The development of chemistry and its relation to pharmacy / [Frederick Belding Power].
- Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927.
- Date:
- 1884
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The development of chemistry and its relation to pharmacy / [Frederick Belding Power]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![ledge respecting the botanical source or identity of plants and plant products which are intended to be used for chemical investigation, as otherwise much uncertainty or confusion is likely to occur. Fortunately, there still remains a con¬ necting link between the days of Hanbury and the present generation which enables such information to be secured, for no one can be considered to possess a more exact and comprehensive knowledge of drugs than the accomplished Curator of the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society. Hi's recent contribution to the history and source of myrrh (P.J., 1913, 91, 116) has further elucidated a subject which forty years ago had likewise engaged the attention of Hanbury (compare ‘ Science Papers,’ p. 378), and in the communica¬ tions of the earlier and the later investigator one may observe the same careful consideration of facts and precision of statement. The first communication made by Daniel Hanbury to the Pharmaceutical Society was in 1850, and was entitled, “ On Turnsole” (Pharm. ./., 1850,.9, 308). Although a short paper, on account of its orderly arrangement and clearness of diction it might still serve as a model for scientific writers. It is quite probable that the word turnsole (Fr. Tournesol] is not very familiar to either the pharmacists or chemists of the present day. In the course of time it has, in fact, been applied to several plants or products, and considerable con¬ fusion has thus been produced. In accordance with its etymology the name has been given to the heliotrope, and also to Euphorbia helioscopia, Linne, with reference either to the supposed turning of the flower toward the sun or the flowering of the plants at the summer solstice. The word turnsole has, however, been more particularly employed to designate a product obtained from the small euphorbiaceous plant, Grozophora tinctoria, A. Juss1. (Croton tinctorium, Linne), which is indigenous to Southern Europe and the Orient. The expressed juice of the plant is said to be at first of a dark green colour, but speedily to assume a purple hue on exposure to the air. Coarse hempen cloths were soaked in this juice, then dried, and exposed to the vapour of ammonia, after whicih treatment, and under the name of turnsole rags, they were shipped to Holland. When steeped in water, which extracts all the colour, the rags yield a (bright purple solution, and this is said to be reddened on the addition of an acid or an alkali. It was the special ob¬ ject of Mr. Hanbury ;s inquiry to ascertain the uses to which these rags were put by the Dutch, and, although quoting one author as asserting that the use of turnsole is confined to colouring the exterior of cheese, he concludes his paper by stating that “we are still in want of more precise informa¬ tion.” It may, therefore, now be noted that some further information on the subject has in the meantime been re- 1 Hanbury attributes the botanical name of the plant to Endlicher,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30579375_0036.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
