i84 



NA TURE 



[August 12, 190Q 



the author has been very largely successful in his 

 endeavour to adapt the subject to the comprehension 

 of those to whom the book would be most useful. It 

 is not even yet easy reading — it is doubtful if any 

 thorough text-book of physical chemistry can be easy 

 reading — but no intelligent advanced student of 

 chemistry can neglect to peruse and ponder it if he 

 wishes to be abreast of the latest developments of the 

 theoretical side of his science in their actual and in 

 their potential aspects. We learn with pleasure that 

 an English translation of this important work is in 

 course of preparation. 



THE CHEMISTRY OF DRUGS. 



(i) Grimdriss dcr Pharmakochcmie. By Dr. O. A. 

 Oesterle. Pp. xii+562. (Berlin : Gebr. Born- 

 traeger, 1909.) Price 17.50 marks. 



(2) Soiithall's Organic Materia Mcdica. A Haiidhook 

 treating of the more important of the Animal a)id 

 Vegetable Drugs made use of in Medicine, including 

 the whole of those contained in the British Pharma- 

 copoeia. By J. Barclay. Seventh edition. Revised 

 and enlarged by E. W. Mann. Pp. xx + 376. 

 (London : J. and A. Churchill, 1909.) Price ys. 6d. 

 net. 



(0 T^LRIXG the past quarter of a century a 

 -L^ steadily increasing amount of attention 

 has been devoted to the study of crude drugs. The 

 investigations of these have proceeded largely upon 

 botanical lines, many researches having been jjub- 

 lished on the morphology and anatomy of vegetable 

 drugs and the microscopical characters of" their 

 powders. The authors of modern text-books of 

 pharmacognosy have, in most instances, confined 

 themselves almost entirely to dealing with their 

 subject from this point of view, and have been 

 very niggardly in the treatment of the historv, com- 

 merce, and chemistry of drugs. Great strides have, 

 however, been made in the chemical investigation of 

 the constituents of vegetable as well as animal drugs. 

 The constitution of many has been satisfactorily eluci- 

 dated, and not a few have been synthetically prepared. 

 The literature of these investigations is, unfortunately, 

 scattered in various journals and special publications^ 

 and every teacher of pharmacognosy will have experi- 

 enced the difficulty of, as well as the necessity for, 

 collecting such information, notwithstanding the useful 

 works of Briihl, Pictet, van Rijn, Schmidt, Dekker, 

 and others. 



Prof. Oesterle's work appears, therefore, most op- 

 portunely. He deals with those crude organised vege- 

 table drugs the constitution of the constituents of 

 which has been more or less completely ascertained, 

 but has excluded the resins and oleo-re'sins, as these 

 have recently been exhaustively treated by his col- 

 league. Prof. Tschirch. 'The individual drugs are 

 grouped according to their characteristic constituents, 

 a rational arrangement, since allied constituents com- 

 monly have similar therapeutic action, and it is for 

 this that drugs are employed. The important con- 

 stituents alone are considered, but they are considered 



NO. 2076, VOL. Si] 



very fully. The manner in which their constitution 

 may be demonstrated, the successive stages in their 

 decomposition, and the synthesis of the substance 

 itself or of a characteristic decomposition-product are 

 fully explained, though perhaps here and there specu- 

 lation is somewhat in evidence. To the section of 

 alkaloidal drugs 159 pages are devoted, to aromatic 

 drugs 247, to glucosidal 46, to colouring matters 64, 

 and to tannoids 12. Hence the second section has the 

 lion's share, which, perhaps, is scarcely in accordance 

 with its importance from the therapeutical point of 

 view. To the constituents of opium 33 pages are de- 

 voted, to those of cinchona bark 19, while the con- 

 sideration of menthone alone occupies 7. 



Hvdrastine may be selected as an example of the 

 manner in which the constituents are treated. First 

 the steps are shown by which hydrastine, by exhaustive 

 methvlation, is converted into hydrastonic and hemi- 

 pinic acids, the constitutional formulae, occupying three 

 pages, being given ; next the production of hydra- 

 stinine and opianic acid from hydrastine, and the 

 conversion of hydrastinine into oxyhydrastinine and 

 hydrastininic acid are shown together with the produc- 

 tion from the latter of hydrastic acid and methyl- 

 amine ; then the action of caustic alkali upon hydra- 

 stinine resulting in the formation of hydrohydra- 

 stinine and oxvhydrastinine is explained, and finally 

 the svnthesis of hydrohydrastinine from piperonal and 

 acetalamine. 



-A slight feeling of regret may be expressed that the 

 author has confined himself to vegetable drugs, as 

 those of animal origin contain several important con- 

 stituents which have been isolated and examined. 



Prof. Oesterle's work will be heartily welcomed by 

 all who are interested in the constituents of drugs. It 

 forms a unique contribution to scientific pharma- 

 cognosy, and will undoubtedly stimulate others to 

 labour in a similar field. 



(2) The fact that this work has now reached its 

 seventh edition is sufficient testimony of the estimation 

 in which it has been held, and the new issue, revised 

 by Mr. Mann, who is well known for his contributions 

 to the chemistry of drugs, will doubtless enjoy a 

 similar popularity. 



The general arrangement of the subject-matter 

 remains the same, but increased attention has rightly 

 been given to the chemical constituents of drugs, which 

 have been dealt with, on the whole, in a very satis- 

 factory manner, although here and there, as, for in- 

 stance, the cyanogenetic glucosides of cherry-laurel 

 leaves, wild cherry bark, &c., they have not been 

 brought quite up to date. So far as the utility of the 

 work from the point of view of the student is con- 

 cerned, there are certainly two or three weak points. 

 In the first place, the restriction of the description of 

 official drugs to the characters given in the British 

 Pharmacopceia has involved the omission of much that 

 is important as well as interesting. Official descrip- 

 tions of drugs are necessarily brief, and mucn that the 

 student should observe and know concerning them is 

 omitted. Details of the production, collection, pre- 

 paration for the market, commerce, history, &c., are 

 but meagre. Considerable help might have been 



