May 31, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
951 
"by sodium or potassium in small quantities, and 
water added when the action of the metal has nearly 
subsided, the water will carry down a substance 
-canary-amber by transmitted light and roseate-hued 
amber by reflected light, insoluble in ether but solu¬ 
ble in water, and giving only general absorption of the 
blue and violet, with enfeeblement of the green and 
extreme red, and a small quantity of a rose-coloured 
fluid, partially soluble in water and soluble in alcohol. 
But with care it is possible to ascertain what are 
the probable changes that the colouring-matter of the 
cantharides will have undergone by taking note of 
the age of the specimen and its condition, and we 
may then submit the chlorophyll to similar condi¬ 
tions. Such has been the course followed in my in¬ 
vestigation, and the charts illustrating this paper will 
show that the result is, that there is little room, lor 
doubt that the green colouring-matter of cantharides 
is chlorophyll, and derived from the food on which 
the insects feed. This is confirmed by the fact, that 
whilst the wing-cases contain only small quantities 
of it, the thorax and contents of the stomach contain 
considerable quantities, and that the latter contain 
also a substance soluble in water, which gives a spec¬ 
trum in all cases similar to that given by a product 
of the chlorophyll that agrees with the green colour¬ 
ing-matter of the particular insect. 
I have extended the inquiry to specimens of insects 
procured from different quarters, and, as will be seen 
from the spectra, they evidently have been gathered 
from off different feeding-grounds ; and although the 
creatures may have been dead (like one of my speci¬ 
mens) these ten years, yet it is possible to tell off 
what plant they had lately dined. 
Spectrum No. 1 is that described in my last paper, 
and is the one given by the ethereal solution. The 
cantharides were old and full of mites, having been 
kept as specimens by my friend Mr. C. P. Gibson, on 
account of their large size. Their spectrum does not 
quite agree with the normal spectrum of any leaf 
likely to be involved, but does agree with a deoxi¬ 
dized solution of the chlorophyll of young elm leaves; 
and the behaviour of the two solutions under the 
action of the different reagents runs very closely on 
all fours. No. 2 represents the elm-leaf spectrum. 
No. 3 is the normal spectrum of an ethereal solution 
made from some very fine and fresh specimens kindly 
given me by my friend Mr. Francis Earle. These 
cantharides give a band in the yellow and less ab¬ 
sorption of the violet. The spectrum is precisely 
similar to that of old privet leaves allowed to mace¬ 
rate forty-eight hours in cold ether. In six hours 
each solution gives a single band in the red, and the 
alcoholic solutions equally agree. 
If the alcoholic solutions be treated with 'liquor 
potassse and agitated with carbon disulphide, the 
upper stratum of each is yellow amber and fluores¬ 
cent. The ethereal solutions treated with sodium 
nr liquor potassoe and water also agree, and each 
gives a spectrum agreeing with the aqueous solution 
of the stomach contents. The privet spectrum is 
shown in No. 4. 
No. 5 represents the spectrum given by some small 
flies obtained from one of Messrs. Southall and 
Dymond’s specimen materia medica chests, by the 
kindness of a medical friend. . The spectrum is ex¬ 
ceedingly simple, and agrees with that given by the 
chlorophyll of full grown young lilac leaves. 
No. 7 is from the solution of some cantharides ob¬ 
tained in Hull. They were old, but in good preser¬ 
vation, and fine flies. The spectrum runs on all fours 
with that of elder leaves. The spectra given are from 
:lie ethereal solutions of the cantharides, allowed to 
remain in contact with chlorate of potash for some 
hours. The effect of this reagent is to partially re¬ 
move the absorption from the violet end of the spec¬ 
trum, leaving a broad feeble band in the blue, and is 
due to slow oxidation, and may be much more rapidly 
produced by passing nascent oxygen through the so¬ 
lution. The elder spectrum is from young leaves, 
and is the normal spectrum. 
Other specimens of cantharides examined have 
fallen under one or other of these now described. I 
have probably said enough to show that the spectro¬ 
scope does enable us to tell with tolerable certainty 
from what feeding-grounds the creatures were ga¬ 
thered and the source of a part of their colour. 
NOTES ON THE MEDICINAL PLANTS OF 
THE RTJTACEiE. 
BY JOHN R. JACKSON, A.L.S., 
Curator of the Museums , Kew. 
The Natural Order Rutacece, as at present consti¬ 
tuted—that is, including as tribes such groups as 
Zcmthoxylece and Aurantiece , which by former bota¬ 
nists have been dignified as Natural Orders—includes 
a oreat number of medicinal and economic plants ; 
for besides such well-known articles as rue, buchu or 
barosma leaves, and cusparia bark, many others of 
less repute are brought together. We purpose to 
refer to those which, though being used by the na¬ 
tives of the countries in which they grow, are seldom 
seen except in museum collections in this country, 
and some not even there. In the tribe Cuspariece, 
besides the genus Galipea, which is, of course, well- 
known as the source of cusparia bark, occurs Ticoreci , 
two species of which are medicinal in Brazil. T. 
febrifuga, St. Hil., a tree of about twenty feet, has a 
very bitter and astringent bark, and is used as a sub¬ 
stitute for cinchona in intermittent fevers. In the 
province of Minas Geraes it is known as Quina or 
Folhas brancas. The leaves of T. j as miniflora, St. 
Hil., also a tree about twenty feet high, growing in 
the same country, are boiled by the natives for the 
sake of the juice, which they value as a medicine. 
Peganum Harmala, L., is a powerfully disagreeable¬ 
smelling herbaceous plant, common in Southern 
Europe, Asia Minor, and throughout Scinde and the 
Punjaub. In Turkey the seeds are used as a veimi- 
fu fr e, and in the Crimea the Tartars collect them for 
the same purpose. In the Pharmacopoeia of India it 
is stated that “ these seeds have long held a place m 
Eastern materia medica as a stimulant, emmenagogue, 
and anthelmintic. Mild narcotic properties have also 
been assigned to them, and, according to Kamipier, 
delirium characterized by cheerfulness follows then- 
use in some cases. Further investigations as to the 
properties of these seeds are desirable. 
The European dittany (Dictamnus albus, L.), a plant 
sometimes cultivated in gardens for the sake of its 
handsome flowers and fragrant leaves, is well known 
for the abundance of volatile oil or resinous matter, 
which is secreted in such large quantities that the 
plant not only ignites on the approach of a lighted 
candle, but the air surrounding the plant becomes 
itself inflammable in hot weather. The root is 
resinous, bitter, tonic, and stimulating. Monmena 
