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XXV. On Mudarine, the Active Principle of the Bark of the Root 

 of the Calotropis Mudarii, Buch.; and the singular influence 

 of Temperature upon its solubility in Water. By ANDREW 

 DUNCAN, M. D., F. R. S. Ed. Professor of Materia Medica in 

 the University of Edinburgh. 



(Read %Qth December 1830 J 



JL o the professional zeal and liberality of my lamented friend 

 Dr ADAM, late Secretary to the Medical Board at Calcutta, I am 

 indebted for many interesting specimens of the Materia Medica 

 of Hindostan. Among these was a large supply of the powder 

 of the bark of the Mudar or Mudhar, the Calotropis Mudarii of 

 Dr HAMILTON, which, with a nearly allied species, had been for- 

 merly referred to the genus Asclepias, under the trivial name of 

 gigantea. 



The high reputation which the Mudar Powder enjoyed 

 among the natives of India, as a specific for the cure of various 

 cutaneous diseases, induced Mr PLAYFAIR, Mr ROBINSON, and 

 Dr Vos, to investigate its action as a medicine. These gentle- 

 men gave favourable reports of its effects in India, in cutaneous 

 diseases, syphilitic affections, and tape-worm. 



Dr ADAM was desirous that it should be tried in the diseases 

 of this country, and that it should be subjected to chemical ana- 

 lysis, in order to ascertain the nature of its active constituent 

 principles. I lost no time in proceeding with both investigations. 

 The results of my first experiments were accordingly communi- 

 cated to the public, in a paper published in the Edinburgh Me- 

 dical and Surgical Journal in July 1829. Since that time, greatly 



