496 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
10th.  The  medicinal  powers  of  Cimicifuga  are  generally  ad- 
mitted, its  use  is  increasing,  it  belongs  to  a  natural  family,  (Ra- 
nunculacese)  embracing  many  active  plants  containing  alkaloids, 
and  yet  the  attempts  hitherto  made  have  not  educed  any  distinct 
active  principle.  Quere,  to  what  distinct  principle,  if  any,  is 
the  medicinal  power  of  Cimicifuga  to  be  attributed  ? 
Accepted  by  Edward  S.  Wayne,  of  Cincinnati. 
llth.  It  has  become  proverbial  that  Digitalis  of  American 
growth  has  not  the  same  amount  of  sedative  power  as  the  Euro- 
pean leaf.  Quere,  does  American  Digitalis  yield  a  less  propor- 
tion of  digitalin  than  the  imported,  and  is  such  digitalin  equally 
active  with  that  of  foreign  origin  ? 
Accepted  by  Edward  S.  Wayne,  of  Cincinnati. 
12th.  The  Elaterium  plant  grows  readily  in  Philadelphia. 
Can  it  be  availably  cultivated  with  a  view  to  the  extraction  of 
its  peculiar  product ;  and  does  the  elaterium  it  yields  compare 
favorably  with  the  English  drug  ? 
Accepted  by  Edivard  Parrish,  of  Philadelphia. 
13th.  According  to  the  most  recent  researches  on  ergot  by 
Winckler,  (Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.  vol.  xxiv.  p.  346)  that  chemist 
obtained  an  alkaloid  from  it,  which  he  calls  secalin,  and  which  he 
believes  to  be  analogous  if  not  identical  with  propylamin,  the 
odorous  principle  of  herring  pickle.  It  is  desired  that  the  ques- 
tions be  determined  :  1st.  Whether  the  volatile  alkaloid  of  ergot 
possesses  the  utero-stimulant  power  of  the  drug  itself.  2d. 
Whether  propylamin,  as  obtainable  from  herring  pickle,  and 
from  narcotin,  possesses  the  same  power  as  secalin  ;  and  3d.  In 
view  of  the  result,  what  is  the  best  formula  for  preparing  a  per- 
manent fluid  preparation  of  ergot  that  will  fully  represent  the 
drug  ? 
Accepted  by  William  Procter,  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia. 
14th.  What  is  the  correct  history  of  the  production  of  hem- 
lock or  Canada  pitch,  U.  S.  P.,  where  chiefly  produced,  how  ex- 
tracted, and  is  it  obtained  by  incision  ;  also  where  is  the  com- 
mercial oil  of  hemlock  produced ;  is  it  the  oil  of  the  leaves,  and 
what  is  the  proportion  yielded  ? 
Accepted  by  Charles  T.  Carney,  of  Boston. 
