208 



PHARMACOLOGICAL NOTES ON KOLA. 



By Fred. R. Kilmer, Chemist, New Brunswick. N.J., U.S.A.* 



In my judgment the work of the pharmacist does not end with his 

 chemical assay. 



Before a drug can be given a place on therapeutics, somebody must 

 first accurately determine its physiological action. The proper value 

 of a drug in medicine will largely depend upon the exhibition of its 

 constituents in their most active condition. The pharmacist must 

 know the physiological action as well as the chemical nature, else how 

 can he make an eligible pieparation ? 



With these thoughts, let us briefly review the pharmacology of the 

 drug before us. By chemical assay we have separated two alkaloids, 

 caffeine and theobromine. As found in the plant, they are so closely 

 combined as to be difficult of separation. Physiologically, their action 

 seems to materially differ from a simple mixture of the same two alka- 

 loids in equivalent proportions. From a chemical point of view we 

 have expressed the value of this drug on its alkaloidal contents, irres- 

 pective of all other constituents Is this the correct and the total 

 value P Is the measure of the drug summed up even by its total alka- 

 loidal contents ? Pharmacology would answer no. The alkaloids, 

 separate from the drug, while presenting actions that resemble those 

 of the drug itself, by no means replace or fully represent it. 



An assay in the drug under consideration, from various authorities 

 shows, besides the alkaloids named, sixteen other substances have been 

 set apart and named as follows : — 



Assay of Kola. 



Caffeine 

 Theobromine 

 Kolanin 

 Fat 



Essential oil 

 Resin 

 Tannin 

 Gluccse 

 Saccharose 

 Mucilage 

 Starch 

 Dextrine 

 Soluble salts 

 Ash 



Albuminoids 

 Coloring 

 Moisture 

 Cellulose 



100,000 



2,348 

 0,023 

 1,290 

 0,734 

 0,081 

 1,012 

 1,591 

 2,875 

 0,612 

 3,040 

 30,990 

 2,130 

 0.070 

 3,325 

 6,325 

 2,561 

 10,117 

 30,876 



* Abstract by the author of a lecture delivered at the Pharmaceutical Meeting 

 ol the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, January, 1896. 



