The Bengal dispensatory and pharmacopoeia. Chiefly compiled from the works of Roxburgh, Wallich, Ainslie, Wight and Arnot, Royle, Pereira, Lindley, Richard, and Fee, and including the results of numerous special experiments / by W.B. O'Shaughnessy.

  • O'Shaughnessy, William B. (William Brooke), Sir, 1809-1902.
Date:
1841-
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Bengal dispensatory and pharmacopoeia. Chiefly compiled from the works of Roxburgh, Wallich, Ainslie, Wight and Arnot, Royle, Pereira, Lindley, Richard, and Fee, and including the results of numerous special experiments / by W.B. O'Shaughnessy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    bark, solid white, and yellowish wThite internally, inodorous; at first insipid, then nauseous to the taste, almost always worm- eaten as sold in the shops, said to be frequently adulterated with the bryony root; no good analysis is on record of this root. It is said to be devoid of resin, but to contain an acrid principle of an oily character, soluble in alcohol, and exceed¬ ingly bitter. The purgative properties of the root are how¬ ever comparatively trifling. It was known in Europe be¬ fore the true jalap, Monard having described it in his history of American remedies, published in Seville, in 1595. Sp. 3. Ipomcea Turpethum. Vern. Teoree, Doodh-kulmee, &c. Hind. and Beng. Syn. Convolvulus Turp :—a native of Bengal, Ceylon, and India generally. Roxb. FI. Ind. i. p. 476. Root perennial, stems twining, several fathoms long, 3 to 4 sided, a little downy, with winged angles, leaves stalked, varying in form from cordate to linear, all pointed and lobed, or angular and downy. Peduncles axillary and many flowr- ered, flowers large, white, bractes oval, concave, velvety, de¬ ciduous, ovary on a glandular disk, stigma 2-lobed, capsules involved in the dry calyx, 4-sided, 2-celled, opening by an operculum, seeds round, black, one in each cell. The recent roots are very long, cylindrical, bent, branched, gorged with acrid milky juice, the dried roots are in broken pieces the thickness of the finger, and 4 or 5 inches long. They are separated from the ligneous part, and consist of a grey or slightly reddish cortical system, composed of paral¬ lel longitudinal fibres, and of proper vessels in which parti¬ cles of resin are observed ; inodorous, tasteless at first, sub¬ sequently nauseous and acrid. Boutron-Charlard’s analysis shews that this root contains resin, fatty matter, volatile oil, albumen, starch, yellow colour¬ ing matter, fibre, free malic acid, and various salts. The natives of Bengal use this root as a purgative, rub¬ bing up a slip of the bark with water on a stone and swal¬ lowing the emulsion thus formed. A strip six inches in length from a root as thick as the little finger is deemed a sufficient dose. Mr. Gordon, Dr. Glass, and Dr. Wallich have published several notices of its effects in Carey’s edition of Dr. Rox¬ burgh’s El. Ind. ii. p. 57. We have also subjected its pro¬ perties to careful clinical experiment, and we feel warranted in asserting that the action of the medicine is so extremely uncertain that it does not deserve a place in our Pharma¬ copoeia.