March 15, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTION? 
725 
pitate with sulphuretted hydrogen, the metal being 
combined w r ith the albumen. The oxide of mercury 
in smaller proportion exercised a still more ener¬ 
getic action; per cent, of the yellow oxide intro¬ 
duced into a tube in full fermentation immediately 
arresting the action. 
The sulphites did not prevent fermentation ; they 
were transformed into sulphates. A solution con¬ 
taining one per cent, of sulphite of soda, live per 
cent, of cane sugar, and two per cent, of German 
yeast gave the following results when tested with 
solution of iodine in the presence of starch. The 
fermentation took place in a closely stoppered flask 
and the delivery-tube plunged in water. 
10 c.c. required before fermentation .... 16'4 c.e. iodine sol. 
, ,, „ after decomposition of f of sugar 6 „ ,, 
»» j» >» » ^ >> l >> 
It would thus appear that the transformation o^ 
sulphites into sulphates does not take place before, 
but during, fermentation, and progressively. 
THE GREEN PUTCHUK OF THE CHINESE.* 
With some remarks ox the antidotal virtues 
ASCRIBED TO AllISTOLOCHIJE. 
BY H. F. HANCE, PH.D. 
Amongst the drugs held in high estimation by the 
Chinese is one known by the names of Giving muh hsiang, 
or T l u cluing muh hsiang, i.e., “ Green Putehuk,” or 
“ Native Green Putehuk,” derived from some fancied 
resemblance to the rhizome of Awhlandia Costas, Pale., 
which latter is largely imported into Southern China, 
for the purpose of making incense sticks, etc. In the 
current number of the ‘ Journal of Botany,’ Dr. H. P. 
Hance gives an interesting and elaborate description of 
this drug and the plant producing it, from which the 
following details are taken. The drug consists of pieces 
of rhizome, of a light brittle texture, varying in thick¬ 
ness from the diameter of the thumb to that of a crow- 
quill, white internally, and covered with an ash-grey 
epidermis. When fresh, it has a hot camphoraceous 
peppery odour, and a powerful camphoraceous and bitter 
taste. Mr. Hanbury, in his ‘Notes on the Chinese Ma¬ 
teria Medica,’ speaks of it in a dried state as having a 
slightly aromatic taste, with but little smell. Dr. Hance, 
however, has found that rhizomes dried by himself have 
lost their scent almost entirely, but have retained their 
flavour for the most part. The Chinese ‘Illustrated 
Nomenclature and Description of Plants,’ published 
twenty-five years since, gives an outline of the plant 
which is reproduced in the ‘Journal of Botany,’ to¬ 
gether with the following translation of the description:— 
“ The T l u elding muh hsiang grows on the slopes of hills 
in Hu peh province. It is a trailing plant* the small 
branches, leaves and fruit like those of Ma tao ling 
(“ Horse-head bells ”); the roots are yellow, small and 
fragrant. In medicine it is employed to cure burn 3 and 
indigestion. It produces flowers in the form of a tube, 
at first small, afterwards larger, curved like a buffalo's 
horn, the sharp end being raised and of a rather deep 
purple-black hue. The sexual organs are visible within.” 
Dr. Tatarinov appears to have been the first to have re¬ 
ferred this product to an Aristolochia ; and, subse¬ 
quently, Dr. Porter Smith,—who remarks that “it is a 
powerful purgative, emetic, and anthelmintic remedy,”— 
in his ‘ Contributions to the Materia Medica ’ of China, 
erroneously referred it to A. contorta , Bunge. Mr. E. C. 
Bowra, in his Report on the Trade of Ningpo for 1868, 
states that in the neighbourhood of that port, whence 
* Abstract from a paper in the ‘Journal of Botany,’ 
March, 1873, p. 72. 
the drug is largely exported, the plant yielding it is a 
common garden creeper. By the kindness of that gen¬ 
tleman Dr. Hance w r as supplied with several living 
plants, one of which flowered lavishly and set a single 
fruit. Upon a careful examination Dr. Hance came to 
the conclusion that the plant belonged to an undescribed 
species, and in his paper he describes it under the name 
of Aristolochia recurvilabra. He says that the immediate 
allies of the Chinese plant are to be found in those 
species which inhabit the region of the Mediterranean 
basin, and amongst those it is nearest to A. altissima, 
Desf., A. Pistolochia, Linn., and especially A. bcetica, 
Linn., and A. parvifolia, Sibth. et Sm. The only East 
Asiatic species with which it is likely to be confounded 
are A. debilis, Sieb. et Zucc., and A. Sinarum, Lindl. 
With regard to the antidotal properties ascribed to 
Aristolochise, Dr. Hance remarks that undoubtedly no 
genus comprising a large number of species, widely dif¬ 
fused over both hemispheres, has been so universally 
credited with alexiteric properties as Aristolochia, and 
this, too, in all ages, and in every condition of society, 
alike by the wandering savage and the polished citizen 
or learned physician of a highly civilized commonwealth. 
In the forcible language of Endlicher, “ Species plurimre 
vasorum, imprimis secernentium, nervorum et cutis 
vitam sollicitantes, in eliminandis e corpore potentiis 
morbificis, veneno potissimum animali, efficaces, adversus 
serpentum morsus unanimi gentium prceconio celebran- 
tur.” As regards those species 'which are natives of the 
Mediterranean basin, Theophrastus praises A. pallida, 
Willd., as a remedy for the bites of snakes, when infused 
in wine and drunk, and used also as a topical applica¬ 
tion ;* and this or other species, probably A . bcetica, 
Linn.. A. parvifolia, Sibth. et Sm., and A. Pistolochia, 
Linn., entered as ingredients into the wonderfully com¬ 
plex alexipharmaca of the Greek physicians. Cicero 
alludes to the virtues of Aristolochia in cases of snake¬ 
bites as a universally recognized fact, and Pliny notes 
the employment of A. pallida in such cases. The pseu¬ 
donymous Macer, in his poem ‘ De viribus herbarum,’ 
written during the tenth century, and which for more 
than five hundred years was the recognized authority on 
vegetable materia medica, holding in this respect an 
equal rank to that conceded to the renowned ‘ Regimen 
Salernitanum ’ in all cases of diet, exercise, and the 
daily conduct of life, thus refers to A. rotunda, Linn:— 
“ Pestiferos morsus, cum vino sumpta, rotunda 
Curat, et assumptis prodest sic hausta Venenis.” 
And this belief was universal during the middle ages. 
Nor can the dull green foliage, twining habit, lurid tu¬ 
bular flowers, and heavy scent of these plants have led 
to such a belief,f founded on an attachment to the “ doc¬ 
trine of signatures;*’ not only because it seems clear 
that it was inherited from antiquity, but also because, 
remarkably enough, one of the most curious works de¬ 
voted to the exposition of this fanciful theory, the ‘ Phy- 
tognomonica’ of Giambatista Porta—a contemporary 
of our Gerarde—first published at Naples in 158S, 
though several times alluding to the presumed virtues of 
A ristolochice , never once attributes to them antidotal power. 
The Arabs are reported to use the leaves of A. semper- 
virens, Linn., when bitten by poisonous snake3, and A. 
* Ilist. Plant, ix. 13, 3 ; ix. 20, 4 ed. VYimmer. One hun¬ 
dred and forty years later, Nicander extols the same specific 
in verse, thus :— 
“ T 7]v rjTOL eX l0S Te Ka ^ alvoir\riy os ex' L ^ t/7 l s 
uypiicreis ocpeAos ivepiwcnov. evlev b.noppivl, 
Spaxga'iT] picryono Tvorcp iA Kippdfios olv tjs .” 
—Theriac. 517—19. 
t Dr. Alexander Prior, however, asserts (Popular Name3 
of Bri. PL, ed. 2, p. 22) that the fancied virtues of Aristo¬ 
lochia Clematis, Linn., in assisting difficult parturition were 
ascribed to it ob forinam oris perigonii adhuc inexpansi te- 
minali baud absimilem; and it is noteworthy that the Jamaica 
negroes have given a coarse popular name to A, grandijiora , 
Sw., from a similar resemblance. 
