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.

Date:
1864
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

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 Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    dried dandelion root. AVe are again at a loss to understand these discrepancies between the Materia Medica and the Preparations and Compounds. In another issue of the British Pharmacopoeia it will not only be desirable to order dried roots as well as fresh in the Materia hledica, but absolutely necessary if the Decoctum is to be retained ; for otherwise this preparation can only be prepared according to the Pharmacopoeia directions at certain seasons, which would be absurd.* The best time for collecting Dandelion roots for use in medicine has been re- peatedly alluded to in papers published in the Pharmaceutical Journal, and the opinion wliich I have frequently publicly stated, remains unchanged ; namely, that the roots are most afitive at the end of February or beginning of March.f According to the directions given in the British Pharmacopoeia, Dandelion roots may be collected any time between September and February. It is clearly a mistake, however, to order them to be obtained in the winter months, as frost has a manifest effect upon their activity. Next to the time I have indicated, I be- lieve the best period to be from the middle of October to the middle or end of November. Tragacantha.—Tragacanth is said to be a gummy exudation from the stem of Astragcdns verus^ Olivier ; and possibly other species. On the table is a specimen of Astragalus gummifer^ brought from Syria by Mr. Daniel Hanbury, and now in the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society, on which gum tragacanth may be seen concreted on the surface of the stem. The tragacanth of this plant does not, however, appear to be found in commerce ; although there can be but little doubt that commercial Tragacanth is derived from more than one species of Astragalus ; but what those species are is, at present, doubtful. Tragacanth is stated in the British Pharmacopoeia to be a gummy exudation from the stem ; but the best flaky Tragacanth is not a spontaneous exudation, as would be in- ferred from the Pharmacopoeia, but the gum which flows from the stem after incision, as any one may convince himself by examining the fine specimen of flaky Tragacanth in situ which is upon the table.| Ulmus.—“ The dried inner hark\ deprived of its outer layers; from trees in- digenous to, and cultivated in Britain,” is ordered in the Pharmacopoeia. AVe presume that the hark deprived of its outer layers is intended, and that the whole of the inner bark should be used. Only one preparation of Elm Bark is mentioned in the Materia Medica, napiely, the Decoctum; but no such preparation, or any other, so far as we can ascertain, is to be found among the Preparations and Compounds. Hence, here we have a substance placed in the Materia Medica solely on account of its pre- paration, which preparation is afterwards omitted. This is another of the many illustrations which the'British Pharmacopoeia presents of the discrepancies which exist between the Materia Medica and the part treating of the Preparations and Compounds. AVe have now finished our critical and explanatory notices of the articles of the Organic Materia Medica of the British Pharmacopoeia, and we trust that throughout our lectures we have kept prominently in view the remarks we made at their commencement, which were as follows:—AVhen we consider the great dif- ficulties that the framers of this national work have had to encounter, I feel sure that you will all agree with me, that whatever errors it may contain and whatever its shortcomings may be, we should make all reasonable allowances for them, and approach its consideration and critical examination in a philosophic and friendly * Prof. Bontley, “ On the Characters of Dandelion Boot,” Pharm. Journ. vol. xvi. p. 304. t Pharin. Journ. vol. xiv. p. 260, and vol. i. 2nd ser. p. 402. X Journ. de Pharm. etde Chiraie, Feb. 1856, p. 117, and Fob. 1857, p. 149; Pharm. Journ. vol. XV. p. 18. ^
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