286 
Materia  Medica  Notes. 
/Am.  Pearm.  Jour. 
t    June.  1,  1874. 
The  potash  should  not  be  in  excess,  and  the  temperature  not  very 
high.    This  reaction  is  capable  of  detecting  0*1  mgm.  of  phenol. 
The  coloration  is  probably  due  to  the  formation  of  rosolic  acid, 
which  is,  in  fact,  known  to  be  produced  by  the  action  of  iodoform, 
formic  acid,  etc.,  on  potassium  phenate. 
The  action  of  potassium  phenate  on  chloroform  does  not  give  rise 
to  any  compound  analogous  to  the  triethylic  formate,  or  orthoformic 
ether,  which  Kay  obtained  by  treating  chloroform  with  sodium  ethyl- 
ate. — Journ.  Ohem.  Soc,  March,  1874,  from  Gazetta  chimica  ital- 
iana,  iii,  401. 
MATERIA  MEDICA  NOTES* 
By  E.  M.  Holmes, 
Curator  of  the  Museum  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society. 
Koegoed. — At  the  Brighton  meeting  of  the  British  Pharmaceutical 
Conference  in  August,  1872,  a  paper  was  read  by  Mr.  Keyworth,  of 
Hastings,  upon  a  drug  called  koegoed,  the  botanical  source  of  which 
was  said  to  be  unknown.  Having  had  occasion  lately  to  turn  to  Dr. 
Pappe's  Medical  Flora  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  I  found  that  the 
same  name,  although  spelt  in  a  slightly  different  manner,  was  applied 
by  the  Hottentots  to  the  Mesembryanthemum  tortuosum,  a  plant  be- 
longing to  the  nat.  ord.  Ficoidese.  Not  having  been  able  to  detect 
any  leaves  in  a  specimen  given  to  me  by  Mr.  J.  Moss,  I  wrote  for  a  fur- 
ther supply  to  Mr.  Keyworth,  who  courteously  complied  with  my  re- 
quest. In  the  parcel  forwarded  to  me  by  that  gentleman,  I  found  a 
few  leaves  of  oblong-ovate  shape  which  exactly  corresponded  in  ap- 
pearance with  those  of  a  specimen  of  the  Mesembryanthemum  tortuo- 
sum in  the  British  Museum.  Dr.  Shaw,  who  is  well  acquainted  with 
the  Flora  of  South  Africa,  happened  to  be  in  the  British  Museum 
while  I  was  engaged  in  comparing  the  specimens,  and  immediately 
recognized  the  Koegoed  as  the  form  in  which  that  plant  is  used  by 
the  Hottentots,  remarking  that  he  had  seen  it  growing  in  Bushman- 
land,  but  considered  it  to  be  rather  a  rare  plant.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  therefore,  that  the  Koegoed  is  the  produce  of  M.  tortuosum, 
of  which  it  is  probably  the  root  and  procumbent  stem. 
Three  other  species  of  Mesembryanthemum  are  used  medicinally 
*  Read  at  the  Evening  Meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, Wednesday,  April  1st,  1874. 
