Am.  Jour.  Pliarm. 
Feb.,  1892. 
Analysis  of  Trillium. 
67 
Per  Cent. 
Resin  and  chlorophyll   2*00 
Resin  soluble  in  alcohol   2  '41 
Glucose   -..  -   2-49 
Saccharose      .   "4° 
Mucilage  ...      .  .   5-I8 
Tannin   2-64 
Albuminoids     4"°8 
Moisture   6*  16 
Ash                                                                                  ...  15-90 
In  experiments  on  the  manufacture  of  the  fluid  extract,  the  best 
results  were  obtained  by  a  menstruum  of  two  parts  alcohol  to  one  of 
water. 
AN  ANALYSIS  OF  TRILLIUM. 
By  Vivian  I.  Reid. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
•  No.  101. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  January  19. 
Trillium,  or  beth-root,  birth-root  and  wake-robin,  as  it  is  called, 
is  an  herbaceous  plant  belonging  to  the  natural  order  of  liliaceae, 
and  is  indigenous  to  the  United  States,  being  found  in  damp  woods. 
The  rhizome  is  the  part  of  the  plant  employed  medicinally,  and  is 
sub-globular,  or  obconical  in  shape,  about  1  ]/2  inches  long  and  from 
y2  to  inch  in  thickness;  it  is  annulate,  of  an  orange-brown 
color  and  has  numerous  light-brown  rootlets.  Upon  transverse 
section  the  rhizome  presents  a  mealy  appearance,  with  the  fibro- 
vascular  bundles  arranged  in  a  circle  or  wavy  line  near  the  circum- 
ference. When  moistened  with  tincture  of  iodine,  it  turns  to  a  dark- 
blue  color.    It  is  inodorous,  the  taste  astringent  and  bitter. 
Its  medicinal  properties  are  emmenagogue  and  emetic.  The 
American  aborigines  used  this  plant,  and  it  has  been  employed  as  a 
poultice  for  tumors  and  ulcers  in  domestic  practice.  Boiled  with 
milk  it  is  said  to  be  beneficial  in  the  treatment  of  diarrhoea  and 
dysentery. 
The  first  notice  of  its  medicinal  properties  was  published  in 
Henry's  Herbal,  in  18 12.  In  the  year  1820,  Dr.  S.  W.  Williams 
published  an  interesting  article  relating  to  the  value  of  the  different 
species  of  trillium,  in  the  New  England  Journal  of  Medicine  and 
Surgery,  and  later,  another  in  the  New  York  Journal  of  Medicine, 
volume  viii,  page  94. 
