Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
April,  1881.  j 
Hydrangea  Arborescens. 
15T 
THE  ROOT  OF  HYDRANGEA  ARBORESCEXS. 
By  Jacob  Baur,  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
In  looking  over  the  pharmaceutical  and  chemical  literature  with 
reference  to  hydrangea,  the  only  analysis  found  was  that  by  Mr.  Jos. 
Laidley,  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  in  the  year  1851,  since  which  time 
no  one  seems  to  have  published  anything  with  regard  to  the  principles 
to  which  the  drug  might  owe  its  activity.  Laidley  found  but  gum,, 
starch,  resin,  etc.  In  writing  of  the  drug  and  its  uses  in  gravel  and 
urinary  diseases,  he  notes  some  marked  cures  effected  by  its  administra- 
trion,  which  are  no  less  remarkable  than  some  which  have  been  com- 
municated to  me  by  Dr.  Jno.  H.  Parrish,  of  Saundersville,  Tenn.,  who 
has  used  with  good  results  an  extract  of  the  root  prepared  by  the  late 
Prof.  Edward  Parrish,  and  recently  by  Mr.  Clemmons  Parrish.  He 
says,  "  My  case-books  show  thirty-one  cases  of  gravelly  dej^osits  in  the 
bladder,  which  I  believe  to  have  been  cured  by  hydrangea ;  I  remem- 
ber no  case  in  which  it  has  failed  under  fair  circumstances.  I  regard 
hydrangea  as  a  valuable  remedial  agent  not  only  in  sabulous  troubles,, 
but  in  any  case  where  the  functions  of  the  kidneys  are  impaired.'^ 
Other  physicians  have  recommended  it  in  the  same  complaints.  That 
it  is  used  by  many  physicians  may  be  known  from  the  words  of  Prof. 
J.  U.  Lloyd,  of  Cincinnati,  who  writes :  The  section  of  country  about 
Cincinnati  annually  supplies  large  amounts  of  hydrangea  root  for  other 
markets.'' 
A  quantity  of  the  root  of  good  quality  was  obtained,  its  identity 
established  and  carefully  inspected  as  to  the  absence  of  all  foreign  admix- 
tures. This  was  ground  suitably  for  percolation ;  some  difficulty  was- 
here  encountered  owing  to  the  peculiar  ligneous  character  of  the  root,, 
the  greater  portion  of  which  is  an  insipid  hard  wood,  with  but  a  thin 
much  fissured  bark,  which,  as  found  in  the  market,  is  quite  frequently 
detached  in  thin  conceentric  layers,  due  to  the  unequal  shrinkage  of 
the  wood  and  bark  in  drying.  The  peculiar  sweetish  but  acrid  taste 
of  the  root  seems  to  reside  in  the  bark. 
Three  grams  of  the  root  were  ignited,  yielding  13  grams  of  ash,  the 
greater  portion  of  which  was  soluble  in  water.  The  appropriate  tests 
being  made,  carbonates,  sulphates  and  phosphates  of  potassium,  sodium^ 
calcium,  magnesium  and  iron  were  found  in  the  ash. 
In  a  preliminary  investigation,  which  was  undertaken  to  ascertain 
