Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
September,  1914.  J 
Rhamnus  Purshiana. 
401 
on  "  Cascara  Sagrada  and  its  Preparation,"  state  that  they  have  a 
formula  (No.  536),  under  date  of  1887,  for  the  manufacture  of 
aromatic  (tasteless)  fluid  cascara  sagrada. 
R.  Wright  published,  in  1888,  a  formula  for  a  bitterless  fluid- 
extract  of  cascara  sagrada,  .using  calcined  magnesia  to  remove  the 
bitter  principle.  ("  Yearbook  of  Pharmacy,"  1888,  pp.  395,  396; 
"  Proc.  of  the  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,"  vol.  37,  1889,  p.  381.) 
Prof essor  John  M.  Maisch  ("  Proc.  of  the  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.," 
vol.  38,  1890,  p.  394)  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  H.  R.  Slack,  Jr., 
Fig.  6. — Sun-drying  Cascara  bark  on  platform  of  abandoned  saw-mill. 
recently  recommended  Rhamnus  Purshiana  for  pharmacopceial  recog- 
nition before  the  Georgia  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
The  bark  first  became  official  in  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia 
in  the  1890  edition. 
History  of  the  Chemistry  of  Rhamnus  Purshiana. — The 
first  chemical  examination  of  the  bark  was  made  by  Dr.  A.  B. 
Prescott,  who  isolated  a  brown  resin  of  strong,  bitter  taste,  colored 
vivid  purple- red  by  potassium  hydroxide  solution ;  a  red  resin,  nearly 
tasteless,  colored  rich  brown  by  potassium  hydroxide  solution ;  a 
yellow  resin  or  a  neutral  body,  tasteless,  colored  bright  red-brown  by 
sulphuric  acid,  not  colored  by  potassium  hydroxide  solution.   He  also 
