NOTE  ON  A  FALSE  JALAP. 
389 
enema,  the  purified  assafoetida  should  be  well  rubbed  up  with  the 
mucilage  of  starch  of  the  formula,  or  first  with  a  small  portion 
of  water,  as  in  making  lac  assafoetida,  and  then  with  the  mucil- 
age gradually  added,  allowing,  if  thought  necessary,  for  the 
water  added. 
Pil.  Aloes  et  Assafoetida?,  and  Pil.  G-albani  Comp. — The  puri- 
fied assafoetida  can  be  substituted  with  convenience  and  advan- 
tage, for  the  crude  drug,  in  the  officinal  formulae  for  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  above  pills.  It  is  usually  of  such  consistence  that 
it  forms  a  convenient  pill  mass  with  the  other  ingredients,  with- 
out the  use  of  any  other  excipient. 
It  may  be  advantageously  substituted  for  the  crude  drug,  also 
in  the  preparation  of  all  pills  in  extemporaneous  prescriptions, 
when  the  latter  is  among  the  ingredients  prescribed,  provided 
the  ingredients  with  which  it  is  associated  are  in  a  dry  or  pow- 
dered condition.  Purified  assafoetida  in  such  cases  will  not  only 
serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  crude  drug,  but  frequently  as  an 
excipient. 
Philadelphia,  August,  1868. 
NOTE  ON  A  FALSE  JALAP. 
By  William  Procter,  Jr. 
A  few  weeks  since  the  writer  wTas  called  upon  by  two  Mexican 
gentlemen,  in  relation  to  a  sample  of  dried  tuberous  roots  about 
which  they  desired  information.  They  stated  that  the  tubers 
were  dug  on  property  belonging  to  one  of  them.  The  manner 
of  its  discovery  was  in  this  wise :  Certain  itinerant  root  gather- 
ers had  been  operating  on  these  lands  without  permission,  and 
under  the  impression  that  the  roots  were  valuable  they  were  de- 
tained. The  idea  appeared  to  be  that  they  were  jalap  tubers, 
and  the  object  of  the  visit  was  really  to  determine  this  point. 
The  specimens  consisted  of  half  a  dozen  tubers,  several  of  which 
were  perfect.  The  largest  was  six  inches  long,  two  wide,  and 
from  half  an  inch  to  an  inch  thick.  Its  shape  was  almost  pre- 
cisely that  of  a  castor  sack,  wrinkled  and  flattened  just  as  castor 
is  often  seen.  Other  tubers  were  three  inches  long,  and  as  wide 
and  thick  as  the  large  tuber,  but  varying  in  shape,  which,  from 
