82 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[August 3, 1872. 
of tlie successive depositions of sclerogenous matter 
of which this “wall” lias been formed can be readily 
made out without the use of reagents, and the same 
may be said of all the secondary structures in the 
root. The vessels are of the usual size and shape 
common to climbing plants, are coarsely pitted, and, 
except in the immediate neighbourhood of the “ hori¬ 
zontal walls,” are somewhat thinly consolidated. 
These walls are seldom if ever perforate ; there are 
no traces of “ reticulations,” but some are disposed 
to tear longitudinally with unusual freedom. The 
course of the vessels and their accompanying tissues 
is not directly vertical, but is slightly curved and 
approximates to the endogenous type, and would in¬ 
duce the young student to refer the root to that class. 
A more minute examination of the nature of the 
vessels would of course undeceive him. The woody 
libres which enter into the composition of the vascu¬ 
lar bundles are pitted chiefly and much thickened, 
and are fusiform. There are a few unpitted ones. 
Following the course of the pitted vessels, and se¬ 
parated therefrom by the layers of woody fibres, are 
short, as broad as long, cells containing a semi-fluid 
and granular matter. These cells resemble some¬ 
what closely in shape those found in some specimens 
of English medicinal rhubarb, but are larger. They 
appear to be closed cells, and to communicate only 
by transfusion through the double separating cell 
walls. These cells are arranged in a single linear series; 
and the walls not in adhesion in the series are often 
consolidated by several layers of sclerogen, and in 
this case are porous. Very rarely the separating 
membrane or diaphragm is also thickened and 
porous. 
The rather spongy parenchyma which forms the 
medullary rays does not possess any remarkable fea¬ 
tures. The cells are small, cubic, oblong, with 
somewhat rounded angles, and have thin walls when 
in the denser portions of the root. In other positions 
these parenchymatous cells have very varied features. 
The prevalent form is the more or less modified 
simple globose cell with walls of very varied thick¬ 
nesses. With these are intermixed a few cells with 
very angular outline, thick walls, porous and some¬ 
what stellate, resembling slightly the porous cells in 
the petiole of Gycas revoluta, or more closely those 
figured by Sclileiden,* and found in the leaves of 
Pilularia glob ulifera. The globose, oblong, and other 
of the larger parenchymatous cells are minutely 
pitted. 
Arranged in nearly monilifonn series by the side 
of the resin and other receptacula, and distributed 
amongst the parenchymatous cells, are rhombic 
prisms of some inorganic substance of small size, 
and brilliantly doubly refractive. These, a little 
starch, and various resins and allied semi-fluid 
matter constitute the cell contents. The form of the 
starch granules is tolerably uniform, as also their 
size. They may perhaps be best described as flat¬ 
tened, slightly lenticular discs with no very decided 
polariscopic reactions. The cortical la} r ers possess 
several features of interest. Besides the ordinary 
parenchyma, which is similar to that just mentioned, 
there are numerous cells closely similar to those 
found in the medulla of Hoy a carnosa, and figured in 
Sclileiden’s ‘ First Principles,’ and, scarcely correctly, 
* An easily demonstrable similar class of cell may be seen, 
according to Quekett, in the Sweet Burr-rced —Sjparyanium 
ramosum. 
in Von Molil’s ‘ Vegetable Cell.” 1 ' These cells are 
porous with a very thick wall, the pores of contiguous 
cells communicating freely, and they are either glo¬ 
bose, oblong, elliptical, or slight modifications there¬ 
of. There are also semi-tubular liber cells present 
in the cortical layers containing a similar, but of a 
lighter colour, semi-fluid substance as the internal 
special receptacula. These cells may perhaps be 
regarded as transitional laticiferous vessels, but their 
functions are somewhat doubtful. Distributed 
amongst these cells and grouped closely between the 
several layers of the “ bark” are great numbers of the 
rhombic prism previously described. The bark 
layers themselves do not call for special notice. 
A few words on the mode of preparing Scammony 
root for examination, and I pass on to the examina¬ 
tion of the resin. 
The root must be soaked in water for a consider¬ 
able period to render it soft enough to be cut. Sec¬ 
tions cut longitudinally and transversely should be 
examined in glycerine without further treatment. 
Others must be treated with spirit and examined with 
glycerine also. Further examinations should be 
made of sections treated with turpentine, benzole and 
ether. These latter may be conveniently immersed 
in oil of anise for observation, and if desired to be 
retained for the cabinet mounted in dammar. The 
other specimens may be mounted in glycerine or 
glycerine jelly. The latter is preferable. It is a 
difficult root to examine thoroughly, on account of 
the great variety of tissues which enter into its com¬ 
position. Several unimportant details have pro¬ 
bably escaped my description here. 
Scammonium. —.—The British Pharmacopoeia fur¬ 
nishes directions for the chemical testing of the 
scammony resin. The microscope will be of service 
in this, as smaller quantities may be dealt with, and 
the detection of a lesser amount of adulteration ren¬ 
dered possible. Dr. Hassallf quoting from Pereira’s 
‘ Materia Medica,’ publishes a list of the “ rarer kinds 
of adulteration which have been detected by different 
observers.” 
Calcareo-dextvinous Scammony. —This sort differs 
(from ordinarily adulterated specimens) in the cir¬ 
cumstance that iodine produces a reddish purple tint 
when added to the filtered decoction after it lias be¬ 
come cold. It appears to contain carbonate of lime 
and dextrine. 
“ Selenitic , or Gypseous Scammony .—This kind has 
been described by Marquart. Its specific gravity 
was 1*731, and it contained no less than fifty-two per 
cent, of gypsum. 
“ Bassorin Scammony. —Marquart met with a 
Scammony which had a horny consistence and a 
specific gravity of 1T67. After it had been deprived 
of its resin and extractive, it swelled up in boiling 
water. The constituent which thus swelled up was 
soluble in caustic potash. Marquart regarded it as 
bassorin.” 
Further specimens are spoken of as consisting of 
an admixture with scammony of tragacanth, sand, 
various resins, starches, wax and wood. 
The microscopical examination of scammony is 
simple enough. If not already in the form of powder, 
it should be finely pulverized and a small portion 
placed on a glass slip moistened with distilled water 
and covered with a piece of thin glass. A quarter 
* Henfrey’s translation. Yan Voorst, 
f ‘ Adulterations Detected,’ page 651. 
