GENTIANA LUTEA. 
principle, which they named Gentianin, a substance resem- 
bling birdlime, a greenish oily matter, a free organic acid, a 
saccharine principle, gum, a tawny coloring matter, and woody 
fibre. Journ. de Physique, Vol. UXXXIV. 245. 
Professor Dulk of Konigsberg gives the following process 
for isolating the bitter principle. The alcoholic extract is 
macerated in water, and the solution, having been subjected 
to the vinous fermentation in order to separate the sugar, is 
treated first with acetate of lead, and then after filtration with 
subacetate of lead and a very little ammonia, in order to pre- 
cipitate the combination of the vegetable principle with oxide 
of lead, care being taken not to use too much ammonia, lest 
by its stronger basic powers it should separate the vegetable 
principle from the oxide. The precipitate thus obtained is 
washed with a little water, then mixed with a large propor- 
tion of the same fluid, and decomposed by hydro-sulphuric 
acid. The liquid, having been filtered, is evaporated with a 
gentle heat fo dryness, and the residue treated with alcohol of 
0.820. The alcoholic solution being evaporated yields the 
bitter principle, which ought to receive the name of Gentianin. 
It is a brownish-yellow, uncrystallizable substance, having, in 
a high degree, the very bitter taste of the root. It is almost 
insoluble in absolute alcohol, but soluble in ordinary alcohol, 
and very soluble in water. It reddens litmus, and appears to 
possess acid properties. 
Gentian root is tonic, stomachie, and in large doses aperient. 
In very large doses it is apt to load and oppress the stomach, 
_ to irritate the bowels, and even to occasion nausea and vomit- 
ing. Its use as a stomachic bitter is of a very ancient date, 
and is still perhaps the most generally employed of this class 
of medicines. Many of the complex preparations handed 
down from the Greeks and Arabians contain it among their 
ingredients, and it enters into most of the stomachic combi- 
nations employed in modern practice. It may be used in all 
cases of disease dependent on pure debility of the digestive 
organs, or requiring a general tonic impression. It has been 
found beneficial in dyspepsia, gout, hysteria, and jaundice. 
It is sometimes joined with the cinchona in intermittents, 
__ and, according as the circumstances of the cases for which it 
is prescribed direct, it may be combined with orange-peel, 
_ chalybeates, aromatics, squill, mineral acids, and neutral salts. 
_ On account of its antiseptic effects on dead animal matter, its 
_ powder has been used externally as an application to malig- 
_ nant and sloughing ulcers. The forms in which it is generally 
given are infusion and tincture. - 
_ Many other foreign species are employed as substitutes 
y gentian. In this country several indigenous kinds 
domestic practice, and appear to be fully _ 
= Boge i 
