564 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
ounce and a half of resin, nearly 19 per cent., and two ounces or 25 per cent, of 
the aqueous product. Thus, though a wholesale manufacturer might use the 
worm-eaten for the preparation of resin, seeing that it would not command a 
ready sale as jalap-root for tincture, I should myself prefer the sound root. The 
next point of inquiry which suggested itself to me was one arising from the fact 
that the good Vera Cruz jalap being very dear, and another kind, described as 
Tampico jalap, being offered at a less price, the difference being one shilling and 
sixpence per pound, whether it would yield as good a product as the kind known 
as Vera Cruz jalap. It may be perhaps worth while to mention that Tampico 
is a port on the Gulf of Mexico, north of Vera Cruz, whence the jalap is 
exported, and from which circumstance it probably takes its name. 
Operating upon the same quantity of this Tampico jalap, some of which is 
upon the table, I obtained exactly the same quantity of resin as I had done from 
the sound Vera Cruz, viz. 19 per cent., but only 10 per cent, of the aqueous 
extract. The next question which suggested itself was whether this and similar 
resins could be (following the Pharmacopoeia directions) as well prepared with 
methylated as pure spirit? Judging from two samples on the table, I should 
say not. Although subjected to distillation, subsequent washing with hot 
water, and evaporation in an open vessel, these resins still most tenaciously 
retain the unpleasant methylic odour, but which is almost got rid of by subse¬ 
quent digestion with a small quantity of pure spirit and animal charcoal, and 
repeated washings with hot distilled water. 
There is yet another circumstance, I think, worthy of being mentioned in 
reference to a test for jalap resin. In the ‘Pharmaceutical Journal,’ vol. iv., 
1st series, p. 326, writing upon jalap, Dr. G. Kayser says, “ The relation of 
jalap resin to concentrated sulphuric acid furnishes us with the means of testing 
these resins. We have only to moisten a little of the powdered resin in question 
with a few drops of concentrated sulphuric acid upon a watch-glass, and allow 
it to stand for a quarter of an hour. If it be pure jalap-resin it will be gradually 
dissolved, assuming a beautiful crimson colour, and in a few hours a brown 
viscid resin will separate.” He continues, “ I have made the same experiment with 
common resin, with scammony , etc., but none of these evinced the characteristic 
relation towards concentrated sulphuric acid, which is, therefore, an infallible 
test for jalap resin.” Here I am desirous of showing that, though the sul¬ 
phuric acid test distinguishes jalap resin from some other resins, it does not dis¬ 
tinguish it from that of scammony. It will be clearly observed from the watch- 
glasses upon the table—the one containing jalap resin, and the other scammony 
resin—that the rose colour is so similar that it would be impossible to tell the 
one from the other. The inferences to be drawn from the foregoing appear 
to be:— 
That the P. B. process for the preparation of jalap resin is good ; that worm- 
eaten jalap certainly possesses no advantage over sound jalap, but rather the 
contrary, for the preparation of resin of jalap ; that good Tampico jalap is a 
valuable substitute for the Vera Cruz ; that methylated spirit is objectionable 
in the preparation of this and similar resins or extracts; and that concentrated 
sulphuric acid is not a distinguishing test between jalap and scammony resin. 
Mr. Tjllden remarked that the chemistry of jalap and scammony resins had 
been pretty completely worked out. In a paper published a short time ago by 
Spirgatis, a comparison is made of the composition and properties of scammony 
resin with those of that portion of jalap resin which is soluble in ether. They 
give the same results to analysis, and by the assimilation of three atoms of 
water yield resinous acids furnishing salts which are identical in properties. 
When treated by acids, they split into glucose and a new acid which is crystal¬ 
line. They also give the same coloration with sulphuric acid. Their chemical 
