G04 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[February 1, 1873. 
such, places. The powder of the dried leaves scattered 
in trunks and among clothes will no doubt be as useful 
and more agreeable than tobacco or camphor to prevent 
the growth of moths or other insects. Its chief value is, 
however, as a sedative and antiseptic in asthma, and 
throat diseases, nasal catarrhs, and affections of the mu¬ 
cous membranes. To utilize these properties I had a 
concentrated tincture with alcohol at 9o° prepared, and 
also contrived an inhaler with which to introduce the 
vapour of the essential oil to the throat and lungs. I 
can testify to the excellent effect of this mode of medica • 
tion. The paroxysms of chronic asthma are relieved 
and shortened, and acute attacks are quickly allayed. 
The inhaler is a simple instrument made of tin. It is a 
cup of a capacity of 4 fluid ounces; the lid, attached by 
a hinge, has a tube from the centre about three inches 
high, bent near the end at a right angle, and terminated 
with a mouth-piece like that of a speaking trumpet. 
The cup is on legs so that a spirit lamp may be placed 
underneath, and has a wooden handle to move it about 
when heated. Put two ounces of boiling water (4 table¬ 
spoonfuls) in the cup ; add one tablespoonful of the tinc¬ 
ture ; and inhale the vapour while the fluid is kept 
gently boiling with the spirit lamp. Again, I had pre¬ 
pared cigarettes with the coarsely powdered leaves. 
These produce a decidedly anodyne and antispasmodic 
effect. An agreeable syrup may also be prepared, use¬ 
ful in infantile maladies. 
“ There can be little doubt but that the oil of Eucalyp¬ 
tus, and Eucalyptine, when it can be procured, will be 
available remedies against malarious diseases of all 
types, and that the presence of the trees, cultivated in 
gardens, contribute to sanify the atmosphere from those 
emanations which give origin to epidemic diseases. 
That the parasitic insects which infest other plants do 
not relish the Eucalyptus, is evident from the general 
cleanness of the leaves and the fact that the hydrocarbon 
oils are fatal to animal life. The balmy perfume, there¬ 
fore, that exhales from them must have an influence in 
destroying the parasites which frequent shrubs growing- 
in their vicinity, tending to diminish if not suppress 
them. 
“ However obnoxious to parasites in general this tree 
may be, it appears it nevertheless has its own species in 
the Psylla Eucalypti. This insect is an Hemipteron, 
and appears on the Eu. dumosa. It deposits a species of 
manna, called in Australia Lerp or Laap. It is a white 
substance, 53-1 per cent, of sugar-syrup and 46-9 per 
cent, of a special modification of starch. This is prized 
by the inhabitants as a manna; and is greatly sought 
for by the bees, who convert it into honey. Dobson 
(entomology) describes it as the cup-like coverings of 
the Psyllidm, but Wittstein mentions six varieties of 
Psylla, and that one species produces a coloured Lerp 
handsomer than the white, but as a deposit beneath the 
cup-like shields of the insect. 
“If this insect derives its lerp from the aromatic and 
balmy oil of the Eucalyptus, and furnishes an agreeable 
aliment for the inhabitants, and a Mt. Hymettus-like 
honey stuff for the bees, certainly the busy little insect 
manufacturer, parasite as he is, may be freely par¬ 
doned.” 
Mr. Stearns says, “ From experiments recently made 
upon myself, I find that small doses, 513 to 5 iij, of the 
infusion of the leaves (of young trees) drank when cold, 
quiet the nerves and induce sleep ; quite likely, in ordi¬ 
nary cases of -wakefulness, a pillow stuffed with the 
leaves would produce the same result. My friend, Dr. 
Kellogg, has prescribed the infusion in dyspepsia, and 
reports favourably. In addition to the many valuable 
properties of the blue gum herein recited, I have no 
doubt but camphor in considerable quantity can be ob¬ 
tained from it.” 
The powers of the Eucalyptus in the treatment of in- 
termittents, we sincerely hope, are rather under- than 
over-rated, as the discovery of an efficient substitute for 
cinchona would be an inestimable boon, in view of the 
high price and scarcity of that agent; to which hope 
may be attributed this extended notice of this new 
remedy. 
HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS, OR GOLDEN SEAL, 
AND ITS ALKALOIDS. * 
Dr. Van der Espt has recently presented to the Royal 
Society of Medical and Natural Sciences at Brussels an 
interesting memoir upon the Hydrastis canadensis. This 
plant, known also under the name of Golden Seal, is as 
its name indicates, a native of Canada, and belongs to the 
order Ranunculacem. It is the rhizome, which is yellow, 
lactescent when freshly fractured, tortuous, and composed 
of nodose, fleshy tubercles, furnished with numerous 
long fibres, that is employed in medicine. Two alkaloids 
have been found in it: one yellow, berberine ; the other 
white, hydrastine. 
Berberine,/which'is also found in the barberry, calumba 
root and elsewhere, appears in the form of small con¬ 
centrically grouped prisms, or clear yellow silky needles. 
It is inodorous, but possesses a persistent bitter taste; 
it is slightly soluble in cold alcohol or distilled water, and 
perfectly insoluble in ether. With hydrochloric acid 
it forms a salt which crystallizes in slender yellow 
needles. 
Hydrastine crystallizes in white shining four-sided 
prisms, which lose their transparence upon desiccation.’ 
It is very bitter and pungent, and provokes in the mouth 
a feeling of numbness which causes it to be employed in 
America as a local anaesthetic. Nearly insoluble in - 
water, it is freely soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform t 
and benzine. As the last three do not dissolve berberine, 
the hydrastine may be easily extracted by treating the 
powdered root in a displacement apparatus with either 
of those solvents. The proportion so obtained is about 
1 -| per cent. 
In America neither berberine nor hydrastine is pre¬ 
scribed, but a crystalline substance known under the 
name of hydrastin, which is said to be a mixture of hy¬ 
drochlorate of berberine and hydrastine. The purity 
of this product depends upon its mode of extraction. 
Among the processes indicated, that of Professor Wayne 
is the most simple. It consists in the maceration of the 
powdered root of the golden seal and displacement by 
cold water. The product is treated with hydrochloric 
acid, the precipitate separated by filtration, and washed, 
treated with alcohol and left to crystallize. 
The hydrastin appears under the form of yellow aci- 
cular crystals, without acid or alkaline reaction, and 
yielding upon trituration a clear yellow powder. It is 
soluble in boiling alcohol, insoluble in cold alcohol, ether, 
’chloroform, spirit of turpentine and distilled water; but 
these various liquids acquire a yellow tint and contain 
hydrastine. 
The rhizome of the golden seal is a bitter tonic analo¬ 
gous to calumba. It is administered in the form of pow¬ 
der, in doses from half a gram to a gram and a half. 
The hydrastin is prescribed in doses of from five to fifty 
centigrams. In larger doses these substances act as 
laxatives, similarly to rhubarb. This latter effect, in 
the absence of any cathartic or irritant principle, M. Van 
der Corput thinks would be due to a kind of indigestion, or 
the stimulation of the mechanical action of the digestive 
organs under the influence of large doses of the drug. 
The affections for which it is stated hydrastin may be 
beneficially employed are those connected closely with 
atony and increased secretion of the mucous surfaces. 
A decoction for external use is prepared by boiling thirty 
parts of the bruised root in five hundred parts of water. 
* ‘ L’Union Pharmaceutique,’ vol. xiii., p. 321, from 
£ L’Union Medicale.’ 
