'I    NOV  10  J 
THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
JUNE,  1 8 go. 
MARRUBIIN  AND  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  MARRUBIUM. 
By  Frederick  G.  Hertel,  Ph.G. 
Abstract  from  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
In  some  localities  horehound  beer  is  used,  for  the  preparation  of 
.  which  it  was  ascertained,  horehound,  ginger,  Irish  moss  and  liquorice 
are  employed. 
Of  pharmaceutical  preparations  which  are  in  popular  use,  the  fluid 
extract  and  syrup  of  horehound  and  horehound  candy  are  most  fre- 
quently employed.  On  making  a  fluid  extract  of  horehound  using 
ten  pounds  of  the  ground  herb,  and  diluted  alcohol  for  extracting  it, 
it  was  noticed  that  after  standing  about  a  week,  a  deposit  of  well- 
defined  crystals  separated  from  the  finished  extract.  When  heated 
on  platinum  foil  the  crystals  melted,  then  charred  and  finally  volatil- 
ized without  leaving  any  residue.  They  were  quite  soluble  in 
chloroform,  alcohol  and  ether,  and  slightly  soluble  in  water.  The 
principle  is  insoluble  in  benzin,  is  not  colored  by  acids,  does  not 
respond  to  Fehling's  test  for  sugar,  nor  to  the  alkaloidal  group- 
reagents,  and  from  its  alcoholic  solution  is  not  precipitated  by  lead 
subacetate.  The  slight  yellow  color  of  the  needle-shaped  crystals 
was  removed  by  several  recrystallizations  from  alcohol ;  they 
retained  their  slowly  developing  but  persistently  bitter  taste.  The 
^^IBeposit  from  the  10  pounds  of  herb  amounted  to  nearly  one  ounce, 
and  the  fluid  extract  appeared  to  be  as  bitter  as  before.  By  precipi- 
tating the  fluid  extract  with  basic  lead  acetate,  filtering,  treating 
with  H2S  and  concentrating  the  filtrate,  more  crystals  were  obtained. 
The  National  Dispensatory  states  that  Harms  obtained  30  grains 
of  marrubiin  from  25  pounds  of  the  herb  ;  but  neither  his  process  nor 
273 
