222 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
Vera Cruz. Tampico. 
Resin insoluble in ether . . 15*2 per cent. 6"0 per cent. 
,, soluble . 
. o-o 
5* 
7T 
Grape Sugar 
. 9-0 
26-9 
Total soluble in alcohol 
. 24-2 
40-0 
from which we see, although the aggregate yield is much greater in the Tam¬ 
pico jalap, the resinous contents are very much inferior ; and in these figures, 
I take it, is found a decided answer to the query, which root possesses the 
greatest medicinal value? and we can have no doubt that the Tampico jalap 
should not be substituted for the Yera Cruz. 
The large imports which take place of Tampico jalap, and the readiness 
with which it is taken off the market, prove that it is extensively used, and 
its very much lower commercial value, if not an inducement to substitute it 
for Yera Cruz in the preparation of extract or resin, is a very strong tempta¬ 
tion to its use for grinding. 
Analysis of Samples of Jalap Powder. 
Source. 
Authenticated 
Yera Cruz . 
Authenticated 
} 
n 
Tampico .. J 
G-. per Hon.' 
Sec. Brit. Pli. 
Conference . 
} 
D. retail un¬ 
known . 
E. „ from 1 
North . . / 
F. & C.-V. C. . 
H. assumed \ 
Tampico . J 
I. E. S. . . . 
Soluble in Ether. 
Soluble in 
Alcohol. 
Aqueous 
Extractive. 
Resin. 
Saeehar. 
4-00 
14-30 
14-70 
2216 
13-66 
1-50 
1116 
18-33 
• 
9-50 
2-83 
8-65 
20-16 
8-26 
322 
101 
1726 
5-36 
12-60 
10-25 
21-8 
1-20 
150 
9-66 
15-26 
7-1 
60 
17-20 
8-60 
trace 
15-2 
9-00 
19-50 
Microscopical Characters. 
All the characteristics of Yera Cruz. 
f An abundance of empty and collapsed 
cellulose; bundles of scalariform tis- 
/ sue ; abundance of . resinous cells, 
' w hich disappear on addition of ether; 
small truncated starch grains ; many 
empty starch sacs. 
"A good deal of woody bundles and sca- 
iariform tissue, with foreign starch 
grains, very much resembling those 
of wheat. 
What the relative medicinal value of the resin soluble in ether, and that 
insoluble in this menstruum may be, is a fitting subject for the therapeutist 
to determine. It w ould appear, however, that either through the agency of 
variety of species, or of soil, or of age, or period of collection, the resin of 
the Yera Cruz jalap undergoes a splitting-up into ether-resin, and saccharine 
matter. 
