106 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[August 6 , 1870. 
prised in tlie ‘ Systema Medicinaa ’ of Susrutas about 
ten centuries before our era. The Sanskrit name is 
Kiratatikta, or the bitter herb of tlie Kiratas, a 
lialf-caste race that bad been driven back into the 
bill country of northern India. It is with good 
reason, therefore, that this plant has always received 
attention from English physicians in India, and that 
it has been included in the Indian Pharmacopoeia of 
1868. 
Strangely enough, Guibourt attempted to refer to 
Chirayta several of the older descriptions and draw¬ 
ings of the Calamus aromaticus, odoratus, or verus 
that was brought at an early period from India to 
Europe. It is true he pointed out the total absence 
of aroma, so that the remarks of Fee and Royle 
sufficed to prove the total difference between the 
odourless Chirayta and Calamus, although the his¬ 
tory of the latter is not yet fully ascertained. 
This plant from which tins bitter herb is derived 
—Ophelia chirata, Griseb.—was first drawn by 
Roxburgh in 1814, mider the name Gentian a Chi¬ 
rayta ; subsequently also by Wallich, by Don (as 
Agathotes Chirayta), by Wight, and Clegliorn. It 
is an elegant annual Gentiana of the lower Hima¬ 
laya, occurring from Simla, and through Kumasu, as 
far as Nepaul. In its outward appearance Ophelia 
Chirayta closely resembles our Erythrcea Centau- 
rium, though with several differences. 
The Chirayta commonly met with in English 
commerce is usually of very inferior character, and 
chiefly consists of stalks deprived of their leaves. 
The plant that has been examined by Holm con¬ 
sisted, on the contrary, of well-preserved specimens 
retaining flowers, fruit, and roots, so that the essen¬ 
tial characteristics of that nature could be well 
observed. For the supply of this material I am in¬ 
debted to the kindness of my friend Daniel Hanbury. 
The woody stems were from 2 to 3 feet long, 
and ^ inch thick at the lower ends, cylindrical, 
with knots at distances of 14 to 3 or 4 inches, at 
the upper ends obtusely quadrangular, with wings 
extending downwards. The colours varied from 
brownish-yellow to dark purple-red. The branches 
were more greenish or greyish-brown. The root is 
sometimes from 2 to 4 feet long, and twice as thick 
as the stem. It forms generally a simple tap-root, 
furnished with somewhat scanty fibres. Larger spe¬ 
cimens present an angular bending of the root, pro¬ 
bably indicating a growth of more than one year. 
Generally the stem rises isolated from the root, but 
in some instances I met with plants consisting of 
several stems. The numerous prolonged branches 
resemble in then arrangement those of Erythrcea 
Centaurium, and towards the upper part they form a 
thick whorl. The insertion of the leaves and flowers 
may also be compared to that of the indigenous 
Gentian referred to above. The lower leaves of 
Ophelia are often 3 cm. in length and 7 mm. broad; 
the upper ones are very much smaller. All of them 
are acutely lancet-shaped, smooth edged, cordate at 
the base, and, like the entire plant, perfectly glabrous. 
According to the size of the leaves, they present 3, 5, 
or 7 ribs, of which the central one is the thickest. 
The yellow, 4-parted corolla is about 12 mm. long, 
and rather glandular at the base. The calyx is much 
shorter than the corona. The fruit is a 1-celled cap¬ 
sule, with two valves at the apex. 
* Derived from oQ'Xo;, useful, in reference to the medicinal 
virtue of the plant. 
The flower possesses the same intense biiter taste 
that is characteristic of Chirayta. It is only the 
woody substance of the thickest stems that is not 
bitter; this contains a considerable pith. Even the 
branches present in sections a broad ring. 
The popular name of this drug in India is Creyat, 
and it has been applied to several varieties of Ophe¬ 
lia ; but it seems that Andrographis paniculata, 
Wallich ( Justicia paniculata, Burm.), an Acan- 
tliacea, frequent in Bengal, is principally under¬ 
stood under that name (or, properly, Kiratha). 
This plant, which is only 1 or 2 feet high, also tastes 
intensely bitter, but it is distinguishable by its al¬ 
ternate, long-stemmed flowers, with rose-coloured bi¬ 
labiate corolla. Moreover, the flower forms a panicle. 
While Ophelia Chirayta is distinguished as duk- 
hani, or southern Chiretta or Creyat, the Ophelia 
angustifolia , Don, is, on the contrary, termed pa- 
hari Chiretta, as coming from the mountains. This 
variety grows in the same districts as the true Chi¬ 
rayta ; but it has leaves that are almost lineal, and 
the flowers have a white corona, with violet spots, 
that is shorter than the calyx. 
On the contrary, Ophelia elegans , Wight, is indi¬ 
genous to the mountains of southern India, and in 
the bazaars of that district it is described as inland 
Creyat. It has blue flowers. 
Lastly, the Indian Pharmacopoeia mentions the 
white-flowered O. densifolia, Griseb. (O. multijlora , 
Dalzell). All these varieties are described as quite 
as bitter as the true Chirayta, and as being, in fact, 
used in the place of it throughout the north-western,, 
central, and southern provinces of India. 
These varieties of Ophelia correspond in their 
native country to the allied indigenous European 
plants which have been introduced into medical use 
here, and from that point of view their investigation 
by Holm presents some pharmaceutical interest. 
In the Indian Pharmacopoeia there is an infusion of 
Chirayta, and an aromatic tincture with cardamoms 
and orange-peel. 
By extracting the stalks and roots with alcohol 
of 60 per cent, sugar, wax, chlorophyll, soft resin, 
tannin, an acid (ophelic), and a pecular bitter sub¬ 
stance (chiratin) were dissolved. 
The acid was syrupy, and very deliquescent, yel¬ 
lowish-brown, tasting at first slightly sour, after¬ 
wards intensely bitter. When warmed it smells like 
lugian; it dissolves in water with some turbidity 
(due, perhaps, to resin), completely in alcohol, or a 
mixture of spirit with ether. It decomposes alka¬ 
line solution of copper when warmed with it; also’ 
ammoniacal solution of silver with alkalies it dark¬ 
ens ; with percliloride of iron it becomes reddish- 
yellow ; with sulphate of copper dirty green; with 
lead salts yellow, and forms amorphous compounds 
with acids. Analysis of the lead compound gave 
^26 h 20 o, 0 as the formula. 
Chiratin is a pale yellow, very hygroscopic pow¬ 
der, at the utmost capable only of a granular crys¬ 
tallization; it is very bitter, sparingly soluble in 
cold water, rather more in hot water, readily soluble 
in alcohol or ether. It is neutral to test-paper, does 
not reduce alkaline solution of copper, and gives 
with tannic acid a copious white flocculent precipi¬ 
tate ; formula C 52 H 4s O 30 . By the action of acids 
chiratin is separated into ophelic acid and a yellow¬ 
ish-brown amorphous substance that is not sugar, 
but tastes bitter, is scarcely soluble in water, readily 
soluble in spirit, does not reduce copper solution.. 
