526  Miscible  Copaiba.  { %0J™r;8p7$arm* 
sized  roots,  with  less  liber  tissue,  yield  more  senegin  than  those  of 
larger  size. 
There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  but  that  this  root  which  has  been 
called  in  question  is  that  of  Polygala  senega,  but  it  is  deficient  in  cortical 
portion,  the  seat  of  the  active  principle,  and  is,  I  believe,  a  young  and 
immature  root,  and  consequently  one  that  does  not  fairly  represent  the 
senega  of  our  materia  medica  from  which  the  preparations  of  the 
British  Pharmacopoeia  are  directed  to  be  made.  I  think  from  what  I 
have  stated,  and  demonstrated  by  drawings  from  microscopical  sections 
of  different  roots  of  senega,  it  will  be  seen  how  important  it  is  that 
the  senega  employed  in  pharmacy  should  have  its  cortical  portion  fully 
developed,  and  the  same  process  of  anatomical  analysis  is  applicable  to 
almost  every  drug  with  which  the  pharmacist  has  to  deal. 
May  I  indulge  a  hope  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  vegetable 
histology,  embracing  the  isolation  and  microscopical  examination  of 
the  tissues  so  isolated,  together  with  the  microchemical  analysis  of  the 
vegetable  cell,  will  take  its  place  by  the  side  of  botany  in  the  practical 
course  of  study  for  the  pharmacist  ;  when  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  seat  of  the  active  principles  of  the  plants  with  which'  he  has  to 
deal,  and  the  relative  proportions  of  the  special  tissues  containing  those 
active  principles,  will  exercise  its  due  influence  in  the  pharmacy,  be 
felt  in  the  drug  markets,  and  react  on  the  sources  of  supply,  so  that 
more  judgment  as  to  the  time  of  collecting,  and  more  care  as  to  the 
mode  of  harvesting,  may  furnish  us  with  the  several  drugs  of  the 
materia  medica  in  the  best  possible  condition  for  pharmaceutical  prepa- 
tions. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  September  7,  1878. 
MISCIBLE  COPABIA. 
By.  T.  C.  Groves. 
Some  years  ago  my  brother,  Henry  Groves  (now  of  Florence),  dis- 
covered the  interesting  fact  that  when  a  mixture  of  balsam  of  copaiba 
and  oil  of  tartar  (a  saturated  solution  of  carbonate  of  potassium)  are 
shaken  together  and  thereby  emulsified,  the  creamy  fluid  after  standing 
a  few  days  deposits  a  white  crystalline  substance,  leaving  supernatant  a 
clear  stratum  of  apparently  unaltered  copaiba.  It  was,  however,  more 
or  less  completely  saponified  and  rendered  miscible  with  water,  forming 
