ON  THE  ACTIVE  PRINCIPLES  OF  HYDRASTIS  CANADENSIS.  309 
state  we  have  not  obtained  quite  pure,  and  have  not  determined 
whether  it  is  identical  with  any  of  the  already  known  vegetable 
acids  or  not. 
Cincinnati,  May  3c?,  1862. 
Remarks  by  the  Editor  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.  :  The  reader's  attention 
is  directed  to  an  Inaugural  Essay,  by  Mr.  Alfred  B.  Durand,  at  page  112, 
vol.  xxiii.  April,  1851,  of  this  Journal :  to  another  by  Dr.  Mahla,  page  141, 
March,  1862,  and  a  third  in  this  number,  page  360,  by  J.  Dyson  Perrins, 
F.C.S.  of  England,  all  on  Hydrastis  Canadensis,  the  last  of  which  originally 
appeared  in  an  abridged  form  in  the  Chemical  News,  (London)  April  12th, 
but  as  a  full  paper  in  May,  1862,  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  of  London. 
We  are  thus  particular  in  noticing  these  papers — 1st,  to  show  that  the  two 
first  must  have  been  well  known  to  Mr.  Merrill,  who,  in  speaking  of  the 
subject,  makes  no  allusion  to  them,  and  reports  the  result  of  his  observa- 
tions to  be  that "  hydrastis  contains  two  distinct  alkaloids  which  he  names 
hydrastia  and  hydrastina."  This  sort  of  assumption  is  to  be  discounte- 
nanced. Mr.  Durand,  eleven  years  ago,  made  out  the  alkaline  nature  of 
hydrastia  sufficiently  clear;  yet  so  modest  was  he,  that  fearing  his  results 
might  not  be  entirely  satisfactory,  he  says,  "  For  the  present  I  shall  there- 
fore call  the  substance  hydrastin,  with  the  hope  that  I  will  be  more  success- 
ful, after  repeating  my  experiments  on  a  larger  scale,  in  fully  establishing 
its  rank  among  the  alkaloids,  and  in  conformity  with  our  nomenclature 
change  its  present  name  of  hydrastin  to  that  of  hydrastia."  Mr.  Durand's 
doubts  of  the  true  alkaline  nature  of  hydrastia  were  that  he  could  not  ob- 
tain crystallizable  salts,  and  both  Mr.  Perrins  and  Mr.  Merrill  agree  in 
stating  that  its  salts  do  not  crystallize.  Mr.  Merrill  says  that  his  hy- 
drastia £the  hydrastin  of  the  Eclectics]  closely  resembles  berberina,  the 
alkaline  base  of  Serberis  vulgaris,  and  also,  he  thinks,  that  of  Xanthorrhiza 
apiifolia,  and  has  been  pronounced  identical  with  it,  "  but  after  a  careful 
comparison  we  do  not  think  so,"  &c.  In  relation  to  this  sentence  we  wish 
to  remark,  that  no  published  intimation  of  the  analogy  or  identity  of  hy- 
drastin and  berberina  appeared  (so  far  as  our  knowledge  extends)  prior  to 
Dr.  Mahla's  announcement  of  the  fact  in  Silliman's  Journal  for  January, 
1862.  Dr.  Mahla  bases  his  opinion  on  an  ultimate  analysis — and  J.  Dyson 
Perrins  corroborates  his  opinion.  If,  therefore,  Mr.  Merrill  has  just  rea- 
son to  doubt  the  correctness  of  Dr.  Mahla  and  Mr.  Perrins,  as  he  says,  it 
is  but  just  that  he  should  publish  his  experiments.  If  Mr.  Merrill  held 
this  opinion  prior  to  January,  1862,  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not 
make  it  known.  On  the  other  hand,  it  gives  us  pleasure  to  call  attention 
to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Merrill's  manuscript  is  dated  at  Cincinnati,  May  3d, 
1862,  just  nineteen  days  after  the  notice  of  Mr.  Perrins'  paper  in  the  Chem- 
ical News,  and  only  three  days  after  its  full  publication  in  the  Pharma- 
ceutical Journal,  and  hence  that  his  opinion  in  regard  to  the  analogy  of 
