THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JULY,  1872. 
COTTON  ROOT. 
By  Professor  E.  S.  Wayne. 
Read  before  the  Cincinnati  College  of  Pharmacy. 
The  root  of  the  cotton  plant  (Gossypium  herhaceum)  has  for  some 
time  past  been  accredited  with  possessing  the  properties  of  an  em- 
menagogue,  parturient  and  abortive,  and  said  to  promote  uterine  con- 
tractions with  as  much  efficiency  and  more  safety  than  ergot. 
As  yet  no  analysis  has  been  made  of  the  root  to  determine  its  prox- 
imate principles,  and  to  ascertain  whether  it  contains  any  of  the  prin- 
ciples foundj  in  ergot,  such  as  propylamin,  or  alkaloids  such  as  er- 
gotina  and  ecbolia,  found  in  that  substance  by  Wenzell. 
The  fluid  extract  of  cotton  root  is  a  preparation  largely  used  in  the 
West,  and  highly  spoken  of  as  above  by  some  practitioners.  It  is 
very  prone  to  deposit  a  peculiar  red  precipitate  a  short  time  after  it 
is  made ;  and  the  frequent  complaints  made  respecting  this  has  in- 
duced me  to  make  some  investigations  as  to  the  cause  and  nature  of 
the  deposit,  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  some  of  the  proximate  prin- 
ciples existing  in  the  root,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  of  the  bark  of 
the  root. 
For  this  purpose  one  pound  of  the  root  bark,  in  suitable  powder, 
wTas  exhausted  with  alcohol  of  76°  ;  the  resulting  percolate  was  of  a 
pale  amber  color.  This  was  distilled  to  separate  any  resin  present 
in  it.  After  distilling  off  the  alcohol,  there  was  left  in  the  still  a 
dark  red  aqueous  solution  of  extractive,  &c,  and  a  dark  red  resinous 
mass. 
The  resinous  mass  was  removed  and  reduced  to  a  coarse  powder, 
and  washed  with  water  as  long  as  anything  was  taken  up  by  it,  then 
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