84 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 30, 1870, 
compound of some substance containing nitrogen and 
sulphur with a carbo-hydrate or sugar. 
From the moment ■when the formation of yeast is 
complete, and when it is left in contact with water, 
there is a molecular motion which takes place, and 
manifests itself by the transformation of the cell- 
contents. The carbo-hydrate (or sugar) contained in 
the cells is converted into alcohol and carbonic acid, 
while a small portion of the substance containing 
nitrogen and sulphur becomes soluble, and commu¬ 
nicates to the liquid its own molecular motion, in 
consequence of which it has the power of converting 
cane-sugar into grape-sugar. In this process no 
other substance takes part besides water. 
When cane-sugar is added to a mixture of yeast 
and water, it is first converted into grape-sugar, and 
the particles of sugar, penetrating .the cell-mem¬ 
branes, behave in the same manner as the sugar or 
carbo-hydrate that is a constituent of the cell-con¬ 
tents ; they are converted into alcohol and carbonic 
acid (or succinic acid, glycerin, and carbonic acid), 
—or, in other words, the sugar undergoes fermenta¬ 
tion. 
Up to the present time there is no ■well-established 
case in which yeast has been formed without sugar, 
or in which sugar has been converted into carbonic 
acid and alcohol without the presence and influence 
of yeast-cells.* * * § 
Schlossberger observed that many juicy fungi (for 
example, Agaricus russula, etc.), when kept in narrow¬ 
mouthed, open flasks, underwent vinous fermentation 
spontaneously, and that alcohol could be obtained 
from the expressed liquid on distillation; meanwhile 
true yeast-cells were formed. 
According to this, the significance of the plant or¬ 
ganism in the phenomenon of fermentation appears 
to be clear, for it is only through its agency that an 
albuminate and sugar can be united into a peculiar 
compound in the liquid where the yeast-plant is 
developed, or, in other words, associated in that 
manner in which they can, as a constituent of the 
fungus, exercise an influence on sugar. When the 
fungus ceases to grow 7 , the bond uniting the con¬ 
stituents of the cell-contents is dissolved, and it is 
the molecular motion acquired by the cell contents 
which enables the yeast-cells to determine a dislo¬ 
cation of the sugar elements, or their separation and 
rearrangement into other organic molecules. 
* It is not here meant that, besides the organized yeast 
ferment, there is no other which could convert sugar into 
alcohol and carbonic acid. In regard to this point, it is neces¬ 
sary to direct attention to the highly remarkable characters 
of the madder ferment discovered by E. Schunck. See Erd¬ 
mann and AVerther’s Journal fur Prakt. Chemie, vol. lxiii. 
p. 222 . 
Schunck showed that in madder, and in its aqueous ex¬ 
tract, fermentation took place at a moderate temperature, in 
consequence of which rubian is converted into a number of 
new substances, among which alizarin is the most remarkable. 
Neither yeast nor casein decomposes rubian, and the action of 
emulsin is only partial. The madder ferment, which Schunck 
calls erythrozym, is obtained by mixing an aqueous extract of 
madder with hydrochloric acid, when it separates as a brown 
flocculent precipitate. In the second stage of its decomposi¬ 
tion, it produces a true vinous fermentation in sugar solution, 
and Schunck found succinic acid among the products (1854), 
the presence of this substance in all fermented liquids having 
been ascertained so far back as 1848 by C. Schunck in Dorpat. 
See Handworterbuch, vol. iii. p. 224. 
(To be continued.) 
RHATANY FROM PARA. 
BY DR. F. A. FLUCKIGEE, 
Since tlie end of last century the roots of Krame- 
ria trianclra, a native of Peru, bave been known in 
medicine under tlie name of rliatany. At a later 
period—about 1852 in Germany—it was found to be 
mixed with tlie roots of Krameria Ixina, a native of 
the northern parts of South America and of the An¬ 
tilles. It has been shown by Hanbury (1865) and by 
Triana* that this plant yields the rliatany f of Sava- 
nilla or New Granada. Tliis kind is novdiere pro¬ 
perly officinal, but it had, nevertheless, recently and 
for a time, almost displaced the Peruvian root; un¬ 
til later tliis has again become abundant. 
A third variety of rliatany root was described by 
Berg,| in 1865, as of Brazilian origin, and coming 
from Para. He obtained it from Gelie and Co., of 
Dresden. I also obtained this drug from the same 
source, so that I am able, from my own observation, 
to confirm Berg’s description, adding to it only, that 
the transverse figures frequently present a jagged 
course, and sometimes surround the root. They 
are, on the whole, very regularly distributed; and 
though at some places they are entirely absent, they 
become apparent when the root is bent backwards 
and forwards. The Para rhatany presented in tliis 
case a very peculiar elasticity as compared with that 
of Payta and Savanilla, even when in sticks, \ inch 
and more hi diameter. Some pieces also presented 
the very remarkable appearance of numerous corky 
worts. Like the Savanilla variety, the Para roots 
become bluisli-black wdien thin slices are immersed 
in sulphate of iron solution. Very probably this- 
w^as the root examined by Mettenlieimer.§ 
I have also obtained the same root lately from 
Etienne Hoques and Co., in Paris, and was assured 
it came direct from Para.|| It is in pieces 16 to 20 
inches long, and £ to f of an inch diameter, inclusive 
of the bark. They are ah of a dull, uniform, dark 
brownish or greyish colour, like the sample obtained 
from Gelie and Co. This colour in itself is not 
striking, but if the three varieties of rhatany are 
compared together, there is a distinctly recognizable 
difference between them. The Peruvian or Payta 
rhatany is red, the Savanilla is violet, and the Para 
root is greyish-brown. The two latter are most 
alike superficially, and this is probably due to the 
preponderance of tannin that colours sulphate of 
iron bluish-black. 
The structure of Para rhatany, as described by 
Berg, corresponds closely with that of the tw 7 o speci¬ 
mens above-mentioned. But while Berg speaks of 
its structure as being very different from that of Sa¬ 
vanilla rhatany, I should limit that difference to the- 
fact, that in the Para root the middle bark is always 
* This word is, as commonly thought, of Spanish origin 
but is much more probably derived from the language of the- 
district where the plant grows. Spruce, who is acquainted 
with this language and with Spanish, directed his attention 
to the krameria in examining the cinchona region between 
1859 and 1861. According to him, rattani in the Quichua 
language, means to hold, fasten, bind together ; and the word 
rhatany appears to be derived from it. In the Spanish 
Pharmacopoeia of 1865 it is called Ratania. 
__ f ‘Exposition Universelle do 1867; Nouvelle Grenada et 
Etats-Unis de la Colombie. Catalogue de l’Exposition,’ 
p. 10. 
X Wiggers, ‘ Jahresbericht,’ 1865. 
§ AViggers, ‘Jahresbericht,’ 1852-53 and 1857. 
|| Berg’s name, Radix rhatanice Irasiliensis, is too com- 
I prehensive; Krameria Ixina also grows in Brazil. 
