568 
Eriodictyon  Ghitinosum. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I  November,  1895. 
The  medicinal  virtues  of  the  drug  are  supposed  to  be  due  to  its 
resinous  matters,  in  which  it  is  exceedingly  rich.  One  investigator 
separated  the  following  constituents  from  the  drug  :  Two  resins,  one 
soluble  in  alcohol  and  one  in  ether;  a  bitter  principle,  soluble  in 
water,  and  partly  so  in  alcohol ;  gum ;  tannin ;  a  fixed  and  a  volatile 
oil ;  a  peculiar  saccharine  principle  and  a  crystalline  principle,  which 
latter  was  deposited  from  a  concentrated  fluid  extract. 
The  object  of  this  thesis,  however,  is  not  so  much  to  describe  the 
chemical  constituents,  physiological  action,  and  preparations  of  the 
drug,  as  to  describe  the  macroscopical  and  microscopical  characters 
of  the  leaf,  which  is  the  medicinal  part  of  the  plant.    The  structure 
*   Fig.  4. 
of  the  leaf  is  indicated  in  the  drawings  and  descriptions  which 
follow : 
LIST  OF  DRAWINGS. 
Fig.  1. — Upper  surface  of  leaf,  twice  the  natural  size. 
Fig.  2. — Lower  surface  of  leaf,  twice  the  natural  size. 
Fig.  j. — Transverse  section  of  the  petiole,  magnified  30  diam- 
eters, a,  the  epidermis  of  the  petiole,  composed  of  a  single 
layer  of  cells  which  are  thickened  and  slightly  cutinized  upon  their 
exterior  surface,  and  presenting  a  fringed  appearance ;  b,  several  lay- 
ers of  collenchyma  or  thick  angled  cells  underlying  the  epidermis ; 
intercellular  spaces  in  the  parenchyma ;  d,  parenchyma  tissue  sur- 
