ON  THE  SO-CALLED  OIL  OF  STILLINGIA. 
149 
It  is  probable  that  the  milky  juice  of  this  species,  on  assuming 
so  readily  a  tenacious  gelatinous  form,  envelopes  the  bitter  prin- 
ciples and  prevents  them  from  being  removed  with  the  sap  by 
pressure.  This  theory  would  indicate  a  process  for  a  reliable 
pharmaceutical  preparation,  on  the  merits  of  which,  however, 
only  actual  experiments  can  decide. 
Philadelphia^  September^  1868. 
— Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.  1868. 
'  ON  THE  SO-CALLED  OIL  OF  STILLINGIA. 
By  W.  Saunders,  London,  Ont. 
Being  called  on  lately  to  prepare  some  of  this  remedy  I  re- 
ferred to  the  American  Dispensatory,  edited  by  Dr.  King,  for 
information  on  the  subject.  After  reading  the  details  of  the 
process  I  met  with  remarks  to  the  following  purport :  That  the 
recent  root  yielded  a  larger  proportion  of  oil  than  the  dried,  but 
that  the  article  made  from  the  dried  root  contained  the  "  real 
active  principle  "  but  little  impaired.  In  the  next  paragraph 
the  author  says  that  'Hhe  dried  root  is  inert  or  nearly  so,"  hence 
its  powder  is  of  no  utility.  Not  knowing  how  to  reconcile  these 
statements,  how  a  preparation  containing  so  much  of  the  "real 
active  principle  "  could  be  made  from  an  inert  or  nearly  inert 
root,  I  proceeded  to  test  the  value  of  the  dried  root  by  experi- 
ment. 
I  had  in  my  possession  some  stillingia,  which,  after  being 
dried  and  crushed,  had  been  left  accidentally  exposed  in  an  open 
barrel  to  the  full  action  of  light  and  air  for  nearly  a  year.  Of 
this,  five  pounds  were  taken  and  ground  in  a  Swift's  drug  mill 
as  fine  as  possible  without  sifting.  It  was  then  moistened  with 
alcohol,  packed  in  a  percolator  and  allowed  to  stand  twenty-four 
hours,  when  fresh  spirit  was  gradually  added  until  nine  pints 
of  tincture  were  obtained,  when  the  root  was  sufficiently  ex- 
hausted. Water  was  added  to  displace  the  alcohol  remaining  in 
the  root  and  the  whole  resulting  liquid  placed  in  a  still,  heated 
by  a  water  bath  to  recover  the  spirit.  The  yield  of  oil  was  six 
and  a  quarter  ounces,  to  which,  on  account  of  its  extreme  thick- 
ness, I  was  obliged  to  add  one  ounce  of  alcohol ;  with  this  addi- 
tion it  was  very  much  denser  than  the  commercial  article. 
