INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
115 
The British Pharmacopoeia has recognised the value of such medicines and 
has given formulae for the preserved juices of Scoparium and of Conium, both 
excellent preparations, the latter especially being superior to any tincture pre¬ 
pared from a dry ingredient, whether leaf or fruit. It has been reserved how¬ 
ever for a Belgian apothecary to investigate the subject in a thoroughly 
scientific manner, and to point out in what way and to what extent, the dried 
medicinal plant differs from the fresh. The late Dr. Schoonbroodt of Liege 
has done this, and has published in the Journal de MSdecine de Bruxelles* the 
result of his researches on 29 different plants, concluding his essay with some 
general remarks, of which I may cite the following : — 
That dried plants never completely represent the same plants when fresh. 
Nevertheless it is possible for new and useful constituents to be developed 
during the process of drying, as in the case of Valerian, which when fresh con¬ 
tains essential oil but no valerianic acid : this however is an exceptional instance, 
the reverse being much more frequent. 
That plants suffer by drying two kinds of alteration ;—firstly, the loss of a 
portion of their volatile constituents ; and secondly, an oxidation of their fixed 
constituents and of the remainder of their volatile. This oxidation is, in the 
author’s opinion, in great part due to the structure of the dry vegetable tissue, 
which in its porosity resembles spongy platinum or carbon, and perhaps par¬ 
takes of some of the gas-condensing power of those substances. The result of 
this action exhibits itself very decidedly in the case of valerian : when fresh, it 
contains no valerianic acid but an oxygenated essential oil, which by the action 
of the air and alkalies, is slowly converted into valerianic acid. It also contains 
another volatile hydrocarbon, which resinifies very slowly in the air. By the 
act of drying however, this formation of valerianic acid which even in the pre¬ 
sence of an alkali is so slow, and this very tardy resinification by exposure to 
the air, are very materially hastened. There is found in fact, in dried valerian 
a comparatively large amount of ready-formed valerianic acid, the presence of 
which is evidenced by the strong smell of the drug, while the fresh root is de¬ 
void of odour and contains no resin. 
The author further observes, that it is always advantageous in the prepara¬ 
tion of alkaloids and other active principles to employ the fresh plants, and as 
far as possible to conduct the operations thereto belonging at a low temperature. 
Alkaloids are thereby obtained in a condition more favourable to crystallization ; 
the loss, often considerable, resulting from decolorizing by charcoal is avoided, 
and recourse to chemical reagents for their isolation, or rather to free them from 
the products of their own alteration, is dispensed with. 
As to the drying of medicinal herbs, the author remarks that the oxidising 
influence of the air being the principal cause of deterioration, it is desirable that 
the operation should be performed as rapidly as possible and that the herb 
should be compressed into a compact mass, after the manner pursued by the 
American herb-dryers. 
The Pharmaceutical Journal for last September contained a warning regard¬ 
ing the purity of Aconitine, which has not received all the attention in this 
country that it seems to deserve. It was to this effect,—that English aconitine, 
or at all events a sample received from London as such by Mr. Merck of Darm¬ 
stadt, was found to possess chemical and physical characters very different from 
those recognized as proper to true aconitine. It was but slightly soluble in ether 
and much less soluble in alcohol than pure aconitine and dissolved with diffi¬ 
culty in chloroform. In boiling water it did not become soft and plastic but 
^ Vol. 45 (1867) p. 162 etc.; Yol. 46 (1868) p. 62 . A German translation has appeared in 
the Vierteljahresschriftf. Prakt. Pharm. 1869, p. 73, and an abstract by Mr. Maisch in the 
American Journ. of Pharm. and Pharm. Journ. and Trans. 
I 2 
