5oG 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
tergood (Amer. Journ. of Pharm. xxviii. p. 207) to act as a purgative in doses 
of half an ounce, and as an emetic in double that quantity. An ethereal and 
alcoholic tincture of the seeds, having four times the strength of ordinary castor 
oil, has been proposed by M. Parola, but it has found few advocates amongst 
us. 
The best castor oil in general use in this country, as you are doubtless aware, 
is obtained by simple expression, and the proportion obtained by this process is 
estimated by Geiger at about 42 per cent. Pressure, however, fails to extract 
the whole of the active principle of the seeds. The following experiments of 
M. Callond (Pharm. Journ. 1849, vol. viii. p. 491) on this point are equally in¬ 
teresting and important. 1. After having expressed the oil from the seeds by a 
powerful pressure, the marc was treated with pure alcohol, and the filtered 
liquor submitted to spontaneous evaporation. The oily residue was found to 
have the same action as the expressed oil. 2. After having exhausted the seeds 
of everything soluble by boiling alcohol, the residual marc, when administered 
to the extent of 7 or 8 grains in a glass of sweetened water, produced nausea and 
salivation, which lasted more than six hours ; 80 grains adminstered in two 
doses to a strong young man, caused vomiting accompanied by much straining 
for nearly twenty-four hours. Analogous facts were noticed by M. Parola, 
with respect to the residuum left after the preparation of his ethereal 
tincture. 
The castor oil usually sold in the bazaars or native shops, both in the East 
and West Indies, is prepared wholly or partially by coction. It is browner, 
thicker, and more nauseous than u the cold-drawn oil,” and if not more actively 
purgative, as it however generally is, it is far more acrid, causing more griping, 
nausea, and vomiting. By some this lias been attributed to an admixture of 
Jcitropha or croton seeds with the castor oil-seeds; but, in my opinion, it is 
rather due to the heat employed, imparting to the fixed oil greater solvent 
power over the resinous principle of the seed, to which point I shall subsequently 
call your attention. 
The next individual in our list is Aleurites triloba , Forst., a large tree of the 
Polynesian islands, now naturalized in India, especially at Belgaum,-—hence its 
Anglo-Indian name, Belgaum Walnut. As far as is known, the kernels, even 
in the fresh state, are devoid of any active or acrid properties ; indeed, accord¬ 
ing to Dr. G. Bennett, they constitute in Hew Georgia an article of diet. Dr. 
O’Rorke (Ann. de Therap. 1859, p. 117) has called attention to their expressed 
oil, of which they yield upwards of 50 per cent., as an aperient. He states that 
in doses of 1 to 2 ounces it acts as a very mild and safe purgative, producing in 
from three to six hours after ingestion, free bilious-coloured stools, unattended 
by either colic, nausea, or other ill effects. His estimate of it is very high ; he 
considers that it approaches nearly to castor oil in mildness and certainty of 
operation, but is superior as possessing greater fluidity, as having neither taste 
nor smell, and as producing its purgative action without any concomitant nausea, 
whether administered in emulsion or in a pure state. It is to be hoped that 
further trials will be instituted -with it. 
We have now arrived at our last article, Omphalea triandra , Linn., a tree of 
the West Indies, which need detain us here but one minute. The kernels are 
stated to be delicately sweet and wholesome, v'hilst the oil expressed from them 
is represented as sweet, well-flavoured, and, as far as it has been tried in medi¬ 
cinal doses up to tv r o ounces, devoid of any active properties. My reason for 
including this article in my list will appear hereafter. 
The doses and relative potency of Eupliorbiaceous seed-oils have recently been 
examined by Dr. O’Rorke, especially with reference to the oil of Aleurites triloba , 
mentioned above. He has classified them as follows :— 
