184 
Notes  on  Cascara  Sagrada. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      April,  1889. 
NOTES  ON  CASCARA  SAGRADA.1 
By  H.  D.  Fuge. 
The  characters  of  the  dried  bark  as  described  in  the  British  Phar- 
macopoeia are  fairly  characteristic,  and  enable  it  to  be  readily  dis- 
tinguished from  the  various  substitutes  which  have  of  late  tended  to 
manifest  themselves  on  the  market ;  but  since  a  recent  bark  possesses 
properties  which  have  a  tendency  to  produce  vomiting  and  epigastric 
pain,  it  would  seem  advisable  to  add  to  the  official  directions  that  the 
bark  should  be  kept  for  a  definite  period  before  being  employed  for 
purposes  of  pharmacy. 
A  curious  fact  may  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  nomen- 
clature of  cascara  sagrada  and  its  preparations.  The  extracts  are 
officially  (in  Brit.  Ph.)  described  as  extractum  cascara?  sagrada?  and 
extractum  cascara?  sagrada?  liquid um.  No  mention  of  the  drug  occurs, 
however,  in  what  from  popular  use  might  be  termed  its  natural 
position,  i.  e.,  as  cascara  sagrada  (the  English  and  Latin  terms  being 
identical),  but  one  has  to  turn  to  Rhamni  Purshiani  Cortex,  there  to 
find  that  the  title  cascara  sagrada  is  given  merely  as  a  synonym ; 
apparently  the  same  element  of  uncertainty  was  present  in  arranging 
the  position  of  the  drug,  as  appears  in  the  selection  of  menstrua  for  its 
exhaustion. 
I.  Extractum  Cascarce  Sagradce. — This  is  directed  to  be  prepared 
by  exhausting  the  bark  in  No.  40  powder  with  proof  spirit,  by  a  pro- 
cess of  maceration  and  percolation,  with  subsequent  evaporation  of  the 
percolate  until  of  a  suitable  consistence. 
The  official  sanction  might  well  be  given  to  the  recovery  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  spirit  by  distillation. 
Pills  made  with  this  extract  have  the  disadvantage  of  "  falling/' 
which  can  only  be  remedied,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  by  varnishing  them. 
II.  Extractum  Cascarce  Liquidum. — This  is  prepared  by  the  repeated 
boiling  of  16  ounces  of  the  bark  with  distilled  water  until  exhausted ; 
the  strained  liquor  so  obtained  being  evaporated  to  12  fluid  ounces,  4 
fluid  ounces  of  rectified  spirit  added  when  cool,  and  the  product  filtered 
and  made  up  to  16  fluid  ounces  by  the  addition  of  distilled  water.  The 
process  of  filtration  requires  considerable  patience  even  on  the  small 
scale. 
The  solvents  ordered  in  the  preparation  of  these  extracts  differ,  the 
1  Read  before  the  School  of  Pharmacy  Students'  Association  ;  reprinted  from 
Phar.  Jour,  and  Transact.,  March  9th,  p.  736. 
