168 The Philippine Journal of Science 1917 



Philippines are not indigenous, but are found throughout the 

 Malay Archipelago and India, while others are closely related 

 to those occurring elsewhere. In India various species have been 

 used both by European and native practitioners for medicinal 

 purposes and are rated in their pharmacopoeias as valuable drugs. 

 This investigation of Philippine plants will show whether the 

 same medicinal value is possessed by the species found here, 

 will classify the active principles present, and will, where pos- 

 sible, furnish an accurate identification of the therapeutic body. 

 No attempts will be made to furnish complete physiological tests 

 of the active substances. 



Individuals of related species or even plants of identical species 

 may have different physiological constituents. Chernoff and 

 others 3 state : 



It is possible that saponins from the same species of plants may differ, 

 depending on the place where grown and the time of year when picked. 

 We have some evidence of this point from work done recently on other 

 species of plants. 



The general methods used for the analysis of the plant ma- 

 terials are those of Dragendorff, 4 Robert, 5 van Rijn,' ; Allen, 7 and 

 other investigators who have worked on various medicinal plants. 

 References to the latter are given in place. 



In our investigations work has been based on material taken 

 from fresh specimens collected and identified by the botanists 

 of the Bureau of Science. In order to eliminate any possible 

 loss due to decomposition, volatilization, and other factors during 

 the drying period, work was done on both fresh and dried ma- 

 terial. Quick drying of samples was obtained in a Freas oven 

 at a temperature of 101° C. No appreciable changes were found 

 in the analysis of the two differently prepared samples. Before 

 extraction, the dried portion of the plant, supposed to contain 

 the active principle, was ground to a fine powder. After mac- 

 eration or percolation in the cold from eight to ten days the 

 sample was usually extracted hot with the same solvent in order 

 -to assure complete extraction. Small samples of the plants 



3 Chernoff, L. H., Vichoever, A., and Johns, C. 0., Journ. Biol. Chem. 

 (1917), 28, 438. 



4 Dragendorff, G., Plant Analysis. Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, London 

 (1884). 



5 Robert, R., Beitrage zur Renntnis der Saponinsubstanzen f iir Natur- 

 forscher, Arzte, Medizinalbeamte. Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart (1904). 



"van Rijn, J. J. L., Die Glykoside. Gebriider Borntraeger, Berlin (1900). 

 7 Allen's Commercial Organic Analysis. Blakiston's Son & Co., Phila- 

 delphia (1913). 



