148     ON  THE  MILKY  JUICE  OF  LACTUCA  ELONGATA,  MUHL. 
Dr.  August  Muller,  resident  physician  of  the  German  Hospi- 
tal of  Philadelphia,  kindly  consented  to  try  this  preparation  on 
some  patients  with  whom  opiates  did  not  agree,  but  who  required 
sedatives.  After  satisfying  himself  of  the  sedative  properties  of 
the  American  lactucarium  in  question,  Dr.  Muller  compared  it 
with  the  German  lactucarium,  using  both  in  the  form  of  syrup, 
prepared  by  myself  by  the  officinal  process,  merely  substituting, 
for  the  former,  percolation  by  digestion  with  dilute  alcohol,  for 
reasons  previously  stated.  His  conclusion  was,  that  there 
is  no  difference  whatever  in  the  medicinal  activity  between  the 
two. 
These  experiments,  made  by  two  physicians  entirely  unbiassed 
by  the  investigation  of  the  other,  it  seems  to  me,  prove  con- 
clusively that  the  milky  juice  of  Lactuca  elongata  possesses  the 
same  virtues  in  the  same  degree  as  that  of  L.  virosa. 
During  the  present  summer  I  have  tried  repeatedly  to  obtain 
this  American  lactucarium  of  the  same  appearance  as  the  Euro- 
pean article,  but  being  otherwise  considerably  occupied,  I  was 
unable  to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  result.  I  feel  convinced,  how- 
ever, that  the  collection  of  lactucarium  from  our  wild  growing 
lettuce  cannot  be  profitably  carried  on,  and  that  to  compete  with 
Europe  in  price,  cultivation  on  an  extensive  scale  would  have  to 
be  resorted  to. 
But  it  is  not  improbable  that  from  the  recent  or  dry  herb  a 
pharmaceutical  preparation  may  be  obtained,  which,  though  not 
lactucarium,  might  answer  all  practical  purposes.  I  have  com- 
menced to  turn  my  attention  in  this  direction,  but  in  consequence 
of  limited  time,  have  only  been  able  to  make  one  experiment, 
with  the  following  result : 
A  number  of  vigorous  plants  were  collected ;  while  fresh 
they  were  cut  up,  bruised  and  subjected  to  pressure  in  a  one- 
screw  press ;  the  residue  was  moistened  with  water  and  again 
expressed;  the  liquid  was  heated  to  boiling  and  strained.  On 
tasting  it  now  for  the  first  time  it  was  found  to  have  a  sweetish 
taste,  entirely  destitute  of  bitterness.  If  Aubergier  examined 
the  juice  of  L.  elongata,  prepared  in  the  same  way,  this  experi- 
ment agrees  entirely  with  kis  result ;  but  the  press  cake  possessed 
the  persistent  bitterness  of  lactucarium. 
