N. 0. ACANTHACE.E. 
967 
market this reason of the year, but, as a rule, the fresh plant only 
can be obtained from the herbalists. Cultivated at Matunga, 
near Bombay. Kiryat as a substitue for Quassia and Chiretta, 
and as a possible means of lessening quinine expenditure seems 
well worthy of consideration. Chiretta is almost always adulterat- 
ed and is produced, I believe, in Nepal. Can be readily culti- 
vated from the seed in shady places” (Report, Central Indigen. 
Drugs Com. Vol. I p. 157.) 
In the Second Report of the said Committee <p. 61) it is 
stated that 
A ndrographis puniculata is very extensively used in India as a remedy for 
malaria and also in dysentey and diarrhoea, it is not unlikely that in the 
bazaars it and Indian chiretta are offered rather indiscriminately. It is also 
the basis of an English “ patent ” tonic. Ward, in the Pharmaceuticul Journal 
LV, page 197, remarks that there are so many bitters in England that there 
is little call to resort to it. But in India there are not so many, and the plant 
is so common that the drug is very readily available. The whole of it is medi- 
cinal. Boorsma (Mededeelingen uit S' Lands Plantentuin XVIII 66) reports that 
the plant may contain an alkaloid, but that lie could not definitely prove its 
presence. The bitter principle is another substance— a crystalline glucoside, 
most abundant in the leaves, which Boorsma calls “ andrographid." Its chemi- 
cal properties were to some extent investigated by Boorsma, but no one has 
yet had it isolated in quantity for pharmacological examination. 
Chemical composition.— According to theauthorsof the Pharmacugruphia : — 
“ The aqueous infusion of the herb exhibits a slight acid reaction and lias an 
intensely bitter taste, which appears to be due to an indifferent, lion-basic 
principle, for the usual reagents do not indicate the presence of an alkaloid. 
Tannic acid, on the other hand, produces an abundant precipitate, a compound 
of itself with the bitter principle. The infusion is but little altered by 
the salts of iron ; it contains a considerable quantity of chloride of sodium." 
In “ Food and Drugs ” of Calcutta, for Jatiy 1915, Mr. Kshiti 
Bliushan Bliaduri, M. Sc., gives the results of his analysis of this 
plant as follows : — 
For examination 68 Gm. of the powdered leaves and stems were taken and 
exhausted in a Soxhlet apparatus successively by petroleum ether, ether, 
chloroform, and alcohol. ****** 
The plant is very rich in chlorophyll, one portion of which is soluble in 
chloroform and the other not, though both are soluble in alcohol. 
Examination of the Petroleum Ether Extract. 
This was a viscid, brownish-yellow colored liquid from which, on keeping 
a small quantity of an inactive, ueedleshaped crystalline substance separat- 
ed out, having 117° 0. as its melting-point, the quantity obtained was so small 
that no further examination was possible. The viscid mass also contained a 
