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 Bindu 
Materia Mcdica, U. C. Dutt says it is tonic, febrifuge and 
laxative, and is used in fever, burning of the body, intestinal 
Avorms 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 cliurna is much uged 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, Ilam, S. decussata. Nimmo ; S. elegans, Wight. 
( aide 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 16 O”. 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 1 ' H‘ 8 O 15 , maybe 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 1 ’ H J * O’, 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 Hiihn remarked in chiretta a crystallisablc, laste- 
less yellow substance, but its quantity was so minute that no investigation 
of it could be made. The leaves of chiretta, dried at lOO” C„ afforded 7’6 por 
