.Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1891. 
Pennyroyal  and  Volatile  Oil. 
477 
per  cent.  Caoutchouc,  gallic  acid,  coloring  matter  and  starch  were 
■detected  but  not  estimated.  Bowman  in  1869  found  20  per  cent,  of 
tannin,  and  other  investigators  have  reported  the  presence  of  tannin, 
gallic  acid,  starch  and  mucilage. 
Calendula  officinalis. — Maxwell  J.  Tielke  states  that  this  drug 
is  used  considerably  in  parts  of  our  western  country  as  a  vulnerary. 
The  following  percentages  were  found  : 
Volatile  oil,   '02 
Fixed  oil,   5*30 
Caoutchouc,   4.90 
Resin  and  coloring  matter,   871 
Mucilage,   6  '30 
Sugar,   11-82 
Albuminoids,   1*32 
Pararabin,   "88 
Insoluble  lignin,  etc.,   ....    39"22 
Ash,   10*50 
Moisture,   6*75 
Undetermined  and  loss,   4*28 
100  "OO 
The  activity  of  the  drug  is  probably  due  to  the  yellow  resin 
dissolved  by  ether  and  alcohol.  Tannin  was  not  found,  although 
the  coloring  matter  was  somewhat  darkened  by  solution  of  ferric 
chloride. 
PENNYROYAL  AND  ITS  VOLATILE  OIL. 
By  William  A.  Hague,  Ph.G. 
Prom  an  inaugural  essay  presented  to  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
The  following  notes  are  compiled  from  the  author's  observations 
and  from  information  obtained  during  the  summer  of  1890  from 
those  who  gather  large  quantities  of  pennyroyal  for  the  purpose  of 
distilling  the  oil.  The  herb  grows  very  abundantly  near  my  home 
in  Belmont  County,  O.,  and  also  in  the  adjoining  counties;  in  fact, 
so  much  of  it  grows  in  that  section  that  each  summer  reunions  are 
held  known  as  the  "  pennyroyal  reunion."  The  herb  grows  sponta- 
neously, principally  in  old  fields  and  dry  waste  places.  It  is  one  of 
the  few  herbs  not  subject  to  cultivation*;  it  will  not  grow  from  the 
seed  nor  can  it  be  reproduced  by  transplanting.  A  field  may  one 
season  be  completely  covered  with  the  herb  and  without  disturbing 
the  ground  there  may  not  be  a  single  plant  in  the  same  field,  the 
