252     Chemical  Examination  of  Ipomcea  Purpurea,  {Amjune?i908?rm' 
With  consideration,  therefore,  of  the  recognized  value  of  true 
jalap,  and  also  of  the  conditions  which  in  recent  years  have  so  un- 
favorably influenced  the  quality  of  this  drug,  it  would  appear  to  be 
very  desirable  that  such  plants  as  are  capable  of  affording  products 
of  similar  or  equal  activity  should  be  subjected  to  a  complete 
chemical  and  physiological  examination.  The  results  of  such 
investigations,  apart  from  the  scientific  interest  they  may  possess, 
would  doubtless  often  prove  useful  in  directing  attention  to  the 
particular  value  of  native  remedies,  even  should  their  employment 
remain  restricted  to  the  country  of  their  production. 
A  description  of  Ipomcea  purpurea  (Roth),  with  its  synonymy  and 
geographical  distribution,  is  contained  in  the  4'  Flora  Capensis," 
Vol.  IV,  section  2,  p.  59.  London,  1904.  It  is  stated  in  this  work 
that  the  plant  not  only  occurs  in  the  Kalahari  and  eastern  regions 
of  South  Africa,  such  as  the  Transvaal  and  Natal,  but  also  in  Cen- 
tral and  South  America  and  Australia. 
A  more  detailed  description  of  the  same  plant,  under  the  name 
oi' Ipomcea  congesta,  R.  Br.,  is  given  in  the  work  entitled  Natal 
Plants,"  by  J.  Medley  Wood,  A.L.S.,  and  Maurice  S.  Evans, 
M.L.A.,  F.Z.S.,  Vol.  I,  Part  2,  p.  75.  Durban,  1899.  This 
description  is  accompanied  by  an  uncolored  plate,  representing  a 
flowering  plant  with  dissections  ol  the  flower.  It  is  likewise 
noted  by  these  authors  that  the  plant  is  not  uncommon  in  the  coast 
districts  of  Natal,  and  that  it  is  also  a  native  of  Australia. 
The  material  employed  in  this  investigation  evidently  consisted 
chiefly  of  the  aerial  stems  of  the  above-mentioned  plant.  It  had 
the  following  general  characters  : — Curved,  rope-like  pieces,  a  metre 
or  more  in  length,  and  varying  in  diameter  from  8  millimetres  in 
the  larger  pieces  to  I  millimetre  or  less  in  the  branches.  Color, 
light  brown ;  fracture,  short,  except  in  the  bark,  where  fine,  long, 
silky  fibres  project;  odor  and  taste  slight. 
Experimental. 
As  a  preliminary  experiment  for  ascertaining  the  general  charac- 
ters of  the  drug,  fifty  grammes  of  the  finely-ground  material  were 
extracted  successively  in  a  Soxhlet  apparatus  with  various  solvents, 
when  the  following  amounts  of  extract,  dried  at  100°  C,  were 
obtained. 
