THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
MARCH,  igog 
SCAMMONY  RESIN. 
By  Frank  O.  Taylor. 
The  literature  to  be  found  upon  scammony  resin  is  not  very 
extensive,  especially  as  regards  analytical  data,  though  during  the 
past  year  several  articles  have  appeared  giving  an  account  of 
analyses  made  and  methods  used  both  on  genuine  scammony  resin 
and  the  false,  or  so  called  "  Mexican  "  scammony.  Such  examina- 
tions as  have  been  published  have  dealt  largely  with  gross  adultera- 
tions of  the  resin  and  have  included  chiefly  determinations  of 
moisture,  ash,  ether  solubility  and  any  particularly  crude  adulterants 
present.  In  the  past  year  Cowie  (Pharm.  Jour.  (4),  27,  365)  has 
gone  somewhat  more  into  detail  in  the  analytical  characters  of 
scammony  resin. 
During  the  last  few  years  attention  has  been  called  to  the  presence 
on  the  market  of  a  false  scammony,  passing  under  the  name  of 
"  Mexican "  scammony.  E.  M.  Holmes  (Pharm.  Jour.  (4),  18, 
326)  has  commented  upon  the  botanical  character  of  this  root  and 
states  that  it  is  nothing  more  than  Ipomcea  Orizabensis,  which  has 
been  known  for  years  and  is  described  in  a  number  of  reference 
works.  At  the  same  time  H.  Deane  published  a  note  upon  the 
resin  content  of  the  root  and  some  brief  examination  of  its  ash  and 
solubility.  It  was  found  to  be  almost  perfectly  soluble  in  ether  and 
had  an  ash  of  only  1.35  per  cent.  The  yield  of  resin  from  this  drug 
was,  however,  very  much  higher  than  that  obtainable  from  the  true 
scammony.  This  same  false  scammony  has  previously  appeared 
under  this  and  other  names,  but  hardly  to  the  extent  that  it  has 
recently. 
(105) 
