484  PHARMACEUTICAL  OBSERVATIONS  ON  BUCHU. 
The  usual  manner  of  preparing  this  remedy  is  by  decoction, 
although  many  make  a  tincture  with  some  kind  of  alcoholic  liquor. 
The  last  method  would  seem  to  be  preferable,  as  the  resinous 
property  of  the  plant  is  soluble  in  water  only  to  a  limited  extent. 
Its  effects  upon  the  system  seem  to  be  somewhat  similar  to 
those  produced  by  cinchona,  yet  they  more  closely  resemble  those 
produced  by  the  action  of  the  Eupatorium  perfoliatum.  Given 
warm,  even  when  a  chill  or  fever  is  present  it  produces  a  profuse 
diaphoresis,  and  carried  to  any  extent,  catharsis,  and  sometimes 
emesis.  It  is  used  in  dysenteries  and  diarrhoeas,  as  well  as  fevers  ; 
and  as  these  maladies  in  California  are  usually  more  or  less  com- 
plicated with  intermittent  symptoms,  it  is  given  with  considerable 
benefit. 
From  its  abundance  and  apparently  high  medicinal  virtues  it 
is  to  be  hoped  that  medical  men  generally  will  test  its  efficacy, 
and  if  it  does  possess  the  attributed  properties,  have  it  placed 
in  a  prominent  position  in  our  Materia  Medina, 
Sacramento,  Cat,  Aug.  15th,  1854.* 
PHARMACEUTICAL  OBSERVATIONS  ON  BUCHU. 
Br  Henry  N.  Rittenhouse. 
{Extracted  from  an  Inaugural  Thesis,) 
The  author,  after  describing  the  botanical  characters  of  the 
plant,  refers  to  the  analysis  of  Brandes  and  Cadet.  The  former 
found  pale  yellow  volatile  oil,  0.88  ;  resin,  2.34  ;  bitter  extractive 
(diosmin,)  3.78 ;  chlorophylle,  4.77 ;  gum,  12.71 ;  lignin,  45 ; 
brown  substance,  extracted  by  potash,  1.56  ;  nitrogenous  matter, 
extracted  by  potash,  2.42  ;  albumen,  0.58 ;  malic  acid,  1.56 ; 
various  salts,  bassorin,  water,  <ft\,  20.54  ;  acetic  acid  and  loss, 
3.86.  ' 
Brandes  attributes  the  activity  of  buchu  to  the  volatile  oil 
chiefly,  and  to  the  diosmin  or  bitter  extractive. 
♦[This  communication  was  elicited  by  a  request  from  us  that  the  author 
would  give  some  account  of  the  indigenous  medical  plants  of  California. 
We  trust  he  will  continue  the  subject  as  his  leisure  permits.  If  our  friends 
in  other  sections  would  write  us  occasionally  about  what  they  observe,  much 
interesting  matter  would  find  a  place  in  our  pages. — Editor.] 
