Am.  Tour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1879. 
Podophyllum. 
543 
infusion  was  tested  for  malic  acid,  but  with  negative  results.  The 
solution  obtained  by  cold  infusion,  when  heated,  shows  the  presence  of 
albumen.  The  leaves  apparently  contain  no  pectin,  the  decoction  on 
cooling  not  becoming  cloudy  ;  on  drying  the  leaves  lost  58  per  cent, 
of  their  weight.  The  dried  leaves  yielded  5*20  per  cent,  of  ash,  which 
contains  salts  of  potassium,  iron  and  calcium. 
PODOPHYLLUM. 
By  C.  J.  Biddle,  Ph.G. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  October  2 1 . 
I  regret  that  the  time  I  could  devote  to  the  above  subject  was  very 
limited,  and  that  at  present  I  can  only  give  a  brief  account  of  what 
work  has  been  done. 
Prof.  Maisch  first  interested  me  in  the  subject  by  a  lecture  in  his 
course,  during  the  winter  of  1876  and  1877.  I  am  not  fully  satisfied 
as  yet  with  the  results  obtained,  but  hope  to  be  able  to  give  the  subject 
further  attention  in  future.  Collections  of  the  root  were  made  in  the 
months  named  below  ;  it  was  washed,  weighed  and  carefully  dried. 
March  3d.  1,000  grs.  when  dry  weighed  220  grs.  Loss,  780  grs. 
April    3d.        1,000  "  "      233  tc  767 
May     7th.       1,000  "  <{      245  "  755 
July    16th.      1,000  "  "      340  "  660 
Oct.    12th.      1,000  "  "      317  "  683 
It  will  be  noticed  by  the  above  table  that  the  weight  of  the  dried 
root  increases  as  the  season  advances  until  July  is  reached,  when  it  is 
highest ;  it  then  begins  to  decrease,  and  in  October  it  is  much  lighter. 
A  short  description  of  the  appearance  of  the  plant  at  times  of  the 
different  collections  may  not  be  out  of  place  here.  In  March,  when 
I  made  the  first  collection,  it  had  not  made  its  appearance  above 
ground,  but  the  bud  was  waiting  for  the  heat  of  the  spring  sun.  In 
April  the  plant  was  just  coming  above  ground  ;  in  May  it  was  in 
bloom  ;  in  July  the  fruit  was  mature,  with  the  next  year's  portion  of 
the  rhizome  near  its  full  growth,  and  in  October  the  stem  of  the  plant 
had  died  away  and  the  next  year's  rhizome,  fully  developed,  including 
the  rootlets  and  the  bud,  was  seemingly  waiting  for  spring  to  come. 
The  following  table  will  show  the  yield  of  resin,  etc.  The  root 
was  treated  as  directed  in  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  for  resina  podo- 
phylli. 
