APIOL  AS  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  QUININE. 
43 
ric  acid  and  precipitate  with  ammonia,  wash  and  dry  the  precipi- 
tate, dissolve  in  ether,  and  treat  with  animal  charcoal.  After 
filtration  the  alkaloid  is  precipitated  with  a  solution  of  pure  sul- 
phuric acid  in  ether.  It  is  pure  sulphate  of  sanguinarine. — Sil- 
Umans  Journal,  Sept.  1855. 
ON  THE  USE  OF  APIOL  AS  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  QUININE. 
(Taken  from  the  Reports  of  MM.  Joret  and  Homollb  to  the  Society  of  Pharmacy 
of  Paris,  and  from  the  Experiments  of  Professor  Bouchardat.) 
We  have  already,*  whilst  alluding  to  the  discussions  on  the 
1    various  substitutes  for  quinine,  spoken  of  the  peculiar  principle 
of  parsley,  which  has  been  called  apiol. 
The  paper  on  this  new  febrifuge,  presented  by  Drs.  Joret  and 
Homolle,  was>  without  doubt,  the  most  valuable  and  important 
work  which  came  before  the  society  of  pharmacy  during  that 
year.  In  a  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  point  of  view,  said  the 
honorable  reporter  of  the  commission,  this  memoir  presents  sub- 
jects of  great  interest,  inasmuch  as  we  are  made  acquainted  with 
a  new  liquid  product,  extracted  by  a  peculiar  process  from  one 
of  the  most  common  and  familiar  of  our  plants,  and  endowed 
with  properties  so  singular,  as  to  separate  it  almost  from  any 
known  chemical  group.  But  the  attention  of  the  commission 
was  more  particularly  drawn  to  the  medical  uses  of  the  new- 
remedy.  The  authors  reported  in  detail  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  observations  of  fevers  treated  with  the  decoction  of  parsley 
seed,  or  with  the  apiol  which  is  the  active  principle  of  this  seed, 
of  which  number  there  were  only  live  unsuccessful  cases. 
The  commission  of  the  society  of  pharmacy  deemed  it  best  to 
authenticate  by  every  possible  means,  the  favorable  report  on 
this  new  agent.  They  selected  the  various  points  where  new  ex- 
periments were  to  be  conducted,  and  by  the  advice  of  the  army 
board  of  health,  the  cities  of  Rome,  Ajaccio,  Perpigan  and 
Rochefort  were  chosen,  as  being  in  countries  where  intermittent 
fever  was  endemic,  and  frequently  resisted  even  the  use  of 
quinine.  The  result  of  the  experiments  made  at  these  points, 
give  the  proportion  of  cures  as  only  forty-two  per  cent.  This 
proportion,  whilst  it  is  far  below  that  derived  from  the  quinine 
*Annuaire  de  Therapeutique,  1853. 
