260 
ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  ECBALINE. 
The  quantity  of  fine  extract  of  elaterium  which  can  be  obtain- 
ed is  stated*  to  be  about  3  drs.  from  one  bushel  of  the  fruit, 
weighing  in  the  fresh  state  40  lbs.  Other  authorities  give 
quantities  varying  from  2  drs.  to  4  drs.,  or  even  more,  doubt- 
less dependent  upon  the  amount  of  pressure  and  washing  the  cu- 
cumbers were  submitted  to,  and  also  the  length  of  time  the  fluid 
was  allowed  to  stand  before  the  deposited  matter  was  separated. 
The  activity  of  the  extract  of  elaterium  depends  upon  a  white 
crystallizable  body  to  which  the  name  elaterin  was  formerly 
given,  but  for  which  the  title  ecbaline  is  proposed  to  be  substi- 
tuted. Pereira  points  out  that  the  quantity  of  this  principle  con- 
tained in  various  samples  of  the  extract  of  commerce  varied  from 
44  per  cent,  to  33,  26,  15,  and  in  a  foreign  article  it  may  be 
found  as  low  as  5  or  6  per  cent.  From  an  experiment  of  his 
own  upon  some  extract  very  carefully  prepared  at  Apothecaries' 
Hall,  he  concluded  that  30  grs.  yielded  7-5  grs.  or  25  per  cent. ; 
and  in  a  trial  I  have  just  made,  3  drs.  of  extract,  purchased  as 
the  finest  commercial  article  (taken  as  being  probably  equivalent 
to  1  bushel  or  40  lbs.  of  the  wild  cucumbers),  yielded  me  exactly 
36  grs.  of  white  crystallized  ecbaline,  equivalent  to  only  20  per 
cent. 
Of  course  discrepancies  like  those  are  much  to  be  deplored  in 
medical  practice,  and  if  the  active  principle  only  was  used  in 
medicine,  much  greater  certainty  of  effect  would  doubtless  attend 
the  administration  of  the  remedy.  The  objection  to  the  use  of 
the  ecbaline,  however,  has  hitherto  been  the  high  cost  of  pro- 
ducing the  article,  thus  rendering  it  almost  impossible  to  employ 
the  remedy  in  any  but  experimental  trials.  With  a  view  of  re- 
moving the  obstacle,  Dr.  R.  B.  Garrod,  one  of  the  committee  at 
present  engaged  in  drawing  up  the  new  British  Pharmacopoeia, 
suggested  that  probably  other  portions  of  the  fruit  as  well  as  the 
juice  would,  if  properly  treated,  yield  a  large  quantity  of  the  ac- 
tive principle,  and  proposed  to  Messrs.  Savory  and  Sons,  and 
afterwards  to  our  firm,  that  we  should  experimentally  test  the 
feasibility  of  his  process.  Upon  consulting  together,  it  was 
determined  that  the  operations  should  be  conducted  in  our 
laboratory,  and  I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  laying  the  results  of 
our  inquiries  before  the  profession. 
*  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  vol.  i.  New  Series,  p.  325. 
