ORGANIC MATERIA MEDICA. 
483 
Kamela. —This is an entirely new article of the Pharmacopoeia. It has also 
been introduced into the Secondary List of the recently issued United States 
Pharmacopoeia, and we regard it as one of those substances, the medicinal pro¬ 
perties of which not being thoroughly established, is properly so placed. 
The plant from which it is derived is the Rottlera tinctoria , Roxb., belonging 
to the natural order Euphorbiaceae. The officinal part is the powder which ad¬ 
heres to the capsules. It is imported from India. The plant is widely distributed 
throughout India, and also occurs in China, North-Eastern Australia, South 
Arabia, and some other parts of the world. A full account of Kamela, and 
its origin and properties, by Mr. Daniel Hanbury, will be found in the Phar¬ 
maceutical Journal.* * * § ' 
Kamela is a granular powder of a brick-red colour, with but little smell or 
taste. It readily ignites when thrown into the air directly over the flame of a 
candle. It is totally insoluble in cold water, and but very sparingly soluble in 
boiling water. It is readily soluble in a solution of a caustic alkali, and to a 
great extent, also, in a solution of an alkaline carbonate, also in alcohol, and 
in ether. 
It was chemically examined some years since by Professor Anderson, of Glas¬ 
gow,! and more recently by Leube.J According to Anderson, Kamela contains 
upwards of 78 per cent, of resinous colouring matters , in which he includes a 
yellow crystalline principle with a satiny lustre, which he has described as 
a new substance under the name of Rottlerine. Leube tried in vain to obtain 
this principle ; and in some other respects his analysis does not agree with that 
of Professor Anderson. Leube has also described two resins, and he regards 
the resin which is extracted by ether as the active constituent of Kamela. 
Kamela has been long employed in India as a dye for silk, and also for a 
similar purpose in Arabia, under the name of Warms or Waras.§ In India, 
Kamela has long had a reputation amongst the natives as a vermifuge, and 
when externally applied, it is said to be useful in some cutaneous diseases. It 
is also used internally in leprosy in Aden, and as an external application in 
solution, to remove freckles and pustules. It has been introduced into the 
British Pharmacopoeia on account of its supposed anthelmintic properties, and 
although some medical practitioners of repute have found it serviceable, its re¬ 
medial virtues cannot be said to be at all established. 
The dose is from about 30 grains to 150 grains , suspended in water; or a 
tincture may be prepared by macerating for two‘days, eight ounces of Kamela in 
twenty fluid ounces of rectified spirit or ether, the latter to be preferred; and then 
filtering the solution. The dose of this tincture is from one to three fluid drachms 
in some aromatic water. 
Krameria. —Peruvian Ithatany root, derived from Krameria triandra , Ruiz 
and Pavon, is alone officinal as in former Pharmacopoeias. As this kind of 
Rhatany is scarce, and even at some times scarcely to be obtained, and moreover 
possesses no advantages over Savanilla or New Granada Rhatany, likewise de¬ 
rived from a species of Krameria, we can see no satisfactory reason why this 
kind should not have been also made officinal in the British Pharmacopoeia. 
Laurocerasus. —Cherry-Laurel leaves were officinal in the last Edinburgh 
and Dublin Pharmacopoeias, but not in that of the London College. The fresh 
leaves, from plants cultivated in Britain, are now officinal in the British Phar¬ 
macopoeia. As the Aqua Laurocerasi , the only preparation ordered, is of un¬ 
certain strength, being stronger when fresh made or prepared from moderately 
* Pharm. Journ. vol. xvii. p. 405. 
t Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 1855, p. 296. 
£ Pharm. Journ. 2nd ser. vol. ii. p. 166. 
§ Pharm. Journ. vol. xii. pp. 386 and 589. 
