Pharmacographia : a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin, met with in Great Britain and British India / by Friedrich A. Flückiger and Daniel Hanbury.

  • Friedrich August Flückiger
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pharmacographia : a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin, met with in Great Britain and British India / by Friedrich A. Flückiger and Daniel Hanbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    698/736 page 672
    water. Powdered iodine will now immediately impart to it while still moist an intense blue. Its composition, C10H20O10, agrees with that of starch and cellulose; and it must be regarded as a modification of the latter, being likewise soluble in water and in ammoniacal solution of copper. Lichenin is not a kind of mucilage, because it yields but insignificant traces of mucic acid, if treated with concentrated nitric acid; and also because it contains no inorganic constituents.1 The very trifling proportion of mucic acid it furnishes, may depend upon the presence, in small amount, of an independent mucilaginous body. The chlorophyll of the gonidia is not soluble in hydrochloric acid, and hence is distinguished by Knop and Schnedermann as Thallochlor; its quantity is extremely small. The bitter principle of cetraria, called Cctraric Acid or Cetrarin, ClsHl6Os, crystallizes in microscopic needles, is nearly insoluble in cold water, and forms with alkalis, yellow, easily soluble, bitter salts. The lichen also contains a little sugar, and about 1 per cent, of a peculiar body, Zicheno-stearic Acid, C14H3403, the crystals of which melt at 120° C. The Lichcnic Acid found by Pfaff in 1826 in Iceland moss, and formerly regarded as a peculiar compound, has been proved identical with fumaric acid. In common with many lichens, cetraria contains Oxalic Acid and is said to yield also some tartaric acid. The ash which amounts to 1-2 per cent., consists to the extent of two-fifths, of silicic acid combined chiefly with potash and lime. Collection and Commerce—Iceland moss is collected in many districts where the plant abounds, at least for local use, as in Sweden, whence some is shipped to other countries. It is also gathered in Switzerland, especially on the mountains of the canton of Lucerne, and in Spain.2 None is exported from Iceland. Uses—It is given in decoction as a mild tonic, combined with more active medicines. It is very little employed in Iceland, and only in seasons of scarcity, when it is sometimes ground and mixed with the flour used in making the grout or grain soup. Occasionally it is taken boiled in milk. It is not given, as has been asserted, to domestic animals. An interesting application of Iceland moss has recently been tried in Sweden. Sten-Stenberg treats it with sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, when 72 per cent, of grape sugar are formed, which may be con- verted into alcohol.3 FUNGI. SECALE CORNUTUM. Ergota 4 ; Ergot of Rye, Spurred Rye ; P. Scigle crgoM; G. MutterTcom. Botanical Origin—Claviceps purpurea Tulasne, a fungus of the order Pyrenomycetes, of which ergot is an immature form, it being the 1 The various mucilages and gums yield from 4 to 20 per cent, of ash, but pure ichenin yields none. 2 Cat. of Spanish Productions,—London Exhibition, 1851. 3 Dinglers Polytcchnischcs Journal, 197 (1870) 177 ; also Chemischcs Ccntralblatt, ] 1870. 607. 4 From the French ergot, anciently argot, J a cock’s spur.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3