ON  PANAQUILON. 
511 
That,  should  a  demand  arise  for  its  use  in  medicine,  it  is  believed 
that  it  will  be  found  not  difficult  to  obtain  a  supply,  in  quantities 
sufficient  to  afford  it  at  a  much  less  price  than  quinine. 
New  York,  September  1st,  1854. 
ON  PANAQUILON,  A  NEW  VEGETABLE  SUBSTANCE. 
By  S.  S.  Garrigues,  of  Philadelphia. 
Ginseng,  the  root  of  a  kind  of  panax,  is  known  in  China  as  a 
very  valuable  medicine.  In  1703,  its  existence  was  proved  in  the 
forests  of  Canada  by  Sarrasin,  where  it  is  known  by  the  name  of 
Oteeraagweh.  This  American  ginseng  is  the  root  Panax 
quinquefolium.  It  has  a  thickness  from  a  quill  to  a  finger,  is  only 
a  few  inches  long,  brownish  yellow,  generally  finely  ringed, 
internally  yellowish  white,  spongy.  Fresh  it  smells  aromatic ; 
but  dry,  only  faintly  so.  To  the  taste  it  resembles  liquorice  root, 
with  a  disagreeable  bitter  after  taste.  It  has  been  chemically 
examined  by  Rafinesque,  who  stated  that  he  found  in  it  besides 
ordinary  constituents,  a  camphor-like  body,  to  which  he  gave  the 
name  of  panacine.  On  account  of  the  uncertainty  of  his  state- 
ments, I  have  undertaken  a  fresh  investigation  of  this  root,  and 
been  fortunate  to  discover  therein  a  peculiar  matter,  on  which 
chiefly  depends  the  taste,  and,  probably,  the  medicinal  activity 
of  this  root.  I  propose  for  the  name  of  this  substance  panaquilon. 
A  cold  infusion  of  this  root,  prepared  in  a  percolating 
apparatus,  has  a  clear  brown  color  and  sweetish  taste.  It  reacts 
acid.  By  heat  a  considerable  coagulation  of  albumen  is  sepa- 
rated from  it.  If  this  is  then  filtered  and  considerably  concentrated 
acids  throw  nothing  down  after  cooling,  which  proves  that  it 
contains  no  glycyrrhizine,  which  might  be  expected  from  th$ 
sweet  taste  of  this  root  at  the  beginning.  To  separate  the  pana- 
quilon, I  mixed,  at  the  suggestion  of  Professor  Wohler,  the 
syrup-like  infusion  with  a  saturated  solution  of  sulphate  of  soda. 
Hereby  a  dense  adhesive  precipitate  resulted,  which  was  washed 
as  much  as  possible  with  the  salt  solution,  and  then  treated  with 
absolute  alcohol,  which  dissolved  the  panaquilon  and  left  the 
sulphate  of  soda  behind,  The  panaquilon  remaining  after  the 
alcohol  has  been  distilled  off,  is  dissolved  in  water,  treated  with 
purified  animal  charcoal,  the  solution  again  evaporated,  and  the 
residue  once  more  dissolved  in  absolute  alcohol. 
