228 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS 
[September 21,1&72* 
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BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
Wednesday , August 14 th, 1872. 
(Second day.) 
The Conference reassembled at two o’clock. The first 
paper read was on— 
Kamala. 
BY THOMAS B. GROVES. 
The few remarks I have to make on this substance 
refer exclusively to the moot point whether it contains 
the crystallizable principle Rottlerinc. 
The botanical history of the drug-, its pharmaceutical 
preparations, and its medicinal uses have already been so 
fully and conscientiously treated by Mr. D. Hanbury 
that I need do no more than direct inquirers to volume 
NVII. p. 405 of the Pharmaceutical Journal, where all 
the facts then known are amply set forth. 
The chemistry of the drug had previously been inves¬ 
tigated by Dr. Anderson, and reported on by him in an 
elaborate paper first published in tbo Edin. New Philos. 
Joui-n. (new series) 1, 300, wherein was announced the 
discovery of Rottlerine, a crystalline principle obtain¬ 
able in yellow silky crystals by allowing an ethereal 
tincture of Kamala to evaporate slowly and spon¬ 
taneously. This substance is by no means of an in¬ 
teresting nature. It is not believed to have much to do 
with the activity of Kamala as a vermifuge, and more¬ 
over its chemical relations are not noteworthy. It is 
indeed doubtful whether its formula has a 3 yet been 
correctly ascertained. The experiments of Anderson 
were some four or five years subsequently repeated by 
G. Leube, jun., the results being published in several 
German publications devoted to pharmacy, and in the 
Pharm. Journ. vol. II., second series. "He described 
several resins more or less closely allied in character and 
composition, and assigned to them formulas more or 
less doubtful. The remarkable point of his work was 
that he altogether failed to obtain Anderson’s crys¬ 
talline principle Rottlerine. Since then various samples 
of Kamala have been examined by competent observers 
(by Mr. D. Hanbury more especially), and still with the 
same negative result. In consequence of this clashing of 
opinions, Dr. Attfield in 1867 obtained from Dr. Ander¬ 
son some further details respecting the extraction of 
Rottlerine,. and a probable explanation of the cause of 
Leube’s failure. The latter chemist had evidently been 
supplied with an impure specimen of Kamala. It had 
yielded no less than 28 per cent, of ash, whereas the pure 
article should give less than four per cent.; and although 
the mineral constituents were unlikely to be found in the 
ethereal tincture, it was not unlikely that a specimen so 
largely adulterated would also contain foreign organic 
bodies that would prevent the crystallization of a Sub¬ 
stance so intractable as Rottlerine. It was also explained 
that the. crystals obtained were small in quantity, 
variable in amount in different experiments, and recog¬ 
nizable as crystals only by means of the microscope. 
It came to pass then, that, up to last year, Ander¬ 
son’s results had received no confirmation from other 
experimenters. In December, last year, however, Mr. 
D. Hanbury was good enough to send me a large 
quantity of a thick solution of Kamala in ether, in which 
were imbedded numerous feathery crystals of an 
orange colour and not a tew whitish semi-crystalline 
gianules. I ho chemical inactivity of the Kamala crys¬ 
tals rendering their extraction a question of solvents and ' 
filtration only; this demanded a greater amount of care ! 
and perseverance than the subject, in my opinion,! 
merited. I proceeded thus. Having ascertained that 
the crystals were not re-dissolved when the ethereal 
solution was thinned with alcohol, it was in that way 
rendered sufficiently fluid for the mother-liquor to pass 
through paper, and then thrown onafilter contained in an 
air-tight arrangement. After a week or so the orange- 
coloured pasty mass was removed from the filter, and 
subjected first to simple draining on bibulous paper; 
next, to the same assisted by the pressure of weights. 
Evaporation of ether was as before carefully prevented. 
The mass so obtained was boiled wuth alcohol, and the 
operation several times repeated until the sparingly 
soluble residue retained but little colour. The spirit 
deposited on cooling a sufficient quantity of what I have 
termed Kamala wax to render the filtrate semi-solid. 
When completely cold it was again filtered, and the 
solid residue washed with cold spirit. This substance 
proved to be the same as that which had remained un- 
dissolved in the previous operation. They were, there¬ 
fore, subsequently treated together, and after being- 
several times dissolved in boiling spirit were allowed to 
deposit therefrom. Thus obtained, the substance pre¬ 
sented the appearance of a yellow powder of no great in¬ 
tensity of colour, and in ali probability would if pure be 
perfectly white. The intensity of the colour imparted by 
the Kamala dye would make such a purification exceed¬ 
ingly wasteful, and perhaps altogether impossible to effect. 
The filtrate being a cold spirituous solution of what may¬ 
be termed crude Rottlerine was next evaporated quickly 
to dryness, and the residue, dissolved in ether, was placed 
aside in a deep beaker loosely covered, to evaporate 
spontaneously. As it approached a syrupy consistence, I 
could perceive a layer of an orange colour slowly mak¬ 
ing its appearance at the bottom of the vessel. This 
layer I was not slow in recognizing as caused by a mul¬ 
titude of microscopic crystals, but owing probably to 
difference of circumstances, not feathery as before, but 
consisting chiefly of aggregated needles. At the proper 
moment this stratum was separated from the supernatant 
fluid, cautiously thinned with ether, and thrown on a. 
filter supported in an air-tight funnel. To remove the- 
syrupy mother-liquor it was lightly washed, and then 
subjected to draining on bibulous paper with and with¬ 
out pressure. It was, however, far too readily soluble 
to admit of being comjdetely purified in that way. 
Dried spontaneously by exposure on a glass plate to 
the air, it formed after some days (for it retained the- 
ether tenaciously) a dry substance of orange colour,, 
which, when powdered and examined microscopically,, 
showed no appearance whatever of crystalline structure. 
Treated with solvents, it was evident that its solubility 
had much diminished, and moreover I was completely 
i unsuccessful in my attempts, in many wa 7 /s varied, to in¬ 
duce it to resume the crystalline form. I am, therefore, 
of opinion that when exposed to the air undefended by 
their mother-liquor, the crystals of Rottlerine undergo a 
change (probably by absorption of oxygen) that jrrevents 
one from regarding the amorphous product as the same 
thing as the well-defined body that was subjected to 
desiccation. This explains, I think, the fact that various- 
experimenters have obtained results so discordant. 
Rottlerine, as stated by Anderson, does exist, but being; 
easily modified by exposure to ah’, a new as well as pure 
specimen of Kamala should be taken for its extraction. 
In testing my own specimen of Kamala, which must 
have been four years old, I avoided the interference of 
the waxy substance by thoroughly washing out the 
colouring matter with cold spirit. That substance is 
then left on the filter out of harm’s way. When the 
spirituous tincture thus obtained was evaporated to 
dryness, and the ether solution of the solid residue was- 
set aside to concentrate itself by slow evaporation, not a 
symptom of crystallizing was observable, thus confirming 
the anticipations derived from my knowledge of the age 
of the specimen. 
Mr. Hanbury : This substance was very circumstan¬ 
tially described by Professor Anderson, of Glasgow. 
He describes the occurrence of a mass of crystals filling- 
