352  The  Genus  Psoralea.  {Ambu°ya8Trm* 
of  an  alkaloid  was  inferred  from  the  precipitates  obtained  in  the  aque- 
ous solution  of  the  alcohol  extract  by  tannin,  picric  acid  and  platinic 
chloride.  Subsequently  Mr.  Lozano  prepared  8  per  cent.  (40  gm. 
from  500  gm.  of  the  root)  of  what  he  considered  nearly  pure  hydro- 
chlorate  of  the  alkaloid  which  gave  alkaloidal  reactions  with  other 
reagents  (Mayer's  and  Marine's),  besides  those  mentioned  before.  It 
was  obtained  by  mixing  the  powdered  root  with  lime  and  water,  after 
three  days  treating  with  water  acidulated  with  HC1,  concentrating 
the  filtrate,  mixing  with  alcohol,  filtering,  evaporating,  treating 
the  extract  with  alcohol,  evaporating,  taking  up  with  water, 
repeating  these  operations  several  times,  and  finally  decolorizing 
with  animal  charcoal.  While  it  is  possible,  though  by  no  means 
certain  yet,  that  the  root  may  contain  an  alkaloid,  it  has  not  yet  been 
isolated,  and  the  chemical  reactions  and  physiological  experiments 
described  by  Lozano  were  made  with  calcium  chloride  mixed  with 
organic  matter  of  unknown  quantity  and  quality. 
Psoralea  corylifolia,  Roxburgh,  is  an  annual  plant  with  undivided 
leaves,  the  seeds  of  which  have  been  long  in  use  in  India  as  a  tonic 
and  deobstruent  and  in  skin  diseases.  In  1876  (Proc.  Am.  Ph.  A., 
1877,  209),  Dymock  called  attention  to  the  use  made  in  India  with 
the  oil  expressed  from  the  seeds,  and  later  (Ibid.  1882,  p.  245),  the 
oleoresin  of  the  seeds  diluted  with  simple  unguents  was  highly  lauded 
for  its  efficiency  in  leucoderma.  Sometimes  it  was  used  mixed  with 
chalmugra  oil,  to  which  some  of  the  alleged  effects  in  skin  diseases 
may  have  been  due.  But  the  writer  has  been  unable  to  find  any  rec- 
ord of  the  results  of  experiments,  which  were  said  to  have  been  under- 
taken in  England  with  the  oil  and  the  oleoresin  of  these  seeds,  during 
the  years  1881  and  1882. 
Whether  others  of  the  North  American  species  of  Psoralea,  besides 
those  mentioned  above,  possess  valuable  medicinal  properties  must  be 
left  for  future  investigations  to  decide.  The  genus  is  certainly  an  in- 
teresting one,  notwithstanding  the  economic  and  medical  uses  are  con- 
fined to  a  small  number  of  species  and  to  limited  localities. 
Chloral  in  night  sweats.— Dr.  Nicolai  has  used  an  embrocation  of 
chloral  hydrate,  two  drachms,  dissolved  in  a  tumblerful  of  brandy  and  water. 
At  night  about  bedtime  the  patient  is  rubbed  all  over  with  a  sponge  dipped  in 
this  solution.  Sometimes  three  or  four  rubbings  suffice  to  effect  the  com- 
plete disappearance  of  night  sweats  which  have  previously  lasted  for  weeks. 
— Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour. 
