Feb. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST 



THE INDIGENOUS PLANTS OP VICTORIA. 323 



lowering influence upon the heart's action. As a medicine, it has been 

 introduced into the hospitals, and employed in cases of heart disease ; 

 the dose Leing one drop administered at intervals of six or eight hours. 

 In large quantities it must he regarded as a dangerous poison. Robbed 

 externally upon the skin, it does not, like the myrtaceous oils, act as a 

 rubefacient or irritant. 



In the preparation of this liquid the hark is reduced — if possible 

 while it is yet green — to small shavings or chips ; 100 lbs. of these when 

 dry yield 18 ounces 6 drachms. 



The leaves of the Victorian sassafras also yield an essential oil, of 

 which as yet no examination has been made. 



Although partaking of the nature of a digression, it has been thought 

 advisable to attach to the description of the oil of the Victorian native 

 sassafras the following remarks, bearing upon some of the other proxi- 

 mate constituents of this interesting bark. 



For some years past it has been known that a decoction of the bark 

 of the Aiherosperma moschatum was possessed of valuable therapeutic 

 properties, as a diuretic and diaphoretic, some of the first physicians in 

 Victoria having employed it also in bronchial affections with beneficial 

 results. The decoction of this drug is a dark-coloured fluid, of a pecu- 

 liar bitter flavour, from which by far the greater part, if not the whole, 

 of the volatile oil is exjselled by boiling. To the latter substance there- 

 fore its physiological effects cannot he ascribed, and require to be sought 

 for in some other active agent. Judging from these facts, Dr. Mueller 

 acquired the conviction that the bark contained an alkaloid, or other 

 equally important substance, the investigation of which would lead to 

 valuable practical results ; and he accordingly forwarded a quantity of 

 the new drug to Professor Dr. Wittstein, of Munich, who entrusted its 

 analysis to M. N. J. Zeyer, and the result has proved that Dr. Mueller's 

 anticipations were well founded. 



M. Zeyer has published a detailed and very interesting account of 

 the results arrived at, and the methods he employed to obtain them. 

 He found the bark to contain, in addition to woody fibre, an essential 

 oil, a fat oil, colouring matter, wax, albumen, gum, sugar, an alkaloid, 

 starch, resin, tannic acid, butyric acid, and oxalic acid, together with 

 inorganic substances consisting chiefly of lime, salica, and the alkalies, 

 and amounting in weight to 4-05 per cent, of the bark, dried at 212° F. 



Of the above substances, the alkaloid is undoubtedly the most im- 

 portant ; its existence has not hitherto been known, and to it the name 

 of Atherospermine has been given. The properties of this substance 

 are peculiar, and without entering too much into detail, the more im- 

 portant of them may be summed up in a few words. 



Atherospermine presents the appearance of a greyish white powder, 

 exceedingly light, and electric ; its particles showing a great tendency 

 to adhere together in little masses. It has no smell, and tastes per- 

 sistently bitter. Under the microscope it gives indications of a com- 



