“It appears from hence, that the juice, after the fecula, or eluterium has subsided, contains but very little of the active prin- 
ciple ; and that, probably, from the fecula having imperfectly subsided. 
“With regard to the sensible and chemical properties of the fecula, which subside spontaneously from the juice contained 
within the cucumber, as above described, and which alone appears to be the true elaterium, I have already observed that it is a 
light, pulverulent substance, of a very pale green colour, approaching to yellowish white. To the taste it is acrid and bitterish. 
The juice itself, as it escapes from the cucumber, readily inflames the skin of the fingers ; and on getting accidently into the eye 
in one instance, it occasioned severe pain and inflammation, with an erysipelatous swelling of the eyelids, that continued till the 
following day. 
“Much of this medicine, as it is ordinarily met with in the shops, is of a dark green colour, approaching to black : it is 
likewise compact and heavy, and breaks with a shining resinous fracture. This is usually prepared by strong pressure of the cu- 
cumber, and consists of course, in great part, of the ordinary juices, as well as the elaterium. It is very uncertain in its opera- 
tion, and very weak, in comparison with that which has been properly prepared. The quantity is much increased by this mode 
of preparation ; and hence it is sold at a much lower rate. The difference in price of this drug is extreme; the Apothecaries’ 
Company charging sometimes as much as twelve shillings a dram, while it is sold at Corbyn’s and some other shops, at four 
shillings. The quality, indeed, is superior at the Hall ; but in no degree proportioned to the price. Yet I do not believe that 
either obtains an exorbitant profit ; the difference arising chiefly from the mode of preparation, which, by the Apothecaries’ 
Company, who adhere rigidly to the directions of the Pharmacopoeia, is extremely wasteful, as I have satisfied myself by in- 
spection. 
“ With respect to the chemical properties of this substance, I shall enter no further into these, than is connected with the 
purposes of pharmacy. 
“ Water, whether hot or cold, appears to have no action on pure elaterium. An infusion of eight grains, when filtered, 
produced no effect. Its insolubility in water, indeed, might be inferred from its spontaneous subsidence in the fluid : yet it is 
said, by Dr. Woodville, in his ‘Medical Botany,’ to be soluble both in spirit and in water. What it is that keeps the elaterium 
in a state of solution in the juice as first discharged, I have not ascertained.” 
For this problem. Dr. Thompson proposes the following solution. He says, “The insolubility of elatin 
in water suggests a query: — What keeps it in solution in the juice of the fruit? Were I to suggest an 
opinion, it would be, that elatin does not exist completely formed in the fruit ; the fecula, which subsides 
when the juice runs out, is in part the consequence of an oxidizement of it; for it becomes turbid soon after 
it is exposed to the air; and it loses much of its activity or rather it does not become so active, when it is 
dried in a bright sun-shine, as when it is dried in the shade. Now we know that light abstracts oxygen from 
substances containing it; as for instance from metallic oxides, which are partially reduced by exposure to 
light; and we may thence infer, that substances, which would attract and combine with oxygen in the shade, 
may be prevented doing so in a bright light; and, therefore, in this case, owing to the superior attraction of 
light for oxygen, the fecula may be prevented from acquiring its due share of oxygen; and consequently from 
acquiring the peculiar state requisite for exerting its energy on the system. 
“The elaterium procured from the spontaneous subsidence of the juice, without expression, and which may be considered as 
in a state of purity, dissolves almost entirely in alcohol. Of the best specimens from the Hall, spirit dissolves more than a half, 
while of inferior sorts, a fourth part is thus dissolved. The residue, after repeated affusions of spirit, is quite inert as a medicine 
The active principle therefore may be considered as of a resinous nature ; by which I only mean, however, that it is soluble in 
alcohol, which it tinges of a pale green colour. When the spirit is slowly evaporated, a resinous looking extract is obtained, 
which is very inflammable, and which is extremely active as a medicine; the sixteenth part of a grain generally producing consi- 
derable purging, and often vomiting. When the dose was increased to one fourth of a grain, the effect was more considerable, 
and often took place in a very few minutes.” 
The foregoing details were communicated to the President of the College of Physicians, who requested 
Dr. Paris to report upon them. He accordingly, in conjunction with Mr. Faraday, entered upon a new 
series of experiments; “the results of which will show, that although Dr. Clutterbuck found that an eighth 
part of a grain of elaterium seldom failed to purge violently, yet strange as it may appear, that not more 
than one grain in ten of elaterium, as it occurs in commerce, possesses any active properties, and that this 
decimal part is a vegetable proximate principal, not hitherto noticed/’ to which Dr. Paris gives the name of 
Elatin. A full detail of these experiments has been published by him,* and he expresses the chemical 
composition of elaterium in the following manner: 
* Vide Pharmacologia, edit. 6th, fol. 226. 
