6o 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



II. Woody cylinder containing vessels, 

 wood-cells and medullary rays. 



A. Root bark containing starch. 



1 . Medullary rays composed of a sin- 

 gle row of cells, woody centre visibly 

 porous = Lesser Striated Ipecacuanha. 



2. Medullary rays forming two or 

 three rows of cells ^= Undulated Ipecacu- 

 anha. 



B. Root bark containing imdi^i. 



1. Medullary rays of a single row of 

 cells, no starch, sphoeraphides in the 

 bark = White Ipecacuanha {a). 



2. Bark contains stone cells. 



3 Medullary rays broad = White Ipe- 

 cacuanha {U). 



III. Rhizome having a monocotyle- 

 donous structure, brown pigme?it cells in 

 parenchyma, acicular raphides and starch 

 present = False Indiari Ipecacuanha. 



It should be remarked that although 

 it is comparatively easy to identify any 

 of the spurious ipecacuanhas b}' their 

 microscopical structure it is by no means 

 so easy to detect the presence of the 

 spurious roots in powder, since in ^^everal 

 of them starch and acicular raphides are 

 present, and the starches can only be de- 

 termined by careful and repeated exami- 

 nations and measurements. This in- 

 sufficiency of the microscope in enabling 

 one to conclusively pronounce upon the 

 value of a sample leads to the hope that 

 a method of assay will soon be devised. 

 A number of investigators are at present 

 engaged upon this subject, and the 

 striking absence of agreement in the re- 

 sults of different workers in the determi- 

 nation of the alkaloid in ipecacuanha, 

 seems to arise from to lack of investiga- 

 tors in preserving throughout the entire 

 treatment, conditions which are suited 

 to the character of the material operated 

 upon, and of the alkaloid contained 



therein. 



* 



B. H- Paul snd A. J. Cownley have 



recently found that the alkaloid emetine 

 is not a homogeneous body, but a mix- 

 ture of two or more different substances. 

 They have found an amorphous alkaloid 

 associated with others which are dis- 

 tinctly crystalline, and which are very 

 different from each other in both chemi- 

 cal and physical characters. The au- 

 thors are at present engaged in preparing 

 such quantities of the several alkaloids of 

 ipecacuanha as will admit of the chemical 

 characters being studied so as to furnish 

 data for their separation and identifica- 

 tion, besides furnishing material for as- 

 certaining their respective therapeutic 

 effects Meanwhile it must be pointed 

 out that there is no ground whatever in. 

 the assumption that ipecacuanha stems 

 possess properties which justify the ad- 

 mixture with the roots. So far as any- 

 thing is known, it points in the opposite 

 direction. 



C. C. Keller has recently modified the 

 process of assay (see Most Recent Work) 

 recommended by him, and concludes that 

 Ipecacuanha of the best quality should 

 contain not less than 2.5 per cent, of 

 alkaloid. Paul and Cownle}' incline to 

 the opinion that the percentage amount 

 of alkaloid does not vary much from two 

 per cent. A number of examples ex- 

 amined by J. Attfield contained two per 

 cent. 



The results of assay and microscopical 

 examinationsof ipecacuanha led A. R. L- 

 Dohme to conclude that : The inner 

 ' ' woody portion' ' of the root contains very 

 little emetine and that most of the emetine 

 is situated in the cork layer and the par- 

 enchyma cells adjoining. C. C Keller 

 likewise finds that while the cortical por- 

 tion of the root contains nearly 3 per cent, 

 of alkaloid, the woody portion does not 

 contain much more than 0.5 per cent., 

 and he advocates the separation of the 

 central woody portion of the root in the 

 grinding. 



