ON  THE  RESINS  AND  AQUEOUS  EXTRACT  OF  JALAP.  489 
menstruum,  entirely  soluble  in  diluted  alcohol  and  boiling  water. 
The  result  of  this  experiment  seeming  somewhat  singular,  as  a 
test  for  its  accuracy  the  following  experiment  was  made  : 
One  hundred  grains  of  the  medicinal  resin,  carefully  prepared 
on  a  previous  occasion,  were  treated  in  the  same  manner,  and 
the  result  corresponded  precisely  with  that  of  the  above  experi- 
ment. 
The  aqueous  or  gummy  extract,  prepared  by  the  process  given 
in  experiment  A,  was  therapeutically  tested.  Having  been  taken 
in  doses  ranging  from  ten  to  twenty  grains,  a  final  trial  was 
given  it.  One  drachm  divided  into  two  doses  was  administered, 
one  at  night  just  before  retiring,  the  other  the  next  morning 
before  breakfast,  without  producing  the  least  effect.  It  there- 
fore may  be,  with  safety,  considered  entirely  inert. 
The  experiments  made  with  the  soft  resin — the  resin  soluble 
in  ether — lead  me  to  differ  from  the  opinion  entertained  by  most 
writers  on  Materia  Medica,  viz.,  that  this  resin  possesses  little, 
if  any,  activity."  Three  grains  of  this  soft  resin  were  taken 
by  a  person  suffering  from  constipation  ;  it  acted  as  a  hydra- 
gogue  cathartic,  three  hours  after  it  had  been  administered,  pro- 
ducing but  little  uneasiness,  and  continuing  in  its  operation  for 
more  than  twenty-four  hours.  That  there  might  be  no  doubt  as 
to  the  correctness  of  this  experiment,  it  was  tried  by  another 
person  in  the  same  dose.  Three  grains  in  form  of  a  pill  were 
administered  at  bed-time,  and  produced,  the  following  day,  a 
powerful  cathartic  effect,  accompanied  with  severe  griping. 
These  experiments,  which  were  made  with  great  care,  (and  in 
every  case  where  there  was  the  least  room  for  doubt,  a  second 
experiment  was  instituted,)  determine  conclusively  that  the 
gummy  or  aqueous  extract  is  entirely  inert,  and  that  the  ac- 
tivity of  jalap  as  a  purgative  is  not  due  to  the  hard  resin 
(that  which  is  insoluble  in  ether)  exclusively,  but  also  to  the 
ethereal  or  soft  resin,  which  is  fully  equal  to,  if  not  possessed  of, 
stronger  purgative  properties. 
Philadelphia,  Nov.  2ith,  1860. 
