March 9, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
721 
NOTES ON THE PHARMACY OF 
IPECACUANHA.* * * § 
BY DYCE DUCKWORTH, M.D., F.R.C.P., 
Assistant-Physician to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. 
I have been engaged at intervals for the last three 
years in studying the physiological and therapeutical 
actions of ipecacuanha, and consequently have had 
occasion to employ botli the officinal and other pre- j 
parations of this clrug.f I have likewise made use 
of its true alkaloid, emetia, as prepared by Messrs. 
Hopkin and Williams. 
The object of my communication to this Society I 
to-night is to call attention generally to the pharma¬ 
ceutical preparations of ipecacuanha in the British 
Pharmacopoeia, but most especially to the importance 
of securing better fluid preparations of the drug than 
we at present possess. 
As to the ordinary powder of the rhizome, I think 
no remark is called for. I am informed that this is j 
generally to be obtained in the shops void of adul¬ 
teration, and, provided that the rhizome is of good 
quality, and is a genuine specimen of ipecacuanha, 
there is hardly an objection to be made to it. The 
most probable adulteration is with the rhizomes of 
Psycliotria emetica, a striated variety, called Peru¬ 
vian ipecacuanha. This plant is less rich in emetia, 
iind contains rarely more than 6 per cent., while the 
best rhizomes of true ipecacuanha yield KB per 
cent, of the pure alkaloid.J Dr. Attfield has re- 
cently§ made some assays of different specimens, 
and in particular of a variety of Psycliotria which 
was sent from Bogota, and which he found to con¬ 
tain only 24 per cent, of emetia, with great excess 
of grape sugar. He rightly urges that no more of 
this latter quality should be imported into Europe. 
It is important to select such rhizomes as are not 
too broad, for it is found that the bulk of such speci¬ 
mens is mainly due to the central woody matter 
which is devoid of emetia, and therefore worthless. 
Ipecacuanha enters, as you well know, into the 
following officinal preparations:—Pulv. ipec. co., or 
Dover’s powder; pil. conii co.; pil. ipec. c. scilla; 
trocliisci ipecac.; trocliisci morphise et ipecac.; and 
the vinum ipecacuanha. 
I believe that all these preparations are excellent, 
both as pharmaceutic compounds and for practical 
purposes. I would especially instance the great j 
value of the Dover’s powder and the pil. ipecac, c. 
scilla. It is when we consider the only fluid pre¬ 
paration in the list that we have reason to be dis¬ 
satisfied with it. It is somewhat remarkable that 
no other solutions of ipecacuanha have been enjoined 
in the British Pharmacopoeia; in most of the foreign 
dispensatories there are several formulae for syrups, 
liquid extracts, or tinctures. 
It is not, however, important to enumerate either 
the names or the peculiarities of these several pre¬ 
parations, because, with one exception, they cannot 
be considered satisfactory. 
* Read at the Evening Meeting of the Pharmaceutical 
Society of Great Britain, March 6, 1872. 
f St. Barth. Hosp. Reports, vol. v. 1869, and vol. vii. 1871. 
X Although Dr. Attfield claims 10 per cent, as the amount 
of emetia yielded by the best specimens of ipecacuanha, it 
seems doubtful whether so large a quantity is really obtained. 
There is reason, indeed, to believe that 2 per cent, is about 
the amount that can be procured from the rhizomes of true 
ipecacuanha. 
§ Sept. 1869, vide Pharm. Journ. 2nd Scr. Yol. XI. p. 140. 
Third Series, No. 89. 
The exception is in favour of the syrup of the 
United States Pharmacopoeia, which is made from 
an aceto-alcoholic extract of the drug, and this leads 
me to speak next of the best solvents for ipecacuanha. 
These are three in number, viz. acetic and tartaric 
acids and rectified spirit of wine ; they dissolve the 
emetia out of the rhizome, and there are the best 
reasons for believing that the alkaloid represents the 
active principle of the remedy. 
In the vin. ipecac, the emetia is dissolved in part 
by the 17 per cent, of alcohol contained in the sherry, 
and partly also by the acid tartrate of potassium. 
Ipecacuanha wine, when freshly made, looks emi¬ 
nently satisfactory as a preparation, but it is found 
to become turbid after a time, and to deposit a 
brownish, muddy sediment. The same phenomena 
ensue when a proof-spirit tincture of the drug is 
made. (A rectified-spirit tincture, such as is used 
in homoeopathic pharmacy, or rather was formerly 
enjoined in their codex—for they now employ proof- 
spirit for many of their tinctures—retains its bright¬ 
ness, and throws down no sediment.) This ugly 
sediment engaged my attention a good deal at one 
time, and I examined it with some care. I should 
add that emetia itself dissolves perfectly in sherry, 
but with some difficulty, and after a time the solution 
throws down a similar sediment, though in smaller 
quantity, to that found in the wine and proof-spirit 
tincture. Filtration removes the turbidity, but onty 
for a time. I have learnt from many inquiries 
amongst pharmacists that some frequently filter the 
wine, and others dispense the preparation only after 
shaking up the bottle, and therefore in the turbid 
state. They have generally seemed ignorant as to 
the nature of the deposit, though they have believed 
it to contain some of the active part of the drug. 
If some of this matter be examined under the mi¬ 
croscope, it will be found to consist of a yellowish, 
granular, amorphous material. It has been supposed 
to be glucose or starch, but it is neither the one nor 
the other. Neither tartaric nor acetic acids have 
any effect upon it, nor is it dissolved by ether, chlo¬ 
roform, alcohol or ammonia. The only solvent I 
have found for it is the liquor potassse. Hence, I 
satisfied myself that it was not emetia, for this alka¬ 
loid is soluble in acids and alcohol, and only slightly 
so in ether, while it is insoluble in alkalies. The 
reaction of the precipitate is acid, and it has a bitter 
and somewhat aromatic taste. I was indeed at a 
loss to know what its exact nature was till Dr. Attfield 
informed me that it is a mixture of the acid tartrate 
of potassium and cephaelate of emetia. To quote his 
own words, “ The cause of its appearance is, I pre¬ 
sume, the slow formation of alcohol from the residual 
sugar in the sherry, a menstruum being produced in 
which the tartar is decreasingly soluble. With the 
tartar is deposited the natural salt of the alkaloid, 
because the former is the solvent of the latter. A 
proof-spirit tincture is not more stable than ipecacu¬ 
anha wine; what is wanted to retain the alkaloidal 
salt in solution being not alcohol but acids, or such 
an acid salt as cream of tartar.” Dr. Attfield stated 
to me also that the wine deteriorated gradually in 
strength according to the amount of deposition, 
which is exactly what might be expected. I find 
that the addition of 3 or 4 minims of liquor potassse 
to a drachm of the muddiest wine or tincture ot 
ipecacuanha renders it quite bright and clear, and 
of the colour of old port-wine. Liq. ammonise darkens 
but does not clarify it. The bitterness and aroma of 
