40 
Root  of  Vernonia  Nigritiana. 
Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1889. 
absence  of  specimens  for  comparison,  but  if  their  description  of  the 
odor  be  correct  it  is  more  likely  to  be  the  Cortex  Culilabani  Papu- 
anus  of  Martiny's  Encyclopaedia,  1,  p.  436. 
The  specimen  of  this  bark  in  the  Hanbury  collection  has  a  flavor 
which  might  be  likened  to  that  of  cloves  and  nutmegs.  The  bark  is, 
however,  quite  different  in  appearance  and  odor  from  the  true  massoi 
bark,1  being  much  thicker,  softer,  somewhat  laminated,  and  not  at  all 
radiate  in  structure. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Dec.  15,  p.  465. 
THE  KOOT  OF  VERNONIA  NIGRITIANA.2 
By  E.  Heckel  and  Fe.  Schlagdenhauffex. 
Under  the  name  of  batiatior  or  batjitjor  a  root  is  sold  in  different 
parts  of  Senegambia,  Avhich  is  supposed  to  have  febrifuge,  emetic, 
anti-haBmorrhagic,  and  antidysenteric  properties.  It  has  been  de- 
scribed as  a  substitute  for  ipecacuanha,  and  is  alluded  to  as  such  by 
Dorvault.  It  has  recently  been  definitely  recognized  as  the  root  of 
Vernonia  nigritiana,  a  composite  plant  growiug  to  the  height  of  a  foot 
or  two  and  bears  a  faint  external  resemblance  to  ipecacuanha,  which, 
when  fresh,  it  is  said  to  resemble  in  smell. 
Heckel  and  Schlagdenhauffen  find  in  this  root  no  trace  of  any  true 
alkaloid,  but  they  have  obtained  from  it  a  whitish,  slightly  hygrosco- 
pic glucoside,  having  the  formula  C10H24O7,  which  they  have  called 
vernonin. 
On  injecting  a  solution  of  the  alcoholic  extract  under  the  skin  of  the 
frog's  thigh,  paralysis  of  the  limb  thus  injected  followed,  the  respira- 
tory movements  were  interfered  with,  and  the  heart's  action  was  ar- 
rested in  the  same  manner  as  after  digitalis,  convallaria,  and  strophan- 
tus. On  further  examination  of  the  heart  movements  by  placing  it 
between  the  cups  of  a  Marey's  cardiograph,  it  was  found  that  after 
injecting  yVths  of  a  grain  of  vernonin  the  amplitude  of  the  heart's 
movements  was  first  slightly  decreased  and  then  increased,  but  in 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  they  fell  below  normal  and  became  slower ; 
1  The  name  Kulit  laban  means  clove  bark,  the  word  Laban  or  Lawang  being 
probably  the  Malay  pronunciation  of  the  Sanskrit  "  Lavanga,"  and  of  the  ver- 
nacular Hindostanee  "  Laung,"  which  is  applied  to  the  clove,  vide  "  Pharma- 
cographia,"  p.  281. 
2<'  Sur  la  racine  de  Batjitjor  de  l'Afrique  tropicale,  nouveau  poison  du  cceur," 
in  Archiv.  de  physiologie  normale  el  pliysiologigue,  August,  1888 ;  abstract  reprinted 
from  The  Medical  Chronicle,  Dec    See  also  Amer.  Jour.  Phar  1888,  p.  347.  ' 
