43^ 
Scammony  and  Resin  Scammony, 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
pt  ember,  1910. 
It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  virgin  scammony  is  getting  to  be  a 
scarce  article,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  at  the  present  time  to 
obtain  any  large  quantities  of  the  authentic  substance.  Moreover, 
all  the  work  that  has  been  done  so  far  goes  to  show  that  the  resin 
prepared  by  extracting  the  root  of  Convolvulus  scammonia  is  prac- 
tically identical  with  resin  scammony  prepared  according  to  the 
U.S. P.  directions  from  virgin  scammony.  We  would  suggest, 
therefore,  if  resin  scammony  is  to  be  retained  in  the  Pharmacopoeia, 
that  the  Revision  Committee  make  the  resin  extracted  from  the  root 
official,  as  has  been  done  in  the  British,  Belgian  and  Italian  Pharma- 
copoeias. On  the  other  hand,  if  it  can  be  shown  hy  physiological 
experiments  that  the  Mexican  resin  is  identical  in  its  action  with  true 
resin  scammony,  there  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  why  that  cheap 
and  abundant  article  should  not  replace  the  latter. 
TABLE  I. 
Sample.    Moisture.     Ash.    Acid  No.    Sap.  No.  Ester  No. 
I. 
II. 
Ill, 
IV. 
V. 
VI. 
VII. 
VIII 
Per  Ct. 
6.16 
i-95 
2.07 
i-45 
2.25 
2.23 
4.29 
2.03 
Per  Ct. 
2,70 
00 
21 
20 
07 
20 
30 
15 
18.5 
10.6 
16.3 
10.2 
12.2 
14.0 
I3.6 
I4.9 
207.2 
236.6 
256.2 
175-8 
1 77. 1 
171.6 
183.8 
175-9 
188.7 
226.0 
239-9 
165.6 
164.9 
157-6 
170.2 
161.0 
Sample. 
I. 
II. 
III. 
IV. 
V. 
VI. 
VII. 
VIII. 
Soluble  in 
Abs.  Ether. 
Per  Cent. 
71.8 
100 
93-9 
89.4 
90.2 
88.3 
89.6 
90.4 
TABLE  II. 
Sol.  in 
U.S.P.  • 
Ether. 
Per  Cent. 
85 
100 
96.0 
84.1 
85-5 
80.9 
82.0 
9i-5 
Sol.  in 
Chloroform. 
Per  Cent. 
82.1 
100 
100 
98.0 
98.9 
96.1 
96.9 
97-4 
Sol.  in 
Alcohol. 
Per  Cent. 
90.6 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
