Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  | 
June,  1882.  j 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
301 
GLEANINGS  IN  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
By  the  Editor. 
Wrightia  antidysenterica  R.  Br.  (also  placed  in  the  genera  Neriuni 
and  Holarrhena)  is  known  in  India  as  ^'  kurchi  bark/^  and  was  form- 
erly known  in  Europe  as  "  conessi  bark/'  ^  "  Tellichery  bark  ''  and 
"  codaga  pala."  In  1858  Haines  discovered  in  this  bark  an  alkaloid^ 
which  he  named  conessine  ;  in  1864  Stenhouse  obtained  the  alkaloid 
and  called  it  wrightine,  and  recently  it  has  been  again  described  as- 
kurchicine  by  Baboo  Rani  Chandra  Dutta,  of  Calcutta.  The  impure  ' 
alkaloid  was  used  by  Dr.  J.  M.  Coates  in  the  Medical  College  Hos- 
pital and  found  to  possess  decided  antipyretic  properties  and  in  doses 
of  3  grains,  3  times  daily,  to  be  most  effectual  where  chylopoetic 
congestions  existed,  but  to  be  less  effectual  where  the  spleen  is  enlarged 
and  blood  anaemic  ;  Dr.  Coates  holds  it  to  be  an  excellent  adjunct  to 
the  ordinary  treatment  of  dysentery,  but  not  as  an  entire  substitute  for 
the  ordinary  remedies. —  Chemists'  Jour.,  March  3  ;  Drug  Reporter. 
Gloriosa  superha. — Prof.  C.  I.  H.  Warden,  of  Calcutta,  has  isolated 
from  the  root  a  yellow,  non-crystalline  neutral  principle,  supey^hine,  to 
which  the  formula  C52HgoN20i7  has  been  assigned.  It  is  readily  solu- 
ble in  water,  alcohol,  chloroform  and  dilute  acids,  and  yields  a  white 
precipitate  with  tannin,  but  is  unaffected  by  other  reagents.  It  is 
extremely  poisonous,  0*0107  gm.  being  a  fatal  dose  for  a  large  cat. 
The  plant  contains  also  a  neutral  and  two  acid  resins,  salicylic  acid,, 
methyl  salicylate  and  a  fluorescent  principle. —  Chemists'  Journal, 
March  3  ;  Drug  Reporter. 
Thevetin  (see  page  177,  April  number)  has  been  obtained  by  Prof. 
Warden  as  a  white  crystalline  glucoside,  slightly  bitter,  with  a  faint 
metallic  taste,  rapidly  followed  by  a  pricking  and  numbing  effect  on 
the  tongue.  0*01  gm.  injected  into  the  stomach  produced  no  apparent 
effects  ;  0*1  gm.,  however,  was  fatal  in  25  minutes,  death  being  pro- 
duced by  most  violent  convulsions.  The  analytical  results  of  thevetin 
dried  at  145°  C.  were  C,  57*408 ;  H,  7*478  ;  O,  35*114,  more  of  H 
and  less  of  O  being  found  than  was  obtained  by  Bias. — Ibid. 
'  Ixo7'a  Bandhuca  Roxb.  s.  I.  coccinea,  Lin.,  var.  Bandliuca,  Kurz,  i& 
an  East  Indian  shrub  of  the  order  Pubiacese.  The  root  has  been  used 
for  a  long  time  as  a  remedy  in  intermittent  fevers,  in  haemoptysis  and 
^  Some  authors  have  referred  conessi  bark  to  Eehites  pubescens,  Buchan, 
—Editor. 
