THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
JULY,  i goo. 
ON  ACETIC  ACID  AS  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  ETHYL  ALCO- 
HOL IN  EXTRACTING  THE  ACTIVE  PRINCIPLES 
OF  SOME  OFFICINAL  DRUGS. 
By  Edward  R.  Squibb,  M.D., 
of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
FOURTH  PAPER. 
THE  OFFICINAL  VARIETIES  OF  RHAMNUS  OF  THE  U.S.P.  RHAMNUS  FRAN- 
GULA  AND  RHAMNUS  PURSHIANA  (BUCKTHORN  AND  CASCARA  SAGRADA). 
In  selecting  examples  for  a  fourth  paper  on  this  subject  it  seemed 
best  to  take  substances  of  wide  common  usage  and  general  applU 
cability,  not  dependent  upon  an  alkaloid  or  upon  any  single  or 
separable  active  principle,  but  rather  on  the  total  extractive  mat- 
ter of  the  drug.  The  bark  of  the  two  officinal  varieties  of  the 
Rhamnus  family  fulfil  these  conditions  very  well,  being  used  in  the 
same  way  for  the  same  purpose,  and  for  that  purpose  only,  namely, 
to  correct  and  control  the  condition  of  constipation.  Neither  one  is 
a  proper  purgative  or  cathartic,  nor  even  a  very  good  evacuant. 
Both  are  laxatives,  while  the  buckthorn  is  the  more  simply  laxative 
or  relaxing,  and  the  cascara  is  more  actively  evacuant.  If  both  be 
classed  as  laxatives  the  buckthorn  must  be  said  to  be  the  milder  and 
more  gentle  in  operation.  For  the  proper  and  best  effect  both 
should  be  given  in  small  doses  after  meals  for  a  noticeable  effect 
only  on  the  second  day. 
The  bark  of  Rhamnus  Frangula  or  buckthorn  has  been  long 
known  and  used  professionally  and  popularly  as  a  laxative  through- 
out continental  northern  Europe,  where  the  shrub  is  indigenous. 
The  bark  of  young  trunks  and  branches  is  used,  and  that  of  older 
(3ii) 
