On the organic materia medica of the British Pharmacopoeia : two lectures delivered before the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, on February 24th and March 23rd, 1864 / by Robert Bentley.

Robert Bentley

Date:: [1865?]

Credit: On the organic materia medica of the British Pharmacopoeia : two lectures delivered before the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, on February 24th and March 23rd, 1864 / by Robert Bentley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$our Pharmacopoeia preparation will contain them both, as they are both soluble in alcohol. Podophyllum resin is described in the British Pharmacojioeia to be almost entirely soluble in pure ether, but we do not find the officinal resin so soluble as there stated. Besides these resinous principles, the alkaloid hcrhe- r/nc, together with sapo7iin, and another alkaloid, have been recently disco- vered by IMayer in Podophyllum.* In America, podophyllum rhizome and its preparations, and 'more especially that of the resin under the name of podophj/Uin, have long established their re- putation as active and certain cathartics. Podophyllin has also been very exten- sively employed for some years in this country and in other parts of the world, and is now, by almost universal testimony, regarded as a most valuable cathar- tic and cholagogue. In many cases it is applicable with perfect safety where mercury has been hitherto indicated and alone used. The griping effects which are frequently experienced by its use may be readily prevented by combining it with small doses of extract of henbane. The dose of podophyllum resin of the British Pharmacopoeia is from'a quarter to half a grain^ or even, in some cases, a grain. There can be no doubt but that Podophyllum is a very valuable addition to our British Pharmacopoeia; indeed, we have no hesitation in stating that it is by far the most important new remedial agent introduced into that volume. QuinijE Sulphas.—This very valuable remedial agent is now termed Sul- pliatii of Qiiinia instead of DisuJphafe of Quina as in the last London Pharma- copoeia. In the Materia Medica it is stated to be the sulphate of an alkaloid prepared from Yellow Cinchona Bark, and the bark of Cinchona laiicifoUa, Mutis; hence we should have naturally concluded that the authors of the PharmacopoBia inlended it to be prepared from both these barks, but upon referring to the Pre- prii-ations in another part of the volume, we find only Yellow Cinchona Bark or- d jred, and as under that name in the Materia IMedica, only one kind of bark is alluded to, namely, that derived from the Cinchona Calisai/a, Weddell, we pre- sume that the authors of the Pharmacopoeia intended it to be alone employed in tlie preparation of Sul])hate of Quinia. There is some inconsistency here between the Materia Medica and the part treating of the Preparations and Compounds. BosA CANiXA.—The ripe fruit of indigenous plants, deprived of the hairy seeds (achenes), is ordered in the British Pharmacopoeia. AVe have to remark here that the term achenc.t is wrongly applied to seeds, as an achenium is a kind of fruit,—that is, a pericarp with an enclosed seed ; moreover, the parts here called seeds are really fruits, and hence, if tlie authors of the Pharmacopccia had said the ripe fruit of indigenous plants, deprived of the hairy carpels (achenes), no exception could have been taken. Rosa cextifolia.—Rosa g.\llica.—Tlie fresh petals of the former, fully expanded, from plants cultivated in Britain ; and the fresh and dried imex- panded petals of the latter, also, from plants cultivate?! in Britain, are officinal. Those of the former are properly termed Cabbage-Rose petals, and petals of the hundred-leaved Rose ; and those of the latter, Red-Rose petals. ^Vc notice these roses because mistakes have often occurred from the Rosa gallica being called at Mitcliam and elsewhere, where it is cultivated, the Damask Rose, and the petals are frequently ordered and sold under that name ; but, properly speaking, the Damask Rose is the Rosa coitifilia, or, at least, a nearly allied species or variety of that plant. To avoid any confusion, it is to be desired that the names by which the two roses are alluded to in the Britisli Pharmacopoeia should be alone employed. Saisadili.a.—Cevadilla is new as a distinct article of the ^Fateria Medica to the present British Pharmacojia'ia as compared with the last published London * Pliann. Journ. vol. iv. 2ud sev. p. 517.$