Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
January,  1921.  J 
Poke  Root  in  Medicine. 
47 
The  use  of  vacuum  distillation  as  a  means  of  separating  the 
esters  of  the  fatty  acids  and  the  fatty  acids  themselves  is  receiving 
extensive  application  in  the  further  chemical  investigations  now  in 
progress. 
ON  THE  USE  OF  POKE  ROOT  IN  MEDICINE  * 
By  E.  M.  Holmes,  F.L.S. 
My  attention  was  recently  directed  to  the  use  of  this  plant  in 
cancer  of  the  breast,  and  on  looking  up  the  statements  concerning 
it,  I  have  been  surprised  to  find  how  vague  the  therapeutic  action 
of  the  drug  appears  to  be,  and  how  little  is  known  of  its  active 
principles.  Squire,  in  the  "Companion  to  the  British  Pharma- 
copoeia," states  that  in  large  doses  it  is  emetic,  purgative,  and 
slightly  narcotic.  Martindale,  in  the  17th  edition,  1920,  of  the 
"Extra  Pharmacopoeia,"  ascribes  emetic,  cathartic,  and  alterative 
properties  to  it,  and  refers  briefly  to  its  use  for  painful  mammae. 
In  the  "Year-Book  of  Pharmacy,  1896,"  p.  120,  a  quotation  from  the 
Med.  Chim.,  n.s.  Ill,  p.  288,  is  given,  in  which  a  Dr.  Goodman 
states  that  he  has  obtained  very  good  results  in  the  treatment  of 
epithelioma,  with  fresh  leaves  of  the  plant  applied  in  the  form 
of  a  plaster.  The  application  is  said  to  be  painful  but  quite  free 
from  danger,  and  exercises  a  very  marked  destructive  action  on  the 
morbid  tissues.  Stille  and  Maisch  ("National  Dispensatory,"  4th 
edition,  p.  11 54),  state  that  the  most  probable  evidence  in  favor  of 
the  medicinal  powers  of  the  plant  relate  to  its  use  in  rheumatism  and 
diseases  of  the  skin  ;  and  mention  is  also  made  of  the  alleged  state- 
ment that  it  prevents  and  relieves  mammary  inflammation  after 
delivery ;  and  also  that,  according  to  Rutherford,  the  resin  is  a  pow- 
erful hepatic  stimulant. 
In  a  homoeopathic  work  by  E.  H.  Ruddock  (1879),  entitled 
"Homoeopathic  Vade  Mecum,"  it  is  described  as  a  remedy  for 
inflammation,  swelling;  hardness,  and  morbid  sensitiveness  of  the 
breast,  also  for  boils;  and  in  a  footnote  it  is  stated  that  the  plant 
is  in  constant  use  in  the  dairies  of  America  to  disperse  caking,  or 
inflammatory  enlargements  of  the  udders  of  cows,  and  that  it  has 
*  From  The  Pharm.  Jour,  and  Pharmacist,  Nov.  6,  1920- 
