464 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
quently mixed with the jalap of commerce. Mr. Hanbury suggests Cornwall, 
Devonshire, the Isle of Wight, Madeira, and in particular the neighbourhood 
of Ootamacund on the Neilgherry hills as suitable localities for the introduction 
of the plant. Even already, to some extent, the Exogonium purgci is under cul¬ 
ture in the south of France, and it is much to be wished that other analyses of 
European jalap should be published, in order that we may form a correct judg¬ 
ment as to the real prospects of success. (See paper by D. Hanbury, F.L.S., 
Pharm. Journ. n. s. viii. p. 651.) 
There is no difference to be discerned between the Irish and American 
tubercles, and the concentric dark circles seen on a cross section are similarly 
loaded with resinous points. Some of them attained to a considerable size, and 
the weights of three of the largest specimens before being dried, with the root 
branches attached, were 12 oz., 10^ oz., and 8 oz. respectively. 
The examination of the jalap was conducted almost in a similar manner as in 
the case of the podophyllum. The dried powdered root was macerated for twenty- 
four hours in alcohol sp. gr. 0 84, and afterwards thoroughly percolated. When 
the resin was precipitated by water it fell down as a tenacious yellowish clot, 
which adhered to the bottom of the beaker, and, as it was impossible to filter it, 
the supernatant fluid was drawn off, and the resinous cake dried at a gentle 
heat. The weight obtained corresponded to 11*97 per cent. The film of resin, 
when broken up, formed greenish-yellow lustrous scales with a strong odour, 
though the resin, as usually met with, is in dark-brown opaque fragments or in 
powder. 
I owe another analysis of jalap to my friend Mr. Tichborne. From his 
analysis it appears that 1 lb. 5 oz. 100 grs. of the moist tubercles gave, after 
drying, 6 oz. 200 grs. of dry root. The percentage of pure resin which he 
obtained was not so high as the above, being but 9*2 per cent; but this dif¬ 
ference is probably in part owing to the roots he operated upon not being so 
thoroughly dried as mine, which were carefully desiccated under the air-pump 
as well as by artificial heat. 
How, as the proportion of resin to the other constituents of the root varies 
considerably, different chemists giving it as from 10 to 19 per cent., the quan¬ 
tity yielded by the specimen in question is fair, and is perhaps lower than it 
might otherwise have been, owing to the continued drought of the past summer, 
for jalap, as we have seen, loves a damp soil. 
As regards the physiological action of the root, I can, at present, only put 
forward the following observations :— 
December' 7th .—I took 2 grains of the resin before breakfast. A good deal 
of flatulence was caused, but no decided cathartic effect. 
Dec. 9th .—I took 3 grains before breakfast. Slight action in one and a half 
hours, copious loose stools in two and a half hours. 
By the permission of Dr. Head, I hope soon to have further opportunities of 
testing the activity of the drug in the wards of the Adelaide Hospital. 
Professor Bentley said that everything relating to the conditions favourable 
to the growth of medicinal plants could not fail of exciting the interest of all 
there present, and he was glad of the opportunity that had been afforded him 
of reading Dr. Smith’s interesting communication. Dr. Smith had given a very 
full and perfect account of the climatic conditions necessary for the growth of 
both the podophyllum and jalap plants, but unfortunately his experiments re¬ 
lated chiefly to podophyllum, the cultivation of which was not nearly of so much 
commercial importance as that of jalap, inasmuch as it might be successfully car¬ 
ried on over a very large area of country in America, so that there was no par- 
