'^'^Feb.^ifss^'"'"'}     Examination  of  Cascara  Sagrada.  91 
ble  and  transportable  for  the  purposes  of  the  plant.  In  this  respect 
we  think  it  very  analogous  to  licorice  root^  inasmuch  as  careful  ob- 
servers have  already  noted  the  absence  from  old  licorice  root  of  the 
sufficient  amount  of  ammonia,  to  render  the  glycyrrhizin,  or  sweet 
principle  entirely  soluble  in  water,  and  have  even  advised  replaciug  it 
by  exposing  the  root  to  the  vapors  of  ammonia  in  a  suitable  closed 
vessel.  We  beg  to  refer  in  this  connection  to  the  statements  of  Dr. 
Hager,  in  his  "  Handbuch  der  Pharmaceutischen  Praxis,"  p.  664,  Sup- 
plement, quoting  Prof.  Landerer  on  this  subject.  While  ammonia 
may  be  the  active  agent,  or  base  in  the  plant  itself,  and  which  we  pro- 
pose to  determine  by  an  examination  of  the  fresh  bark,  we  are  con- 
vinced that  for  pharmaceutical  purposes  other  alkaline  bases  are  pref- 
erable. It  is  difficult  to  concentrate  by  evaporation  a  neutral,  am- 
moniacal  extract  from  either  licorice  or  cascara  without  loss  of  a  de- 
cided quantity  of  the  volatile  alkali,  inasmuch  as  the  organic  acids 
seem  to  have  but  a  feeble  affinity  for  it,  insufficient  to  resist  the  disso- 
ciating action  of  the  temperature  employed  in  evaporation.  Like  re- 
sults would  undoubtedly  follow  an  attempted  concentration  of  some 
other  salts  of  ammonia  with  organic  acids,  as  for  instance,  the  endeavor 
to  reduce  volatile  liniment  to  a  solid  form. 
A  full  report  will  follow  of  the  result  of  experiments  directed  at 
the  solution  of  a  number  of  questions  of  importance;  among  these 
questions  is  one  addressed  to  the  immediate  source  of  the  acid  pro- 
duced by  the  action  of  the  ferment,  whether  it  be  glucose,  albumen,  or 
amyloids,  alone  or  together.  Another  matter  we  have  under- 
taken to  determine  is  the  part  played  by  the  ferment,  its  mode  of  ac- 
tion, and  the  reason  for  its  final  exhaustion.  This  involves  a  deter- 
mination of  what  becomes  of  it  while  engaged  in  its  occupation. 
We  believe  also  to  have  a  right  to  expect  that  some  light  will  be 
thrown  on  the  formation  of  the  resins  themselves  in  the  plant,  and 
that  an  important  natural  process  may  thus  be  understood.  The  very 
existence  of  glucose  itself  in  the  bark  is  to  us  an  evidence  of  a  preced- 
ing glucosic  fermentation.  That  this  is  continually  going  on  in  the 
apparently  inactive  bark,  we  have  already  shown.  The  mode  of  ac- 
tion of  the  bark  of  cascara,  and  which  we  have  carefully  studied, 
leads  us  to  assume  that  the  laxative  properties  are  inherent  in  the  res- 
ins, while  the  tonic  effects  are  undoubtedly  due  to  the  crystalline  bit- 
ter principle.  That  the  bark  is  both  laxative  and  tonic,  and  decidedly 
so,  does  not  admit  of  further  question,  in  spite  of  frequent  denials. 
