134     THERAPEUTICAL  PROPERTIES  OP  SANGUINARINA,  ETC. 
The  odor  and  oily  appearance  of  the  substance  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  its  true  chemical  nature. — Ohem.  News,  London, 
Jan.  2, 1864. 
ON  THE  THERAPEUTICAL  PROPERTIES  OF  SANGUINA- 
RINA,  AND  ITS  ACETATE  AND  SULPHATE. 
By  Robert  P.  Thomas,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica  in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy, 
Having  been  requested  by  the  Association  to  prepare  "  an 
essay  on  the  actual  merits  of  Sanguinaria  as  a  therapeutic  agent 
based  on  trials  with  Sanguinarina  and  its  salts,  and  its  claims  to 
a  prominent  position  in  the  Materia  Medica,"  I  submit  the  fol- 
lowing as  the  results  of  a  large  number  of  observations  made  by 
myself,  or  by  other  gentlemen  at  my  request.    Before  stating 
my  own  experience,  however,  it  is  manifestly  proper  that  a  brief 
notice  should  be  given  of  the  recorded  labors  of  others,  in  order 
that  a  just  estimate  may  be  formed  of  the  true  characters  of  this 
valuable  drug. 
In  1803,  Dr.  Wm.  Downey,  of  Maryland,  presented  an  in- 
augural thesis  on  the  Blood-root,  the  root  of  which  he  designates 
a3  a  powerful  emetic  in  doses  of  twenty  grains,  causing  much 
irritation  of  the  fauces,  then  warmth  in  the  stomach,  increased 
force  and  frequency  of  the  pulse,  followed  by  nausea  and  vomit- 
ing. Two  to  four  grains  may  occasion  nausea.  A  small  quan- 
tity snuffed  up  the  nose  produces  violent  irritation. 
Dr.  Smith,  of  Wilkesbarre,  Penna.,  used  for  some  years,  with 
great  success,  the  powdered  root  in  jaundice.  He  administered 
it  in  doses  of  fifteen  or  twenty  grains.  (Philad.  Med.  Museum, 
vol.  ii.  p.  160,  1806). 
In  1824,  Dr.  James  F.  Dana,  of  N.  Y.,  discovered  the  active 
principle,  and  his  assistant,  Mr.  Augustus  A.  Hayes,  of  Windsor, 
Vt.,  gave  the  following  process  for  its  preparation  : 
Thoroughly  exhaust  the  contused  root  by  successive  macera- 
tions in  water  acidulated  with  sulphuric  acid :  filter,  add  water 
produced,  and  that  the  nitric  acid  reacts  according  to  the  follow- 
ing equation : — 
CH013+        1 0=CN02Cl3+  E  1 0* 
*  Carbon  —  12.    Oxygen  =  16. 
