44 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 15, 1S71 
Seeds of Strychnos potatorum, nafc. size; 
hairs magnified 60 diameters. 
Phaem. Journ. 1st ser. Vol. IX.) Roxburgh says 
that the wood is hard and durable, and is used 
for various economical purposes. • The seed is 
broadly lenticular, about half an inch in diameter 
and a quarter of an inch in thickness; of a dirty 
whitish-grey colour, and covered with a thick coat¬ 
ing of delicate 
appressed hairs. 
These hairs are 
in bundles of 
from three to 
six, aggluti¬ 
nated together 
longitudinally ; 
but when sepa¬ 
rated each hair 
is seen to be a 
simple, pointed, 
cylindrical cell. 
To the naked 
eye, the surface 
of the seeds 
appears to be 
mealy rather than hairy. 
The seeds in powder, mixed with honey, are ap¬ 
plied to boils to hasten suppuration; also with milk 
in sore eyes. When used as an emetic in southern 
India, the seeds are given in powder. Dr. Kirk¬ 
patrick says that the seeds are employed as a re¬ 
medy in diabetes; and they are mentioned in the 
Taleef Sliereef as useful in gonorrhoea, etc. Their 
chief use, however, consists in their application to 
the clearing of muddy water. 
Dr. Pereira* suggested that the peculiar property 
of these seeds depends “ on the presence of albumen 
and casein in the seeds, which act as fining agents, 
like those employed for wine and beer. If the seeds 
be sliced, and digested in water, a thick mucila¬ 
ginous, ropy liquid is obtained, which, when boiled, 
yields a coagulum. If this be removed, a further 
coagulum is obtained by the addition of acetic acid. 
These reactions show the presence of albumen and 
casein.” Dr. O’Shaughnessy suggested that the 
clearing action depends on astringency in the fruit, 
which Dr. Pereira considers insufficient. 
Other seeds are employed in other countries for 
like purposes ; and Niebuhr states, in his ‘ Travels 
through Arabia,’ that the inhabitants of Cairo, in 
Egypt, render the muddy water of the Nile quite 
clear by rubbing bitter almonds, prepared in a par¬ 
ticular manner, on the inside of the earthen jars in 
which the water is kept. 
It is not so much the seed as the pericarp that 
commends itself to our notice. The former is not 
employed medicinally, whilst the latter is in com¬ 
mon use amongst the natives as an emetic. 
The use of the fruit as an emetic seems to have 
been wholly confined to the native practitioners. It 
has been supposed that the reason why it has never 
acquired repute is the improper way in which it is 
administered. The whole fruit is generally pow¬ 
dered, and given in about hah a teaspoonful doses. 
• It is not surprising, therefore, that failure should 
take place, since the large seeds are not emetic, the 
dry pulp of the fruit and the pericarp alone possess¬ 
ing that property. If these are used separately, the 
result is said to be very satisfactory. 
When sold separately, the emetic portion of the 
* Phaem. Journ. 1st Series, Vol. IS., pp. 477, 478. 
fruit is found in the bazaars in two conditions. In 
one condition it is in tlfin, scaly, and shell-like 
pieces, which are shining externally, and of a green¬ 
ish- or yellowish-brown colour. This is the peri¬ 
carp removed when the fruit is dry. In the other 
condition it is formed together with the mucus into 
large balls or masses weighing about one pound. 
In this condition it contains a large quantity of dry 
mucus, and is much superior in action to the other 
form. Mr. Moodeen Sheriff states that the dry mucus 
appears to be more efficacious in dysentery than 
ipecacuanha. 
The dose of the simple powder of the pericarp, 
prepared in the usual way, and kept in a stoppered 
bottle, is from 40 to 50 grains as an emetic, and 
from 15 to 30 in dysentery. 
[N.B.—This article was in type before that quoted 
from the American Journal of Pharmacy at p. 23 
had appeared ; but its publication had been delayed 
on account of the woodcut.— Ed. Phaem. Journ.] 
FLUID EXTRACTS AND THEIR MENSTRUA. 
BY EDWARD R. SQUIBB, M.D. 
(Continued from page 25.) 
This process of repercolation has been described in 
previous papers, but it may be useful here to offer a table 
of examples, carried out to an exaggerated extent, to ex¬ 
hibit its scope and capacity; and yellow cinchona, dan¬ 
delion, and senna are selected for illustration. All these 
drugs were taken in the very fine powders as met with 
in the markets. One Pharmacopoeia portion of 7680 
grains of each was taken for each percolation, and three 
percolations of each drug were made. The percolate 
from the first portion of each was taken to moisten and 
percolate the second, and the percolate from the second 
portion of each was taken to moisten and percolate the 
third. 
The menstruum used for yellow cinchona was a mix¬ 
ture of one part, by weight, of glycerine, and three parts, 
by weight, of stronger alcohol. That used for the senna 
was diluted alcohol, and that used for the dandelion was 
a mixture of equal weights of stronger alcohol and water. 
The yellow cinchona and dandelion were each moistened 
with 8 fg, of menstruum and percolate, and the senna 
with 9 fg. All the moistened powders were passed 
through a sieve before packing, and were packed and 
managed alike, each pint as it came from one funnel 
being poured on top of the other. 
It will be seen by reference to the first table that it is 
estimated that the Pharmacopoeia may get in yellow cin¬ 
chona 55 per cent, of the extract from the bark, or 866 
grains in the two pints. By the last cinchona column of 
the table of repercolations it will be seen that if the first 
four pints from the third portion be mixed together, each 
pint of the mixture will contain almost as much extract 
of cinchona as the officinal two pints, and the whole four 
pints will make, by adding the next four pints of the 
column, eight pints, having nearly the strength of the 
officinal preparation, and this from three portions of 
powder. 
If the fluid extract of cinchona be changed in the new 
Pharmacopoeia to double the present officinal strength, 
and the standard for percolation be unchanged, then this 
column would yield about 2\ pints of double the present 
officinal strength. But if the standard be increased so 
that the preparation shall contain 80 per cent, of the ex¬ 
tract, or 1244 instead of 866 grains, then the first pint of 
the column is not strong enough, and another portion 
must be percolated with the percolate from the third 
portion. This portion may be larger or smaller than the 
others in proportion to the wants of the operator, and 
