Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
September,  1914.  j 
Rhamnus  Purshiana. 
399 
scattered  groups  of  roundish  stone  cells,  with  very  thick  walls,  and 
accompanied  by  single  rhombohedric  crystals ;  the  thin-walled  paren- 
chyma contains  numerous  groups  of  crystals.  The  inner  bark  con- 
sists of  medullary  rays  composed  of  two  or  three  rows  of  thin-walled, 
somewhat  radially  elongated  cells,  and  of  broader  bast  rays  in  which 
the  parenchyma  cells  are  coarsely  dotted  upon  the  radial  and  horizon- 
tal walls,  and  loosely  united  in  a  tangential  direction ;  the  sieve-tubes 
are  larger,  irregularly  angular,  and  united,  to  the  number  of  four  or 
six,  by  means  of  coarsely  porous  sieve-plates,  and  on  the  radial  sides 
marked  with  roundish  sieve  fields;  the  bast  fibres  form  alternate 
groups  of  two  or  three  rows,  extending  into  few  bast  rays,  and  are 
surrounded  by  crystal  cells.  (Dr.  J.  Moeller,  Pharm.  Centralhalle, 
No.  28,  1882;  11  Proc.  A.  Ph.  A.,"  vol.  31,  1883,  p.  166.) 
History  of  Rhamnus  Purshiana  in  the  Medical  Profession. 
— J.  Winchell  Forbes  {Practical  Druggist,  Aug.,  19 10,  p.  48)  states 
that  cascara  bark  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  public  in  1872  by  a 
man  named  Donnelly,  who  learned  of  its  virtues  from  the  Catholic 
priests  and  Indians  of  Oregon  and  northern  California.  The  priests 
called  the  tree  "  shittim  wood,"  claiming  that  it  was  identical  with 
that  used  in  making  the  Holy  Ark,  and  for  this  reason  the  bark  was 
called  cascara  sagrada  (sacred  bark) . 
Under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Forbes,  Donnelly  made  a  preparation 
of  the  bark  by  macerating  it  in  cider  vinegar  for  two  weeks.  This 
preparation  was  sold  as  a  patent  medicine  under  the  name  of 
"  Donnelly's  Discovery,"  which  appears  to  have  been  the  earliest 
commercial  use  of  the  bark. 
In  a  paper  contributed  to  "  New  Preparations  "  (Parke,  Davis 
and  Company,  Oct.  15,  1877,  p.  8),  Dr.  J.  H.  Bundy,  an  eclectic 
physician  of  Colusa,  Cal.,  commended  cascara  sagrada  as  a  valuable 
remedy  in  the  treatment  of  constipation.  In  January,  1878,  Dr. 
Bundy  contributed  a  paper  on  the  subject  of  cascara  sagrada  in  which 
he  gave  the  uses  of  its  fluidextract. 
To  Dr.  J.  H.  Bundy,  1877,  is  due  the  credit  of  introducing  the 
bark  of  Rhamnus  Purshiana  (cascara  sagrada)  to  the  medical  pro- 
fession. In  1877  he  shipped  a  quantity  of  the  bark  to  Parke,  Davis 
and  Company,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  who  in  1878  made  the  first  phar- 
maceutical preparation  (the  fluidextract).  To  Parke,  Davis  and 
Company  is  therefore  due  the  credit  of  bringing  a  preparation  of  this 
drug  to  the  attention  of  physicians  and  pharmacists.  Parke,  Davis 
and  Company  were  for  a  number  of  years  the  sole  manufacturers  of 
