3G8 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 5, 1870, 
Cooke, Curator of the Museum at the India Office, from 
■whom I had the following satisfactory reply:— 
“ Dear Sir,—I have not the slightest doubt that your 
specimens are Rubia cordifolia. Yours most obediently, 
“ M. C. Cooke.” 
The following are, I think, the chief characters by 
which it may be distinguished from chiretta :— 
It is a trailing plant, with an underground stem 
about the thickness of a quill, giving off rootlets at in¬ 
tervals ; of a dull reddish eolour externally, but brighter 
internally. The stems are long and trailing, quadran¬ 
gular, the angles being covered with small recurved 
prickles. The cortical portion, when old, soon breaks 
off from the internal woody portion, which is round, and 
of a red colour like the root. 
The leaves are about an inch and a half long, sup¬ 
ported upon peduncles about half that length, arranged 
in whorls of four at the nodes, which are very con¬ 
spicuous. They are 5-ribbed, with an entire or dentate 
margin, and generally more or less cordate. 
The specimen I examined had no signs of flower or 
fruit upon it. 
The true Ophelia Chiretta , on the other hand, has a 
thick branching root, a round, smooth brown stem, ses¬ 
sile amplexicaul opposite leaves, and purely bitter taste. 
The reason of this false packing is I think very evi¬ 
dent, when we know that about that time chiretta was 
between 2s. and 3s. a pound, while munjeet was between 
4 d. and 6d. 
Mr. Tilden asked if Mr. Webb was sure it was aliza¬ 
rine he had procured from the plant. 
Mr. Webb said that he had tested it with potash and 
in other ways, and he had no doubt of the result. 
Mr. Tilden said he had thought the appearance might 
be due to purpurine. He was working with Dr. Sten- 
house when that gentleman discovered mungistine, which 
presented the most magnificent crystals, in the shape of 
beautiful golden scales, while alizarine was not contained 
in Rubia cordifolia. It might easily be proved by boiling 
some in water. 
Mr. Webb said, that when boiled and reprecipitated, 
it appeared in an amorphous condition. He had sublimed 
some, from which he had got crystals very similar to 
alizarine. 
Professor Bentley said he was quite sure the meeting 
would agree with him that it was of great importance 
that such specimens as that on the table should be 
brought before the notice of the Society immediately 
they found their way into the market. Very fortunately 
Infusions of the Pharmacopoeia , prepi 
in the present case the adulteration was so palpable that 
it would be at once detected, but in some cases there 
would be more difficulty, and, therefore, it was of im¬ 
portance that their attention should be called to the 
matter, in order that they might be on their guard. He 
had looked over many specimens of chiretta, but had 
never met with such an instance of adulteration before; 
indeed, according to his experience, it was a substance 
very little subject to adulteration, but in this case the- 
reason assigned by Mr. Webb was evidently the correct 
one, and the difference in price had led to an attempt to' 
deceive the public. He might add that he had no doubt 
of the plant being munjeet. 
Dr. Attfield said he believed the adulteration was- 
not nearly so manifest when the specimen was first placed 
in Mr. Webb’s hands. - 
Mr. Clements drew attention to an improved atmo¬ 
spheric gas-stove of his manufacture, a specimen of which 
was placed on the table; the advantages he claimed for 
it being the small amount of gas burnt and the perfect 
combustion which took place. A gallon of water coidd 
be boiled in fourteen minutes, at the ordinary day pres¬ 
sure, which would support a combustion of about 8 feet 
per hour. The burners were made of silicate of magne¬ 
sia or soap-stone; he had himself had one in use for two 
years and a half without its getting out of order, and Dr. 
Odling had also used it, and reported favourably of its- 
capabilities. The size exhibited was sold at 15s., but 
they were made larger if required, and might be adapted 
for cannel-coal gas as well as ordinary gas. 
Experiments on Some of the Infusions of the 
Pharmacopoeia. 
BY J. B. BARNES. 
In the two last editions of the Pharmacopoeia the time 
for the preparation of most of the infusions has been 
very properly lessened, but I shall be able to show that 
a still further reduction in the time of making infusions- 
can be made without detriment to the resulting product. 
In each separate set of operations the sample of drug 
employed was the same; the measuring and weighing 
were carefully made; each infusion, excepting that of 
linseed, was filtered through paper before the specific 
gravity was taken and the evaporation set going; the 
latter was made in porcelain dishes over a water bath, 
and the resulting extract finally dried in a water oven at 
212° F. until the weight became constant. 
In the following tables the results obtained are ex¬ 
hibited :— 
red in accordance with the Time ordered. 
Infusion. 
Quantity of In¬ 
gredients to half 
a pint of Dis¬ 
tilled Water. 
Time of Infusion. 
Quantity Evapo¬ 
rated. 
Specific 
Gravity. 
Weight of Dried 
Extract obtained. 
Bearberry. 
Buchu . 
Cascarilla .'. 
Cinchona ... 
Cusparia. 
Digitalis., t 
Dulcamara.. 
1 Gentian root .... 
Gentian \ Orange peel. 
( Lemon peel. 
Hop ... 
Linseed { ^ nsee< * 
( Liquorice root .... 
Rhatany .. 
Rhubarb. 
Senega ... 
Senna (?, e . nna . 
( Ginger. 
Serpentaria. 
Valerian... 
J ounce.. 
4 ounce.. 
1 ounce.. 
| ounce.. 
i ounce.. 
30 grains.. 
1 ounce.. 
60 grains \ 
60 grains !> 
5 ounce ) 
J ounce., 
160 grains 1 
60 grains J 
i ounce.. 
J ounce., 
| ounce.. 
1 ounce., 1 
30 grains J 
\ ounce.. 
120 grains.. 
Two hours .... 
One hour .... 
One hour .... 
Two hours .... 
Two hours .... 
One hour .... 
One hour .... 
One hour .... 
Two hours .... 
Four hours.... 
One hour .... 
One hour .... 
One hour .... 
One hour .... 
Two hours .... 
One hour .... 
Ten fluid ounces 
» 
r 
17 
71 
One pint...... 
Ten fluid ounces 
a 
a 
a 
a 
a 
a 
it 
a 
a 
1-215 
1-213 
1-211 
1-210 
1-210 
1-208 
1-215 
1-215 
1-213 
1-210 
1-210 
1-211 
1-213 
1-223 
1-209 
1-210 
Grammes* 
5-33 
3-57 
2- 74 
1-94 
3- 05 
1- 07 
5-13 
2- 26 
2-79 
1-28 
2-16 
2- 71 
3- 69 
9-OS 
•71 
1-91 
In Grains. 
82-25 
55"08 
42- 28 
29-93 
46-45 
16-51 
79-16 
34-87 
43- 04 
19-75 
33-33 
41-82 
56-93 
140-12 
10-95 
29-47 
