EDITORIAL.  PEREIRA?S  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
183 
Singularly  enough,  santonin,  now  so  well  understood,  is  passed  oyer  with- 
out any  notiee  beyond  its  name  and  source.  It  is  an  article  of  commerce 
an  this  country. 
Of  Carthamine,  the  coloring  principle  of  safllower,  Dr.  Periera  says  : 
M  From  alkaline  solutions  it  is  precipitated  by  acetic  or  citric  acid.  In  the 
moist  state  it  is  imported  and  sold  under  the  name  of  Extract  of  Safflower. 
Spread  on  saucers  and  dried  it  constitutes  the  pink  saucers  sold  in  shops  for 
dying  silk.  The  color  which  it  yields  is  beautiful,  but  fugitive.  Dried  and  mixed 
with  talc,  carthamine  constitutes  rouge  which  is  used  as  a  cosmetic.  Chinese 
card-rouge  in  a  small  folded  card  covered  with  a  thin  film  of  the  coloring 
matter  of  the  safflower,  which  in  this  dried  state  has  a  golden  green  metallic 
brilliancy,  but  which,  when  moistened,  communicates  a  beautiful  tint.  Thin 
films  of  carthamine  have  a  golden  green  metallic  brilliancy,  like  the  elytra 
of  cantharides." 
Taraxacum  is  referred  to  Tamxaeum  Officinale  of  Wiggers.  The  offici- 
nal salts  of  valerianic  acid  are  treated  of  under  the  head  of  Valerian.  These 
are  all  derived  from  valerianate  of  soda,  the  acid  ef  which  is  obtained,  ac- 
cording to  the  Dublin  Pharm.,  by  oxidizing  fusel  oil  with  a  mixture  of  bichro- 
mate of  potassa  and  sulphuric  acid.  Dr.  Pereira  gives  the  following  rationale 
of  the  reactions:  f 
a  CioHuO.  -hOi      yield    Ci0H9O3,  HO  4-2HO 
Fusel  Oil.  Oxygen.  Valerianic  Acid.  Water," 
Every  equivalent  of  bichromate  yields  three  equivalents  of  oxygen ;  hence 
it  would  appear  that  the  reaction  takes  place  between  three  equivalents  of 
of  fusel  oil,  and  four  equivalents  of  the  chrome  salt,  with  the  production 
of  three  equivalents  of  valerianic  acid,  thus: 
4<KO,2CrOj)4-    IG(HO,S03)+    3(CioHi202>  reacting  together  yield 
w  r  ,       V  ^  J  J 
Bichromate  of  Potassa.     Oil  of  Vitriol.  Fusil  Oil. 
==4(KO,S03-f-Cr203>3S03)  and  3  (CioH903,HO)  and  22HO 
v  ~J  '  v— J 
Sulphate  ef  Chrome  and  Potassa,       Valerianic  acid.  Water, 
In  the  article  Ipecacuanha  the  remarks  relative  to  the  locality  of  the  rool 
iaave  not  been  changed  since  the  second  edition,  which  refers  the  supplies 
of  commerce  to  the  eastern  provinces  of  Brazil,  whilst  Weddell  states  that 
present  commerce  is  chiefly  supplied  from  the  great  central  province  of 
Matto  Grosso,  According  to  Castelneau  this  province  supplied  800,000  lbs. 
of  the  drug  from  1830  to  1837,  all  of  which  was  transported  to  Rio,  1200 
smiles,  on  mule  back,  (Maury's  Letters  on  the  Amazon.) 
In  the  article  on  Coffee  no  process  is  given  for  preparing  caffeine. 
We  now  come  to  Cinchona,  a  subject  upon  which  Dr.  Pereira  has  lavished 
his  best  exertions  with  an  unsparing  hand.  The  Botany  of  the  Cinchonas 
has  been  re-written  in  view  of  WeddelFs  researches.  The  structure  of  the 
barks,  as  developed  by  the  miscroscope,  has  been  illustrated  by  a  series  of 
excellent  wood  cuts,  by  which  Weddell's  idea  of  structural  classification  is 
explained.    We  quote  the  following  in  reference  to  calisaya  bark. 
11  If  we  examineby  a  microscope  a  transverse  section  of  this  bark  (see  figs, 
