554 CANNABINE^. 



Notwithstanding the extensive production of hops in England, there 

 is a large importation from other countries. The importation in 1872 

 was 135,965 cwt., valued at £679,270: of this quantity, Belgium supplied 

 66,630 cwt., Germany 36,612 cwt., Holland 16,675 cwt., the United 

 States 10,414 cwt., France 5328 cwt. During the same period hops 

 were exported from the United Kingdom to the extent of 31,215 cwt.^ 



Uses — Hops are administered medicinally as a tonic and sedative, 

 chiefly in the form of tincture, infusion or extract. 



GLANDULiE HUMULI. 



Lupulina; Lupulin, Lupulinic Grains; Y.Lupidine; Q.Hopfendi'usen, 



Hopfenstcmh. 



Botanical Origin — Humulus Luiyidiis L. (see preceding article). 

 The minute, shining, translucent glands of the strobile constitute when 

 detached thei-efrom the substance called Lupulin. 



History — The glands of hop were separated and chemically ex- 

 amined by L. A. Planche, a pharmacien of Paris, whose observations 

 were first briefly described by Loiseleur-Deslongchamps in 1819." In 

 the following year, Br. A. W. Ives of New York^ published an account 

 of his experiments upon hops and their glands, to which latter he applied 

 the name oi Lupulin. Payen and Chevallier, Planche and others,made 

 further experiments on the same subject, endorsing the recommendation 

 of Ives that lupulin (or, as they preferred to call it, Lupuline) might be 

 advantageously used in medicine in place of hops. 



Production — Lupulin is obtained by stripping off" the bracts of hops, 

 and shaking and rubbing them ; and then separating the powder by a 

 sieve. The powder thus detached ought to be washed by decantation, 

 so as to remove from it the sand or earth with which it is alwa3''s con- 

 taminated ; finally it should be dried, and stored in well-closed bottles. 

 From the dried strobiles, 8 to 12 per cent, of lupulin may be obtained. 



Description — Lupulin seen in quantity appears as a yellowish- 

 brown granular powder, having an agreeable odour of hops and a bitter 

 aromatic taste. It is gradually wetted by water, instantly by alcohol or 

 ether, but not by potash or sulphuric acid. By trituration in a mortar 

 the cells are ruptured so that it may be worked into a plastic mass. 

 Thrown into the air and then ignited, it burns with a brilliant flame 

 like lycopodium. 



Microscopic Structure — The lupulinic gland or grain, like the 

 generality of analogous organSj is formed by an intumescence of the 

 cuticle of the nuculte and bracts of hop (see p. 552). Each grain is 

 originally attached by a very short stalk, which is no longer perceptible 

 in the drug. The gland, exhausted by ether and macerated in water, is 

 a globular or ovoid thin- walled sac, measuring from 140 to 240 mkm. 

 It consists of two distinct, nearly hemispherical parts ; that originally 



1 Annual Statement of the Trade of the ^ Silliman's Journ. of Science, ii. (1820) 



United Kingdom for 1872. 49. 93. 302. 



* Manuel des Plantes usuelles et indi- 

 genes, 1819. ii. 503. 



