresh and moist state_.

Fayk Bey[266] analysed 92 samples of opium of Asia Minor, and found that half the number yielded more than 10 per cent. of morphine. The richest afforded 17·2 per cent.

From the foregoing statements we are warranted in assuming that _good_ Smyrna opium deprived of water ought to afford 12 to 15 per cent. of morphine, and that if the percentage is less than 10, adulteration may be suspected.

Egyptian opium has usually been found very much weaker in morphine than that of Asia Minor. A sample sent to the Paris Exhibition of 1865 and presented to one of us by Figari Bey of Cairo, afforded us 5·8 per cent. of morphine and 8·7 of narcotine.

Persian opium appears extremely variable, probably in consequence of the practice of combining it with sugar and other substances. It is however sometimes very good. Séput[267] obtained from four samples the respective percentages of 13·47, 11·52, 10·12, 10·08 of morphine, the opium being free from water. Mr. Howard as already stated (p. 49) extracted from Persian opium, not previously dried, from 8 to 10·75 per cent. of morphine.

East Indian opium is remarkable for its low percentage of morphine, a circumstance which we think is attributable in part to climate and in part to a method of collection radically defective. It is scarcely conceivable that the long period during which the juice remains in a wet state,—always three to four weeks,—does not exercise a destructive action on its constituents.

According to Eatwell[268] the percentage of morphine in the samples of Benares opium officially submitted for analysis gave the following averages.—

1845-46 1846-47 1847-48 1848-49
2·48 2·38 2·20 3·21

The same observer has recorded the results of the examination of freshly collected poppy-juice, which in three instances afforded respectively 1·4, 3·06, and 2·89 per cent. of morphine, reckoned on the material deprived of water; but the conditions under which the experiments were made appear open to great objection.[269]

Such very low results are not always obtained from East Indian opium. In a sample from Khandesh furnished by the Indian Museum, we found 6·07 of morphine. Solly from the same kind obtained about 7 per cent.

_Patna Garden Opium_ which is the sort prepared exclusively for medicinal use, afforded us 8·6 per cent. of purified morphine and 4 per cent. of narcotine.[270] Guibourt obtained from such an opium 7·72 per cent. Christison from a sample sent to Duncan of Edinburgh in 1830,[271] 9·50 per cent. of hydrochlorate of morphine.

[265] _Notice historique sur l’opium indigène_, Paris, 1852.

[266] _Monographie des Opiums de l’Empire Ottoman envoyés à l’Exposition de Paris_, 1867.

[267] _Journ. de Pharm._ xxxix. (1861) 163.

[268] _Pharm. Journ._ xi. (1852) 361.

[269] In one case the juice was allowed to stand in a basin from 23rd Feb. to 7th May, being “occasionally stirred”!

[270] This drug made in 1838 came from the Apothecary-General, Calcutta, and was presented by Christison to the Kew Museum. It is in rectangular tablets 2½ inches square and ¾ of an inch thick, cased in wax.

[271] The actual specimen is in the Kew Museum.

Samples from the Indian Museum placed at our disposal by Dr. J. Forbes Watson gave[272] us the following percentages of morphine:—_Medical (Indian) Opium_, 1852-53, portion of a square brick, 4·3; _Garden Behar Opium_, 4·6; _Abkāri Provision Opium_, _Patna_, No. 5380, 3·5; _Sind Opium_, No. 28, 3·8; _Opium, Hyderabad_, _Sind_, 3·2 (and 5·4 of narcotine); _Malwa Opium_, 6·1.

With regard to the percentage of morphine in _Chinese Opium_, the following data have been obligingly furnished to us by Mr. T. W. Sheppard, F.C.S., Opium Examiner to the Benares Opium Agency, of analyses made by himself from samples of the drug procured in China by Sir R. Alcock:—Szechuen opium, 2·2; Kweichow, 2·5; Yunnan, 4·1; Kansu, 5·1 per cent. Mr. S. informs us that Dr. Eatwell obtained in 1852 from Szechuen opium 3·3, and from Kweichow opium 6·1[273] per cent.—the opium in all instances being reckoned as _dry_. The samples examined by Mr. S. contained 86 to 95 per cent. of dry opium, and yielded (undried) 36 to 53 per cent. of extract soluble in cold water. The proportion of morphine in the sample of Chinese opium analysed by Dr. Jamieson (p. 55) was nearly 7·2 per cent. calculated on the dry drug.

_Pseudomorphine_—occurs only in very small quantities. Hesse found it in some sorts of opium to the extent of 0·02 per cent.—in others still less.

_Codeine_—has been found in Smyrna, French and Indian opium, but only to the extent of ⅕ to ⅖ per cent. T. and H. Smith give the proportion in Turkey opium as 0·3 per cent.[274]

_=Thebaine=_—which has likewise been obtained from French opium, amounts in Turkey opium according to Merck to about 1 per cent. In the latter sort T. and H. Smith found only about 8·15 per cent., but of

_Papaverine_—in the same drug, 1 per cent.

_Narcotine_—exists in opium in widely different proportions and often in considerable abundance. Thus Schindler obtained in 1834 from a Smyrna opium yielding 10·30 per cent. of morphine, 1·30 per cent. of narcotine. Biltz (1831) analysed an oriental opium which afforded 9·25 per cent. of morphine and 7·50 of narcotine. Reveil (1860) obtained from Persian opium not rich in morphine, from half as much to twice as much narcotine as morphine. The utmost of narcotine was 9·90 per cent. We have found in German opium of undubitable purity[275] 10·9 per cent. of narcotine.

East Indian opium was found by Eatwell (1850) always to afford more narcotine than morphine,—frequently twice as much. The sample from Khandesh referred to on the opposite page, afforded us 7·7 per cent. of pure narcotine.

French opium collected from the _Pavot œillette_ sometimes affords neither narcotine, thebaine, nor narceine.[276]

[272] _Pharm. Journ._ v. (1875) 845.

[273] This sample, the richest of all in morphine, is noted as of “_2nd quality_.”

[274] _Pharm. Journ._ vii. (1866) 183.

[275] Collected in 1829 by Biltz and obligingly placed in 1867 at my disposal by his son.—F. A. F.

[276] The statement of Biltz (1831) that an opium collected by himself from poppies grown in 1829 at Erfurt afforded 33 per cent. of narcotine is contrary to the experience of all other chemists. The same must be said of Mulder’s assertion respecting an opium giving 6 to 13 per cent. of narceine.

_Narceine_—Of this substance Couerbe found in opium 0·1 per cent.; T. and H. Smith 0·02 and Schindler 0·71.

_Cryptopine_—exists in opium in very small proportion. T. and H. Smith state that since the alkaloid first came under their notice, they have collected of it altogether about 5 ounces in the form of hydrochlorate, and this small quantity in operating on many thousands of pounds of opium. But they by no means assert that the whole of the cryptopine was obtained.

_Rhœadine_—is also found only in exceedingly minute quantity.

_Meconic Acid_—If the average amount of morphine in opium be estimated at 15 per cent., and the alkaloid be supposed to exist as a tribasic meconate, it would require for saturation 3·4 per cent. of meconic acid. Wittstein obtained rather more than 3 per cent., T. and H. Smith 4 per cent., and Decharmes 4·33. Opium produced in Vermont yielded, according to Proctor (1870) 5·25 per cent. of meconic acid. The quantity of acid required to unite with the other bases assuming them to exist as salts can be but extremely small.

=Estimation of Morphine in Opium=—The practical valuation of opium turns in the first instance upon the estimation of the water present in the drug, and in the second upon the proportion which the latter contains of morphine.[277]

The first question is determined by exposing a known quantity of the drug divided into small slices or fragments to the heat of a water-bath until it cease to lose weight.

For the estimation of the morphine many processes have been devised, but none is perfectly satisfactory.[278] That which we recommend is thus performed:—Take of opium previously dried at 100° C., as above stated, and powdered, 10 grammes; shake it with 100 grammes alcohol 0·950 sp. gr., and filter after a day or two. The weight of the liquid should be made equal to 100 grammes. Add to it 50 grammes of ether and 2 grammes of ammonia water 0·960 sp. gr.; collect the crystals of opium which separate slowly, after a day or two, dry them at 100° C., and weigh them.—On applying this method to Indian opium, we were but little satisfied with it.

=Commerce=—By official statistics it appears that the quantity of opium imported into the United Kingdom in 1872 was 356,211 lb., valued at £361,503. The imports from Asiatic and European Turkey are stated in the same tables thus:—

1868 1870 1872 1874
317,133 lb. 276,691 lb. 325,572 lb. 514,000 lb.

It is thus evident that the drug used in Great Britain is chiefly Turkish. The import of opium from Persia has been very irregular. In 1871, 21,894 lb. are reported as received from that country; in 1872, none.

[277] In selecting a sample for analysis, care should be taken that it fairly represents the bulk of the drug. We prefer to take a little piece from each of several lumps, mix them in a mortar, and weigh from the mixed sample the required quantity.

[278] See also Proctor, _Pharm. Journ._ vii. (1876) 244, and _Yearbook of Pharm._ 1877. 528.

Except that a little Malwa opium has occasionally been imported, it may be asserted the opium of India is entirely unknown in the English market, and that none of it is to be found even in London in the warehouse of any druggist.

As to other countries, we may point out that in 1876 the import of opium (prepared) into the colony of Victoria was valued at £104,557.

=Uses=—Opium possesses sedative powers which are universally known. In the words of Pereira, it is the most important and valuable medicine of the whole Materia Medica; and we may add, the source by its judicious employment of more happiness and by its abuse of more misery[279] than any other drug employed by mankind.

=Adulteration=—The manifold falsifications of opium have been already noticed, and the method by which its more important alkaloid may be estimated has been pointed out. Moreover as already stated, neither tannic acid nor starch ever occur in genuine opium; and the proportion of ash left upon the incineration of a good opium does not exceed 4 to 8 per cent. of the dried drug. Another criterion is afforded by the amount soluble in cold water which ought to exceed 55 per cent. reckoned on dry opium. Finally, if we are correct, the gum contained in pure opium is distinct from gum arabic, being precipitable by neutral acetate of lead. If we exhaust with water opium falsified with gum arabic, the mucilage peculiar to opium will be precipitated by neutral acetate of lead, the liquid separated from the precipitate will still contain the gum arabic which may be thrown down by alcohol. If gum is present to some extent, an abundant precipitate is produced.

CRUCIFERÆ.

SEMEN SINAPIS NIGRÆ.

_Black, Brown or Red Mustard_; F. _Moutarde noire ou grise_; G. _Schwarzer Senf_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Brassica nigra_ Koch (_Sinapis nigra_ L.). Black Mustard is found wild over the whole of Europe excepting the extreme north. It also occurs in Northern Africa, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, the Caucasian region, Western India, as well as in Southern Siberia and China. By cultivation, which is conducted on a large scale in many countries (as Alsace, Bohemia, Holland, England and Italy), it has doubtless been diffused through regions where it did not anciently exist. It has now become naturalized both in North and South America.

=History=—Mustard was well known to the ancients. Theophrastus mentions it as Νάπμ,—Dioscorides as Νάπμ or Σίνηπι. Pliny notices three kinds which have been referred by Fée[280] to _Brassica nigra_ Koch, _B. alba_ Hook. f. et Th., and to a South European species, _Diplotaxis erucoides_ DC. (_Sinapis erucoides_ L.). The use of mustard seems up to this period to have been more medicinal than dietetic. But from an edict of Diocletian, A.D. 301[281] in which it is mentioned along with alimentary substances, we must suppose it was then regarded as a condiment at least in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire.

[279] See Tingling, J. F. B., _The poppy-plague and England’s crime_, London, 1876 (192 p.); Turner, F. S. (Secretary of the Anglo-Oriental Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade), _British Opium Policy and its results to India and China_. London, 1876 (308 pages); Sir Edw. Fry, _England, China, and Opium_, 1878 (61 p.).

[280] _Botanique et Matière Méd. de Pline_, ii. (1833) 446.

[281] Mommsen in _Berichte der sächs. Gesellsch. der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig_, 1851. 1-80.

In Europe during the middle ages mustard was a valued accompaniment to food, especially to the salted meat which constituted a large portion of the diet of our ancestors during the winter.[282] In the Welsh “Meddygon Myddvai,” of the 13th century, a paragraph is devoted to the “Virtues of Mustard.” In household accounts of the 13th and 14th centuries, mustard under the name of _Senapium_ is of constant occurrence.

Mustard was then cultivated in England, but not as it would seem very extensively. The price of the seed between A.D. 1285 and 1395 varied from 1_s._ 3_d._ to 6_s._ 8_d._ per quarter, but in 1347 and 1376 it was as high as 15_s._ and 16_s._[283] In the accounts of the abbey of St. Germain-des-Prés in Paris, commencing A.D. 800, mustard is specifically mentioned as a regular part of the revenue of the convent lands.[284]

The essential oil of mustard was, apparently, noticed about the year 1660 by Nicolas Le Febvre (see in the article Rad. Inulae), more distinctly in 1732 by Boerhaave. Its acridity and high specific gravity were pointed out by Murray.[285] Thibierge in 1819 observed that sulphur was one of the constituents of the oil, and Guibourt[286] stated that it is not pre-existing in the seed.

=Production=—Mustard is grown in England only on the richest alluvial soils, and chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. Very good seed is produced in Holland.

=Description=—The pod of _Brassica nigra_ is smooth, erect, and closely pressed against the axis of the long slender raceme. It has a strong nerve on each of its two valves and contains in each cell from 4 to 6 spherical or slightly oval seeds. The seeds are about ¹/₂₅ of an inch in diameter and ¹/₅₀ of a grain in weight; they are of a dark reddish-brown. The surface is reticulated with minute pits, and often more or less covered with a whitish pellicle which gives to some seeds a grey colour.[287] The testa which is thin, brittle and translucent encloses an exalbuminous embryo having two short cotyledons folded together longitudinally and forming a sort of trough in which the radicle lies bent up. The embryo thus coiled into a ball completely fills the testa; the outer cotyledon is thicker than the inner, which viewed in transverse section seems to hold the radicle as a pair of forceps. The seeds when pulverized have a greenish yellow hue. Masticated they have for an instant a bitterish taste which however quickly becomes pungent. When triturated with water they afford a yellowish emulsion emitting a pungent acrid vapour which affects the eyes, and has a strong acid reaction. The seeds powdered dry have no such pungency. When the seeds are triturated with solution of potash, the pungent odour is not evolved; nor when they are boiled in water. Neither is the acridity developed on triturating them with alcohol, dilute mineral acids, or solution of tannin, or even with water when they have been kept in powder for a long time.

[282] Enclosed pasture land in England was rare, and there was but scanty provision for preserving stock through the winter, root crops being unknown. Hence in November there was a general slaughtering of sheep and oxen, the flesh of which was salted for winter use.—See also _Pharm. Journ._ viii. (1876, April 27) 862.

[283] Rogers, _Hist. of Agriculture and Prices in England_, i. (1866) 223.

[284] Guérard, _Polyptique de l’Abbé Irminon_, Paris, i. (1844) 715.

[285] _Apparatus medicaminum_, ii. (1794) 399.

[286] _Journ. de Pharm._ xvii. (1831) 360.

[287] The grey colour of the seed, which is attributed to rain during the ripening, is very detrimental to its value. The great aim of the grower is to produce seed of a bright reddish-brown, with no grey seed intermixed.

=Microscopic Structure=—The whitish pellicle already mentioned, which covers the seed, is made up of hexagonal tabular cells. The epidermis consists of one row of densely packed brown cells, radially elongated and having strong lateral and inner walls. Their outer walls on the other hand are thin and not coloured; they are not clearly obvious when seen under oil, but swell up very considerably in presence of water, emitting mucilage.[288] Seeds immersed in water become therefore covered with a glossy envelope, levelling down the superficial inequalities, so that the wet seed appears smooth. The tissue of the cotyledons exhibits large drops of fatty oil and granules of albumin.

=Chemical Composition=—By distilling brown mustard with water, the seed having been previously macerated, the pungent principle, _Essential Oil of Mustard_, is obtained.

The oil, which has the composition SCN(C₃H⁵), (allyl isosulphocyanate), boils at 148° C.; it has a sp. gr. of 1·017, no rotatory power, and is soluble without coloration or turbidity in three times its weight or more of cold strong sulphuric acid. To this oil is due the pungent smell and taste of mustard and its inflammatory action on the skin. As already pointed out, mustard oil is not present in the dry seeds, but is produced only after they have been comminuted and mixed with water, the temperature of which should not exceed 50° C.

The remarkable reaction which gives rise to the formation of mustard oil was explained by Will and Körner in 1863. They obtained from mustard a crystallizable substance, then termed _Myronate of potassium_, now called _Sinigrin_. It is to be regarded, according to the admirable investigations of these chemists, as a compound of

Isosulphocyanate of allyl or mustard oil C₄ H₆ NS
Bisulphate of potassium H KS O₄
Sugar (dextro-glucose) C₆ H₁₂ O₆
-----------------
so that the formula C₁₀ H₁₈ KNS₂ O₁₀

is that of sinigrin. It does in fact split into the above-mentioned three substances when dissolved in water and brought into contact with _Myrosin_.

[288] Most minutely described and figured by F. von Höhnel, in Haberlandt’s _Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete des Pflanzenbaues_, i. (Vienna, 1875) 171-202.

This albuminous body discovered by Bussy in 1839, but the composition of which has not been made out, likewise undergoes a certain decomposition under these circumstances. Sinigrin may likewise be decomposed by alkalis and, according to Ludwig and Lange, by silver nitrate. These chemists obtained sinigrin from the seeds in the proportion of 0·5 per cent.; Will and Körner got 0·5 to 0·6 per cent. The extraction of the substance is therefore attended with great loss, as the minimum yield of volatile oil, 0·42 per cent. indicates 2·36 of potassium myronate.

The aqueous solution of myrosin coagulates at 60° C. and then becomes inactive: hence mustard seed which has been heated to 100° C. or has been roasted yields no volatile oil, nor does it yield any if powdered and introduced at once into boiling water. The proportion of myrosin in mustard has not been exactly determined. The total amount of nitrogen in the seed is 2·9 per cent. (Hoffmann) which would correspond to 18 per cent. of myrosin, supposing the proportion of nitrogen in that substance to be the same as in albumin, and the total quantity of nitrogen to belong to it. Sometimes black mustard contains so little of it, that an emulsion of white mustard requires to be added in order to develop all the volatile oil it is capable of yielding.

An emulsion of mustard or a solution of pure sinigrin brought into contact with myrosin, frequently deposits sulphur by decomposition of the allyl sulphocyanide, hence crude oil of mustard sometimes contains a considerable proportion (even half) of _Allyl cyanide_, C₄H₅N, distinguished by its lower sp. gr. (0·839) and lower boiling point (118° C.).

The seeds, roots, or herbaceous part of many other plants of the order _Cruciferæ_ yield a volatile oil composed in part of mustard oil and in part of allyl sulphide

C₂H₅}
C₆H₁₀S = } S,
C₃H₅}

which latter is likewise obtainable from the bulbs of garlic. Many _Cruciferæ_ afford from their roots or seeds chiefly or solely oil of mustard, and from their leaves oil of garlic. As to other plants, the roots of _Reseda lutea_ L. and _R. luteola_ L. have been shown by Volhard (1871) to afford oil of mustard.[289] The strong smell given off by the crushed seeds or roots of several Mimoseæ, as for instance, _Albizzia lophantha_ Benth. (_Acacia_ Willd.) is perhaps due to some allied compound.

The artificial preparation of mustard oil was discovered in 1855 by Zinin, and at the same time also by Berthelot and De Luca. It may be obtained in decomposing bromide of allyl by means of sulphocyanate of ammonium:—

C₃H₅Br · SCN(NH₄) = NH₄Br · C₃H₅SCN.

The liquid C₃H₅SCN, boiling at 161°, is sulphocyanate of allyl; if it is gently warmed with a little alcoholic potash, and then acidulated, the red coloration of ferric sulphocyanate is produced on addition of perchloride of iron, but by submitting the sulphocyanate of allyl to distillation it is at once transformed in the isosulphocyanate, _i.e._ in mustard oil; the latter is not coloured by ferric salts, but it would appear that in the cold emulsion of mustard, even at 0°, a little sulphocyanate makes also its appearance.

Mustard submitted to pressure affords about 23 per cent.[290] of a mild-tasting, inodorous, non-drying oil, solidifying when cooled to -17·5° C., and consisting of the glycerin compounds of stearic, oleic and _Erucic_ or _Brassic Acid_. The last named acid, C₂₂H₄₂O₂, occurs also in the fixed oil of white mustard and of rape, and is homologous with oleic acid. Darby (1849) has pointed out the existence of another body, _Sinapoleic Acid_, C₂₀H₃⁸O₂, which occurs in the fixed oil of both black and white mustard. Goldschmiedt, in 1874, ascertained the presence also of _Behenic Acid_, C₂₂H₄₄O₂ in black mustard. Sinigrin being not altered by the extraction of the fatty oil, either by pressure or by means of bisulphide of carbon, the powdered seed, deprived of fatty oil, still yields the whole amount of the irritating “essential” oil. This important fact has been ingeniously used by Rigollot[291] for the preparation of his mustard paper.

[289] See also _Radix Armoraciæ_, p. 68.

[290] I have obtained as much as 33·8 per cent. by means of boiling ether.—F. A. F.

[291] _Journ. de Pharm._ vi. (1867) 269.

Mustard seed when ripe is devoid of starch; the mucilage which its epidermis affords amounts to 19 per cent. of the seed (Hoffmann). The ash constituents amounting to 4 per cent. consist chiefly of the phosphates of calcium, magnesium, and potassium.

=Uses=—Black mustard is employed in the form of poultice as a powerful external stimulant; but it is rarely used in its pure state, as the _Flour of Mustard_ prepared for the table, which contains in addition white mustard, answers perfectly well and is at hand in every house.[292]

The essential oil of mustard dissolved in spirit of wine is occasionally prescribed as a liniment.

=Substitute=—_Brassica juncea_ Hook. f. et Th. (_Sinapis juncea_ L.) is extensively cultivated throughout India (where _B. nigra_ is rarely grown), Central Africa, and generally in warm countries where it replaces _B. nigra_ and is applied to the same uses. Its seeds constitute a portion of the mustard of Europe, as we may infer from the fact that British India exported in the year 1871-72, of “_Mustard seed_” 1418 tons, of which 790 tons were shipped to the United Kingdom, and 516 tons to France.[293] _B. juncea_ is largely grown in the south of Russia and in the steppes north-east of the Caspian where it appears to flourish particularly well in the saline soil. At Sarepta in the Government of Saratov, an establishment has existed since the beginning of the present century where this sort of mustard is prepared for use to the extent of 800 tons of seed annually. The seeds make a fine yellow powder employed both for culinary and medicinal purposes. By pressure they yield more than 20 per cent. of fixed oil which is used in Russia like the best olive oil. The seeds closely resemble those of _B. nigra_ and afford when distilled the same essential oil; it is largely made at Kiew.

SEMEN SINAPIS ALBÆ.

_White Mustard_; F. _Moutarde blanche ou Anglaise_; G. _Weisser Senf_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Brassica alba_ Hook. f. et Th. (_Sinapis alba_ L.) This plant appears to belong to the more southern countries of Europe and Western Asia. According to Chinese authors[294] it was introduced into China from the latter region. Its cultivation in England is of recent introduction, but is rapidly extending.[295] The plant is not uncommon as a weed on cultivated land.

[292] The best _Flour of Mustard_ such as is made by the large manufacturers, contains nothing but brown and white mustard seeds. But the lower and cheaper qualities made by the same firms contain flour, turmeric, and capsicum. Unmixed flour of Black Mustard is however kept for those who care to purchase it.

[293] _Annual Statement of the Trade and Navigation of British India_, Calcutta, 1872. 62.

[294] Bretschneider, _Study of Chinese Botan. Works_, 1870. 17.

[295] Morton’s _Cycloped. of Agriculture_, ii. (1855) 440.

=History=—White mustard was used in former times indiscriminately with the brown. In the materia medica of the _London Pharmacopœia_ of 1720 the two sorts are separately prescribed. The important chemical distinction between them was first made known in 1831 by Boutron-Charlard and Robiquet.[296]

=Production=—White mustard is grown as an agricultural crop in Essex and Cambridgeshire.

=Description=—_Brassica alba_ differs from _B. nigra_ in having the pods bristly and spreading. They are about an inch long, half the length being occupied by a flat veiny beak. Each pod contains 4 to 6 yellowish seeds about ¹/₁₂ of an inch in diameter and ⅒ of a grain in weight. The brittle, nearly transparent and colourless testa encloses an embryo of a bright pure yellow and of the same structure as that of black mustard. The surface of the testa is likewise pitted in a reticulate manner, but so finely that it appears smooth except under a high magnifying power.

When triturated with water the seeds form a yellowish emulsion of very pungent taste, but it is inodorous and does not under any circumstances yield a volatile oil. The powdered seeds made into a paste with cold water act as a highly stimulating cataplasm. The entire seeds yield to cold water an abundance of mucilage.

=Microscopic Structure=—The epidermal cells of white mustard afford a good illustration of a mucilage-yielding layer such as is met with, under many variations, in the seeds of numerous plants. The cuticle consists of large vaulted cells, exhibiting very regular hexagonal outlines when cut across.[297] The inner layer of the epidermis is made up of thin-walled cells, which when moistened swell and give off the mucilage. In the dry state or seen under oil, the outlines of the single cells of this layer are not distinguishable. The tissue of the cotyledons is loaded with drops of fatty oil and with granular albuminoid matter; starch which is present in the seed while young, is altogether absent when the latter reaches maturity.

=Chemical Composition=—White mustard deprived of fatty oil yields to boiling alcohol colourless crystals of _Sinalbin_, an indifferent substance, readily soluble in cold water, but sparingly in cold alcohol. From the able investigations of Will (1870) it follows, that it is to be regarded as composed of three bodies, namely:

Sulphocyanate of Acrinyl C⁸ H₇ N S O
Sulphate of Sinapine C₁₆ H₂₅ N S O₉
Sugar C₆ H₁₂ O₆
-----------------
so that the formula C₃₀ H₄₄ N₂ S₂ O₁₆

[296] _Journ. de Pharm._ xvii. (1831) 279.

[297] An interesting object for the polarizing microscope.

represents according to Will the composition of sinalbin. It is actually resolved into these three substances when placed at ordinary temperatures, in contact with water and _Myrosin_, the latter of which is a constituent of white mustard as well as of brown (p. 66). The liquid becomes turbid, the first of the above-named substances separates (together with coagulated albumin) as an oily liquid, not soluble in water, but dissolving in alcohol or ether. This _Sulphocyanate of Acrinyl_ is the rubefacient and vesicating principle of white mustard. It does not pre-exist, as shown by Will, in the seed, and cannot be obtained by distillation. By treating it with a salt of silver, Will obtained crystals of cyanide of acrinyl, C₈H₇NO: by warming it (or sinalbin itself, or an alcoholic extract of the seed) with caustic potash, sulphocyanide of potassium is produced. The presence of the latter may be indicated by adding a drop of perchloride of iron, when a blood-red coloration will be produced.[298]

_Sulphate of Sinapine_ imparts to the emulsion of white mustard, in which it is formed, an acid reaction. Sinapine is itself an alkaloid, which has not yet been isolated, as it is very liable to change. Thus its solution on addition of a trace of alkali immediately assumes a bright yellow colour indicating decomposition, and a similar colour is produced in an aqueous extract of the seed.

The above statements show, that the chemical properties of sinalbin and its derivatives correspond closely with those of sinigrin (p. 66) and the substances which make their appearance in an emulsion of black mustard.

The other constituents of white mustard seed are nearly the same as those of black. The fat oil appears to yield in addition to the acids mentioned at p. 67, _Benic_ or _Behenic Acid_, C₂₂H₄₄O₂. White mustard is said to be richer than black in myrosin, so that, as explained in the previous article, the pungency of the latter may be often increased by an addition of white mustard. By burning white mustard dried at 100° C., with soda-lime, we obtained from 4·20 to 4·30 per cent. of nitrogen, answering to about 28 per cent. of protein substances.[299] The fixed oil of the seed amounts to 22 per cent. The mucilage as yielded by the epidermis is precipitable by alcohol, neutral lead acetate, or ferric chloride, and is soluble in water after drying.

_Erucin_ and _Sinapic Acid_, mentioned by Simon (1838)[300] as peculiar constituents of white mustard, are altogether doubtful, yet may deserve further investigation. The sinapic acid of Von Babo and Hirschbrunn[301] (1852) is a product of the decomposition of sinapine.

=Uses=—White Mustard seed reduced to powder and made into a paste with cold water act as a powerful stimulant when applied to the skin, notwithstanding that such paste is entirely wanting in essential oil. But for sinapisms they are actually used only in the form of the _Flour of Mustard_ which is prepared for the table and which contains also Brown Mustard seed.

[298] The red compound thus formed with sulphocyanide is readily soluble in ether, yet in the case of white mustard we find it _not_ to be so.

[299] Experiments performed by Mr. Weppen in my laboratory, 1869.—F. A. F.

[300] Gmelin, _Chemistry_, xiv. (1860) 521 and 529.

[301] Ibid. 521.

RADIX ARMORACIÆ.

_Horse-radish_; F. _Raifort_ (_i.e._ _racine forte_), _Cran de Bretagne_; G. _Meerrettig_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Cochlearia Armoracia L._, a common perennial with a stout tapering root, large coarse oblong leaves with long stalks, and erect flowering racemes 2 to 3 feet high. It is indigenous to the eastern parts of Europe, from the Caspian through Russia and Poland to Finland. In Britain and in other parts of Europe from Sicily to the polar circle, it occurs cultivated or semi-wild; in the opinion of Schübeler[302] it is not truly indigenous to Norway.

=History=—The vernacular name _Armon_ is stated by Pliny[303] to be used in the Pontic regions to designate the _Armoracia_ of the Romans, the Wild Radish (ῤαϕανὶς ἀγρία) of the Greeks, a plant which cannot be positively identified with that under notice.

Horse-radish is called in the Russian language _Chren_, in Lithuanian _Krenai_, in Illyrian _Kren_, a name which has passed into several German dialects, and as _Cran_ or _Cranson_ into French.

From these and similar facts, De Candolle[304] has drawn the conclusion that the propagation of the plant has travelled from Eastern to Western Europe.

Both the root and leaves of horse-radish were used as a medicine and also eaten with food in Germany and Denmark during the middle ages.[305] But the use of the former was not common in England until a much later period. The plant is mentioned in the _Meddygon Myddfai_ and was known in England as _Red-cole_ in the time of Turner, 1568, but is not quoted by him[306] as used in food, nor is it noticed by Boorde,[307] 1542, in his chapter on edible roots. Gerarde[308] at the end of the 16th century remarks that horse-radish—“is commonly used among the Germans for sauce to eat fish with, and such like meats, as we do mustard.” Half a century later the taste for horse-radish had begun to prevail in England. Coles[309] (1657) states that the root sliced thin and mixed with vinegar is eaten as a sauce with meat as among the Germans. That the use of horse-radish in France had the same origin is proved by its old French name _Moutarde des Allemands_.

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

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

[302] _Pflanzenwelt Norwegens_ (1873) 296.

[303] Lib. xix. c. 26 (Littré’s translation).

[304] _Géographie Botanique_, ii. (1855) 655.

[305] Meyer, _Geschichte der Botanik_, iii. (1856) 531; also Schübeler _l. c._; Pfeiffer, _Buch der Natur von Konrad von Megenberg_, Stuttgart, 1861. 418.

[306] _Herball_, part 2. (1568) 111.

[307] _Dyetary of Helth_, Early English Text Society, 1870. 278.

[308] _Herball_, edited by Johnson, 1636, 240.

[309] _Adam in Eden, or Nature’s Paradise_, Lond. 1657. chap. 256.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CANELLACEÆ.

CORTEX CANELLÆ ALBÆ.

_Canella Bark_, _Canella Alba Bark_; F. _Canelle blanche_; G. _Canella-Rinde_.

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

=History=—The drug was first mentioned in 1605 by Clusius,[311] who remarks that it had been then newly brought to Europe and had received the name of _Canella alba_ (White Cinnamon). It was afterwards known as _Costus Corticosus_, _Costus dulcis_, _Cassia alba_, _Cassia lignea Jamaicensis_ or _Jamaica Winter’s Bark_. Dale[312] writing in 1693 notices it as not unfrequently sold for Winter’s Bark. Pomet[313] (1694) describes it as synonymous with Winter’s Bark, and observes that it is common, yet but little employed.

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

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

[310] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, _Medic. Plants_, part 6 (1876).

[311] _Exotica_, 78.

[312] _Pharmacologia_, 432.

[313] _Hist. des Drog._ part i. 130.

[314] _Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series_, 1584-1660, Lond. 1860.

[315] O. Swartz, Trans. of the Linnean Soc., i. 96. See also Bonnet, _Monographie des Canellées_, 1876.

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

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

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

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

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

[316] Information communicated to me by the Hon. J. C. Lees, Chief-Justice of the Bahamas. The second beating would seem to be not always required.—D. H.

[317] A specimen in Sloane’s collection in the British Museum labelled “_Cortex Winteranus of the Isles_,” but under the microscope seen to be absolutely identical with canella alba, still retains its proper fragrance after nearly two centuries.—F. A. F.

[318] First figured and described by Oudemaus, —_Aanteekeningen op het ... Gedeelte der Pharm. Neerlandica_, 1854-56. 467.

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