ON  PODOPHYLLIN. 
509 
nent  bitter  taste,  sparingly  soluble  in  boiling  water ;  very  solu- 
ble in  alcohol ;  partially  so  in  ether,  and  when  in  solution  pos- 
sessed of  an  odor  resembling  that  of  the  boiled  root :  he  describes 
its  relation  to  acids  but  not  to  alkalies,  and  considers  it  to  re- 
semble salicine  in  some  of  its  chemical  properties,  particularly 
in  affording  a  purple  color  with  sulphuric  acid.  This  principle 
was  not  experimented  with  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  the 
medical  properties  of  the  root  reside  in  it. 
Dr.  W.  P.  C.  Barton,  in  his  Medical  Botany  of  the  United  States, 
published  in  1818,  gives  a  faithful  representation  of  the  plant  in 
flower  and  fruit,  and  refers  to  the  Appendix  to  that  work  for  chemi- 
cal analysis,  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  consult. 
Dr.  E.  Staples  has  also  submitted  it  to  chemical  examination,  and 
found  as  constituents  resin,  starch,  and  a  peculiar  vegetable  sub- 
stance, crystallizable  in  white  silky  tufts,  (this  substance  other  ob- 
servers have  not  obtained  :  it  was  probably  salts  of  lime.)  He  does 
not  state  which  is  the  active  principle.  John  R.  Lewis,  in  the 
year  1847,  described,  in  an  inaugural  essay,  the  result  of  his  obser- 
vations on  the  root,  and  reports  it  to  contain  vegetable  albumen, 
gum,  starch,  gallic  acid,  fixed  oil,  volatile  oil,  and  a  peculiar  resi- 
nous principle,  separable  into  parts  by  means  of  ether,  slightly  solu- 
ble in  boiling  water,  entirely  so  in  strong  alcohol :  when  dry  resem- 
bles tannin  in  appearance  ;  soluble  in  caustic  potassa,  from  which  it 
is  precipitated  again  by  an  acid';  soluble  also  in  carbonates  of  pot- 
assa and  soda ;  had  a  very  bitter  taste,  and  operating  in  the  dose 
of  six  grains  of  the  pure  resin  as  a  drastric  hydragogue  cathartic, 
occasioning  vomiting  and  great  debility.  It  was  obtained  in  opaque 
feathery  scales,  but  was  uncrystallizable.  The  active  properties  of 
the  root  are  considered  by  him  to  be  owing  to  the  presence  of  this 
substance  in  it. 
Simultaneously  with  the  analysis  of  Mr.  Lewis,  and  previous  to 
its  publication,  Win.  S.  Merrill,  A.  M.,  of  Cincinnati,  obtained 
and  prepared  the  podophyllin,  and  through  the  medium  of  the  phy- 
sicians of  the  Eclectic  school,  first  introduced  it  as  an  article  of  the 
Materia  Medica.* 
*In  justice  to  the  claims  of  the  late  John  R.  Lewis,  in  reference  to  po- 
dophyllin, we  feel  bound  to  state  a  few  facts,  as  he  was  a  protoge, 
and  engaged  in  the  investigation  at  our  suggestion.    1st.  Mr.  Lewis  made 
33 
