364 
REMARKS ON SENNA. 
distinctions are happily swept away, may I venture to suggest the general adop¬ 
tion of a word which is entirely in accordance with the genius of the English 
language ? 
The root is Pharmacy ; the man who practises it is a Pharmacist; the de¬ 
scriptive adjective is Pharmaceutical. 
So also in French. The root is Pharmacie ; the man who practises it is 
un Pharmacien ; the descriptive adjective is Pharmaceutique. 
On strictly philological grounds, some have already considered that the Phar¬ 
macist has more claim on national sympathy than the Pharmaceutist. 
Ever yours, 
26, St. George's Place, Hyde Park Corner. JOSEPH InCE. 
REMARKS ON SENNA. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
The remarks on senna by Messrs. T. and H. Smith afford me a legitimate 
excuse for sending you a few additional notes on the subject. 
I would first take the opportunity of confirming Messrs. Smiths’ experience 
of the disagreeable effects on the mucous membrane of repeated doses of the 
active principle of senna. Last year, not often being able to find a “ corpus 
vile,” I was frequently dosing myself with it, but at last I found I was doing 
myself an injury. The irritation was in my case confined to the bowels, but 
there it was unfortunately persistent. I believe I still am suffering somewhat 
from the effects of it, indicated by an inability to tolerate the action of drastic 
cathartics I once used to be able to take with impunity. I believe also that a 
rather serious attack of dysentery was due to the same cause. 
It would be only fair, I think, to explain that these troubles were occasioned 
by an improper use of the drug, and that its exhibition, when controlled by an 
ordinary amount of judgment, need entail no unpleasant consequences. 
I have tried, I should think, a score of different methods for preparing the 
cathartic acid, but none of them have completely satisfied me. The precipita¬ 
tion process of Messrs. Smith, varied in several ways, I tried last year, but gave 
it up as wasteful and troublesome. 
I found, too, that methylated spirit could not be used, in consequence of 
its naphtha flavour adhering pertinaciously to the cathartate ; and, on the other 
hand, that if pure spirit were used, and recovered in the usual manner by dis¬ 
tillation, it became so contaminated with the essential oil of senna that it 
could not be made use of except for preparations themselves containing senna 
as an ingredient. I have now by me several gallons of spirit in that condition, 
waiting their turn for Daffy’s Elixir, etc. Where this objection would not 
apply, the plan I think best is the following :— 
Add to 2 parts of small Alexandrian senna 3 parts of proof spirit, taking care 
that the senna is thoroughly and uniformly damped ; let them rest together for 
a day, then again mix them well, and cram them into a covered earthenware 
pan ; macerate for a week, then express as strongly as possible. To the liquid 
obtained add twice its volume of rectified spirit, and set aside for a day. The 
resulting precipitate is cathartic acid combined with several bases, and is efiec- 
tual as a purgative in doses of 4 or 5 grains. It should be made into syrup or 
liquor at once without previous drying, during which it would be liable to suffer 
alteration. A small preliminary experiment will indicate the right proportion 
to use. 
Using a screw-press only, I have in this manner obtained 2% drachms of dry 
cathartate per pound of senna employed. The spirit used is recovered, as I 
have before observed, by distillation in the ordinary way. 
