32 
Java  Rhubarb. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
t       Jan.,  1878. 
rhubarb  root  increases,  within  certain  limits,  with  the  age  of  the  plant, 
even  if  the  experiment  be  carried  out,  it  will  be  some  years  before  the 
result  is  known,  but  it  would  be  possible  in  this  way  to  secure  roots  of 
one  age  instead  of  a  mixture  of  roots  of  all  ages,  as  at  present. 
The  comparative  analyses  carried  out  by  Schmidt  between  the  official 
rhubarb  and  the  best  Java  rhubarb  show,  however,  some  differences, 
and  raise  a  doubt  as  to  how  far  the  Java  root  possesses  the  tonic  pro- 
perties of  Chinese  rhubarb. 
In  the  first  place,  the  amount  of  ash  differs.  Calcined  in  a  platinum 
dish  the  official  rhubarb  gave  12*15  to  12*24  Per  cent,  of  ash;  the 
Java  root  yielded  6*27  to  6*91  per  cent.  A  more  detailed  representa- 
tion of  the  proportion  of  the  inorganic  constituents  is  given  in  the 
following  table,  in  which  unfortunately  oxalic  acid  does  not  appear,  the 
analyst  having  been  prevented  from  completing  the  estimation  : 
Radix  Rhei  officinalis.       Radix  Rhei  Indicae  Javanicje, 
CaO,         .  .             .  46*80512  41-68051 
MgO,  .              .          4'*4359  526484 
KO  and  NaO,  .             .    7*35024  16*89486 
C02,    .  .              .         35*34188  19*25190 
S03,          .  .             .    1*11452  2*82191 
P05,   .  .             .          5*11709  6*78689 
CI,             .  .              .    0*60683  2*°9575 
Si03,  .  .              .           0*59828  1*97869 
Carbon  and  sand,      .  .    0*76923  2*98934 
101-94678  99*76469 
Schmidt  has  also  attempted  to  estimate  quantitatively  some  of  the 
organic  bodies  which  play  a  part  in  the  therapeutic  action  of  rhubarb  \ 
the  result  is  shown  in  the  following  table  : 
Radix  Rhei  officinalis.       Radix  Rhei  Indicae  Javanicae. 
per  cent.  per  cent. 
Rheotannic  acid,  .             .  2*106  o*43o 
Phaeoretin,          .  .         0*151  0*090 
Chrysophan,  .              .  0*056  0*107 
Chrysophanic  acid,  .         4*700  1*646 
Emodin,      .  .             .  0*580  2*000 
From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  rheotannic  acid  and  the  chryso- 
phanic acid  are  present  in  the  Java  root  in  much  smaller  proportion 
than  in  the  Chinese,  whilst  chrysophan  and  emodin  are  present  in 
larger  proportion  in  the  Java  root.  Although  the  figures  in  this  table 
cannot  be  taken  as  absolutely  correct,  in  consequence  of  the  great 
