29G CUCUEBITACEiE/ 



fruit contains from 200 to 300, arc of flattened ovoid form -l of an 

 Ik-'^i ^°"o by -fjy broad, not bordered. The testa which is 'hard and 

 thick havuig its surface minutely granulated, is marked on eacli 

 side of its more pointed end by two furrows directed towards the 

 hilum. The seed, as in other Oucurhitacem, is exalbuminous, and has 

 thick oily cotyledons, enclosing an embryo with short straic^ht radicle 

 directed towards the hilum. 



Colocynth fruits are mostly supplied by wholesale druggists, broken 

 up and having the seeds removed, the drug in such case bein^ called 

 Colocynth Pulp or Pith. 



Microscopic Structure— The pulp is made up of large thin- 

 walled parenchymatous cells, their outer layer consisting of rows of 

 smaller cells more densely packed. The tissue is irregularly traversed 

 by fibro-vascular bundles, and also exhibits numerous large inter- 

 cellular spaces. The cells contain but an insignificant amount of 

 minute granules, to which neither iodine nor a persalt of iron 

 imparts any coloration. The tissue is not much swollen by water, 

 although one part of the pulp easily retains from 10 to 12 parts of 

 water like a sponge. 



_ Chemical Composition — The bitter principle has been isolated 

 m 1847 by Hubschmann.' Pie observed that alcohol removes from the 

 truit a large amount of resin. By submitting this solution to distilla- 

 tion, the bitter principle remains partly in the aqueous liquid, partly iu 

 the resin, from which the " ColocyntUn " is to be extracted by boiling 

 water. The whole solution was then concentrated and mixed with 

 carbonate of potassium, when a thickish viscid liquid separated. 

 Hubschmann dried it and redissolved it in a mixture of 1 part of strong 

 alcohol and 8 parts of ether. After treatment with charcoal, the sol- 

 vents were distilled and the remaining bitter principle removed by 

 means of w^ater. This on evaporating afforded 2 per cent, of the pulp 

 ot a yellow extremely bitter powder, readily soluble in water or alcohol, 

 not in pure ether. Colocynthin is precipitated from its aqueous solution 

 by carbonate of potassium. Colocynthin was further extracted by 

 Lebourdais (1848) by evaporating the aqueous infusion of the f^t 



with charcoal, and exhausting the dried powder with boiling alcohol. 

 A„-:_ ,, .. . t. f He treated 



alcoholic extract of colocynth with water, and mixed the solution tirsti} 

 with neutral acetate of lead, and subsequently with basic acetate ol 

 lead From the filtered liquid the lead was separated by means oi 

 sulphuretted hydrogen, and then tannic acid added to it. ^^'^ 



i the colocynthin to be precipitated; the precipitate washea 

 as decomposed by oxide of lead, and finally the colocyntnm 



latter caused 

 and dried was 



was dissolved out by^ether 

 Wal - 



tufts, 



wiiicli he considered as possessing crystalline structure and to vmL 



r5oJ;n^3 *^,'. ,"^^^« Colocynthin. . He assigns to it the fornu^ 

 Vi y'.' ^'^^ich m our opinion requires further investigation ^" 

 nthm IS a violent purgative; it is decomposed according to ^JJJ'^qJ 



cynthin 



K -r i-i . V ^'^ i^uigjiuive; it is ciecomposea accoiuin^ "V^LTj^anis 

 boiling dilute hydrochloric acid, and then yields Colocynthein, C"^' ^^{ 



and grape sugar. 



same 



that part 



^ Schweizerische Zeitschriftfur Pharmacie, 1858. 216 



