^ptimbeKo™*}    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  449 
that  the  secretion  of  resin  is  increased  if  the  formation  of  seed  be 
prevented.  The  drug  which  is  official  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  is 
the  Bombay  ganja,  and  as  this  may  consist  of  either. flowering  or 
fruiting  tops,  is  likely  to  be  of  inferior  quality. 
A  number  of  investigators  have  reported  the  presence  of  alka- 
loidal  substance  in  this  drug,  but  the  author  is  of  the  opinion  that 
what  they  found  was  either  choline,  or  a  decomposition  product  of  it, 
as  was  pointed  out  by  Jahns,  who  first  isolated  choline  from  the 
drug.  This  principle  is  a  strong  base,  crystallizes  with  difficulty, 
and  is  not  infrequently  found  in  plants.  By  the  action  of  caustic 
alkalies  it  can  be  converted  into  trimethylamine,  which  also  occurs 
naturally  in  some  plants. 
The  volatile  oil  of  Indian  hemp,  which  consists  principally  of  a 
sesquiterpene  (cannabene)  and  paraffin,  has  also  been  the  subject  of 
considerable  investigation,  but  the  experiments  on  animals  in  1886, 
by  Roux,  proved  it  to  be  inactive. 
The  most  important  constituent  of  the  drug  appears  to  be  the 
resin,  which  constitutes  the  greater  part  of  charas  of  good  quality. 
From  charas,  Wood,  Spivey  and  Easterfield  obtained  (Jour.  Chem. 
Soc,  69  [i],  539),  a  terpene,  a  sesquiterpene,  a  crystalline  paraffin 
and  33  per  cent,  of  a  toxic  red  oil  having  the  formula  C18H2402,  and 
to  which  they  gave  the  name  cannabinol.  This  they  regarded  as 
the  only  active  constituent  of  the  resin.  Further  study,  however, 
showed  {Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  75,  20)  that  this  red  oil  or  crude  canna- 
binol was  a  mixture  of  two  compounds  having  similar  physical 
properties,  only  one  of  which  has  been  isolated,  and  for  which  the  name 
cannabinol  has  been  retained.  It  has  the  formula  C21H2602  and  is 
obtained  by  distillation  of  an  ether  extract  under  diminished  pres- 
sure, the  distillate  forming  a  transparent  brownish  resin  when  cool. 
When  administered  in  very  small  doses,  this  pure  cannabinol  pro- 
duces the  toxic  effects  characteristic  of  Indian  hemp,  and,  as  stated 
by  the  author,  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  it  is  the  active 
principle  of  the  drug. 
In  discussing  the  subject  of  the  active  principle  of  this  drug  and 
the  cause  of  its  loss  of  activity,  Professor  Marshall  states  (Pharm. 
Jour.}  May  3,  1902,  p.  362)  that  the  active  principle  is  undoubtedly 
of  a  resinous  character,  and  that  although  the  presence  of  alkaloids 
has  been  reported  by  various  investigators,  none  of  them  possessed 
the  physiological  properties  peculiar  to  the  drug  itself.  Professor 
