1003 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[June 15, 1872. 
Angora-Bozouk.—This root was of a madder co¬ 
lour exteriorly, and yellowish in the interior, cylin¬ 
drical, 10 centimetres long by 21 in diameter; 40 
grams of the pounded root treated with alcohol 
yielded 4 grams 20 centigrams (or 10'30 per cent.) 
of a purgative substance so liygrometric, that it be¬ 
came syrupy when exposed to the air. 
Alep Islade.—Root of a dark grey exterior, yel¬ 
lowish in the interior, ligneous and very porous ; 50 
gram of the root treated with alcohol gave a per¬ 
centage of about 5'40 of a purgative product very 
liygrometric. 
To summarize this inquiry, it is clear from the 
careful researches made, that the great difference in 
quality which exists between one kind of scam- 
mony and another, is due less to the nature of the 
soil, or the varieties of the plant which produce them, 
than to the defective modes of extraction of the 
milky juice, and the successive manipulations to 
which it is submitted. 
A fact which is lost sight is that the root is long- 
lived, though the stem is annual, for it does not 
attain its full development till after the space of 
several years, and it is only after the third or fourth 
year of growth that the juice is completely saturated 
with gummy resinous substances. The extraction 
by expression is the most useful and practical. 
By selecting the most healtliy-looking roots, clean¬ 
ing and cutting them, and submitting them to a gra¬ 
dual pressure in a canvas bag, two men will obtain 
in two days more than four will procure in 
days by the old method of incising the root. 
in all proportions with glycerine. Tliis notice, how¬ 
ever, requires, I beg to observe, a slight modification. 
True creasote, which stands the above test, is per¬ 
fectly miscible in any proportion with anhydrous or 
nearly anhydrous glycerine, but it is not so with a 
somewhat diluted glycerine; a clear solution of cre¬ 
asote and of the same weight of anhydrous glycerine 
becomes turbid on addition of a little water, where¬ 
as a similar solution of carbolic acid may be diluted 
with water without separation of carbolic acid A 
The blue colouration of carbolic acid, due to per- 
chloride of iron, enables us to discover it when mixed 
with creasote, but not to prove the presence of cre¬ 
asote in carbolic acid. The latter question, however, 
seems to me of less practical importance ; yet, crea¬ 
sote, if present to some extent, would quickly sepa¬ 
rate in the above process, ci-\-b-\-c-\-d , if more water 
be added. For tliis purpose the addition of perclilo- 
ride of iron would be useless. 
eight 
CARBOLIC ACID AND CREASOTE. 
BY PROFESSOR FLUCKIGER, BERN. 
A good plan for distinguishing these two sub¬ 
stances is as follows 
Parts. 
b. 
c. 
cl. 
9 
CO 
Take a. Solution of Percliloride of Iron about 
1‘34 spec, gr. 
Creasote, that is to say, the liquid to 
be tested for Creasote .... 
Alcohol, containing about 85 per cent. 
of absolute Alcohol. 
Water. 
Now a+b mixed assume no peculiar colour. 
ay byc furnish a green solution. 
aybycyd form a turbid mixture of a 
dingy brownish colour, drops of creasote being 
separated. 
On the other hand, in the case of carbolic 
acid, suppose likewise,— 
The above ferric solution, weighing 
equally. . 1 
Carbolic Acid (phenol). 9 
Spirit of Wine, as above.5 
Water.00 
Now a+/3 will show a yellowish hue. 
a+/3-f-y yield a clear brown liquid. 
a+/3-j-y-f8 display a beautiful permanently 
blue solution, without separation of carbolic acid, 
or the few drops sinking down may be redissolved 
by shaking. 
Mr. Th. Morson pointed out* that glycerine is also 
a good test for the purpose under notice, creasote 
being not or almost not soluble in that liquid, where¬ 
as, as it is well known, carbolic acid readily mixes 
a. 
0. 
y- 
8 . 
* 
Pharm Jouen., May, 1872, p. 921. 
CHINESE CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES, f 
BY F. PORTER SMITH, M.B. 
There is a body of men in China called Taouists, the 
professed followers of Lciu-tsze , the great philosopher of 
China. Their studies have embraced every department 
of knowledge, including especially the subject of al¬ 
chemy, as an art and as a science. The Rev. J. Adkins, 
a veritable Christian Taouist, pointed out in a communi¬ 
cation made to the Hongkong Branch of the Royal 
Asiatic Society in the year 1855, that alchemy was 
pursued as a practical study for two centuries (P) before 
the Christian era, and for several centuries after that 
period. He argues from the facts that, as the Chinese 
were possessed of this knowledge long before alchemy 
was studied in the West, and the Arabian or Moham¬ 
medan traders who were the reputed discoverers of this 
art, had frequent and early intercourse with China by 
land and by sea, this interesting branch of knowledge 
was borrowed from the Chinese as the first professors 
of this true science. In the pursuit of some flux by 
which the dross of animalism was to be purged away, 
and the higher part of man’s nature to be crystallized 
out and sublimed into some stable and eternal form, 
these Taouists practised fasting, discipline, worship, the 
use of charms, and the search for a sovereign remedy 
for all the ills of life. More essentially Chinese than 
the followers of Confucius, these students of nature 
started with the study of that oldest scientific book in 
the world, the Yih King , or Classic of Changes, hoping 
to wring from it some reply to their deep-searching 
cry for the truth as it is in nature. 
Referring to the ‘ Notes on Chinese Literature ’ by Mr. 
Wylie, we gather that the earliest work now extant on 
the subject of alchemy is the San-t'ung-lc i by Wei Peh- 
yang of the second century after Christ. Koh-hung , 
better known by the name of P'au-p'oh-tsze , who lived 
in the Tsin time, during the close (in the early part of 
the fourth century after Christ) of that dynasty, was a 
voluminous author on alchemy, materia medica and other 
kindred subjects. He is largely quoted in the Pen Ts cut 
Kang Mult as an authority on chemical and medical 
subjects. Many other authors have included the sub¬ 
ject of transmutations in their writings. 
As the result of these researches, pursued with all 
perseverance, but no success in finding the Elixir of 
Life or the Philosopher’s Stone, the Chinese of the 
* The glycerine employed by Mr. Morson was the ordinary 
distilled glycerine of commerce, and he considers the advan¬ 
tage of the test suggested by him to consist in its simplicity 
and easy application.— Ed. Pharm. Jours'. 
f Reprinted from ‘Transactions of the North China 
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.’ 
