Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
February,  1911.  / 
L asiosip hon  M eiss neriai iits. 
51 
on  the  hills  of  Western  India.  The  plant  is  a  shrub,  with  leaves  like 
the  willow,  and  the  bark  is  a  powerful  vesicant,  this  property  being 
attributed  to  a  resinous  constituent. 
The  most  recent  notice  of  the  Lasiosiphons  appears  to  be  that 
contained  in  a  short  paper  on  South  African  Plants  which  was  con- 
tributed by  Mr.  G.  E.  Oliver  to  the  Chemist  and  Druggist,  London, 
April  25,  1908,  p.  645.  It  is  there  stated  that  these  plants  are  much 
esteemed  among  the  natives  for  their  tonic  and  blood-purifying  prop- 
erties, and  also  in  the  treatment  of  certain  kinds  of  sore  throat.  The 
activity  of  the  plant  is  said  to  reside  chiefly  in  the  root-bark,  and 
with  regard  to  the  constituents  of  the  latter  Mr.  Oliver  has  recorded 
the  following  observations :  "  A  chemical  examination  of  the  root- 
bark  shows  it  to  contain  a  very  small  quantity  of  volatile  oil,  tannin 
(to  which  its  virtue  in  sore  throat  would  perhaps  be  attributable), 
and  a  resin,  and  it  is  apparently  to  this  resin  that  its  scorching  prop- 
erties are  due,  as  it  produces  the  sensation  above  referred  to  on  the 
tongue,  though  it  does  not  yield  it  to  acidulated  water  when  boiled 
with  the  latter.    It  contains  no  alkaloid." 
EXPERIMENTAL. 
The  material  used  for  this  investigation  consisted  of  the  roots  of 
the  above-described  plant,  Lasiosiphon  Mcissncrianus,  Endl.,  which 
had  been  kindly  supplied  by  Mr.  G.  E.  Oliver,  of  East  London,  Cape 
Colony,  and  was  specially  collected  for  the  purpose. 
The  roots  in  question  were  more  or  less  contorted  and  very 
irregular  in  size,  some  of  the  larger  ones  being  as  much  as  lo  centi- 
metres (about  4  inches)  in  circumference.  They  were  of  a  dark 
brown  color,  very  rough  and  warty  on  the  outer  surface,  and  had  a 
relatively  thin  bark,  surrounding  a  lighter  colored,  very  fibrous 
wood.  As  has  previously  been  observed,  when  a  little  of  the  bark 
is  chewed,  a  burning  sensation  is  soon  developed  in  the  throat,  which 
persists  for  several  hours. 
As  a  prehminary  experiment,  a  small  portion  (lo  grammes)  of 
the  ground  material  was  tested  for  the  presence  of  an  alkaloid,  but 
with  a  perfectly  negative  result. 
Another  portion  (25  grammes)  of  the  ground  material  was  suc- 
cessively extracted  in  a  Soxhlet  apparatus  with  various  solvents, 
when  the  following  amounts  of  extracts,  dried  in  a  water-oven,  were 
o1)tained : 
