ON  WRIGHTINB. 
349 
The  acid  fats  crystallize  out  in  the  form  of  hard  plates  or  con- 
cretions, which  bear  handling  without  breaking  down,  and  can 
be  completely  separated  by  filtration. 
Again,  if  two  oils  pressed  from  the  seeds  were  packed,  one 
quite  clean,  and  the  other  more  or  less  contaminated  with  gum 
or  mucilage,  the  latter  would  become  more  or  less  acidified,  the 
gum,  etc.,  apparently  fermenting,  and  then  setting  up  an  acidi- 
fying action  in  the  oil.  This  may  explain  some  of  the  differences 
in  the  working  and  character  of  oils. 
Such  being  the  accidents  to  which  commercial  oils  are  liable, 
I  cannot  wonder  at  variations  in  their  cohesion  figures,  but  I 
do  very  much  wonder  that  twelve  different  samples  of  castor 
oil  should  have  given  figures  so  much  alike  as  in  every  case  to 
enable  a  practised  operator  to  identify  the  oil,  and  also,  in  the 
case  of  four  specimens  of  croton  oil,  one  of  them  solid  at  ordinary 
temperatures,  all  the  figures  should  have  a  resemblance  sufficient 
for  their  identification. — Pharm.  Jour.,  London,  April,  1864. 
ON  WRIGHTINA;  AN  ALKALOfD  CONTAINED  IN  THE  SEEDS 
OF  WRIGrHTIA  ANTIDYSENTERICA, 
By  John  Stenhouse,  LL.D.,  F.R.S. 
The  Nerium  antidysentericum  of  Linnaeus,  Wriglriia  antidys- 
enterica  of  .Robert  Brown  and  modern  botanists,  is  a  tree  belong- 
ing  to  the  order  Apocynacece,  indigenous  to  various  parts  of 
India,  and  occurring  also  in  Ceylon.  Under  the  name  of 
Oonessi  Bark,  or  the  Malay  name  of  Codago-pala,  its  bark  was 
introduced  into  Europe  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century  as 
a  valuable  remedy  in  dysentery,  diarrhoea,  and  fever,  but  it 
apparently  soon  fell  into  disuse,  and  is  now  almost  forgotten. 
In  India,  however,  it  still  maintains  its  reputation,  at  least 
among  the  native  physicians.  The  seeds  of  the  tree,  called  in 
Hindustanee  Inderjow,  and  in  Arabic  Lissan  al  asafeer  (literally, 
birds'  tongues),  are  reputed  to  resemble  the  bark  in  their 
medicinal  properties.  Mr.  Waring,  of  Travancore,  in  a  recent 
essay  »  On  the  Principal  Indigenous  Tonics  of  India,"  states 
that  Wrightia  seeds  are  reckoned  serviceable  in  dysentery, 
diarrhoea,  fevers,  flatulence,  bilious  affections,  etc.  In  the  treat- 
