THE  SOAP-BARK  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA. 
243 
duced  any  characteristic  result.  The  extract  is  not  coagulated 
by  boiling,  nor  precipitated  by  alcohol  and  ether.  The  cold 
prepared  extract  can  be  employed  for  washing,  and  deserves  the 
name  of  "  Vegetable  Soap." 
Indeed,  long  before  the  invention  of  our  alkaline  soaps,  and 
even  up  to  the  present  day,  several  roots  and  fruits  were  known 
by  their  capability  of  being  employed  as  soap,  and  botanists 
have  distinguished  them  by  the  name  of  Saponaria  in  their 
systems  of  classification.  Pliny  gave  a  description  of  the 
Struthion — our  Shrubby  Gypsophila  {Gypsophila  Struthium,  L.) 
m. It  is  astonishing,"  he  says,  "how  woolens  are  bleached,  and 
made  supple  by  it — Radicula  lavandis  lanis  suceum  habet  mirum 
quantum  conf evens  candori  mollitieique" — L.  19;  c.  18.) 
Dioscorides  mentions  that  the  soap-wort  {Lychnis,  our  Sapon- 
aria) is  everywhere  sold  in  the  shops  for  scouring  and  cleaning 
dresses.  Several  of  the  family  of  the  carophyllaceous  plants 
{Dianthus,  Lychnis,  Gypsophila,  Silene)  are  remarkable  for  this 
property  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  By  recent  chemical  means 
there  has  been  extracted  from  these  roots  a  special  substance, 
called  Saponine  or  Struthiine,  and  to  this,  notwithstanding  the 
very  small  quantity  contained  in  the  roots,  the  singular  power 
is  attributed  of  making  emulsions,  and  of  being  used  for  soap, 
in  washing.  The  soap-wort  of  the  Levant  {Gypsophila)  is,  to 
this  day,  employed  in  the  East  for  washing  and  cleaning  silks 
and  shawls.  It  was  generally  used  in  the  Mediterranean  dis- 
tricts of  France  and  Spain  ;  the  French  called  it  herbe  aux 
foulons  (the  fullers'  plant.)  The  Saponaire  or  Savoniere  of  the 
French,  is  the  root  of  a  kind  of  Lychnis, 
The  vegetable  soap-principle,  saponine,  was  found  by  Henry 
and  Bourtron  Charland,  in  the  bark  of  the  Quillaia  saponaria. 
Le  Quillay  is  a  tree  of  the  family  of  Rosaceous  plants,  a  native 
of  Huanuco,  in  Peru.  Ferdinand  Lebeuf  made  special  mention 
of  this  bark  in  1859  {Comptes  Bendus  de  VAcademie  des  Sciences 
a  Paris,  xxxi.,  p.  652)  for  its  richness  in  saponine,  and  recom- 
mended it  for  pharmaceutical  use  in  preparing  emulsions  of  oils, 
resins,  balsams,  and  several  other  insoluble  medicaments.  He 
mentions  likewise  the  bark  of  the  Yallhoy  (Monnina  polysta- 
chia.) 
From  one  bark,  boiled  with  alcohol  of  40?  B.  (or  0.828  sp. 
