40o 
Rhamnus  Purshiana. 
I  Am.  Jour.  Pharin. 
\  September,  1914. 
preparations  of  this  drug.  ("  Proc.  of  the  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.," 
vol.  44,  1896,  p.  198 ;  Practical  Druggist,  August,  1910,  p.  48 ;  Bulletin 
of  the  Lloyd  Library,  No.  18,  191 1,  pp.  68,  69.) 
Parke,  Davis  and  Company  state  in  one  of  their  publications  that 
they  brought  cascara  sagrada  to  the  notice  of  the  British  Medical 
Association  at  Cork  in  1879. 
Dr.  C.  H.  Adair,  of  Colusa,  Cal.,  a  partner  of  Dr.  Bundy,  sent, 
in  1878,  specimens  of  the  bark  and  botanical  specimens  of  the  tree 
yielding  it  to  J.  U.  Lloyd,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  These,  on  identifica- 
tion by  Curtis  G.  Lloyd,  proved  to  be  Rhamnus  Purshiana,  thus 
establishing  the  drug's  botanical  position.  ("  Proc.  of  the  Amer. 
Pharm.  Assoc.,"  vol.  44,  1896,  p.  198;  Bulletin  of  the  Lloyd  Library, 
No.  18,  191 1,  p.  70.) 
In  1880  George  W.  Kennedy  first  published  a  formula  for  an  elixir 
of  Rhamnus  Purshiana.  ("  Proc.  of  the  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.," 
vol.  28,  1880,  p.  431.) 
Prof.  W.  T.  Wenzell,  in  1883,  published  a  formula  for  an  elixir  of 
cascara  sagrada,  using  potassium  carbonate  to  remove  the  bitter  prin- 
ciple. ("  Proc.  of  the  Cal.  Pharm.  Soc,"  1883;  Amer.  Jour,  of 
Pharm.,  May,  1883,  p.  252;  "  Proc.  of  the  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.," 
vol.  31,  1883,  p.  82.) 
Mr.  James  G.  Munson,  a  druggist  of  San  Jose,  Cal.,  in  a  letter 
to  the  writers  under  date  of  January  24,  1914,  claims  to  have  been 
the  first  to  discover  how  to  make  tasteless  fluidextract  of  cascara 
sagrada  by  the  magnesium  oxide  process.  This  was  in  the  fall  of 
1886,  while  he  was  in  the  employ  of  Prof.  W.  M.  Searby,  of  San 
Francisco,  Cal.  Mr.  Munson,  however,  did  not  publish  a  formula 
for  the  preparation,  and  the  method  remained  a  trade  secret.  (The 
Pacific  Druggist,  June  15,  1890,  p.  27.) 
Dr.  Fred  A.  Grazer,  of  Sacramento  County  Hospital,  Sacramento, 
Cal.,  in  a  letter  to  the  writers  under  date  of  November  21,  1913, 
states  that  Prof.  W.  M.  Searby,  of  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  was  the  first 
to  introduce  a  preparation  of  bitterless  fluidextract  of  cascara  sagrada 
which  was  offered  for  sale  by  retail  druggists.  The  method  of  manu- 
facture was  a  secret  process,  no  formula  being  published.  Dr.  Grazer 
published  the  first  formula  for  the  preparation  of  a  bitterless  fluid- 
extract  of  cascara  sagrada,  using  calcined  magnesia  to  remove  the 
bitter  principle.  (P  har  mac  cutis  che  Rundschau,  Jan.,  1888,  p.  9; 
"  Proc.  of  the  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,"  vol.  36,  1888,  p.  253.) 
Parke,  Davis  and  Company,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  in  their  pamphlet 
