852 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



the North of India." It is sometimes mentioned as Naipala, in- 

 dicating its coming from Nepal. Chiretta possesses the property 

 of a bitter tonic, but, unlike most other medicines of this class, 

 it does not constipate the bowels, but rather tends to produce a 

 regular action. It causes a free discharge of bile while 

 promoting a more healthy action, hence its position in Euro- 

 pean practice as a tonic to gouty persons. In his Hindu 

 Materia Mediea, U. 0. Dutt says it is tonic, febrifuge and 

 laxative, and is used in fever, burning of the body, intestinal 

 worms and skin diseases. It is particularly useful as a tonic or 

 mild febrifuge in fever. A powder containing about fifty ingre- 

 dients and known as Sudarsana churna is much used in chronic 

 febrile diseases by native doctors. It is an excellent bitter for 

 children, and should be taken every morning, then discontinued 

 for a time, thereafter to be resumed until the desired action has 

 been produced. Moodeen Sheriff Khan Bahadur and several 

 other authors have drawn attention to the adulterants of this 

 most valuable medicine. Those most frequently seen are S. 

 angustifolia, Ham. S. decussata. Nimmo ; S. elegans, Wight, 

 {vide Balfour's Cyclopedia of India, 3rd Edition, Vol. I., p. 701 \ 



At the request of the authors of the Pharmacographia, a chemical exami- 

 nation of chiretta was made by Hohn under the direction of Professor 

 Ludwig of Jena. The chief results may be thus described. Among the 

 bitter principles of the drug, Ophelic Acid, C 15 H 20 O 13 . occurs in the 

 largest proportion. It is an amorphous, viscid, yellow substance of an 

 acidulous, persistently bitter taste, and a faint gentian-like odour. With basic 

 acetate of lead, it produces an abundant yellow precipitate. Ophelic acid 

 does not form an insoluble compound with tannin ; it dissolves in water, 

 alcohol and ether. The first solution causes the separation of protoxide of 

 copper from an alkaline tartrate of that metal. 



A second bitter principle, Chiratin, C 26 R iS O l % may be removed by means 

 of tannic acid, with which it forms an insoluble compound. Chiratin is neutral, 

 not distinctly crystalline, light yellow hygroscopic powder, soluble in alcohol, 

 ether and in warm water. By boiling hydrochloric acid, it is decomposed into 

 Chiratogenin, C 13 H 24 0\ and Ophelic acid. Chiratogenin is a brownish, 

 amorphous substance, soluble in alcohol but not in water, nor yielding a tan- 

 nic compound. No sugar is formed in this decomposition. 



The results exhibit no analogy to those obtained in the analysis of the 

 European gentians. Finally Hohn remarked in chiretta a crystallisable, taste- 

 less yellow substance, but its quantity was so minute that no investigation 

 of it could be made. The leaves of chiretta. dried at 100° 0., afforded 7*5 por 



