i 
AmMa?,ri8?oharm-}  Podophyllin  Emodi.  .  245 
late  Mr.  W.  S.  Merrell,  at  that  time  located  on  the  N.  W.  corner  of 
Court  and  Plum  Streets,  Cincinnati,  O.,  he  called  my  attention  to 
two  samples,  one  of  podophyllum  resin,  the  other  of  cimicifuga  resin, 
about  an  ounce  or  so  of  each,  which  he  said  were  made  according 
to  my  directions  in  The  Western  Medical  Journal,  and  inquired  if 
they  were  anything  like  those  I  had  produced.  I  answered  him  that 
they  were,  and  questioned  him  whether  the  Eclectic  physicians  of 
Cincinnati  had  tried  them.  He  stated  in  reply  that  he  had  not  been 
able  to  prevail  upon  them  to  prescribe  them.  According  to  promise 
given  to  Mi*.  Merrell,  I  shortly  afterward  gave  Prof.  T.  V.  Morrow, 
M.D.,  a  few  hints  as  to  the  value  of  these  resins,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  communications  appeared  from  the  pens  of  Prof.  Morrow, 
Hill,  and  others,  in  which  the  remedial  virtues  of  these  agents  were 
highly  lauded,  from  which  time  resin  of  podophyllum,  more  espe- 
cially, has  been  extensively  employed  by  all  classes  of  physicians. 
Yours  truly, 
John  King,  M.D. 
From  a  careful  review  of  the  literature,  and  from  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  those  connected  with  the  introduction  and  dis- 
covery of  the  substance,  I  feel  that  without  a  question  the  foregoing 
comprises  the  facts  in  justice  to  all  concerned. 
[To  be  continued.} 
PODOPHYLLIN  EMODI. 
By  F.  A.  Thompson,  Ph.G. 
In  the  Pharm.  Journal  and  Transactions,  Jan.  26,  1889,  page  585, 
Messrs.  Dymock  and  Hooper  state  « <  that  the  genus  Podophyllum  con- 
tains only  two  species,  one  Himalayan  and  the  other  American.1 
The  former,  P.  Emodi,  Wallich,  inhabits  shady  valleys  on  the  inner 
range  of  the  Himalaya  and  is  very  abundant  in  Kunawur  and  Cash- 
mere. The  root  agrees  in  most  particulars  with  that  of  P.  pelta- 
tum,  but  differs  in  the  intervals  of  the  knots  whence  aerial  stems  are 
given  off,  the  knots  being  more  frequent  in  this  species.  They  state 
that  the  sample  examined  by  them  yielded  1 2  per  cent,  of  amorphous 
resins,  of  a  pale  orange-brown,  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether,  chloroform 
1  According  to  the  same  authors,  iu  Pharmacographia  Indica,  I,  p.  69,  two 
additional  species  of  Podophyllum  are  found  iu  China. — Editor  Am.  Jour. 
Phar. 
