AmsSt.1:'i886arm'}         Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica.  451 
become  an  extinct  industry.  According  to  J.  Medley  Wood,  curator 
of  the  Botanic  Garden  at  D'Urban,  Natal,  it  has  also  become  an  arti- 
cle of  commerce  in  that  colony. 
A  gum  from  Angola,  probably  also  derived  from  a  Euphorbia,  may 
find  a  use  in  the  manufacture  of  kamptulicon,  a  variety  of  floor- 
cloth. 
Parthenium  Hysterophorus,  Lin.;  Compositce. — This  tall  annua], 
which  grows  as  a  weed  in  the  West  Indian  Islands,  the  Bahamas  and 
southward  to  Northern  Patagonia,  has  recently  attracted  attention  as  a 
febrifuge.  Dr.  J.  R.  Tovar,  of  Havana,  reported  the  successful  treat- 
ment of  neuralgia  and  of  intermittent  fever  with  an  alkaloid  parthe- 
nine,  given  in  doses  of  0"1  gm.  Dr.  Ulrici  (JDeuL  Med.  Wochensch., 
Feb.  8,  1886)  states  that  the  plant  is  known  in  Cuba  as  escoba 
amarga  or  confitilla,  and  contains  uncrystallizable  parthenic  acid,  the 
crystal lizable  alkaloid  parthenine,  and  four  other  alkaloids ;  parthenine 
is  the  active  principle.  Dr.  Guyet  (Gaz.  Med.,  May  29,  p.  259) 
states  that  parthenine  is  a  complex  substance,  amorphous,  in  black 
shining  scales,  freely  soluble  in  water,  and  is  efficacious  against 
neuralgia,  but  useless  as  an  antipyretic. 
The  stem  of  the  plant  is  2  to  4  feet  high,  stiff-hairy,  furrowed  and 
branched  ;  the  leaves  are  alternate,  bipinnati fid,  with  the  lobes  obtuse, 
and  the  petiole  winged ;  the  upper  leaves  are  pinnatifid  or  entire; 
the  flower  heads  are  in  spreading  panicles,  hemispherical,  about  ^-inch 
broad ;  the  akenes  are  compressed  and  have  a  pappus  consisting  of 
two  oblong  blunt  scales.  The  entire  plant  is  more  or  less  covered 
with  short  hairs.  It  is  known  in  Jamaica  as  icild  wormwood,  white- 
head,^mugwort  and  broombush.  .f^  V*^  ~  ^\~}{ 
Asclepiadin  has  been  prepared  by  C.  Gram  from  Asclepias  currasa- 
vica,  Asclepias  incarnata  and  Vincetoxicum  officinale.  This  glucosVe 
is  easily  decomposed  on  being  boiled  with  acids,  or  on  evaporating  its 
neutral  solutions  on  a  water  bath,  or  even  on  being  kept  in  the  dry 
state,  sugar  and  brown-yellow  resinous  asclepin  being  produced,  the 
latter  of  which  is  entirely  insoluble  in  water.  Both  these  principles  are 
poisonous. — Arch.  d.  Phar.,  May,  1886,  p.  414;  Arch,  f.exp.  Pathol., 
xxiv. 
This  principle  was  first  isolated  from  vincetoxicum  by  FeneulJe 
(Jour.  Phar.  Chim.,  July,  1825),  and  was  obtained  in  a  purer  state 
by  Harnack  {Arch.  exp.  Pathol.,  ii.,  303)  by  treating  the  aqueous  ex- 
tract with  ether  and  alcohol,  in  both  of  which  liquids  it  is  soluble, 
