V BERKELEY \ LIBRARY UNIVERSfTY Of CAUF0Rf4IA 6iosclenc€i & hteturag' Resources library ESSAYS ON SOME or THE MOST IMPORTANT ARTICLKi or THE MATERIA MEDZCA, COMPBISIXa ▲ ?X7Ll A<:C0I71!rT OP ALL THE ITKW PROXIMATE PRII7CIFKXS, i.K1l THB POPULAH MEDICINES LATELY INTIIOUUCED IN PRACTICl, BETArLINO THK FOBMCLAS POR THEIR PREPARATION", THSIB HABITUDES AND PECULIARITIES, DOSES AS» KODES OF ADMIXISTRATIOK, WITR REMARKS ^ ON THE Most Eligible Form of their Exhibition : TO WHICH IS Aiy}EI), A CATALOGUE OI' MEDICINES, Surgical Instrunienis^ A*c. rf'c, ADAPTED POa A PHYSICIAN AT THE OUTSET OF HIS PRACTICE, "WITH THB Dos6i and Effects attached to each Medicine^ <^c. c^c. By Geo. W. Carpenter. PHILADELPHIA, Geo, TT. Carpenters** Chemical Warehvuie, 301 Market 8t. EA5 TFJJN DISl niCT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO WIT; ^\VV*^y , Be it kkmembehkd, That on the twelfth day of -^^W^^^ Juli", Anno Domini, one thousand eig-ht hundred iM>^^and thirty-one, GEORGE VV. CARPENTKR, of ■ict, haih deposited in this office the >k, the title of vvhicli is in the words following', to wit: Essays on some ofihe most important articles in the Materia Medica, comprising a full account of ail the new Proximate Principles, and the Popular Medicines lately introduced in Practice, detailing tlie Formulas for their preparation, their habitudes and peculiarities, doses and modes of Administra- tion, with Remarks on the most eligible Form of their Exhi- bition; to which is added, a Catalogue of Medicines, Surgical Instruments, &c. SiC. adapted for a Physician at the outset of his practice, with the Doses and Effects attached to each Medi- cine, &,c.Scc. By Geo W. Carpenter. The ri^ht wereof he clairns as Author, in conformity with an Act of Congress, entitled "An Act to amend the several Acts respecting Copy-Rights." D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the District. ■^-8.5 15-3 TO THE MEDICAL CLASS 0? THB UiVIFERSITY OF PElVJVSYIiVANIA, Tins WORK is HUMBLY SUBMITTED, BY THE AUTHOR. t\^->71.^45 PREFACE. In submitting the following pages to the Medical community, it will be necessary lor me first to apologize for their imperfections, and I feel satisfied they will indulge me under the circumstances of the case. They were penned during the short intervals of suspense amidst the bustle and toil of an active business, and my object was more for the purpose of keeping up strict habits of in- dustry and close application, than for any be- nefit which I could anticipate to result fl^om their publication. The former I am certain to have attained, and should the latter result, I shall be doubly rewarded. I have at various times contributed essays on the different ar- ticles of the materia medica to our medical journals, particularly to the Philadelphia Journal of Medical and Physical Sciences, and to the recent highly valuable periodical the American Journal of Medical Sciences. My Medical friends have frequently called upon me for copies of these essays, until I had distributed several thousand of each, when I was earnestly solicited for some time (hav- ing exhausted all the loose copies I had print- ed,) to publish them together, and in coni- pUance with these requests, I have introduc- ed this work to public attention. I rely upon my Medical friends for its support, r/id A 2 Vl PREFACE. I purpose, if sufficiently encouraged, to pub* lish a more enlarged view of the articles of the materia medica generally, under the title of Pharmacologia. In the present work I iiave added considerably to the essays above alluded to, by introducing a full description of the new and popular medicines which I have lately brought into notice, and which I now exclusively manufacture. I have also embraced in the present work, a concise ac- count of some of the new and valuable medi- cines introduced to public attention by the excellent treatise of Majendie, and have quo- ted the formulas vvhich he has laid down for their preparation, because I consider them a standard, which all the apothecaries and phy- sicans should invariably adhere to, in order that we may have uniform preparations. I repeat again tliat these formulas are from -Magendie, for not having adverted to it in the places where they have been given, I wish it here particularly understood, for there will be, no doubt, some of my competitors seeking every little avenue of this publication to hunt out and magnify any little weak points, (more or less of which may be called out of the most valuable productions,) while tlie brilliant iight of truth and information which they contain, generally drives them in despair be- fore they have fully completed their worthy intentions; hence it is we find men of the most depraved talents undervaluing master* jy eompositioos, because they do not fully un- derstami them. Axjd how often in our daily PREFACE. Ml Avalks in life, and in our intercourse with tlie world, do we lind these circumstances mani- fested. How^ many able speeches and ora- tions do we see tattered and torn, by persons unable to speak, or with capacity to under- stand. But what does it cii'ect? And what is its influence? They are generally ere long defeated by their own language, and the ora- tor stands the same, and the oration has lost no more by their condemnation than it would have gained by their applause. I do not by any means wish to condemn criticism, it is the very life and essence of writing, and vrhen it is done impartially, and without prejudice, should always be invited by the author. There is no circumstance which evinces more strongly the progress of Medical Sci- ences, than the general and increasing spirit of emulation, and the ardour with which mai^y of its votaries apply in developing and sub- stantiating new facts, as the fruitful res'ilt of their researches and discoveries. Chemisty and Pharmacy have contributed more largely to the grand fund of solid and substantial in- formation, than any other branches of the Medical Sciences. It is to tljis department we are indebted for the valuable acquisition of Quinine, Morphine, Pipeline, and other proximate principles; and, a number of high- ly valuable improved and cmiccntrated pre- parations, -as the Compound Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla, &.c. &lc. all of which have be- come perfectly estabiislied in Medical prac- VIU ^ PREFACE. tice, and their particular eifects can now be relied upon with as much certainty as Calo- mel and Opium. While speaking of Sarsa- parilla, I cannot refrain from expressing in this place, the valuable properties of the Fluid Extract, which possesses so many advantages over the syrup, decoction, and solid extract, which is proved in the subsequent pages of this work. Physi- cians can now rely upon an uniform prepara- tion, and can conveniently prescribe it; and the patient vAW now be relieved from the trouble and difficulties of preparing the de- coction, which was seldom sufficiently boiled, ajid otherwise improperly made by those un- acquainted with phamaceutical preparations. I have seen very silly objections made to this preparation by one of my competitors in trade, who is ever ready to speculate on the analysis of articles v/hich he is unacquainted with, and thus frequently makes excessive blundt-M's; tliis is to be pitied, since he might at once Gtrike upon a much more successful effort in quoting the analysis and composition ofiheimproiVid water colours, which he must necessarily be more acquainted with, and which, in fact, might be an interesting disclo- sure. We m I3t, however, expect to meet with the coUisi.m of opposite opinion, and at the present epoch, we cannot expect that we .should all agice upon any one subject, though it were as manife-it as the unobscured sun at noonday. We must, therefore, expect to meet with opposition in tho most useful dis- PREFACE. IX coveries. Hence we frequently find a person opposing articles, their usefulness and supe- riority fully established by well attested facts, and by the experience of some of the most distinguished men; and all this without advancing arguments, or producing facts. I say we object to an individual less able to judge, than perhaps any one of those he is opposing, to advance his opinion against a host of men eminent in the profession, and to offer his opinions as a pattern to be followed, when in truth, they are an obstacle to be shunned; but such is the blindness of human nature, that men are too apt to set themselves up as guides, when they should be satisfied to serve as beacons. There is no doubt they may now and then meet with a follower or disciple, who will catch at their opinions and support them as an expedient, but they gene- rally in a short time die away for want of support, while articles they have expended themselves upon, appear to have taken fresh roots from the nourishment, and the branches to have extended themselves in all directions far and wide. Thus we find the Saratoga powders described in the following pages to have become every year more and more po- pular, and their usefulness to be more and more appreciated, and the demand for them co-extensive with their increased reputation. They have been introduced in every section of the United States, and have given in all cases the most decided and unequivocal sa- tisfaction, and produced the mo;st salutary X PREFACE. and beneficial effects, and have elicited front the faculty and highly distinguished indivi- duals in various places, voluntary acknow- ledgments of satisfaction, and expressions of high commendation on their character and properties, while the miserable objections and defective analysis of an apothecary have long since slumbered in forgetfulness. Thus it was with Quinine, the same objections were made to it when first introduced, and much clamour and opposition raised, one said it was too acrid, another too uncertain, and a third too costly, that it would never be used. But these objections one by one gra- dually subsided, while Quinine raised its as- piring head, and its extensive usefulness soon became manifest to the total obscuration and entire oblivion of the foolish objections which had been started, and we may venture to say there is not a single practitioner of medicine who will not admit its value and superiority to the bark. Thus it is with the Fluid Extract of Sar- saparilla, the clamours which was raised against it by a competitor in trade, as clear- ly growing out of envy and prejudice, as any fact which could possibly be proven by cir- cumstantial evidence, has already been annihilated, while this preparation is ra- pidly increasing in reputation, and is now prescribed by the most distinguished physi- cians in the United States, and with the most decided satisfaction, it is certainly an article which should receive their support and ap- PREFACE. XI probation, as it would have a tendency of putting down, in a great measure, the vari- ous nostrums which are sold under different names, and which are in fact nothing but Compound Syrup of Sarsaparilla, which is most frequently improperly made, as the venders and manufactures of them in most cases, never been brought up in the profes- sion, are ignorant of pharmacy, and their preparations will, therefore, be very defec- tive. There is nothing concealed in the composition of the Com[>ound Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla, being made from the articles composing the Lisbon Diet; its value and superiority over other preparations is owing entirely to the peculiar manner in which it is made, by which all the medical virtues are extracted from the roots by the most efficient process, based on chemical principles, ob- tained from the result of numerous experi- ments made exclusively for the purpose of as- certaining the same. There will be found in this work a description of a number of new medicines prepared and introduced by me, which have all been sufficiently tested and proved by ample experience by some of our most eminent physicians, to possess fully the virtues and properties which have been as- signed to them. The Compound Extract Buchu, Oil of Cantharidin, Compound Tonic Extract, Citrated Kali, &c. &.c. ^c. will all be found on trial to be valuable medicines, and I feel satisfied will prove useful to the Xll PREFACE. practitioner, and meet with the decided ap- probation of the faculty, as they have been wherever yet introduced. DC7" I would beg leave particularly to in- form the faculty that there has been various imitations of my Compound Extract of Sar- saparilla, Saratoga powders and several other preparations, and that sales of them have been effected on the reputation of mine. They are put up in the same form, the name borrowed, also part of the description and directions so as to imitate externally as closely as possible, my prepa- rations. The faculty, therefore, in making out their orders, who wish those prepared by me should express it decidedly in their direc- tions, or they might perhaps get another ar- ticle. I have heard frequent complaints from physicians in the country who had or- dered my preparations and received instead of them spurious and inferior imitations, which was the cause of so much displeasure, that they immediately sent their orders di- rect to me. I think the original inventor should receive the benefit of his improve- ments, and that spurious imitations of every kind should not receive encouragement but the disapprobation and censure of the community. OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIME?rr5 OH OPIUM. >-<•«•< Its varieties and appearance in com- inerce^ S^c, S^c, 'J'his important article, from its extensive useful- ness, in modifying and alleviating the most afflicting and painful diseases incident to human nature, merits perhaps the most conspicuous place in the materia medica; yet from heing injudiciously administered, and more particularly from its pharmaceutical pre- parations, being improperly made, it frequently pro- duces injurious and distressing consequences. With the hope of remedying some of these inconveniences, I have made a series of experiments, the results of which are contained in the following observations. Before, however, entering upon the pharmaceutical preparations, it may not perhaps be improper to offer a very concise view of the natural history and phy- sical characters of this article, as it occurs at the present day in our commerce. Opium is the pro- duct of the Papaver somniferum, and is the inspissa- ted juice of the capsules of that plant. It has been improperly termed a gum by many authors, and the error prevails to the present day. It is a native of A ^ OPItJISI. ihe southern paris of Asia. It maj, however, he i;\iscd in our gardens, and is now cuUivated in Eng- land on an imposing scale, which has been increas- ing for several years. It possesses the sameproperties as the Turkey or East India opium^ and is more pure, containing a larger portion of soluble matter. The Turkey opium has hitherto possessed the best repu- tation, and has been considered superior to any other. Dr. Thomson*' informs us, that he obtained from Turkey opium nearly three times more morphia than was yielded by the same quantity of East India. I have treated equal quantities of Turkey and English opium by the same process, and obtained twenij per cent, more morphia from the latter than the former; this w^ould sanction the belief of the supe- riority of tlie English; which superiority^ I think, h lo be attributed to the careful manner in which it is prepared. The following are the prominent cha- racters of the several varieties of opium, and by which they may be easily distinguished. Turkey opium is of a reddish-brown colour, pos- gessin"- a strons; narcotic odour, of a solid and com- pact consistence, v^'hcn dry has a shining and uniform fracture of a dark-brown colour producing a reddish- brow^n powder; the best kind is generally in flat pieces. East India opium is of thin consistence, sometimes almost like that of honey ; when dry it is more fria- ble, its colour nearly black, and possesses less bitter and a more nauseous taste than the Turkey; it has a •London Dispensatory.. OPIUM. :$ strong empyreumatic odour, and not the narcotic lieavv one which is so sensible in the Turkey •, it is considerably cheaper and much inferior in strength to the latter, and according to Dr. Thomson contains "but one-third the quantity of morphia and a larger poition of narcotine, which renders it a far ]c^s de- «irable article. Dr. Coxe, in his valuable Americau DispcTisatory, remarks, that one-eighth the cakes is allowed for the enormous quantity of leaves witii which they are enveloped. This opium is little used ill this country, and is seldom, if ever to be (ov.n(\ in the shops of our druggists. F2nglisk oYAum is generally in smaller cake?, fre- quently thill and flat, of a more permanent consist- ence, of a clear smooth fracture, and is destitute of leaves, stalks, and other impurities which generally accompany opium. It has the general character of being superior in quality to the Turkey, which che^u- ical analysis^ has determined. The quality of opiunt* * It is i.0 chemistry that we are indebted for many Impor- tau: facts in relation to opium, and for the knowledge ofmo;-- pb-a and narcotine, the two active pr'nciples of opium — two principka of a directly opposite nature existing in the same Eubstance, and exercisinj^ individually their particular eftccU on the constitution. MaSiy are opposed to chemical analysis &3 a meaps of discoverinij the virtues of medicines, and among others Dr. Ydung.f whe states as an argument that Geoffror discovered by chemical analysis that the soporific quality of opium depended upon its sulphur. We might agree with Dr. Voung, if the science of chemistry liad not advanced since the period alluded to, and did experiments upon opium now le^d to timilar conclusions. We might as well reject ss us«l«S)? tUa I Young on Opium. 4 OPIUM. differs very materiallj, even that from the same country, climate, soil, &;c. which arises no doubt in many instances from the manner in which it is pre- pared and cultivated. It is frequently found in our market mixed with leaves, stalks, seeds^ &c.and from the great proportion of these admixtures in some opium, it would lead to a conjecture, that tlie leaves were worked in when the opium was in a very soft and recent state, for the purpose of increasing the weight and consistence. I have even seen opium whose external characters possessed all the features of superior quality, and when broken, ex- posed a large proportion of the leaves and capsules of the poppy, which, although it does not alter the particular effects, must diminish the activity of the opium in direct proportion to the quantity and weight of these extraneous and insoluble matters, and I have ascertained by careful experiments that the quantity of soluble or extractive matter bj the same menstrua and process, yielded by different parcels of opium, varies from four and a half and five lo six drachms in the ounce. analysis of cinchona bark, because a chemist has asserted that the comparative quantity of the active principles, (quinine and cinchonine,) yielded by the Carthagena bark, was in pro- portion to the quantity yielded by the Calisaya as 1 to 70. If errors so palpable would have retarded the inquiries and la- bours, or diminished the zeal of the scrutinizing chemist, ihc science, instead of holding the elevated rank it now possesses» would long since have dwindled into obscurity. Errors and absurdities will naturally creep into every department of sci-. cnce. OPIUM. «> The consumption of opium is almost incredible. !n the year 1800, 46,808 lbs. were consumed in Eu- rope. In the year 1 809, the revenue ^vhich the Ben- gal governmet derived from the sale of opium, wat 594,978/, and the exports of opium from Calcutta \o China alone, in 181 1-12, amounted to 4,542,968 sicca rupees — 567,871/.* The supply for Calcutta for 1827, is rated at 13,700 chests. The supply for 1 826 was 10,300 chests, making an increase of 3,400 chests in the last year. Although opium is prohibited by the Chinese gOY- crnment, yet about 2000 chests are annually import- ed into Canton, the average sale price being 120O dollars per chest, making the amount annually ex- pended by Canton for this drug, the enormous sum -of 24,000,000 dollars.. About 40,000 pounds are annually imported into London. In the provinces of Bahar and Banares, among the most productive of the East Indies, the common product of opium is twenty-four pounds to an acre, besides which the cultivator reaps about fortr pounds of seed. The preparation- of the raw opium is under the immediate superintendence of the com- pany's agent, who adopts the following method to prepare it. It consists in evaporating, by exposun: to the sun, the watery particles, which are replaced by oil of poppy seeds, to prevent the drying of the resin. The opium is then formed into cakes, and covered with the petals of the poppy, and when suf- ficiently dried, it is packed in chests witii the frag- •Ham"'Iton*s Esst India Gazetteer, A 2 6 OPJUM. ments of the capsules, from which poppy seeds have been threshed out. It is said opium is sometimes vitiated with an extract from the leaves and stalks of the poppy and with the gum of the mimosa. The cultivation of opium in England, if extensive, will no doubt influence the price of this article in our market.* It has lately been more successfully cultivated by a Mr. Young, than any other person who has yet attempted its culture in Great Britain,! and from which more flattering expectations are entertained of its success. Dr. Coxe, however, in his standard work, the American Dispensatory, observes, it is • Messrs, Cowley ami Stain?, of "Winslow, in the season of 1322, raised 143 lbs. of excellent opium from eleven acres and five poles of land, for which they received a premium from the society instituted at London, for the encouragen,ent of arts, manufactures and commerce. A medal has been given by the society to i. VV. Jeston, Esq. Surgeon, for an improvement In collecting the juice of the poppy, which consists in collecting it immediately after it exudes from the capsules, instead of allowing it to be inspissated on the capsule. The capsule is scarified with a sharp instrument, gauged to a proper depth, when the juice is scraped ofF with a kind of funnel-form scoop, fixed into the mouth of a vial; when one vial is filled, the scoop is removed to another, and the juice is evaporated in shallow- pans; some varieties are much more productive than others. (See Transactions of the Society for the encouragement of Arts, Man, and Com. Vol. 41.) Mr. Ball, in 1796, received a premium from the society for the encouragement of arts, for a specimen of British opium» little inferior to the Oriental. (Transactions of the Society of Arts, vol. xiv. pp. 260; 270.) |Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, No. II. page 262. OPIUM. 7 npprehended, the climate of Great Britain is an in- superable obstacle to its becoming a profitable branch of agriculture. It has been obtained in the United States, where this objection will not prevail.* 1 think the southern states, particularly the Caro- linas and Georgia, are admirably adapted, from cli- mate and soil, for the cultivation of the poppy, and if properly managed, would no doubt yield a source of considerable profit to the cultivator, if not an im- mense revenue to the states, and a most important addition to the productions of our country. The opium raised in England, has been used for several years by physicians and surgeons, who pro- nounce it superior to the best Turkey and East India opium. One thing is very certain ; it is pre- pared with more care and attention, and is more free from leaves and other impurities ; the fracture of English opium when dry, is as smooth and uniform as liquorice ; what I have seen has been put up in small flat cakes, and of a good consistence. Opium is frequently put up in a soft state, and packed with a large proportion of leaves to prevent the lumps adhering ; these leaves adhering to the sides, are gradually taken into the body of the opium, which, with that previously incorporated with it, is the cause of seeing opium in the condition of impurity as al- ready described. Extract of Opium. — Among the advantages whicii the extract of opium possesses over the crude opium of commerceis, thatall the faeculencies and impurities •Philadelphia Medical Museum, Vol. 11. page 428. 8 opiutt* having been separated, you obtain the soluble and ac- tive portion of the opium in a pure state, and as the in- Boluble and impure parts exercise no effect, and coA* stitute a considerable proportion of bulk and weight, the opium of commerce must differ in proportion to the amount of these impurities, and consequent!/ cannot be depended upon so well as the extract for activity or uniformity of strength. The extract of opium, as it is generally made, is very objectionable, not being more active than crude opium, and conse- f being much less expensive. As this preparation will always possess uniform strength, and a like proportion of opium, it certainly deserves a con- spicuous place among our pharmaceutical prepara- tions, and justly merits to supersede entirely the common black drop of our shops, which is a very uncertain preparation, differing every where in ac- tivity from the indefinite and vague manner it is make a watery infusion of the opium, and evaporate the aqueous sokition to the consistence of thin honey. which is to be digested in aether, instead of the pow- dered or shaved opium, (as described in the above, and Dr. Harems formula given in the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, No. IX. New Series.) I consider this a worse than use- less expenditure, for the aether will act fully as well, if not more readily, upon opium inpowderthan upoii an extract containing water, and it is generally ad- mitted, at least by the best authorities, Coxe, Thom- son, and Paris, that the narcotic powers of opium are impaired by boiling in water, under exposure to air, hence it is that the officinal preparation,* opium purificatum, which formerly was highly recommend- ed, is found to be no better, if not less active, than crude opium, from which circumstance it has become almost obsolete, and, rarely to be found in our shops. Under this article. Dr. Coxe, in his Amcricn Dispen- ♦ Dr. Joseph Hautshohjte, in consequence of the uncer- tainty of the'strength of the black drop of the shops,has adopted the following preparation, which has been extensively employ- ed, and found to possess all the advantages of that article j— » Turkey opium, • . .5J. Strong Vinegar, . . . ^vj. Alcohol, . . . . ^iv. Triturate the opium with rinegar, add the alcohol.lind digest for ten days.- I. OPIUM. 13 satory, very justly observes, lliat in consequence of the changes which opium undergoes by solution and subsequent evaporation, (alluding to the opium puri- ficatum,) well selected pieces are to be preferred to this preparation. I cannot see the object in, or the advantage that can result from, making a watery extract, as the opium deprived of narcotine, will be quite as subject to the action of proof spirits, or any other menstrua, with its faeculencies, as the crude opium. We do not make a watery extract of opium ill the preparation of laudanum, and it would be quite as necessary in this case as in the former. Besides, w^ater is noc the most eligible menstrua for the solution of the active matter of opium. Morphia is sparingly soluble in Vv'ater, and the raoconiate nearly the same, you, therefore, obtain but a portion of the sedative principle, as a part of the morphia will re- main with the faeculencies undissolved, consequently, with an increased labour and expense, a less active preparation is obtained, than if the crude opium were at once submitted to the action of aether, and the residue to proof spirits, as in the above formula, to which the addition of acetic acid is an admirable improvement, rendering the morphia more soluble, aad consequently more active, in the same manner, and nearly the same ratio, as sulphuric acid united with quinine, (by increasing its solubiHty,) renders it much more active and efficient. Dr. Thomson, speaking of morphia, observes, that it being scarcely soluble in water, or in the fluids of the stomach, in its uncombined state, does not display in a striking B 14 OPIUM. manner its properties when exhibited alone, but these are very striking when combined with .an acid, particularly the acetic. 1 would here remark, that the acetate of morphia,'' of the shops, is a sub- acetate, and is less active than the acetate or super- acetate, which, being a dcliquesent salt, must neces- sarily be kept in solution ; it is, therefore, requisite in making the solution from the sub-acetate, to add acetic acid rather in excess tlian under neutraliza- tion. The following is the formula I have adopted, which will make a handsome solution, and is a pre- paration that will keep: — Sub-acetate of morphia, - - grs. xii. Alcohol, acidulated with twelve drops of acetic acid (pure concentrated pyroligneous acid,) - - - ^\. Distilled v.-ater, - . - - gj. Dissolve the morphia in the acidulated alcohol, and add by de2;rees the water, and filter. Dose of the solution, from fifteen to twenty drops. This preparation has been very successfully used by Dr. Holcombe, of Allentown, andDr. Canfielp, of Arneytown, New Jersey, in cases wdiere other preparations of opium could not be administered, in consequence of producing those unpleasant and dis- * I found, ill one instance, tlie morphia under the name of acetate of morphia, perfectly uncombined with acid. This 13 a much less active medicine, and it is therefore highly im- portant to test this salt where you wish to administer it in sub- stance. When in solution it must be united with acid, as mor- phia is insoluble in water. OPIt'M. 11^ tieshing sensations which frequently result from their use. This preparation is now extensively employed, and is attended with the most desirable con^'e- ()ucnces. Narcotine. — By the following process I obtained narcotine in a perfectly pure state. Digest 5i. of coarsely powdered opium in or.e pint of cether, for ten days, frequently submitting it to ebullition in a water bath, separate the yether and add fresh portions until the opium is exhausted, <-va- porate at the common temperature of the atmos- phere, by placing the a^therial solution in a salt- mouth bottle, remove the stopper, and cover the mouth with bibulous paper, to prevent impurities falling in, and prot^ac^ the evaporation. As the tether recedes, it leaves the sides of the bottle coated with crystals of ncrcotine, as the solution becomes more dense, the crystals enlarge and accumulate, and the bottom of the vessel is covered with large trans- parent crystals, accompanied with a brown viscid liquor, and extract, which contains an acid, re^^iu, caoutchouc, <^c. Separate these substances from ihe crystalline mass and wash the salt in cold (Ether, to separate more efTectually the extract or colouring matter. After the crystals have been sufficiently washed, dissolve tliem in warm aether, evaporate as before, when most beautiful snow white crystals of perfectly pure narcotine will adhere to the sides of the vessel. Those on the sides of the bottle assumtj phnnose and arborescent forms, which, being made i'p of delicate acicular crystals of a somewhat silkr 16 OPIUM. lustre, exhibit a most beautiful appearance. As the cetherial solution becomes more dense by evapora- tion, the crystals enlarge, and the b®ttom of the ves- sel, as before, is covered with pure narcotine, as- suming the rhombodidal prismatic form, with some beautiful modifications of macled crystals. By pick- ing out the largest and most regular crystals and again dissolving them and evaporating and repeating the same process, each time selecting the largest and best crystals, I obtained crystals one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and I believe by continuing in the same manner, much larger might be obtained, as they increase in size by every crystallization. Resin., Caoutchouc, Oil, and Acid. — These sub. stances are the constituents of the extractive matter which covers the crystals, and is separated in the manner above described; on evaporation it forms an extract without signs of crystallization. This substance appears to possess all the heavy narcotic odour of the opium. The narcotine, when perfectly separated from this substance, has -very little odour, and the denarcotised extract and laudanum posses- ses less; in fact, so little, that it could hardly be de- tected as a preparation of opium by the odour, the strong odour of the extract arises from the oil of opium which it contains. The activity of Baume's celebrated extract, is considered by Neumann, to reside in the oil and resin. The acid which exists iji this compound, has not been sufficiently examined to say any thing definite in relation to it. The cha- racters of the caoutchouc are very prominent, f OPIUM. 17 have not yet tried the effects of this combination upon animals, nor have I seen any description of it, hut judging merely from its sensible characters, it would appear more active than the narcotinc. Morphia. — This substance exists in opium, united with meconic acid ; its action on the human body is that of a direct sedative, and possesses all the ad- vantages which we may expect to find in opium, without any of its inconveniences. DilFerent m.odes for the preparation of this article have been de-- fecribed by R-gbiiuet, Derosne, Choulant, Ster- i UERN'ER, and others ; Dr. Thomson gives an easy method to obtain it in a state of purity. He employs ammonia instead of magnesia to decompose the natural meconiate, «fcc. (see Annals of Philosophy for June, 1820.) The sedative powers of morphia becomes more manifest when combined with an acid, particularly the acetic, which arises from increasing its solubihty. Morphia is very soluble in olive oil, and according to the experiments of Mr. Majexdie, the compound acts with great intensity. 1 am indebted to Dr. Coxe, for the following interesting history of the crystalline forms of its saline compounds. The carbojiat crystallizes in short prisms. Acetate in soft silky prisms, is very soluble, and extremely active — more so than any of its combi nations. Sulphate in arborescent crystals, next iasolupility TO the acetate, and rather less active, Jluriate in plumose crystals, much less sohiblt B2 18 OPIUM. when evaporated, it concentrates into si shining white plumose mass on cooling. }{itrctte in prisms grouped together. Mtconiate m oblique prisms sparingly soluble. Tartrate in prisms. From either of the above combinations, morphia maybe separated by ammonia. The acetate of morphia is the most active prepa- ration, and as it is a very deliquescent salt, is ex- tremely difficult to obtain in crystals; under these circumstances the following process has been re- commended to convert the morphia into the a&etatc. Take morphia, four parts, distilled water, eight parts : dilute the morphia in a procelain vessel, afterwards add acetic acid, sp.gr. ].07'5, or pure con- centrated pyroligneous acid until turnsole paper be- comes scarcely converted red, evaporate the solution to the consistence of syrup, continue the evaporation slowly, either in the sun or in a stove, collect ths salt and reduce it to powder."^ The sulphate is the next most active salt of mor- phia, and is ei-nployed where patients have been ac- customed to the use of the acetate, for generally, by varying the salts ofalkahne medicines, their action may be kept up longer without increasing the dose too considerably. Formulas for the preparation of the acetate and sulphate in solution, syrup, pills, &c. are given in Hayden^'s Formulary and Formulaire do Montpellier. The other combinations of morphia with the exception of the citrate, tartrate, and me- coniate, have not yet been employed in medicine. • Pharmacopia Gallica, 1818, p. SST. OPIUM, N 19 Mtconic acid exists in combiiiatioa with morphia in crude opium, forming a meeoniate of morphia; it is to this salt that laudanum owes its narcotic ef- iects. Our distinguished chemist, Dr. Hare, has given, in the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, No. IX. New Series, an easy pro- cess for obtaining this acid, and also a very delicate 4est and easy mode of detecting minute quantities of opium in solution; his observations on this subject are well worthy the attention of the chemist and pharmaceutist, FcBculencies, (^c. — Faeculencies and insoluble mat- ter consist chiefly of the leaves, capsules, and stems of the poppy ; besides these, however, extraneous matters are frequently found, having been fraudulent- ly introduced to increase its weight. The insoluble matter in different parcels of opium vary from one and a half to near three drachms in the ounce. The effects of opium are generally so well knowo, that it is unnecessary to give a description ;* it some- • The following- particular account of the efTects of opium on the Turks, by Baron de Tott, may be interesting to many reacfcrs. Speaking- of those who give themselves up to its im- moderate use, he says: — Destined to live agreeably only when in a sort of drunkenness, these men present above all a curious spectacle, when they are assembled in a part of Co«- etantinople, called TBiiiAKTTCHARCHissT.the market of opium- eaters. It is there that, towards evening, one sees the lovera of opium arrive by the different streets which terminate at the Solymania, whose pale s.nd melancholy countenances would inspire only compassion, did not their stretched necks, their heads twlst-ed to the ri^it and left, their back tones -crooked, •icaie shoulder up to the cars, and a numfeex of other *«^himBlcfil 20 OPIUM. times, however, exercises very remarkable and singular effects on the constitution, differing mate- attitu'Ies, which are the consequences of the disorder, present the most ludicrous and the most langbi\b]e picture. A long row of little shops is built against one of the walls of the place where the mosque stands. These shops are shaded by an ar- >jour, which communicates from one to the other, and under which every merchant takes care to place a small sofa for his customers to sit on, without hindering the passage, v.'ho place themselves in succession to receive a dose proportioned to the degree of habit and want they have contracted. The pills are soon distributed ; the most experienced swallow four of these* larger than olives, and every one drinking a large glass of cold water upon it, waits in some particular attitude for an agreea- 'hle reverie, which at the end of three quarters of an hour, cr an hour at most, n^jver fails to aninnate these macliines, and make them gesticulate in a hundred different manners, but they are always very extraordinary and very gay. This is the moment when the scene becomes most interesting, all the ac- tors are happy,, each of them returns home in a state of tot.u ebriety, but in the full and perfect possession of an happines> which reason is not able to procure him Deaf to. the hoot- ings of the passengers they meet with, who divert themselves l^y making U^.em talk nonsense, every one of them firmly be- lieves him^elf in possess'on of what he wishes ; they have t.he appearance and the feeding of it; the reality frequently does not produce so much pleasure. The same thing huppuns in private houses, Avhere the master sets the example of this strange debauch. The men of the law are most subject to it; and alKhe dervises used to get drunk with opium, beforejthey learned to prefer the excess of wine. There are instances of persons getting drunk indifFereutly with opium or with bran- dy. There is a decoction which is made of the shells and seeds bf the poppy; this the Persians c?.ll locjiieno)\ t'ley sell it publicly ill all their cities, as they do coffee. The Persians •«ay it entertains their fancies with pleasant visions and a kind of rapture ; they very sooo grow merry, tben burst into 3k OPIUM. 21 riaiiy in its action on diiTerent individuals. A case is mentioned in the Archives Generales de Medicine ibr Dec. 1826, of a lady of nervous temperament, who on taking a draught in which there was half a grain of acetate of morphia, suddenlj^ sunk into a state of syncope, which continued for two or three hours ; it was several times repeated at several inter- vals of an hour or two, and attended with the same results. Dr. Dewees met with an, instance in which the opium invariably purged, and was in the Iiabit of employing it as a purgative in this case, in doses of two grains, purgatives not producing their usual effects ; he has also met with one instance in which opium excited violent coughing, even when administered in enema.* Jir. Rousseau informed me he had a case somewhat similar to the former, (an unmarried lady of thirty-four years,) where opium universally acted as a purgative ; the denar- laugh, which continues till^ they die away in a swoon. It is found by those who have a disposition for jesting- to increase that extrennel3\ After the operation of this remedy, the body grows cold, pensive, and heavy ; and in this dull and indolent situation it remains till the dose is repeated. It is curious to observe the countenances of those who use this decoction, be- fore its operation, and when its effects have taken place. — When they come into the decoction-house, they are dull, pale, and languid ; but as soon as the remedy begins to operate, they are quite changed; they run into all the extravagancies of mirth and laughter, and such an uproar is produced, that it would be more proper to give it the name of the mad-house than decoction-shop. — (Crumpe on Opium,) • See the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, No. IX. New Series, p. 147. *22 OPITM. cotised laudanum administered by Dr. Rousseau to the same patient, did not produce this singular effect, although continued for several days."^ This same gentleman also informs me that it is not unfrequent in his practice to meet with cases in which opium aclj as a purgative, and has discovered that the addition of tartaric acid increases considerably its purgative directs. The several preparations of opium as above des- cribed, may be procured at Carpenter's Chemical Warehouse, No. 301, Market street, Philadelphia. It is stated that highly rectitied a3ther is the only- meisstruafor the solution of narcotine. If this is the fact, I cannot understand how laudanum contains this principle when itsf menstrua is nothing stronger than proof spirits, and that nearly saturated with the gummy, resinous, and other soluble matters of the opium. I am about instituting some experiments upon the residue of opium after laudanum has been made, and also upon the matter precipitated from laudanum after long standing, the results of which I hope to •ubmit in a subsequent number of the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Phy?ical Sciences. • Dr. Rousseau has since informed me, that on further con-, tinuiiig- the use of the denarcotised tincture, the purgative ef-' fects recurred, and he was consequently obliged to suspend its administration. OPIUM. 23 Additional Retyiarks on the Dtnarcotsied Acidulous Tincture of Opiitm^ Subsequent experiments have decidedly given pre- ference to tlie acidulous tincture of denarcotiscd opiurn, it is certainly one of the most valuable pre- parations of this article, and is a highly valuable sub- stitute for the black drop, which is preferred to lau- danum on account of its small dose, and not produc- ing nausea or tlie unpleasant stimulating effects of opium, it is, however, objectionable as Ijcfore stated, for the uncertainty of its strength resulting from the vague and indefinite mode of its preparation. My friend, Dr. Samuel Jackson, of Northumberland has corroborated this statement in his valuable paper m the American Journal of Medical Sciences, No. XL for August, 1830, page 319, speaking of the use of Dr. Plartshorne's acetated tincture of opium, nvhich is the same as my acidulated denarcotiscd tincture, with the exception of using common opium instead of denarcotiscd. He there-states, " This is a substi- tute for the uncertain preparation, black drop, and is supposed to be suitable to those constitutions on which laudanum and common opium act in a wtH known unfriendly manner, this proposition is true in part only, for while it comforts some of these excita- ble persons, it distresses others in the usual way of common laudanum. Here, then, we have the most happy resource in the denarcotiscd opium, which we confidently believe, from much experience brings comfort to all. But " nil omni parte beatum," it oc- casions costiveness like common laudanum. Whe- 2i OPllTM^ ther this evil, with all the rest, is avoided hy Carpen« ter's acidified tincture of denarcotised opium, we have not satisfactorily ascertained : but from exp^- rienee zoe are ready io believe that it is the best prepa- ration of opium now before the public.'''' Numerous testimonies of like import to Dr. Jackson's just given might be cited in favour of this preparation, but it* increasing popularity and extensive use among the faculty, will go farther to support itz character than any thing which can be written in relation to il. Oil the Cultivation of the Poppy and the Manufacture of Opium. The southern section of the United States is adapted in ewQiy point of view for the cultivation of the poppy, and the manufacture of opium ; cli- mate, soil and slave population is in every respect- favourable, and it is a matter of great surprise that the United States ere this, has not been conspicu- ous for supplying her own territories as well foreign markets with this expensive, highly valuable and in- dispensible article of the materia medica. The in- timation which I threw out in a former paper, pub- lished in our valuable periodical, the American Jour- nal of Medical Sciences, induced several of my medi- cal friends in the South to undertake the experiment, and for this purpose I furnished them with the seed of the papaver somniferum, obtained from Messrs. Landreth's, and 1 was pleased to hear the first ex- periment resulted by no means discouraging, and I have not the least doubt but by persevering they OPIUM. 25 will prove successfiil, and compensate for labour more than anv product now yielded by their soil. Having had frequent applications for anaccountofthe natural history ofthepapaver, its mode of cultivation, and the manner of preparing the opium, I will give the following succinct statement, for which I am partly indebted loDr. Crump's treatise on opium. Opium, like Peruvian Bark, has been the subject of consid- erable controversy ; various authors have differed essentiallj' in their views of this article, differing not only in the investigation of its constituent principles and modus operandi, but in the most obvious facts of its natural history. These controversies have now been settled by careful experiments, and the manner of its production and preparation is now perfectly understood, so as to remove difference of opinion on these points. Opium is produced in various parts of the world. That of our shops is generally imported from Smyr- na, and is commonly called Turkey opium, it comes in cakes from four ounces to a pound in weight, and generally in cases of about one hundred poundr or more. There is considerable difference in the quality of this opium as regards its purity, some of it appears to be full of the capsules of the poppy, and other ve- getable impurities, leaves, &;c. in some instances amounting to as much as twenty-five per cent. ; in- deed I have seen it in some instances with only suf- ficient of the inspissated juice to make these impuri- ties in a mass, by iii\ ing adhesion and consistence to them; there is aU :^ »i her fraud practised by intro- 20 OPIUM. ducing foreign substances to increase ita vfeigbt^ «uch as stones, pieces of lead, bullets, &c. which in some instances amount to a considerable percentage. I recollect once having sent to a physician a few pounds of opium, which externally had the appear- ance of the best quality, which it was, with the ex- ception of small pebbles, w^hich had been introduced in it when prepared, as its external parts were en- tire, and of a hard consistence. The physician was highly incensed, and at the spur of the moment he inclosed the rocks, as he called them, to me in a letter, which would have amounted to several dollars postage. He however sent them entirely to the wrong place, and I returned them to him through the same channel, requesling him to send them to the Turks where they had been introduced, I have Invariably found the flat pieces of opium to be the best, much more free from impurities, and have fre- quently found in the same case of opium the flat pieces to break with a short clear fracture, while the thick round pieces were full of leaves and impurities, and I am thus always particular in selecting opium to reject the nodular pieces. Opium is prepared and consumed in considerable quantity over all the warmer regions of Asia, in Egypt and other parts of Africa, where the Mahometon religion prevails, being deprived by the tenets of their religion from the use of wine and ardent spirits, they hare recourse to the use of opiiim. Egypt, and especially the Thebes, was long famous for the quantity and excel- knee of its opium, and hence the term Thabiic h OPIUM. 2* »tiil given to some of its preparations. Whererer opium is manufactured, large fields are tilled for the cultivation of the poppy, and the sales of opium con- stitutes no inconsiderable branch of commerce. Tb« pieces of opium are generally covered with the dried leaves of the poppy, and sometimes with the husk« and seeds of some of the lapatha or dock kind — an observation long since made by Dr, Alston. These also enter into the mass of the nodular pieces whicii constitutes part of the feculencies and impurities. — That opium is the product of the poppy, appears th« only fact which writers do not more or less differ in. There are no less than nine species of the papaver, but that from which opium is principally obtained is the seventh or "papaver somniferum," although this species is preferable to the others in conse- quence of yielding*a larger quantity of opium, yet they all afford opium of equal quality, but th« Bmallness of their heads must yield it in much lest quantity. Dr. Crump states that he obtained from the papaver rhcas opium perfectly similar to that got from the somniferum. Much difference of opinion prevails as to th« manner in which the opium that is imported into Europe is obtained from the poppy, some state that it is obtained from the heads, stalks and leaves by boiling and inspissation, some that it is merely the expressed juice inspissated by heat, and others, that it was obtained from the milky juice by wounding the heads. In those countries where opium is manu- factured, that an extract is obtained from the popp/ 28 0PIU3I. plant bj boiling cannot be denied. Dioscorides* takes particular notice of it, and distinguishes it from the juice obtained by woundii-g the heads of the poppy, which he says is the true opium, by the name of Meconium. Plinyt makes a similar distinction, as does Ka^mpfer in his Amoenitate Exotica, and Bontius in his Medicina Indorum. Many have con- cluded from the large quantities of opium which is consumed, and from its generally moderate price, that our opium is merely an extract. Of this opinion are Prosper AlpinusJ Lemery,§ Savory,|| Conda- minelF and others. I cannot, however, for various reasons accede to it, the only one of its advocates who could determine from actual experience, was Prosper Alpinus, and he probably was led into a mis- take, from Egyptians adulteratjng the real opium with meconium. I lately received from my friend, Mr. J. H. Parmele, of Zanesville, Ohio, an extract from the heads of the white poppy after the opium had been separated in the usual way by incisions. Mr. Parmele sent me rather more than half a pound of this extract, by which I had am- ply sufficient for full experiments with it, and I found it possessed little or none of the effects of ♦ De Materia Medics, lib. 4, c. 25. t Natural! Historia, lib. 20, c. 18. t Medicina Egyptiorum, lib. 4, c. 2. >§ Uictionnaire des Drogues, art. opium. 3 Dictionnaire de Cominerce. ^ Mem. de 1' Academic des Sciences pour i* an. 1/32, p. 421. OPIUM. 29 opium, in small doses it had no effect, and taken in large doses, it rather nauseated than produced any anodyne effects which proves their opium if at all judi- ciously managed, must be obtained by incision, as the additional quantity which would be obtain- ed by boiling or expression, would only increase the weight, without adding strength, and consequent- ly much reduce the activity of the opium, as also to make it very uncertain, varying according to the quantity of extractive matter which might be mixed with the opium, which would never be uniform, but differ more orless whenever it was prepared. Keemp- fer, who lived two years in Persia, asserts positively that the opium is obtained from the heads by incision and particularly describes the operation. The in- cision, he says, are made with a fine edged kni^e ia the evening, and the juice being collected next day, is inspissated to the consistence of opium.* A sim- ilar account is given by Garcias.t But that opium is obtained by incision, is placed beyond a doubt by lilr. Ker, who has given a very accurate description of the manner in which the poppy is cultivated, and the opium obtained from it by incision, in the pro- vince of Bahar, in the East Indies. The seeds, according to him, are sown in quadrangular areas, the intervals of which are formicd into aqueducts for conveying water to each area. The plants are al- lowed to grow six or eight inche. from each other, * Amanitates Exoilca, Fasc. 31b .15. •j- Historiua aramatum and simplicium lib. 1, c. 4 C 2 30 OPIUM. and are plentifullj supplied with water till thej ^rc lix or eight inches high, when a nutrient com- post of dung, ashes, and nitrous earth, is laid over the areas. A short time previous to the appearance of the flowers, they are again weil watered, till the capsules arc half grown, when the watering is stop- ped and they begin to collect the opium. The pro- cess by which it is elTected, is simply by making at sun-set two longitudin«il incisions from below up- wards, without penetrating the cavity, with an in- gtrument which has two points, which should lie as sharp as a lancet, the incisions should be repeated every evening until each capsule has received six or eight wounds, and they are then allov\^ed to ripen their seeds. The juice which exudes is collected in the morning, and being inspissated to a proper con- sistence by working it in an earthen pot in the sun's heat, is formed into cakes for sale. (See Medical Observations and Inquiries, vol. 5, Article 28; also, in support of the same opinion, Chardin's Travels into Persia. In addition to this very particular account given by an ocular witness, of the manner in vv'hich opium is extracted by incision in the East Indies; we have further proof that the whole quantity produced ia Persia, Natolia, and other countries, is obtained in a similar way, from considering that opium may be extracted by incision from the poppies of our own climate, perfectly similar to that imported from these ■ countries; while neither the extract of the poppies produced by boiling, nor the inspissated expressed juice, bear any resemblance to it. These facts, il OPIUM. 31 appears, were fifst ascertained by Dr. Alston.* 1 have myself, says Dv, Crumpe, extracted from our •own poppies a pretty considerable quantity oi opium, which dillers from that of th.e shops, only in sinelling stronger, and being to the taste more bitter and pungeiit, its superiority, however, in thete respects, seemed gradually to diminish. In obtain- ing it I follovv'cd sometimes the method mentioned by Ka^mpfer, making tive incisions at a time, some- times that described by Mr. Ker, making but two, and think the one answers in the end just as well m • the other. Opium is frequently of a very dark co- lour, which arises sometimes from the iron instru- ments eiTiployed in collecting it; the chalybeate striking a black colour with the astringentmatter of the juice. For when opium (as has been proved by experiment, was collected by making the incision* with a sharp piece of g]asj,aRd a shell to collect the juice, it produced opium of a clearer reddish brovrm than is usually observable. Notwithstanding that pure opium is obtained by incision alone, it must be admitted that opium is al- most always more or less adulterated, and sometime* mixed with the expressed juice, extract of the plant, and other foreign substances hi twelve parts of opium officinarum there will be generally found from three to three and a half of feculcficies insolu- ble in water or alcohol ; and Dr, Crump states, thai in the opium which he collected, there were but two parts insoluble, which seemed principally compos*?-! * Medical Essays, vol. V. 32 OPIUM. of the e3E:ternal cuticle of the capsule which was separated in scraping off the juice. 1 have no doubt it nnight be collected perfectly pure bj a little more care in its preparation, or the juice might be strained when liquid, or rendered more limpid by the addition ©fa little spt. of wine, by which it could be filtered and inspissated in the sun as usual ; and I would par- ticularly suggest to those who may think proper to cultivate the poppy and prepare the opium, to be very particular in getting it as free from feculencies as possible, and thus let the American opium be dis- tinguished for its purity. I have remarked that the English opium w^as much superior to the Turkey, being much purer, and more active in the same doses, and producing more morphia, and command- ing a higher price in the market, which arose entirely in consequence of the particular care in its prepara- tion. Mr. Ker supposes that the poppy may be cul- tivated to advantage on ground of little value. An acre, he says, yields in the East Indies, sixty pounds of opium, which at the usual price, would be between 2 and 300 dollars. 1 have no doubt it might be made to yield nearly the same amount in this coun- try ; the experiment, at all events, may easily be made, and seems worthy of attention. If any over- plus remained after our own demands, a ready mar- ket would be found for it in the East Indies, where its consumption is very considerable, and price gene- rally high. Several of my medical friends havesuc- «essfully prepared the opium Irom seeds which 1 sent them. Dr. Chas. S. Lucae, of Mount Meigs, OPIUM. 33 Alabama, cultivated the poppy and prepared opium fully equal to the Turkey', and if the price of labour was lec3 expensive, he informs me he could advan- tageously cultivate it in preference to cotton, which is the staple commodity of that country ; my friend Dr. A. Jones, of Lexington, Georgia, to whom I sent some of Messrs. Landreth's seeds, has also been suc- cessful in his experiments. I am indebted to him for the following interesting facts in relation to the same, as extracted from his letter to me, of July 12th, 1830: — The seed came to hand about the middle of March ; about the end of the same month I sowed on a square of my garden, about half of the seeds you sent me, reserving the balance till later in the spring. The piece of ground I sowed the first seed on, was of a light, loose, and rather sandy soil, which was well manured for the purpose, and comprehend- ed a space of about twenty-five feet long by ten or twelve feet wide. They were sown and covered shallow, and came up very thick ; so much so that I had to thin out more than one half; they were drilled in rows about eighteen inches or two feet apart. By working them they grew up very finely and flowered by the first of June ; by the fifteenth of the same month the capsules were sufficiently ma- tured to allow incision. I made my incisions diag- op.ally up and down the heads ; 1 found if I made them longitudinally, a great deal of juice would fall from their heads to the ground. I repeated the incisions until six or eight were inflicted, 1 then left them to go to seed. I also left a large number of heads for 34 OPIUM. «eed, without interrupting them. Soon after I began my incisions a severe drought set in, in this part of the state, which parched up the leaves of niy plants, and caused the further growth of the heads to cease ; many of them withered and died while young and tender, so that I do not think upon the whole, that I gathered half the opium which I could have done Hnderfavourable circumstances. The other half ofthe leed 1 planted in the same kind of soil, and not one of them came up ; I distributed a few of them among my friends, but none of their seed came up.* From the first seed I planted I procured one fourth of a pound of good hard opium, and one and three quar- ters of a pound of seed. I would send you a speci- men of my opium if I had a good opportunity. Many ofthe capsules attained the size of a common man'i fist. I am sure one hand could cultivate as much ground in poppies as he could in cotton. My ex- periments have not been sufficiently extensive to say how profitable may be lU culture in the south, they have however been thus far very flattering and en- couraging. It will be some time however before it •will be extensively raised, as people change very dowly from one object of cultivation to another. Since I gathered my seeds, I have placed parcels in *everal physicians hands, who have promised to make very careful experiments with them so that the ftuccess of their profitable culture will be fully tested m a short time. * This lias resulted in consequence ofthe seeds having bee» •own too late in the season, but as they lay uninjured in tha •til during the winter, they viU come up the ensuing spriog OPIUM. 35 My ingenious friend, I. H. Parmele, Esq. of Zanes- ▼ille, Ohio, has also successfully experimented upon the poppy, and prepared opium fully equal to the best Turkey. He informs me that incisions on the head of the poppy are immediately followed by a copious flow of juice, which gradually concretes, it can be taken from the head a short time after it flows, as it soon becomes indurated , but even after it has become inspissated to a proper degree to be re- moved from the heads, the loss of weight is very great. In one instance I weighed carefully a fresh gathering from the heads, and found it weighed 105 grains, in twenty-four hours after I weighed the same again and found it to be 44 grains, so that the los» was 62 grains. The great desideratum is expedition in making the incisions, to be effected by some implement that shall encompass the heads, adapted to any size, and which will incise them all around at one stroke ; it should consist of a circle of elastic lances, to proceed coni- cally from a stem ; the lancets to be guaged at the end, and furnished with guards, and encompassed with a sliding ring by which the lancets could be held adjusted to the size of a poppy head as thejr were pushed down over it. It should be made of the best steel and well tempered ; this instrument once made aiid successfully applied, would give a cw impulse to the cultivation of the poppy. I have a fine piece of land selected, which I design for the cultivation of the poppy, and will commit to you the reauU of my experimenti. 36 OPIUM. I think it an object for our southern planters to turn their attention to the cultivation of the poppy, as prospects of the successful manufacture of opium in this country are very encouraging, and all the ex- periments which Jiave yet been made upon the sub- ject, have produced the most favourable results. OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS ON ?sPv-jv:ait BAnz. The cinchona, or as it is more generally denomi- nated, Peruvian Bark, is the product of several spe- cies of tlie genus C^'inchona, which in botanical ar- rangement, belongs to the class Pentandria, order Monogynia, and to the natural order Contorta. The descriptions of tlie species of this genus, from the hmited and imperfect nature of the information possessed, have been generally so confused and inde- finite, as to convey little or no information. Cinchona is found in various parts of South Amer- ica, always inhabiting mountainous tracts, where it grows from a few inches in diameter to the thickness of a man's body. The bark is collected in the dry season, say from September till November, and after being well dried in the sun, is packed up in skins, forming what is called seroons, weighing from fifty to one hundred and fifty pounds. Several species are frequently mixed together in these seroons, which are afterwards separated, ac- cording to quality ; it is not, however, uncommon to find several species mixed together on their arrival at our markets. The tree has never yet been culti- vated bv thg Spaniards, who procure it by stripping D *18 OBSERVATIONS AM) EXPEHIMENTS the natural trees of their bark, which ultim;;tcly must destroy tlie genus, as they always die after tl-.e operation. Most of the varieties of cinchona being highly val- uable, and consequently ycry liable to be adulterated with various substances, it is tlierefore important to adhere to a critical examination of ah its characters. The accounts of the discovery of cinchona arc yery numerous, and many from their singularity and improbability, are no doubt founded in fiction. It has long been esteemed a valuable medicine in Peru, where it is said the natives have adopted itp use, from observing that animals recur to it. Be tlie source of its first employment what it may, it was not used by Europeans until the year 1640, when the countess Cinchon, wife of the Spanish viceroy, w^as cured of the ague by means of it, and hence the derivation of its name, cinchona. As frcvquently occurs on the in- troduction of any 7iezo rernecb/^ consHJcrablc noise was made, and opposition raised against it by several eminent physicians ; but w hen admitted to proper experiments, its eflicacy soon suppressed the ground- less clamor which had been too hasti'y excited. The principle, says Dr. Paris, on which the toni( and febrifuge properties of bark depend, has ever been a fruitful source of controversy. Deschamps attributed it to cinchonate of lime. Westering con- sidered tannin as the active principle; while 31. Seguin assigned all the virtues to the principle which precipitates gallic acid. Fabroni concluded from his experiments, that the febrifuge power of the bark ON PERUVIAN BARK, , 39 ili'i not belong exclusively and essentially to the astringent, bitter, or to any other individual princi- ple ; since the quantity of these would necessarily be increased by long boiliiiiij; whereas the virtues of the bark are notoriously diminished by protracted ebullition. Perhaps no vegetable substance, underwent so many analyses, by the most distinguished chemist^ of Europe, as the cinchona ; and yet so little positive knowledge was obtained of its true constituents, and iuch was the very obscure condition of our informa- tion of the active principle of cinchona, w^hen the scrutinizing, critical and successful researches of Felletier and Caventou, detected the existence of two salifiable bases, in peculiar states of combina- tion, in the diiXerent species of cinchona. The med- ical profession is therefore indebted to these in- telligent and enterprising chemists, for one of the most valuable additions ever made to the materia medica^ Among all the late discoveries in vegetable chem- istry, there is none which claims so much attention from extensive usefulness, as that of quinine. This principle contains all the tonic and febrifuge proper- ties of Peruvian bark, in their most concentrated ttate. By the substitution of this preparation for the crude bark, the physician can conveniently adminis- ter it to the most delicnte constitution, in an eligible form, and by no means an iVoplcasant dose, what pre- viously was considered the ii-;ost nauseous and dis- agreeable medicine, and frequently^ from its bulky 40 OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS nature, (when administered in less than ordinary doses,) was rejected by the stomach. In consequence of the prevaiHng endemics, ague and remittent fevers, which, of late years, have visit- ed almost every section of our country, the article cinchona has increased very much in practice and demand, and become one of the most important ar- tides of the materia medica. The descriptions which have been given by most authors, to distinguish the many species and varie- ties of this extensive and important genus, are so im- perfect and confused, that they tend rather to involve research in more dense obscurity, than to develope any information. It is admitted, there is no method so well calculated to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, the comparative activity of the different species of Peruvian bark, as that of analysis; and from this circumstance, 1 have made trial of some of the most important species, which now occur in our commerce, for the purpose of determining their qualities, which I have done by extracting the alka- line principle, upon which their virtue as a medicine entirely depends, and from the product of which, their comparative strength may be accurately and readily ascertained. It is a source of regret, that many of our country physicians so little appreciate the quality of cinchona, as to be governed entirely by the price, which from the following statement, will appear to be the most remote and inaccurate grounds for calculation, as the cheapest or lowest priced bark in the market, is ON PERUVIAN BARK. 41 far dearer to the practitioner, and particularly to the {)atient, than that which commands the highest price ; for it not only requires the patient to swalJow tweWe times the quantity to produce the same effect, inde- pendent of the loss of time, but also by charging the Etomach, when in a weak and debilitated state, with 60 large a portion of ligneous and insoluble matter, may give rise to diseases more serious than those for which it was administered as a remedy." 'i'he bark of commerce, in this country and in England, is generally designated under the limited i.omenclaturc of red, pale and yellow. There are now no less than twenty-five distinct "species of cin- chona, independent of any additions we may owe to the zeal of Humboldt and Bonpland, as well as of Mr. A, T. Thompson, who states, that in a large collection of dried specimens of the genus cinchona in his possession, collected in' 1805, both near Loxa and Santa Fe, he finds many specimens which are not mentioned in the works of any Spanish botanist. Dr. Paris, in his valuable Pharmacologia, justly re- marks, that notwithstanding the labours o[ the Span- %ih botanists, the history of this important genus ii still involved in considerable perplexity ; and owing; lo the mixture of the barks of several specief, and their importation into Europe under one com- mon name, it is extremely difficult to reconcile tb« contradictory opinions which exist upon this lub- ject. Under the trivial name oflicinalis, Linnae*« confounded no less than four distinct species of cin- fibona ; and under the same denomination, th« Un^ D2 42 OBSERVATIONS AISD EXPEKIMEISTS tish Pharmacopoeias for a long period placed as varie- ties, the three barks known in the shops *, this error indeed is still naaintained in the Dublin Pharrnaco- poeia, but the Londonand Edinburgh colleges, hiive at length adopted the arrangenaent of Mutis, a. cele- brated botanist who has resided in South AmeriCcV, and held the ofFicial situation of director of the im- portation of bark for nearly forty years. The apothecaries of this country and England, nt the present day, distinguish (lie denomination of their bark, by terms expressive of ihe colour; and it is a source of still ^;reater surprise, to find the orders and prescriptions <>[ some of our njost intelligent physi- cians, designating the species of bark they wish to employ, by no other than one of the terms signifying red, pale or yellow ; thus reducing the extensive genus cinchona, of not less than twenty-five species into three varieties, awd leaving it entirely to the discretion of the apothecary, to give him any species., of a colour correspondent to that ordered. Indepen- dent of the great insufficiency of these terms to dis- tinguish the numerous species, the colour of the powder, is one of the most uncertain and inaccurate methods which could be adopted, of classing or as- sorting the cinchonas ; as under the same denomina- tion, the best species of bark in commerce, (calisaya arrollenda,) would be confounded with the most in- ferior, (carthagena,) as the colour of the powders of both is yellow ; hence a physician writing for yellow bark, leaves it to the choice of the apothecary, to give him what species he may think proper, of a cor- on PERUVIAN BARK. 43 respondent colour, but varying in quality from calis- nya to carthagena, or in medicinal activity as from 12 to 1. 'J'he importance therefore of adopting terms more definite to distinguish the several species of Peruvian bark must be obvious, and that the botanical nomen- clature of these species is imperfect and inadequate, is equally so^ The quality of i*eruvian bark appear* ta be mo-lided and influenced by locality, produced by dilTerence in soil, altitude of situation, exposure, or some other circumstances peculiar to the location, hence the diiFerent provinces of Peru afibrd bark dif- fering very materially in their physical characters and particularly in the activity of their medical qualities, from which circumstances it would appear that a nomenclature derived from the names of the provinces in which the different species grow, v/ould be a systematic arrangement. The following are some of the most important spe- cies whicii now occur in commerce, which 1 have submitted to experiments, and have given to each the comparative proportion of quinine and cincho- nine which they respectively contain. The name* which are given to distinguish these several species, are derived from the provinces in which they grow, which at present, (in consequence of the confusiou in the botanical history and arrangement of cin- chona,) is the most direct and certain mode of dis- tinguishing those species of bark which now are found in our shops. 4i OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS Calisaya Bark — tivo varieties. Of this very important species there are two varie- ties in commerce. Ist. Calisaya arrollencla, (Quill CaUsaya). This rariety is in quills from three quarters of an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, and from eight inches to a foot and a half in length. The epidermis is thick and may be readily removed from the bark: and hence you find in the seroons or cases a great pro- portion deprived of this inert part. It is generally Mil ported in seroons weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds, and very seldom comes in cases ; it has many deep transversal fissures running parallel, the fracture woody and shining, the interior layer is fi- brous and of a yellow colour, and the taste is slight- ly astringent and very bitter. This species of bark will yield a much larger pro- portion of the active principle, (quinine,) than any other bark in commerce, and consequently may be justly esteemed the best. 2nd. Calisaya Plancha, (fiat Calisaya). This variety consists of flat, t-liick, woody pieces, of a red- dish brown colour, deprived of its epidermis, and the interior layer more fibrous than that in the quill. This variety yields from twenty to twenty-five per cent, less quinine than the arrollenda, and is conse- quently a less desirable article. 0:S PERUVIAN BARK. 45 Supericf Loxa or Crown Bark, Loxa is the name of the province and port, where this bark is obtained and from which it is exported. In this province cinchona was originally discovered. This bark has been highly esteemed by the royal family, and is that whicii has been selected for their use ; hence, the name of Crowii Bark. The follow- ing are the characters which distinguish this bark. The Loxa bark occurs in small quills, the longitu- dinal edges folding in upon themselves forming a ^abe about the circumference of a goose quill, and from half a foot to a foot and a half in length. It is of a greyish colour on the exterior, and covered with small transverse fissures or cracks, the interior sur- face is smooth and in fresh or good bark, of a bright orange red ; it is of a compact texture and breaks with a short clean fracture, it is the bark of the cin- chona condamina, and is known at Loxa by the name of cascarilla fina. Yet, notwithstanding this bark appears to have held the decided preference to all other species, analysis fully indicates that it is not equal in medicinal strength by at least twenty-five percent, to that denominated Calisaya ; this bark is more astringent and less bitter than the calisaya. This species yields from twenty-five to thirty per cent, less cinchonine and quinine, than the caylisaya arrollenda does quinine, and the proportion of cin- chonine is much greater than that of the quinine. 46 OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS Cinchona OblGngifolia or^Rcd Bark. The above term appears to be more applicable to the species in question, than any other which can be «electecl, as under that denomination the best red bark has always been well known, and as theire is but oae other species affording a red powder, it k not likely to be confounded. The inferior red bark of which there is a considerable quantity in our mar- ket, is no doubt more frequently obtained by colour- ing low priced yellow bark, than from the product of a distinct species. There is but one species of bark in addition to the Oblongifolia as before stated, producing a red pow> der which is called Rosea, and as that species is sel- dom or never known in our commerce, there can be little or no powder produced by it; hence, all the in- ferior kinds of red bark of which there is no small quantity to the discredit of those who sell it, evi- dently must be either such of the Oblongifolia as has been rendered almost inactive, by age, weather, or some other exposure, or as before surmised, is inferior yellow bark, coloured; and as the product of the for- mer must be small, it in all probability proceeds from the latter source ; hence the price of red bark is as Tarious, (and the qualities corresponding loith th(5 prices,) as the yellow bark, although the number of species of which we are acquainted is not one eighth the number of the latter. The cinchona oblongifolia is the magnifolia of the ON PERUVIAN BARK. 4t flora Peruvianna, and is known in Spain by the name of Colorada, and is what constitutes the red bark of commerce ; it occurs generally in large thick pieces, being the product of the largest tree of the genus cinchona. There are two varieties of this species. 1st. Colorada Canan, or Quill Red Bark which occurs in quills of various diameters, from one fourth of an inch to two inches in thickness. The' epider- mis is white or grey, with transversal fissures or watery concretions of a reddish colour, the interior \a of a brick red colour, the cross fracture short and fibrous, the longitudinal fracture compact and shin- ing, the taste not so bitter as that of the calisaya. 2d. Colorada Plancha, or Flat Red Bark. Thii bark is in very large thick pieces, from half an inch to two inches in thickness, and from one to two feet in length, the epidermis brown, thick and rug- ged with cracks running in various directions. The fracture very fibrous inside, is of a deep brick colour, the taste is less bitter than that of the quill, and of course much less so than that of the calisaya. These two varieties frequently come in the same aeroon, and from their appearance are no doubt thr product of the same species, or perhaps the same tree; the quill being produced by the branches, and the flat thick pieces from the trunk, or the former from young and the latter from older trees. This bark is generally more scarce in-our market than the yellow or pale, and commands a hiejher price; within a short period however, about fifty 48 OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS. seroons of this bark have been imporled from Guay- aquil by Mr. John R. Neff, which has in a small de- gree influenced the price of the article. I am in- formed by a respectable druggist of this city, who has been a long time established in business, that this is the only arrival in quantity, of red bark, di- rect from South America within his recollection, the supplies heretofore having been received from Eu- rope. These seroons averaged about one hundred pounds each. The bark was very fresh and of a very superior quality. The large flat pieces and quills were indiscriminately mixed and in some se- roons in very nearly equal proportions. This bark when first received, was of a very deep and bright colour, and particularly the powder produced by the fl[at pieces ; after being exposed however, in a dry place for about six months, it faded considerably, insomuch that any one not in possession of the proof of the fact, would have doubted whether the powder had been produced from the same bark. From experiments on the above bark, I procured twenty per cent, less cinchonine and quinine, taken together, than the amount of quinine produced by the same quantity of calisaya arrollenda bark; and the proportion of cinchonine, was rather more than half of the product of quinine. It will appear therefore, from what has been said, that notwithstanding the great prejudices, both of eminent au'thors and skilful practitioners, which have so long existed in favour of the superiority of the obloitgifoUa, (red bark,) over other species; that it A L ON PERITVIAW BARK. 4f ii decidedly inferior to the calisaya^ (yellow bark,) as the whole product, as before stated, of its active principles, does not equal that of the calisaya and cinchonine, constituting rather more than half the product, wtiich, according to an eminent author, ia five times less active than the quinine ; this point however, I think is very far from being settled. An interesting paper was read before the Academy of Medicine at Paris, which is published in the Bulletii ties Sciences Medicales, for November, 1825, in which M. Bally states that he has experimented upon the sulphate of cinchonine, with a view to de- termine its febrifuge qualities. He administered thii sulphate in twenty-Beven cases of intermittent feveri, of difterent types, in doses of two grain pills, giving three or tour ia the interval of paroxysms ; by which treatment he cured the disease as effectually and a» speedily as with the quinine : of which twenty-seven cases, there were sixteen tertian, nine quotidian and two quartan. He remarked further, that the cin- chonine has properties less irritating than those of quinine, and that consequently its employment should be more general, and preferred in all simple casei. I believe few or no experiments have been made bj the physicians of this country upon the medical pro- perties of the cinchonine ; it consequently must be Tery little known by them from their own experi- ence, but it certainly is a medicine which deservei at least a trial. From the preceding description, the several sp** cies of Peruvian bark most commonly met with at 50 OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS the present day, may be readily recognised, as the physical characters are prominent and distinctive in each variety ; after however selecting the best spe- cies of Peruvian bark, by the several distinguishing and specific characters, one very important adven- titious condition yet remains to be investigated. It is a fact established beyond controversy; that age is a very powerful agent in deteriorating the active prop- erties of bark, insomuch that the best species of Peru- vian bark when old, is little superior and sometimes even inferior to the Carthagenian bark when fresh ; hence it is, that large parcels of a superior species of Peruvian bark, which would have commanded two dollars per pound at Cadiz, when fresh, has been offered publicly in this city for one-eighth the sum, twenty-five cents, and that without a purchaser ; and which it appears has been operated upon by no other unfavourable circumstances but age. In what man- ner or by what prosess age, or rather the circumstan- ces connected with it, act upon bark other than by a combination with oxygen or a volatilization of its active principle, I know not. Fabroni states with truth, that cinchona loies its solubility, and conse* quently its activity, by long exposure to the air, but does not give his opinion as to the manner in which itj is thus affected. I cannot, however, conceire under existing circumstances, how the 'solubility of Peruvian bark can be diminished, except through the agency of oxygea, and it is by this means the ex- tract of bark, prepared according to the common formulas of our dispensatories, is rendered devoid of ON PERUVIAN BARK. 51 utility ; for owing to the oxigenizement of the ex- tractire matter, the solubility of the extract is so di- minished during its formation, that scarcely one half is soluble in water. From a number of experiments which I have made upon Peruvian bark in different states, 1 have observed as an unequivocal result, that the same species of bark which when fresh is very productive of quinine, when old will produce little or none of this active principle, upon which its virtue as a med- icine entirely depends. It will appear therefore an important duty, criti- cally to examine the state of bark as to age, and it may perhaps be useful in this place, to describe the physical characters of bark in this state, and by which it may be readily known. The prominent features which characterise old bark, and distinguish it from recent, are the following. Old bark has lost nearly all that bitter and astringent taste and peculiar aromatic odour, which are such prominent character- istics of recent bark of good quality. The specific gravity is also sensibly diminished, and the fracture instead of being shining and compact, is dull, fibroui, and of a loose texture, and the colour very frequent- ly passes from a bright orange to a dull brown, as the bark advances in age, particularly if much exposed. By attention to these few conspicuous characters, taste, smell, specific gravity, fracture and colour, no mistake can arise in the selection of good bark, unless there is a gross deficiency in judgment. Yet not- withstanding the distinguishing characters of Peru- Bt OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENT* ▼ian bark in these tvTo states are so prominent and striking, we regret to say, that gross mistakes have been made pubhc in this particular, bj men whom we might suppose most capable of appreciating the quality, under the influence of every incidental cir'. cunastance. Di\ Paris in the sixth edition of his Pharmacologia, makes the following remarks under the article cin- chona. The frauds committed under this head are most extensive ; it is not only mixed with inferior bark, but frequently with genuine bark, the active constituents of which have been extracted by '.'ccoc- tion with water. In selecting cinchona bark, the fol- lowing precautions may be useful ; it should be dense, heavy and dry, not musty, nor spoiled by moisture ; a decoction made of it should have a red- dish colour]when warm, but when cold it shoidd" be- come paler, and deposit a brownish red sediment. When the bark is of a dark colour, between red and yellow, it is either of a bad species or it has not been well preserved. Its taste should be bitter, with a slight acidity, but not nauseous nor very astringent ; when chewed, it should not appear in threads nor of much length, the odour is not very strong, but when bark is well cured it is always perceptible, and the ttronger it is, provided it be pleasant, the better ma/; the bark be considered. In order to give bark tho form of quill, the bark gatherers not unfrequently eall in tlie aid of artificial heat, by which its virtues are deteriorated, the fraud is detected by the colour "being much darker, and upon splitting the bark, by ON PERUVIAN BARK. 53 the inside exhibiting stripes of a whitish sickly hue. In the form of powder, cinchona is always found more or less adulterated. This must he recollected as applying to the English market. During a late oljicial inspection of the shops of apothecaries and druggists, the censors repeatedly met with powdered cinchona having a hard metallic taste, quite foreign to that which characterises good bark.* The best test of the goodness of bark, is afforded by the quan- tity of cinchona or quina that may be extracted from it ; and the manufacturer should always institute such a trial before he purchases any quantity, taking a certain number of pieces indiscriminately from the bulk. Before concluding, it may not be out of seaion to remark, that the sulphate of quinine, as it is generally termed, is not a perfectly neutral salt, but in the state of a sub-sulphate, and is only partly soluble in water. Its exhibition in water, is rendered much more elisji- ble by the addition of a drop of sulphuric acid to each grain of the salt, which makes a perfectly trans- parent solution, and which, I think, from its obvious advantages, should entirely supercede the common for- mula: with sugarand gum arabic, a few grains of citric or tartaric acid will have the same effect in dissolving • Mr. Thompson has suggested the probability of this cir- cumstance having arisen from the admixture of a species of bark, lately introduced into Europe from Martinique, resejn- bhng the cinchona Jloribunda, and which by an analysis of M. Cadet was found to contain iron.— London Disp. Edit. 3, p. 247. E2 54 OESERVATiONS AND EXPERIMF2ST8. the quinine as (he sulphuric acid, and has been pre- ferred by some. Dr. Parrii?,* on tho exhibiiion of quinine, states that he lately saw a prescription in which the sait is directed to be rubbed with a few grains of cream of tartar, and then to be dissolved in mint water. This, he continues, is obviously injudicious, since tartaric acid decomposes (he sulphate, and occasions an insoluble tartrate which is precipitated. With due deference to the exalted judgment ot' Dr. Paris, I must however, on the folio Vv-ing grounds, dissent from his opinions. The cream of tartar i» objectionable, merely from the circumstance that the active part of the compound may be obtained in a more direct and speedy process by the tartaric. The combination of cream of tartar and sulphate of qui- nine in the above prescription, does produce decom- position as Dr. Paris has observed, but the virtue of the medicine is not in the least efrected by it, and the precipitate, instead of being an insoluble tartrate of quinine as he observes, is sulphate of potass; tartrate of quinine is a very soluble salt, and is held in solu- tion while the water becomes slightly turbid by the precipitation of sulphate of potass, which however from its extreme minute division is speedily taken up by the water, when you have a transparent solutiou of tartrate of quinine and sulphate of potass, and as the latter answers neither a good nor a bad porpose, it of course can very conveniently be dispensed with. • Pharm«cologi», Edit. 6, vol, ii. p. 163, ON PERUVIAN BARK. 55 and therefore, as before stated, the tartnric acid thotild be preferred as having -a more speed/ and direct action. Pipcrine has proved a valuable adjunct :a most cinchonine, and the red or oblongifolia both these salts in nearly equal proportions. What is the comparative value of these two salts is yet a subject of controversy, a considerable majority however are in f.ivoar of the quinine, perhaps because most of them liave net had an opportunity of employing the cinchonip.e. Dr. Paris goes so far as to state that cinchonine is tive times less active th:\n quinine, others contend tlie reverse. In an interesting paper read before the Academy of Medicine at Pario, and published in the Bulletin dcs Sciences Medicales, for November, 1325, M. Ballt states that he has experimented upon the sulphate of cinchonine, with a view lo de- termine its febrifuge qualities. He administered this sulphate in twenty-seven cases of intermittent fever* of different types, in doses of two grain pilb, giving- 64 SULPHATE OF QUININE. three or four in the interval of paroxisms, by which treatment he cured the disease as effectually and as speedily as with the quinine, of w'hich twenty-seven cases, there were sixteen tertian, nine quotidian, and two quartan. He remarks further, that the cincho- nine has properties less irritating than those of qui- nine, and that consequently its employment should be more {^ene^ai and preferred in all simple cases ; I believe few or no experiments have been made by the physicians of this country upon the medical pro- perties of the cinchonine, it consequently must be very little known to them, from their own experience. It most certainly deserves at least a trial. The high price which the sulphate of quinine has always commanded, and the increasing demand which its character and reputation has constantly kept up, has been an inducement for imposition and fraud ; and it is much to be regretted that this valu- able article of our materia medica, like others of an expensive kind, has been mixed with foreign sub- stances of inert character, for the base consideration of reducing the cost and enhancing the profit on its sale, and all this at the expense of the health of the suffering patient, and to the great disappointment of the practitioner, and not unfrequently to the injury of the general character and reputation of the gen- uine medicine. It is of high importance therefore to be acquainted with the most efficient means of testing its character, where we have any doubts of its purity. The following are the characters and Sl'LPHATE OF QUIMNE. G5 propcities of the sulphate oi" quinine, and tlic mofct simple and effectual meiliod of discovering fraud and adulteration in its coniposilion. Ist. The sulphate ot' quinine must he soluble in reciilied alcohol at a modei-ate heat, xind if it contain sulphate of lime, soda,, potash or any other substance insoluble in alcohol, the adulteration will easily U-t detected. ■ r. 2d. It is soluble in acidulated water; say cue drachm of sulphuric acid to an ounce of water, which will readily dissolve the quinine. By this means if there is any stearine or acid margaridc, (substances prepared expressly for adulterating this article,) they will float on the surface. 3d. It should give by sal ammoniac a w'hite pre- cipitate rather flaky, which is soluble in alcohol, and which on being exposed to a gentle heat, v.'ill con- sume without leaving the least residuum. 4th. After having dissolved it in acidulated water, it can be decomposed by means of a little sal ammo- niac, it must then be filtered and evaporated. If sugar has been introduced into it, it will be easily detected by the taste, or by fire, which will produce its peculiar odour. 5th. If a white substance, insoluble in cold water, be found in the sulphate of Quinine, heat the mix- ture to about 170 degrees of Fahrenheit. This will render the starch soluble, and its presence may be determined by the addition of an aqueous solution of iodine, which will immediately occasion a blur F 2 06 SULPHATE OF QtI!<^IN£. coloar, aed eventiially a blue precipitate. The io- dine must be added in very small quantities, and very slow, or the experiment will fail. Physicians will be supplied with specimens of all the species of Peruvian bark which occurs in com- merce, neatly put up in bottles, with a full descrip- tion of each, with a treatise on cinchona, for Five Dollars, at Geo. W. Carpenter's Chemical Ware- house, No. 301, Market street, Philadelphia- FORMl'LA Foa TirE tSULPBATE OF ESUBARB. Forrwdafor the preparation tjf Sulphate, of Rhubarb,, rviih some remarks on Rhuharb and its preparatioi%. Boil for half an hoar six pounds of coarsely pow~ dered Chinese rhubarb in six gallons of water, acid- ulated with two and a half fluid ounces of sulphuric acid, strain the decoction, and submit the residue to a second ebullition in a like quantity of acidulated water, strain as before, and submit it again to a third ebullition; unite the three decoctions, and add, by small portions, recently powdered pure lime, con- stantly stirring it to facilitate its action on the acid decoction. When the decoction has become slight- ly alkaline, it deposits a red flocculent precipitate, and the fluid is changed from a yellow to a crimson colour, the precipitate is then to be separated by passing it through a linen cloth, and dried, after which reduce it to powder, and digest in three gal- lons of alcohol, at thirty-six degrees, in a water bath, for several hours, at a moderate heat ; separate this solution from the calcareous precipitate, and dis- til otT three-fourths of the alcohol, there then remains A strong solution of rhubarbine, to which add aa much 68 SULPHATE OF RHUBARB. sulphuric acid as will exactly neutralize it, evapo- rate this slowly to dryness without having access to atmospheric air, the residuum will be of a brownish- red colour, intermingled with brilliant specks, pos- sessing a slightly pungent styptic taste, soluble in water, and its odour that of the native rhubarb. This preparation is a concentrated form of that valuable cathartic, separated from the ligneous and mucous portions, and bears a similar relation to the crude substance that quinine does to the Peruviaa bark.* From the experiments which I have made upon several varieties of rhubarb, I found the Chinese to be the most active, and that variety which has been denominated in the market Russian, and which com- mands double the price of the Chinese, produced about one half of this principle, and consequently is much less active than the former. This rhubarb, in fact, appears to be nothing more nor less than the English variety, suitable pieces of which have been selected, bored, rasped, &;c. in imitation of the Russian, but which wants in degree all the charac- teristic properties of weight, solidity, compact frac- ture, and particularly the essential quality of cathar- tic energy, which are all so strikingly exhibited in the Russian variety, and in corroboration of which Dr. Paris, in his excellent work the Pharmacologic, • By subsequent experiments I have proved the sulphate of rhvibarb to be much less active than the alcoholic extract on the next pag^e, as will be seen by additional remarks on this preparation in a subsequent part of this work. SULPHATE OF RHUBARB. 69 under the article rhubarb, states that inferior kinds of Russian, East India, and English rhubarb are artfully dressed up and sold under the name of Turkey, and I am well informed that a number of persons in this town, known by the name ofRussifiers, gain a regular livelihood by the art of dressing this article; by boring, rasping, and colouring the inferior kinds, for which they charge at the rate .of eighteen pence per pound. I had not an opportunity of making any ex- periment on the 'Turkey rhubarb, as I could not pro- cure what accorded with the physical characters of the genuine article. The ditTerence in the medical activity of these several varieties must essentially rie- pend upon climate and cultivation, as it is asserted by Dr. Rehman, that they are the roots of the same species, Rlieum Palmatum, (although the Dispensa- tories and Pharmacologia consider them distinct species,) and ascribe the Chinese to be the product of the Rheum Undulatum, and the Turkey of the Rheum Palmatum^ and it is established beyond controversy that climate and cultivation are two of the most powerful agents in modifying the condition of vegetable matter. On the preparaiion of Spiced Syrup of Rhubarb, — Paris in his Pharmacologia states, that water at two hundred and twelve degrees takes up twenty- four, and Thompson thirty parts in sixty, and by decoction its purgative quahties are destroyed, which decoction is extremely turbid and deposits a copious precipitate on cooling, and will be decom- posed by standing a few days, whilst alcohol takes 70 REMARKS ON RLBAR3. up two and one-seventh from ten parts without the mucous portion, and ii pcrfectlj transparent, and will remain unaltered by keeping. Hence as water takes up a larger proportion of mucous and inactive matter, and as decoction destroys its purgative pro- perties, 1 think a very important alteration might be made in the formula of the preparation of syrup of rhubarb of the shops,' by substituting a concentrated spirituoui tincture of the rhubarb, spices, &c. in place of the aqueous decoction of the same, and to add it near the conclusion of the formation of syrup of pro- per consistence. The alcohol in tiiio mode cannot be made, an objection, as it need not much exceed, if any, the proportion of spirit in the former method to .prevent the fermentation of the aqueous decoc- tion, and if these circumstances are correct it cer- tainly will be a more active and eligible preparation, and well deserves the practical investigation of the faculty. This preparation does not enter the works of Paris or Thompson in any shape, but is given by Dr. Coxe in the late editions of his standard work, the American Dispensatory, in the manner now pre- pared, and is very extensively employed in this city, perhaps as much so as any other pharmaceutical compound, and if its activity could be increased ife no doubt would be a very desirable object, it now requires a large dose to be effectual, and sometimes frequently to be repeated, insomuch that its use is almost exclusively confined to children, the dose for adulti frequently exceeding two ounces, which is cer- REMARKS ON RHUBARB. ti Uiiulv objeclional,and excludes its use in many cases where, if more active, it would no doubt be exten- sively employed to advantage. Extract of Rhubarb. — This preparation, accord- ing to the method now pursued, is very feeble ; tlie protracted heat necessary to evaporate the water, and the absorption of oxygen, acts so unfavourably during its formation, that its purgative properties, although not entirely destroyed, are so greatly im- paired that its use has become almost abandoned by the profession. Bj the following process, however, a much more active preparation may be obtained, and where the use of the extract is approved, this will be found to possess the proper characters. Take of coarsely powdered Chinese rhubarb, ifcj. digest in six pints of alcohol for leven days, and filter ; distil off the alcohol in a w^ater bath to the consistence of thin honey, then evaporate to a proper consistence in a water bath saturated with muriate of soda. By this process much less heat and time is re- quired to evaporate the menstruum, and owing to the alcohol much less oxygen is absorbed, and an extract of much more activity is thus obtained. This mode is certainly more expensive ; but if the product is more effectual as a medicine, this small difference should not constitute an objection, as much of the alcohol is saved by distillation, and in the preparation of all medicines, a preference should be given to that method which will render them 72 KEMAaKu o:f RnrsAiiB. more aetive and effectual without regard to expense, unless it be exorbitant and the difference inconsid- erable, for where health is implicated, interest should be suspended. Professor Cose Ims the abore article introdtaced iii the la§t edition ot his valuable dispensatorr. REMARKS ON THE USE OF PIFERZNE. Htmarks on the use of Piper ine^ with the formula for its mcnufacture, together with observations and ex- periments on the Piper Nigrum and its prepara- tions. SiKct: the discovery of quinine and cinchonine by the celebrated chemists Pelletier and Caventou, vegetable chemistry, previously almost unknown as a science, has made rapid advancement; and the still further successful experiments and discoveries since made upon vegetable matter,have not only swell- ed the catalogue of highly important and useful mate- rials, but have given an additional stimulus for the undertaking, and created an ardent zeal for investi- gation in those already engaged in researches, as well as opened a field of encouragement, in which numberless votaries have appeared. By these means this department of science, having emerged from a stage of neglect and obscurity, has risen with unpar- alleled rapidity, even within the space of a few years, to its present exalted position ; and the numer- ous advantages and useful discoveries, resulting from E 74 • REMARKS ON THE its rapidly improving condition, have caused it to rank as one of the nriost important branches of chem- ical science. Every vegetable substance in the materia medica, which has yet been subjected to chemical analysis, has produced an elementary or alkaline principle, upon which the virtues and activity of the medicine entirely depend. An instance is found even in opium, which, acting in a double capacity, both as a stimu- lant and sedative, has aiTorded two principles, cor- responding with the operations of the crude material: one is stimulating, the other sedative. When ad- ministered in combination, acting like the crude sub- stance ; when separate, individually exercising the sedative or stimulating effects, as one or the other may be employed. These isolated substances pos- sess many and great advantages over the crude ma- terials. The activity of those particular effects, which are desired from the administration of the medicine, being concentrated, and consequently greatly increased by the separation of the inert and injurious portions, obviates almost entirely the diffi- culty of exhibition, as well as facilitates a more spee- dy and certain action on the constitution. It is well known that many substances, in their crude state, in consequence of bulk and insolubilit}-, cannot be administered in many stages of debility in sufficient quantity to produce the desired effect. In such instances, the alkali is well adapted to form a substitute ; for being separated from the more gross, ligneous, and inert portions, it requires a compa* rsr: OF riPERiNE. 75 ratively small dose, and constitutes a valuabJc icinedjr in cases whore thq former would be vcjected. Another, and no less important advantage in favour of the alkaline principles is, the uniform persistency of their strength. No one will for a monKnt ques- tion the many inconveniences and evils, resulting from the great uncertainty of effects and difference of activity, in most of the crude materials ; and soit"' of the most important arc subject to these defrr Peruvian bark, for example, is composed of twcitf- five species, and each one dififering in strength. Bark, even of the same species, from a difference in ad- ventitious circumstances,"* to which it is always ex- posed, (although its external characters are some- times scarcely affected, its quality is always injured) is scarcely ever found alike. I have met with bark in the preparation of quinine of the same species and of the same importation, differing twenty-five per cent, in the product of the active alkalies. The physician, therefore, would have been deceived in the strength and consequent effect of this bark, while the quinine is universally the same. For example, the quinine, produced by the inferior bark, although much less in quantity, was fully equal in quality. If the practitioner, therefore, may be so much deceived by the difference of strength of the same species, how much more would he be disappointed by those w^hich produced but one-eighth or one-twelfth the quantity — and some yield even .but a trace of the * See Carpenter on Cinchona. 76 REMARKS ON THE principles upon which their ftbrifuge piopeitica ex- clusively depend. The preceding observations in support of concen- trated medicines, are made in consequence of there existing, even at this period of time, some few who disapprove of vegetable alkalies, and reject their ase on all occasions, by giving preference to the crude material. If their conclusions were drawn from ex- periment they would most certainly be entitled to credit and respect; but where a determination is made against admitted facts, without advancing new grounds drawn from argument or reason, and where new discoveries are denounced witliout even a single experiment or authority of any kind, 1 am sorry to say that such a course can be attributed only to preju- dice, and should accordingly be so appreciated. There is another class of opposcrs, governed by envy ; this is a worse species than the former ; they are, however, of little importance as to injiuenct. It has ever been a grievous circumstance, that, in almost every department of science, criticism is so easy a task, that the least informed and most unin- telligent will make bold opposition against the most useful and important researches, and sometimes from no other cause than that they themselves were not the authors. Their efforts are, however, overbal- anced by the happy consequence, that sentiment and expression do not, in the least, alter or modify the condition of matter: and follies of this nature, therefore, so far from eilecting an injury or causing the least impediment to the march of science^ merely USE OF PIPERINE. 77 ofl'er an exposition of error, either to be dispersed by truth, or corrected by the light of science. The object of the present communication is, to describe a new principle recently discovered in black pepper, which has been denominated piper- ine, and whicji is proved from careful experiments, to be a successful remedy in intermittent fevers, and has been employed with advantage in typhus fever and periodical headache; and from the respecta- bility of the authorities given in its support, bids fair to become an important addition to the materia medica. It may be given in doses of from one to four grains. It has been employed in doses of one grain every hour, in several cases of intermittent fever, with as much success as the quinine. It is found to be a valuable adjunct to that substance, equal parts acting with more energy and success than the whole quantity of quinine. Black pepper, in its crude state, has long been known as a valuable medicine, and is stated to be an excellent adjunct to bark, in intermitfents, and the author* observes that Mr. Brande must certainly be mistaken when he says, it acts only as a warm condiment, agreeable to the stomach.! * Rennie*s Supplement to the Pharmacopzelas of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Pari?, j It may be observed, with deference to Mr. Brando's opin- ion, tl>at there never has been a medicine yet discovered, res- pecting whose qaalities, some diversity of opinion has not ex- isted, and every medicine, however valuable, has rac*- .;'/i some opposition, G 2 78 REMARKS ON THE It is mentioned in Dr. Coxe's valuable dispcnsnt-o- rj, under the article piper, that Dr. Frank, physi- cian to Iter Majesty, Maria Louisa, recommends the. black pepper in diilerent species of intermittent ic- vers. This had previously been used in the cast, \vitli success, after every known means had been ineilcc- tually tried. The dose is five to ten grains, twice a day; and Dr. Gliigini reports ten cases cured by it, Dr, Frank mentions seventy patients, who came un- der his notice between April and June, of wliom fifty-two had tertian, ten ([uotidian, and eight tlie oiuartant fever. Fifty-four were completely cured within a week or so, without any subsequent relapse. He dips the seed of black pepper into a mucilage of gum arabic, and subsequently into powdered Colom- bo, to disguise it, and gives from five to eight pills twice a day. None of his patients required more than from seventy to eighty pills for a complete cure. Dr, Frank recommends to the profession to try the extract of black pepper, in intermittent fevers. This preparation was tried on nine individuals, affected with intermittent fevers of different types, in doses of four, eight, ten, or twelve grains, dissolved in water in some cases, and given in the form of pills in others, by Dr. Clock, of Trent ; and the effects surpassed his warmest expectations. From these experiments it is concluded, that the extract of pepper is not only one of the best succe- daneums for the bark, but that it is even preferable to it, on several accounts. trSE OF PIPLRINE. 79 First. It never produces disturbance in the sto- niach or bo\vel^. Second. It never fails in producing a cure. Third. Those who were cured did not in any one instance experience a relapse. Fourlh. It produces a regular alvine discharge, as well as the excretion of urine and sweat. Fifth. None of those who were cured, experienced that sensation of langour, so comnion to a state of convalescence. The following cases, treated with piperine, are i:iven by Dr. J.. Gordoni, physician to the hospitals of Livournc *.''' Cleonice, of Paoli^ entered the hospital in the •month of March, 1824, to be treated of an incipient ])hlhisis, in combination with amenorrhfea, a treat- ment lightly depleting for several months produced sensible advantages ; and although the disease could not be called perfectly cured, a strong indication of a speedy recovery was apparent, for the crachats presented a better iippearance, the cough was dimi- nished, and the plethoric habit, accompanied with a kind of melancholy, had disappeared ; when to- wards the end of September, of the same year, she was attacked with a violent intermittent fever, hav- ing the type uf a double tertian. This disease was treated without sjuccess, by the sJcillful Dr. Guidotti, both by quinine in substance, and the sulphate of quinine in pilh. On the iGlh of October, having .succeeded Dr. Guidotti in the hospitals, I fownd the * Jju'.lelin des Sclecces 'Mcdicales, Avril, 1826, 80 REMARKS ON THiE patient much dejected and disgusted with the insuf- ficiency of the means employed. Supposing the failure of the quinine depended upon some neglect in its administration, or that the pills were perhaps difficult of solution, I prescribed three doses of the same substance, in powder, to be taken daily. Two days after this treatment the fever stopped short, and the patient recovered a repose, which she had lost for a month. The remedy was continued for six days, which prevented a relapse, which had al- ways been dissipated by the same remedy ; but every time the use of it was suspended, the fever invaria- bly returned. As there were not sufficient symp- toms to consider it of an inflammatory nature, I de- termined, on the 2d of November, to substitute for the sulphate of quinine, eight grains of piperine, to be taken in three doses, as the sulphate, and with the same precautions. The fever ceased the first day, and never returned. The piperine was continued several days after, and I assured myself of the cer- tainty *of the cure, having attended the patient t'rom her first disease until the end of December. Second, A man aged thirty years, at Castiglionc, on the sea' shore, in the beginning ofDecernbej', was seized with a tertian fever, which obliged him to enter the hospital of St. Antoine, of Livourne. Dr. Nicholas Orisini, being assured that the patient had never before been afilicted with a like fever, nor C-. or made use of the quinine, thought proper, as a good opportunity, to em.ploy in this case the piper- ine, to assure himself of its efficacy, l^ith this view, TItE OF PIPERINE. 81 he let the fever run out one of its intermission?, without ennploying any remedy, in order to be bet- ter acquainted with the nature of tlie disease. He then ordered a scruple of piperine, divided into six •pills, to be taken in three doses, the last of the^e doses to be ^ivcn two hours before the fever, and tlie two others at intervals of two hours preceding. After the administration of this remedy the paroxysm did not appear, the patient, who believed himself cured, wished to leave the hospital, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the physician, who assured him he could not calculate yet upon an entire cure. The patient soon repented not having taken counsel, for on his way to the shore, he had a fresh attack of the fever, and was obliged to return to the hospital. He again made use of the piperine, and having continu- ed it for several days, he went out perfectly cured. Third. Joseph Torsi, aged twenty-six years, en- tered the hospital of St. Antoine, the evening of the sixth of September, 1824; had been attacked six days before, with a true quotidian fever, and it was the first he had ever experienced. On the morning of the 1 7th, sixteen grains of piperine were ordered to he divided into eight pills, of which, four should be taken every two hours before the fit ; but before the Jast dose was taken, the fever returned in spite of these means. The piperine was then carried to eigiiteen grains, to be taken in the same manner — when the fever disappeared ; and the use of the remedy being continued for several days, preserved the patient entirely from all symptoms of rccidiva- 82 REMARKS ON THE tion. Dr. Orisini, who directed the treatment, was fully convinced of the perfect recovery and cure of the patient, who, having entered the hospital three months after, to be treated for peripneumonia, as- assured him that he had no accession of fever since he left the hospital. From these observations, and many others, Mr» / Gordon! draws the following conclusions : — 1. That the piperine will cure intermittent fevers, in the dose of eight or even six grains. 2. That it will cure fevers which have resisted the sulphate of quinine. Finally : That it will prevent a relapse of fever better than that substance. M. Meli* has also successfully employed the piper- ine, and considers it more certain, as a remedy in intermittents, than the sulphate of quinine. For the following interesting communication on the use of piperine, I am indebted to Dr. J. S. Rose, of Philadelphia, who was the firit to employ it in this city. I have employed the piperine, prepared by Mr. Carpenter, in twenty cases of intermittent fevers, and am decidedly of the opinion that it will be found by all who may be disposed to try its virtues, a more certain and efficient remedy than any preparation of bark heretofore used. I have also used it in two cases of low nervous fever or typhus. I was induced to employ it in these cases by observing, that in intermittents it did •Aipslie's Materia Indica, vol. 2 page, 62? VHE OF riPEUIXE. 83 not prevent (in the first intermissions) all the stages \ of paroxysm ; at the time the patient expected his chill he found a gentle diaphoresis, which continued to increase for two, three, and in some cases, for four hours ; on the next day, however, (of the expected return) there was nothing like diaphoresis or fever; the patient passed this period without the least in- convenience, and remained exempt from a relapse, which is not always the case after the use of qui* nine. These facts led me to believe, that in typhus, when we wish a stimulating diaphoretic, nothing is better adapted, not evien volatile alkali, which I have proved satisfactory to myself. In this form of febrile action, when the animal powers are about to yield to the influence of disease, and the patient falls a victim to the timidity of the practitioner, 1 have boldly withheld all other remedies, and ad- ministered the piperine in doses of two grains every two hours, until eight grains had been taken ; in one of these cases, the low, muttering deleiium now be- gan to subside, the skin became moist, and the pa- tient, sensible of his improvement, ])rGnounced him- self better. On the following day, the same doses were administered and repeated, for three, four, or live days, when I found no fever ; the etrength in- creased, and the patient, with an inclination for food, was certainly convalescent. These two were the onlj cases of typhus I have treated since I became acquainted with this valuable remedy. But these alone would incline me to say, with one of our pro- fessors, "as well might weieny the power of bark 84 REMARKS ON THE in jnlermittents, or mercury in syphilis,'' ss- piperine in the cases alluded to. Yet I am not prepared to. adopt his language fully and call it a Panacea.. J. S. R. I subjoin the following important results from the. use of piperine, By Dr. J. C Rousseau, of Philadel- phia, whose experience with the articles of our materia niedica, entitles his observations to the high- est confidence and estimation. Dear Sir, In compliance with your request to state my opin- ion upon the efficacy of the piperine in the cure of intermittent fever, 1 can testify, that although I have been able to administer this new article of the mate- ria medica in few cases, it is satisfactory to inform you, that it has been successful in every one. The paroxysms left the patients on the tirst, and never later than the second day. Some few remarks may with propriety be added to this succinct account, which may become instruc- tive, and inculcate the necessity of caution in pre- scribing it in too large doses; the following case will illustrate this position : A young girl, about twelve years of age, having^ had a return of intermitting fever, that had been stopped by the sulphate of quinine, was directed to take one grain of the piperine, made into a pill, with conserve of roses. She was a short time after seiz- ed with a vomiting, which was repeated to the num- ber of seven times in the space of two hours. It USE OF riPERINE. 85 then began to promote alvine evacuations to the ex- tent of twelve or fifteen (innes. The fever did not return, and she was directed to continue one grain of the medicine night and morning. It invariably produced alvine discharges in an unusual quantitv. In another case, a subject of about forty: it pro- duced a radical cure in the dose of three grains, taken every twenty-four hours, and continued for some days after ; and it is so much the more remark- able, as this patient had taken the sulphate of quinine for some days, in the quantity of thirty grains in every twenty-four hours, as he informed me, remarking at the same time, that during the use of it, he was under a most violent and painful state of excitement. I can state with confidence, that this preparation of the black pepper, may be as useful and beneficial as the like preparation of the Peruvian bark, and I entertain no doubt of the probability of obtaining similar products, from all the other peppers, having been for many years, in the habit of administering the black and red peppers, with decided success, in the cure of intermittent fevers. Yours, &c. J. C. Rousseau, M. D. Geo. W, a I have just received the following valuable illus- tration of the effect of piperine, from my friend Dr. J. R. Black, of Philadelphia, which is an additional strong testimony of the success of this medicine, in the cure of intermittent fevers. Mr. S. aged about forty years, during the first part of last moQthj applied to me, with a severe quotidian H so 11 EM ARKS ON THE fever, attended with rejections from the stomach, and with violent pain, and great determination of blood to the head, ciurin-- the hot stage, with cold feet and slight delirium. The case was treated with the lancet, emetics and purges, wdiich on the third day changed its tjpe to the tertian. On the day of intermission, sul. quinine was administered, whicli was often rejected, while it always increased the patient's natjseau, and head ache. Piperine was substituted in doses of one grain every hour, to the number of ten a day. The par- oxysms immediately ceased, and the patient w^as in a few days discharged, radically cured. J. R. B. Numerous other cases might be quoted in which this medicine has been employed, with the like happy results ; but I think sufficient has been advanced, to satisfy the most sceptical, of its active properties. Alcohol and sulphuric sethcr are the best men- strua, for the active properties of the pepper, which very soon impart its acrimony to these fluids. Mr. Brande gives alcohol and water ; I am surprised that Mr. Brande should have omitted aether, since it is the most powerful solvent, and particularly that he ehould quote water, since it requires five hundred and fifty pints to extract the sapidity of one lb. of pepper. Water appears to be the best solvent for the colouring matter, for after pepper ha« been ex- hausted of its acrimony, by aither and alcohol, water will make a dark solution, which on evaporation, produces an extract exhibiting little of the pungency of pepper. USE OF PIPERINi:. 87 Tlic pipcrlne, employed in the above cases, I pre- pared accordii)^ to the following formula. Digest one pound of eoarsely powdered black pepper, in one gallon of alcohol, for ten days, distil off one half of the alcohol in a water bath, add by degrees, diluted muriatic acid, to hold in solution the piperine, then add water suflicient to precipitate the resin, and separate the oil; a muriate of piperine re- mains in solution, concentrate this solution by evapo- ration, and add pure potass to decompose it, and neu- tralise the acid, when the piperine, in consequence of the diluted state of the alcohol, and the absence of the muriatic acid, will be deposited in yellowish transpa- rent crystals. The crystals may be obtained per- fectly colourless, by observing great care in separa- ting the oil and resin, but as there is no disadvantage in the colour, the additional trouble and expense would not be compensated. The piperine, in a colourless state, is insipid and inodorous ; but united with as much resin as enters into its crystallization, its taste is extremely powerful, possessing in an in- tense degree, all the heat and acrimony of the pep- per, with considerable of its odour, and I think is a more active preparation than the former, it was in this form exhibited in the treatment of the cases above described. I have obtained larger crystals, by employing sulphuric aether ai a menstruum, in- stead of alcohol. 'J'he crystals of piperine are transparent, of a straw colour, and assume the tetrahedral prismatic form, with oblique summits; I have obtained them 88 REIWARKS ON THE larger than the ordinary crystals of sulphat of mag- nesia. Extract of Black Pepper, Digest eight ounces of black pepper coarsely ground, in four pints of diluted alcohol, for four days, occasionally submitting it to a temperature near ebullition ia a water bath, filter and evaporate to the consistence of an extract. This is found also to be an active remedy in intermittent, in doses of two or three grains. In a soft state it has proved very con- venient to give consistency to piperine or quinine for the formation of pills, while at the same time it in- creases their activity, particularly the latter ; it is certainly preferable to the conserve of roses, or gum arabic, which enlarge the pill without increasing the effect. The extract of pepper in every formula I have seen, is directed to be prepared with water. This forms a much less active preparation and possesses several inconveniences, to which the above is not subject. I have employed the white and black peppers in the above preparations, and aUhough it is stated that the«white pepper is milder than tlie black, I have found it to yield more piperine and an extract of much more acrimony and activity, and to contain much less colouring matter. The constituent principles of pepper, are pipe- rine, oil, resin, extract, colouring and fecular matters. Subsequent experiments have proved the oil of USE OF PIPERIWE. 89 black pepper to possess all the valuable properties of piperine in a superior degree, one drop being equal in energy to three grains of the latter. I have com- bined^quinine, piperine, oil of black pepper, cornine, gentianine, and several other tonic vegetable princi- ples, in the form of a mass, which I have denomina- ted compound tonic extract, and which has proved much more efficient in intermittents than any of the articles used singly, even in double doses. This arti- cle is now much used in the southern states, and has given the highest degree of satisfaction. H 2 ox On the Division or Extinction of Mercury by Tritura- tion : with Observations and Experiments on the Blue Mass and other preparations of Mercury, Mercury has been considered by some writers to produce no action on the bodj, when taken internal- ly in the metallic state; this has been doubted with sufScient reason by Orfila in his Toxicology, Blue mass, Pil. Hydrargyri, or Blue Pill, as it is commonly termed, has heretofore been always esteemed, one of the most valuable preparations of mercury, being mild and at the same time more cer. tain and efficacious in many diseases, than any other preparation of that valuable mineral ; hence it has been, and continues to be, very extensively employ- ed in most cases where mercurial action on the con- stitution is required, and when properly made, and in like manner administered, has invariably support- ed its wonted and established reputation. In the preparation of it, the most viscid and tena- cion? ^ubstaiices arc emnloyed, as conjcrvc?, honey, AND BLUE MASS. 91 rnanna, o^c. for the more speedy extinction of the mer- ury as it is generally termed, or more properly its ninute division, after which some vegetable powder , of wliich starch is most proper,) is added, to give the mass a proper consistence for the formation of pills. ;■: has generally been supposed that the mercury by liis process was converted into the state of a pro- toxyde, but late careful experiments, prosecuted ex- clusively for the purpose of ascertaining the condi- tion of the mercury, have satisfactorily proved the contrary. From the remarks and experiments of Mr. Joseph Roux, (Pharmacien a Nimes,) addressed to Mr. Planche, in the Journal de Pharmacie, tome XI. page 215, it will appear that, (although from the various discussions of chemists, on the method of reducing mercury, a conclusion has generally been drawn in favour of those substances which contain the most oxygen^) turpentine and liquid styrax will as speedily and elTectually extinguish or reduce the mercury as the oxygenous fat, and that the various conserves, syrups, extracts, oils, meals, feculse, and vegetable powders all produce the same results in that speedy and effectual reduction of the mercury in proportion to the tenacity of the substance employed ; for ex- ample, the extracts succeed better than the conserves, the conserves better than the syrups, the syrups than the oils, &c. These different experiments led to the conclusion that oxygen was not essential for the extinction of mercury, and to prove which, it Tvas acted upon by substances destitute of \h\- rle- 92 EXPERIMENTS ON MERCURY ment ; bitumens were accordingly selected such as petroleum, and maltha.* Having reduced the petroleum to a more than syrup consistence, the re* suit was perfectly satisfactory, and Mr. Roux ob- serves, 1 was then authorised to think my conjecture was correct, but in order to assure myself positively of the fact, I acted upon it free from the con- tact of atmospheric air. I accordingly placed a vessel containing the mercury and maltha, (reduced to a consistence that allowed the pestle to work,) in the receiver of an air pump, and after having made a vacuum I put in motion, by the means of a handle, a pestle surrounded by a brass stem, a little bent at the lower part, which passed through the bell and the copper framing, by which it was surmounted. This experiment succeeded as well as any of the others and established beyond a doubt the fact that mercury may be extinguished without the aid of oxygen. Mr. Planche observes, (Journal de Pharmacie,) that from the ingenious experiments of Mr. Roux on the division of mercury in vacuo, by means of a sub- stance containing no oxygen, it has been proved, that the mercury in the ointment and other preparations exists in the state of minute division, and not in that of an oxyde, which is no longer a subject of doubt to a great many. This may readily be proved by melting the oint- ment in hot water, or by washing the blue mass in cold water, decanting the saccharine and feculent » pitch and wax melted together. AND BLUE MASS. 93 matter, and placing the remainder, (carefully washed from the vessel with a little water,) on a filter of paper, and left to stand until perfectly dry, when nearly ail the mercury used in its formation may be collected ; a small portion necessarily will be lost in its preparation, together with more minute globules which cannot be collected. I treated'in this manner Sg. of the blue mass manufactured at Apothecaries' Hall, London, in which the mercury was more effect- ually reduced than any I had ever seen, and obtained from it sixteen grains of metallic n^ercury, within four grains of the quantity originally employed in making the mass ; small globules were also visible in the residuum which I could not collect ; on exam- ining several drops of the liquor 1 decanted, which had accidentally fallen on some white paper and dried, it had a shining metallic appearance, and evi- dently contained metallic mercury, which was proved after two days standing, by the aggregation of glo- bules. Mr. Thomas Evans, an intelligent druggist of this city, in a paper published in the Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, states that from one hundred grains of blue pill, which had been tri- turated for many days, twenty grains of running mercury were easily collected and mtmcrow* globules were still visible in the residuum. An elTect takes place in making the pommade mercuriellc, a preparation employed extensively in France, which goes strongly to prove that the mer- cury in this preparation is not in the state of an oxyde, as well as all the others ; for it is admitted 94 EXPERIMENTS ON MERCURY by all without the least doubt, that in all cases where mercury is reduced bj simple trituration, it exists in the same condition. In making this preparation, if it happens that the butter of cocoa, {beurre de cacao,) which enters its composition, be too suddenly cool- ed, the mercury, which previously had every appear- ance of perfect extinction immediately appears in large globules ; to reduce them it is only necessary to gently heat the pestle and stir the pommade a few- minutes, when the mercury is again reduced. I will ask if any man acquainted with the laws of chemis- try, can for a moment suppose that the mercury in this preparation is in any other than the metallic state, or attribute so sudden a reduction of the mer- cury, to the absorption of oxygen, when eight days trituration would not be sufficient to effect it by the ancient process? Besides these, there are other preparations of mercury where it has been triturated with pulveru- lent substances, as chalk, magnesia, sugar, &;c. in all which cases, the mercury exists in the same condi- tion as in the ointment, mass and pommade, that is in a state of minute metallic division, and not of an oxyde. From a portion of hydrargyrum cum creta, imported by Charles Marshall from the Apothecaries Hall, London, in which the mercury was apparently oxydized, inasmuch that not a globule was visible, (when meet favourably exposed on paper,) even with the assistance of a good microscope, I put a small quantity in vial and agitated it a short time in cold water; when subsided, I decanted the water and AND BLUE MASS. 05 after gevcral wasliings and dccantations in tiie same manner, the sub-carbonate of lime was separated, and there remained a greyish powder, which I placed on a filter of paper, which by simple imbibition of the paper, without pressure or trituration, the mercury assumed the form of globules, in weight nearly equal to the quantity originally employed in the composition. Mercury reduced by trituration with sugar may most readily be tested by dissolving the sugar, which will leave the mercury in its metallic state. From the suggestions of Mr. Phillips, of London, I treated a portion of the hydrargyrum cum creta with acetic acid, having placed a small quantity of the powder in a vial and washed it in successive portions of the acid until the sub-carbonate of lime was dissolved ; then I threw the whole on a filtre of paper, which when dry exposed the mercury entire. As the above experiments are in the reach of any one desirous of proving the fact, I hope advantage 'will be taken of them and little doubt will hereafter exist as to the state in which the mercury exists in these several preparations. Although differing from jthe opinion of many^authors of established reputation, I feel confident in stating the fact, ina^uch as I be- |lieve,(from Iheir own expressions,) their conclusions were drawn from external characters without ex- periment; as in most instances where these prepara- tions are spoken of, it is remarked that the mercury is in the state of minute division, and probably con- verted into the black oxyde ; the word probably im- 96 ESPERIMEJ^TS ON MERCURY plies a direct incertitude, and speculation as to the real state in which the mercury exists in these pre- parations, and indicates that they have never heen examined with a view to discover its condition, oth- erwise their descriptions must have been more definite. Mr. Rennie in his late valuable supplement to the pharmacopoeias, observes, that chemically, the blue pill is described in two ways. One party of chem- ists say that the mercury is unchanged and exists in a state of extreme division, whilst another party as- sert unconditionally, that mercury is converted into a black oxyde, which is a protoxyde. Mr. Phillips, on the other hand, more justly observes, that experi- ments are still wanting to explain the subject, but that it probabh/ contains a sub-oxyde, as he supposes to be the case with the h) drag, cum creta. It may be remarked by some, if the mercury exist in its metallic state, why resort to the tedious method of its division? It may be readily answered, that independent of increased action by its minute divi- sion, mercury, from its fluidity and volubility, could not be administered in its metallic state, in the various doses, forms and compounds, in which the blue mass has been so conveniently and successfully exhibited. It has also been proved by experience, that the mass which contains the mercury in the most minute division is preferable on account of a more speedy action, as well as being less liable to lose the' mercury by exudation. Hence it is that the blue mass and other preparations of the mercury AND KLUE MASS, 97 mamif^ictured at Apothecaries' Hall, London,* and nt the laboratory of Mander & Co. of Wolverhamp- ton, have justly been preferred as more eligible pre- parations, at which places they possess considerable advantages of improved machinery by steam power for the more speedy and effectual reduction of the fnercury. It has been suggested and recommended to use the black oxyde of mercury as a substkute for the blue pill. However valuable a medicine the black oxyde may be, it cannot be substituted for the blue pill, on the ground of being the active principle of that substance; although i do not doubt that a few grains out of a hundred may be in the state of a sub- oxyde, but most certainly not in sufficient quantity to have the sole agency in the effect of the blue pill, but on the contrary, from its minute proportion, to have little or none. The black oxyde of mercury, however, is no doubt a most valuable medicine, and from the careful and correct experiments of Dr. Benjamin H. Coates, of this city, its efficacy has been (My established. As the blue mass holds an important place in the materia medica, and is perhaps more extensively cm- ployed than any other compound, it will no doubt be desirable to have a formula which will most readily reduce the mercury. After a number of ex- • The mass is prepared at Apothecaries* Hall, London, bj& machine consisting of an iron mortar and four wooden pestle< ^ven by a steam engine. This both triturates and rolls the mass, and the pills are said tu be stronger than those inad« If tht Wivd.—Ren»ie's Supplement, he. I •^8 EXFEUISIENTS^ ON MERCURY'- j^eriments, with a view to discover what combination and proportion of substances most speedily and ef- fV^ctuallv reduce the mercury, and at the same time preserved the mass longest of a pilular consistence,. 1 have adopted the following formula and process as j>ossessing the greatest advantages. This forms a mass more like that manufactured at the Apothe- caries' Hall, London, than by any other process ^vhich 1 have seen. The globules of mercury are eliectually reduced in a short time, and are perfectly mvisible ; wiien rubbed on white paper and inspect- ed with a microscope. The mass is of a fine blue colour, and will preserve a pliable consistence a long time. R. Hydrarg. Pur - - - ,lis5.. Manna Pinguia - - - iiss. Meh desp. - - • §ss. Amyli - . - - • ^i. M. S. A. As the mercury of commerce is frequently adul- terated with lead, bismuth, tin and zinc, it is im- portant to have it distilled previous to employing it in the above preparation. The manna and honey in the blue pill are better than any other substance yet employed, and reduce the mercury more speedily and effectually than the conserve of roses, over which they have other ad- vantages. The conserve of roses is objectional also from occasionally containing sulphuric acid which has been added to increase its colour ; hence a poi- ARD BLUE MASS, 99 sonous sub-sulphate of mercury may be formed dar- ing the trituration. Dr. Coxe justly remarks in the fifth edition of his Dispensatory, (although conserve of roses is in the formula he has selected) that experi- jp.ents fairly made, would sanction the manna as pre- ferable to any other substance for the speedy and 'cff'ectual extinction of the quicksilver; and what- ever may be thought of the conserve of rose?, it ap- pears probable that its use is only depen'dent on the sugar in its composition. In making this preparation the vvhole ajnount of mercury should be triturated with a small part of the -manna and honey, until reduceil, (which will be more speedy than if worked wit'i all the iiigredients :) the remaining portion of manna and honey is then to be added, and the whole heat up till well incorporated ; to which then add the starch to give it a proper con- sistence. This mass, when finished, has a fme blue colour, no globules visible when exposed on paper, even with the assistance of an ordinary microscope ; it is of proper consistence for the formation of pills, and will retain its moisture for a long time; a quan- tity made according to the above formula has been kept for upwards of a year, when its consistence was nearly as good fis at the time of its formation, and no globules discoverable when carefully exam- ined. It is a desirable thing that the mass should re- main soft which the above formula will particularly effect. I have seen blue mass become perfectly hard, sufficiently so to powder, in consequence no doubt of having gum Arabic in its composition. Li- too EXPERIMKNTS ON MERCURY, SlC, quorice root and rhubarb enter into some receipts for the preparation of the blue pill, but the mass which contains them may be known by ila dirty grey colour, and frequently becoming mouldy after a short time. As a great quantity of blue mass is badly made, and I believe more from not having a proper formula than from any'vvant of art or attention in its reduction, I am induced to offer the above, under a full assur- ance, from careful experiment, of its superiority to the cominou formula with conserve of roses; and should it prove useful in the hands of those who may think proper to adopt it, the author will have ybtaim^d liifi object of thiB publicatm;.;. ON IODINE, AND ITS PREPARATIONS. This is one of the most valuable and important of the medicines recently irxtroduced. It is soluble m aether and in alcohol ; the lalter dissolving it pro- portionable to its degree of rectification. V\ ater does not dissolve more than ,;^ of its weight. It is extracted from the mother waters of soda, pre- pared from sea weed, where it exists in the state of hy- iodate of Potass. 'Jliese waters are obtained by i-urnlng the fuci that are found on the coast of Nor- mandy, draining the water through ihe ashes and concentrating the liquor. To obtain the iodine, an excess of concentrated acid is added to these waters, and the liquor is grad- ually brought to ebullition in a glass retort, furnished with a receiver. The acid seizes on the basis of the hjdriodate, and on the hydrogen of the hydriodic acid, so that ihe result is sulphate of potass, water, sulphurous acid and iodine, wliich rises in violet coloured vapours, passes into the receiver witli a small quantity of acid, and in tliat state is condensed. :;ln order to purify it, it must be washed, mixed with »-,"water. containing a little potasp, and again distilled. i02 on IODINE Dr. Coindit of Geneva was the first to use ihe iodiriC as a medicine, which he employed with remarkable success ia the treatment of goitre •, it has since been used both in Swilzerland and France, by several physicians, who speak very highly of its eflects as a medicine in goitre, in scrofulous ulcers, &c. and quote a number of cases of the successful treatment of tliese diseases, by the use of iodine. The iodine is now used in this country to a considerable extent; it is generally employed in the form of tincture and ointment, formulas for the preparation of which will be given hereafter. Dr. Gaixliner has published ia England a very interesting memoir on the effects of iodine, on the animal economy, and on its advantagers in the treatment of goitre and scrofulous, and taberculous affections of the thorax and abdomen. Dr. Barron appears to have employed the remedy with some success in the treatment of scrofuioua^ phthisis, and certain other tuberculous affections TINCTURE OF IODINE. Take of alcohol 36** 1 ounce. Iodine 48 grains. The iodine should be triturated fine with the alcohol in a mortar, and occasionally rubbed down in iu after standing 24 hours, it is fit for use, and should be filtered before using, as there is generally a portion of the iodine undissolved. It is given to adults in the dose of from 4 to 10 clrops, three times a day m a glass of sweetened wator; the quaati.ty may be gradually increasied to AND rrS PREPARATIONS. 103 ^120 drops, (which contains about one grain of iodine) ^three times a day. Solution of Hydriodate of Potass, Take'X)rHydriodate of Potass 36 grains. Distilled water I ounce. This solution is still capable of dissolving iodine, and of thus forming an ioduretted hydriodate oi potass. If we wish to procure the solution called coindet'*, 10 grains of pure iodine must be added to the solution of the hydriodate of potass describe^d i\bove. These preparations, whose mode of exhibition wenty drops to an ounce of balsam, will greatly n- Tease the powers of that remedy in gonorrhcea. CARPENTER'S CITRATED HALI, For making Saline Draught or Xtutral Mixture, I know of no article so desirable to the practitioner as the above preparation, for either city or country practice. When made extemporaneously for prescrip- tions with the lemon juice and salt of tartar, it is frequently not exactly neutralised, and the object and effect of the medicine is thus lost. It is also much more convenient, and at the same time less expensive, and being identical with the mixture fresh made with lemon juice and salt of tartar, is certainly in every respect preferable. It only requires to dlissolve one drachm of this salt in four ounces of water, and you have at once the neutral mixture similar and fcqual in every respect as before said to that prepared with fresh lemon juice and salt of tartar. To the country practitioner this preparation is inestimable, as it furnishes him the means of access to a highly val^^ble medicine, which he otherwise would be cut of from, by the scarcity, difficulty and frequent impossibility of getting lemons in inland towns, and they are frequently not to be had in some parts of the season in our ports. It is unnecessary to quote any thing in relation to the value of this medicine as a SOLIDIFIED COPAIVA. 157 refiigerent in fevers, &lc. &lc, as it is appreciated and highly valued by every intelligent physician. This article will no doubt be altogether used when its properties become generally known. Wherever it has yet been used, ii has given the highest degree of satisfaction and produced the most beneficial effects. Solidified Copaiva, Balsam copaiva is admitted by all to be one of the most nauseous and disagreeable articles of the ma- teria medica. Disguised or mixed as it may be, its unpleasant nature is still manifest, and little if at all diminished, communicating its nauseous taste, and imparting to the breath its disagreeable odour which is experienced for several hours after each dose, and frequently acting as an emetic or cathartic. From these circumstances, its use is frequently abandoned"*^ in cases where it otherwise might be of the highest utility, and even where it is almost indispensible, and other remedies much less efficient are substitu- ted, thus protracting the cure which could have been speedily effected by the copaiva. • Our distinguished professor of practice, in the first rel- ume of his therapeutics, page 417, observes, that two circum- stances frequently interfere with the exhibition of copaiv», and detracts from its utility. It sometimes purges, and when it does, its efficacy is lost or greatly diminished. If laudanum does not check ihis injurious tendency, it must be discontinu- ed; till the bowels recover their tone. To the stomachs of some persons, the copaiva is so exceedingly offensive, that it cannot be retained, as it is hardly possible to disguise the taste of the article: it is sometimes very difficult to overcomQ this prejudice. (See Chapman's Therapeutics.) 158 SOLIDIFIED COrAIVA. Since tlic introduction of this remedy down to the present period, it has ever been a desideratum to ob- viate these inconveniences, and it is a circumstance not less unfortunate, and much to be regretted, than it i? singular in its character, that amidst the rapid march of improvement and discoveries, (v>diich forma •A pecuhar character in modern chemistry and phar- maceutical knowledge) an improvement in the exhi- bition of copaiva, should so long have evaded the vi- lillent researches of the critical and scrutinising che- mist. Under these circumstances 1 am pleased to i^ubmit mv preparation of solidified copaiva, which will obviate all the disadvantages possessed by the fluid balsam, and will present a preparation which can be conveniently administered in the form of pills, without communicating its unpleasant taste, or im- parting odour to the breath. The solidified copaiva which I prepare, contains an extra portion of the oil of copaiva, which is united to the balsam and solidifi- ed together. See my formula for its preparation, in the last (eighth) edition of Professor Coxe's valuable dispensatory. The addition of the oil of copaiva in- creases its activity considerably; and it is ascertained by careful experiments, that eight grains of this pre- paration is equal to 30 drops of pure copaiva. The dose therefore is two pills, four grains each, three or four times a day. Solidified copaiva is prepared by mam', simply by adding calcined magnesia to bal- liam, without the addition of oil; this is a much weak- i:r preparation, requiring double the number of pills, lle/iu or extract of copaiva, is also sold ; this arti- BLACK OXIDE OF MERCURY. 159 cle is almost entirely inert, as the oil to wliich the activity of copaiva depends is driven olf, it is tasteless, and nearly without odour, and of dark colour. This article therefore, dillers from the solidified copaiva as commonly made, as well as from the rt- zin, being not the least deteriorated in the prepara- tion, or \veakei\ed by foreign substances for the pur- pose of giving consistence. It is particularly re- commended to the faculty for its many advantages over the balsam and all its preparations. The oil of copaiva is an active preparation, and it is the best mode of using this article, for being united with the balsam and solidified it can be made into pills, which can be taken without experiencing the nausea- ting taste of the oil, while the oil alone cannot be taken otherwise than in draughts, which will subject it to the same incoixveniences with the fluid balsam, having its disagreeable taste with its unpleasant cf. fects. Black Oxide of Mercury, For extemporaneously making the blue piilaccoTd- ing to the popular opinion, that the mercury i? in the state of oxide in blue mass. One fourth of a grain of the black oxide is equal to three grains of blue pill. This medicine is highly approved of by many physicians, and preferred by them to the blue masj. 160 COMPOUND TONIC EXTRACT. Carpenter's Compound Tonic Extract. This article is a compound of some of the most ac- tive vegetable alkalies, being composed of corrmie, quinine^ piperine^ capsicine, ^c. ^c. It has proved more efficient than any preparation yet employed in the treatment of intermittents. Arresting the par- oxysms in cases which had resisted quinine, and other remedies in large doses. For an account of the cornine, see Dr. Morton's valuable paper in the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sci- ences. For an account of the piperine, see my paper in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences. CavJtion, This compoutid is entirely original with me, and eeveral of the constituents only prepared by me, yet the name has been borrowed for another preparation, and my directions copied word for word, and has no doubt been sold on the reputation of mine. I would recommend the faculty to be extremely cautious and particular in their orders for this preparation, and 1 am sure they will not be disposed to patronize inno- vations of this kind, but give preference to the true and original article. TEXT. SEM. STRAMONII, SlC, 161 Ext* Sem, Stramonii. This is a very active and highly valuable medicine 'Dose one fourth of a grain. For a full account of ^this article, see a paper published in the 7th volunie of the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions. Extract of Qidnlne, This is the residuum of the preparation of quinine and is preferred by some to the sulphate, as it comes mach lower than the former, being but one third the price, it would be well for physicians to satisfy them- selves of its value. Two grains are considered equal to on© grain of the sulphate of quinine. CARPENTER'S Selection of Cinchona or Peruvian Barks. There is no article of the materia medica, in which there has been more fraud and deception than Peru- vian bark, the author, under these circumstances, has been extremely particular in the selection of these species, and has them put up in packages with his written signature on each, as a guarantee of their purity, aiad his responsibility if they should prove ^otherwise. Superior Red Bark. Selected with great care from the cinchona oblon- •gifolia, and put up in pound and ounce sealed cy- iindrical packages. The red when pure, is the best species of Peruvian bark, it contains both the alka- 'iies, quinine and cinchonine, in considerable propor- tions. O 2 162 CINCHONA OR PERUVIAN BARKS. Superior Calisaya Bark* (CALISAYA ARROLLENDA.) This 13 the best species of yellow bark, and derived its name from the province in which it is collected. It is the bark which yields quinine in greater propor- tioLi than other species, it is neatly put up in sealed cylindrical packages of pounds and ounces. Superior Loxa or Crown Baric, This bark was more esteemed in Spain than any other species, and was selected for the royal family, hence the name crown bark. This is a milder bark than the red or calisaya, its product is cinchonine. It agrees better with the weak and delicate stomach than the stronger barks. This, like the preceding, b put up in sealed packages of pounds and ounce?. 3Iaracaibo Bark, This is the best species of what is called common or low priced bark, the best bark is cheaper at a high- er price, than the present ditrerence which exists be- t-ween the different kinds of bark; there is no advan- tage whatever in using inferior bark, but all the dis- advantages arise from it; still there ure many that will have it, because it is lower priced. To such I would recommend the Maracaibo bark, being much . superior to the Carthagena, and at an equally low ,cnce. -For a full asd detailed account of all the varietieg of bark which occur in commerce, see the article <;incbon3,iii a. preeeeding part of this work. SULPHATE OF COR NINE, &C. 163 Sulphate of Cor nine. ft gives me much pleasure to announce Ihe disco- very whicli I made of an alkaline base in the cornus Florida, Vvhich 1 have denominated corninc, and which, with acids tbrm neutral salts, the sulphate ol' which has proved a highly valuable tonic and febri- luij;e. This article has been very carefully and ac- curately described by Dr. Sumuel G. Morton of this city, in the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, and from the most respectable sources in ihe Medical profession from various pari? of the United States, where this article has been sent, the most corroborating evidences have been received of the unequivocal success of the cornine in the treat- ment of intermittent and remittent fevers, in the same doses as the quinine, and the only circumstance which precludes its competition with that substance, is the minute comparative proportion of cornine yielded by the cornus Florida. If, however at any lime, we should fail in our supplies of cinchona, which is not impossible, or even improbable, we shall then be able to supply its place by this principle of the cornus Florida, Extract of the Cornus Florida. The cornus Florida yields a beautiful extract re- sembling very closely that of cinchona, differing how- ever in its sensible characters from the extracts of :he superior species of Peruvian bark, by being lef« -l'itler-i\n^ more as(rlnc;cnt. The following ir the 1(54 EXTRACT OF CORNUS CIRCINATA. most eligible mode for preparing this extract, erapo- rate in a sand or water bath, a tincture of the bark, made by digesting it in proof spirits, in the propor- tion of two ounces of the former to a pint of the latter, suflferinEf it to stand for at least a week before strain- ing, and occassionally during this time submit it for a few hours to a moderate lieat, thereby facilitat- ing the solution. This extract from its most prominent and sensible characters, is unquestionably much more active than the common extract of Carthagena bark, and is a preparation admirably adapted in all cases where the cornus may be employed with advantage, and in consequence of being a concentrated preparation, se- parated from the ligneous and'insoluble portions, and containing less gum and mucous matter, (which constitutes so large a proportion) is certainly much preferable to the crude substance, and no doubt will be resorted to by many country practitioners as a useful expedient, particuiary in those places where this article is in profusion, and where bark of good quality is frequently very scarce, and sometimes e\ en ♦unknown. Extract of Cornus Circinata. The cornus circinata is a more astringent substance Hhan the iiorida, an extract may be made from it by the same process as that ofthe former, 'i'he cornus ^circinata has been very successfully administered in ^cases of dysentery by Professor^Ives, of New Haven; f(see Dr. Robisoh-s interesting essay on this article in ithe North American Medical and Surgical -Journal,) CARPENTER'S OIL, OF CANTHARIDI^. This is a new and highly valuable article, and I have no doubt, from the many advantages which it possesses, that it will entirely supercede the common mode of blistering; a few drops rubbed two or three times on the part, will effectually draw a full and complete blister, with little or no pain, and without the necessity of applying any thing on it to assist the operation. This is certainly preferable to applying a plaster which often gets removed from one place to another, and thus frequently vesicates a greater sur- face than was intended or required, and sometimes from this frequent transition, only partly vesicates and causes considerable pain without having pro- duced the effect intended, or being any benefit what- ever to the patient. A piece of paper which has been made to imbibe this oil, forms an excellent blister, which may be accommodated accurately to the shape of any part, however irregular. The vesication thus produced is so exactly circumscribed, that the blister formed corresponds with the sharpest angles which may be given to the paper employed. One drop is sufficient to make a blister of the size of a quarter of a dollar. On such places ■where the skin is thicker or more solid than those 166 OIL OF CANTIiAHIDIN. which are less exposed and covered with clothing itrequii-es that the oil be applied two or three tinries in the course of one or two hours, or that the part to be blistered be covered rather more with the oil; this however will be seldom necessary, as blisters arc most frequently applied on parts which does not require this particularity. It begins to draw in four, five or six hours, accord- ing to the place where it is applied. In some cases it may be advisable to cover the part with a little soft paper or linen where it will likely get rubbed ; but in most cases no protec- tion whatever is necessary. After the blister is cut and the lymphatic water is discharged, it will be of great service to press the epidermis close to the skin and in most cases it heals in twenty to forty-eight hours. When a rubefacient is wanted, one drop dissolved in ten or fifteen drops of sweet oil, or mixed with lard, will answer that purpose and for its convenience and ready application, will be better adapted than any preparation I am acquainted with. One ounce of this oil contains the vesicating pro- perties of nearly one pound of cantharides. Its use is so mild that generally speaking it produces a blister without the least disagreeable sensation, except on those places where muscles, nerves, or tendons are in a state of compression. We trust, an article pos- sessing so many advantages will receive the sanction of the faculty. EXTRACT OF BLACK PEPPER. 167 P. S. We are pleased to find, since the above })aj been written, that a number of experiments made by several distinguished members of the faculty, have resulted in the most satisfactory manner, and entirely corroborates the above statements. We therefore can offer the above preparation with the higheU de- degree of conhdence. CautiGn. To guard against spurious imitations of this article, each vial will have the written signiture of the pro- prietor on the outside envelope of the same. Extract of Black Pepper. Digest one pound of coarsely ground black pepper in four pints of diluted alcohol for four days, occa- sionally submitting it to a temperature near ebulli- tion, in a water bath, filter and evaporate to the con- sistence of an extract. This is found also to be an active remedy in inter- mittents, in doses of 2 or 3 grains. In a soft state it has proved very convenient to give consistency to piperine and quinine, for the formation of pills, while at the same time it increases their activity. The ex- tract of pepper in every formula I have seen is di- rected to be prepared with water. This forms a much less active preparation, and possesses several inconveniences to which the former is not subject. 1 have employed both the white and the black pepper in the above preparations; and although iti*. 168 CALOMEL, stated bj most authors that the white is milder than the black, I have found it to yield more piperine, and an extract of much more acrimony and activity, and to contain much less colouring matter. The consti- tuent principles of pepper are piperine, oil, resin, fecula, and colouring matter. Calomel, This is decidedly the most valuable of the mercurial preparations, and there is no article of the materia medica which a physician should be more particular in than calomel, as it is more liable to be improperly prepared without any evident signs of the fact than any other preparation. It frequently contains a portion of corrosive sublimate, which does not in the least alter its external appearance. It is therefore an object of the highest importance for the physician to test his calomel before using it, unless he gets it where he can place the most implicit confidence. Corrosive sublimate may be detected if present in calomel, by precipitation being produced by the carbonate of potash, in a solution made by boiling the suspended sample with a small portion of muriate of ammonia in distilled water. A more simple mode, and one which will generally answer the purpose, is by rub- bing the calomel with the pure water of ammonia ; it should become intensely black, and not to exhibit any trace of an orange hue — also lime water, which is a more delicate test than ammonia, for the corro- sive subhmate. The mode of preparing calomel is various; that by sublimation appears to be preferable CALOWIEL. 169 and is the process now generally adopted in (he pre- paration of calomei. It has been suggested that the precipitated calomel is more free from corrosive sub- limate : this is altogether a mistaken notion, as the precipitated is quite as liable to contain the muriate? and also the sub-nitrate. When properly made, the sub-muriate obtained by precipitation, scarcely differs from that obtained by sublimation. Gottling found * no other diiTcrcnce, than that the precipitated sub- muriate became gray when triturated with lime water, whereas the sublimed sub-muriate becomes black. But he exposed to heat, halfanci.nceof thepre. cipitatcd sub-muriate inasubiimingapparatus; scarce- ly a grain of a reddish matter remained tixed, and the sublimed matter now became black when trituated with lime water, and differed in no respect from the sub-muriate prepared in the ordinary way by sublima- tion. It would therefore seem to be an improvement in the process to sublime the sub-muriate, after it is precipitated, especially as by that operation it would be most effectually separated from any sub-nitrate which might be mixed with it. Colomel can be rendered completely free from corrosive sublimate by repeated washings in large quantities of water, the latter being soluble while calomel is not. The En- glish Calomel is generally prepared with great care, and free from corrosive sublimate, and has consequent- ly been preferred by our physicians who prefer giv» ing a high price for it, to be more certain of obtaining a pure article. I am exceedingly pleased, however, to find that the calomel prepared by Messrs. Farr an^ P 170 TARTAir E3IETiC, SlC Kunzic, of our own citj^, is equal to any of the En- glisli I have ever seen, and physicians and others can safely reiv upon this calomel being equal to any of the im:>orted, which is obtained by sublimation or precipitation. Tartar Emetic. This article so important to the physician, is ano- ther which he should be extremely careful in pur- chasing, as it is liable to vary considerably in activi- ty. It should always be purchased by him in crys^ tals. The folio w^ing are the characteristics of its pu- rity: A solution of it in distilled water ought to fur- nish a gold coloured precipitate wdth acetate of lead,- soluble in nitric acid, and w-ith lime water a vrhite and extremely thick precipitate dissolving with faci- lity in pure nitric acid. If the crystals deliquesce, the presence of other salts may be inferred, and they ought to readily and totally clissohe in water, form- ing a clear sohilio?!, both previous too, and after add- ing the wine, in making the anlimonial wine. PyroUgneous Acid Purified, This is made of various degrees of strength, from number four to twelve. These numbers correspond with its strength compared wnth the common distilled vinegar of the shops, number eight is the most useful, and is more sold than any other. This acid is eight times the strength of the distilled vinegar generally Bold. Thus, one pint of this acid added to seven pints of water, instantly produces a pure vegetable PYR0LIGNE0U3 ACID PURIFIED. l?l colourless vinegar, of the proper stren^tlribr the use or:ipotherarics and druggists. In diluting the acid with water, it is only necessa- ry to shake theni well together. I'his acid is a pow- erful anliceptic in contagious di^ieaGcs, and lias the •valuable effect of preserving meat and all animal i'ood for days and weeks in the hottest weather, and will by washing the part afiected, corr.pletely remove must, taint, and incipient putrefaction from ani- mal matter. It is particularly gratetlil and erU- ciciit as a funr'gator. Pyroligneous acid will no doubt entirely supersede the distilled vinegar in medicine and the arts. U has been so completely separated from all impurities and foreign matter, as lO furnish a perfectly pure acetic acid, invariable in its acid powers, and unilbrm in its chemical properties. It is entirely free from any iinp'casant taste, colour, or sediment, and forms a limped colourless solution with ammonia. The com- mon distilled vinegar of the shops varies essentially in strength as well as purity, its acid powers diiiering from thirty to forty per cent, in value, and it is some- times 7°, and at other times 5° by the revenue acetometer, and hence the difhculty of getting an uni- form article for medical application. The diliiculty appears now entirely obviated by means of the pyro- ligneous acid which will be of standard strength, ac- cording to the numbers, and we think it will imme- diately supersede the distilled vinegar en the substan- tial ground of its preference. 172 VEGETABLE EXTRACTS, ^-C Vegetable Extracts. These are a highly valuable and important class of medicines, and there is none in which there is a greater disparity in the quality, some of them are ex- , tremely active, while the same is almost inei t at other times, owing to the various modes of preparation, the tinae it has been kept, and other circum.stances which influences its condition. It requires the physician to be more discriminating in this class of articles, than any other in the catalogue of medicines, he should be particularly guarded in the purchase of them, also in keeping them well protected from the air and light in a cool situation, and not accessible to dampness, he should be particular in ascertaining the manufac- turer of the extracts, in order that he may know whose preparation he can rely most upon, and having discovered a person who makes good extracts, he should under no circumstance use any other. I have found of the imported extracts those made by Man- der, Weaver & Mander, are superior to any I have evottles of your syrup. As I wish to give it a fair trial, you will please send me a dozsn. bottles by the earliest opportunity, and oblige, Yours, (Sic. WILLIAM W- WATSON. M. D. To G. W. CAHPfijfTErx. We are pleased to hear the above case of Dt, Watson's is recovering unt'^er the further continuance of this preparation. The following extract from Dr. Thos. F.. Slaughter, a highly respectable and skilful phj^sician of Orange Court House, Virginia, is additional evidence of the valuable properties of this medicine. Orange Court House^ Virginia^ Jun^- 1, 1830. Dear Sir — 1 made trial of Carpenter's Com- pound Syrup of Liverwort, in case of a lady, an old patient of mine, who had been afflicted for some time -^ as I siijjposed with asthma^ and who had been re- duced from extreme corpulency and robust health by her disease, to the verge of the grave; she used oniy one bottle of it, aod has ever since been rapidlj improviiig in health and appearance, which is attri- SYRUP OF LIVERWORT. !95 butable to the use of this medicine. She is solicit- ous for its further use, which 1 cunnot gratify her in till I receive more of the article. I am anxious to make a fair trial of it in this case, as vvcli lor scien- tific purposes, as for the great value of the life of the patient. Yours, respectfully^ THOMAS F. SLAUGHTER. To Geo. W. Carpsnteii. The following extract from Dr. Richard M. Hill, fi very respectable Physician of Gholsonville, Vir- ginia, is an additional testimony of the value of this preparation. Dear Sir- — I am now making trial of your Com- pound Syrup of Liverwort, a few bottles of which 1 obtained in Petersburg, and so far, am highly pleased with its effects, and consider it admirably suited to the cases in which it is recommended. Yours, truly, RICHARD M. HILL, M. D. To Geo. V/. C'ARrENTER. It is much to be regretted, that every valuable preparation will be imitated by the ignorant. The subscriber has already received frequent complaint* that spurious and inferior preparations have been offered, and that sales have been effected solely on the reputation of his preparation. He begs leave to .apprize the faculty of these circumstances, and to in- 'form them that each bottle of his preparation will have his written signature " Geo. VV. Carpenter;*^ on the bottle, without which, none will be genuine. G. W. C CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES, Shop Furniture . One drachm of this salt dis-^olved in 2 oz. of water, instantly produces a mixture equal to a like quantity of fresh lemon juice, and for many pur- poses of medicine is even preferable, being always of uniform strength. Acid (or Flor.) Benzoin, » sf. Stimulant, dose 10 to 20 grains. Ammonia, Carbonate, - - 4 Stimulant, dose 5 grains to 1 scruple. Anodyne, Hoffman's, - - S Antispasmodic and anodyne, dose ^ to 2 drachms. Arsenic, alb. crude, - - 1 Tonic, (externally an eschartic,) dose 1-10 to i grain. Fowler's solution of, ► 4 Febrifuge;^ 5 to 15 drops. ^ther. Sulphuric, - - 4 Diffusible stimulant and antispasmodic, dose 10 to 36 drops. Spt. Nitre, dulcis, - - 1 Refrigerant, diuretic and antispasmodic, dose 20 to 40 drops. Aqua Rosarum, - . - \ Slightly Astringent, Arrow Root, Bermuda, * - 1 Nutrient. Argent Nitrat, - - -= i Tonic, antispasmodic and escharotic ^ to 4 grains. Blue Pill Mass, ... 5 Stimulant, and antisyphilitic, dose 5 to 8 grains. Boras, Sodas, ... 4 Detergent, 1 scruple to 1 drachm, in gargles. Bismuth, oxyd. alb. - - 1 Tonic and antispasmodic, dose 2 to 12 grains. CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES. 199 lb. OS. Burgundy pitch, - - - 1 'Exlernally rubefacient. Black drop, - - - % Anodyne and sudorific, 5 to 15 drops. Balsam copaiva, - . - S Astrihg-ent, dose 20 to 63 drops in any emollent mixture. Solidified copaiva - - 5 Two four grain pills are equal to a dose of the balsam Oil of Copaiva, in vials - ^ doz. This may be used In the same manner as tba balsam, dose 5 to 10 drops. Balsam tola, ... 1 Dose, 6 to 24 grains. Black Ox} de of Mercury, - 1 For extemporaneously making Blue Pills, ^ grain equal to 4 grains of the latter. Bac. Juniper, ... S Diuretic and cordial, infusion, a teacup full erery 3 or 4 hours. Cubebs, - - - - 4 la gonnorhea, 20 to 30 drops. Oil of cubebs, . . -. ^ This is a valuable adjunct to copaira, 10 or 15 drops added to a copaiva mixture will increase iti virtues considerably in cases of gonnorhea. Sulphur, sublimed. Laxative and diapjioretlc, dose 1 to 3 drachms. Bol armeuia^, ... 1 Perkins's blister cloth, - - I box. 4 A very convenient article for the country phy- sician, being ready spread for immediate use. Creta, ppt. - - - 8 Antacid and absorbent, dose 10 grains to 2 scruples. 200 CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES. lb, G2. Carb, Ferri, ^ . , 4 Tonic and emmenagogiie, dose from 4 to 20 grains twice a day. Magnesia, - - - 4 Absorbaiit, purgative, used for acidity in the prima- via, and cases of poisjiiing by suTphuric acid, dose from 1 scruple to 1 drachm. Canella alba, ... 4 Stimulant and slightly tonic, dose from 19 grains to 1 drachm. Citrated Kali, ... 1 'J Ills is a very valuable medicine in fevers; I drachm dissolved in 4 oz. of water instantly pro- ; duces the saline mixture, similar and equal in every respect to that prepared with fresh lemon juice, and salt of tartar. Pulv. Coloc} nth, ... 1 Drastic purgative, doTie 10 grains to I scruple. Cream of Tartar, - - - 2 Purgative, diuretic and rcfrigerent, dose 4 to 6 drachms. Catechu, .... 2 Astringent, dose 2 scruples to 1 drachm in inPusion or mixture. Cochineal, ... \ Antispasmodic and anodyne, in whooping cough. Cort Peru Rub. ... 1 Tonic, febrifuge and antiseptic, in adynamic inter- mittent fevers, scorbutus, gangrene, &.c. Cort Peru (connmon,) or Carthagtna. 8 1-12 the value of the former. Cort. aurant, - - - I Kefrigerant. In fevers and iiifiammations 1 scru- ple to 1 drachm. Mazerion, , . . ^ -^tinoolating diaphoretic, dose 1 to 4 graljWo CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES. ^Ol lb. 01. Caryophillum, . - - 4 Tonic, stomachic, and eramanagague, dose 6 to 13 grains. Cassia, .... 4 Stimulant, cordial, doss 10 to 20 grains. Calomel, - - - - 8 Purgative, vermifuge and syphilitic, dose 1 to \)t grains. Corrosive sublimate, . * 1 Dose i to i grain in solution. Cera, alb. . - ^ 8 External application in the composition of cerate. Denarcotised acidulous tincture of Opium, 8 This will be found very useful in cases where opium and common laudanum disagrees with the patient. This is sedative without the stimulating properties of opium. Dose 15 to 25 drops. Secale Cornut. pulv. - - 1 In parturition, dose 20 to 30 grams in powder- Emplast Epispastic, - - 8 adhesive, • - 8 ditto, spread on linen, • ^ Curved Trochars for bladder. 220 SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS. Straight do. Lancet pointed, Do. do. Angular, Polypus Forceps, Double Canulas for extracting polipi, Tubes for Tracheotomy, Dr. J. K. Mitcheirs Spine Apparatus, Do. do. with improved chair, Bulloeg's Sound, Bullet Forceps, Doctor Physic's Tonsil Instrument, Scarificator for Tonsils, Dewees's Obstetrical Forceps, do. do. do. do. do. Improved Breast Glasses and Pump, in case. Syringe and Elastic Tube for extracting poison from stomach. Doctor Bond's Oesophagus Forceps, Stethoscopes, Cooper's Bistoury, Doctor Physick's Guarded Bistoury, improved Womb Syringes, in cases, t)o. Ear do. Hare-Lip Pins, Silver Lachrymal Pins, Probangs. In addition to the above, the author will have made to order any description of histruments used in the practice of surgery. Heighton's do. Boudelocque's do. Hall's do. Davis's do. Seabold's do. i!wmmM<. »©s A Acetate of Morphia, solution of 14 Acetate of Morphia, - - 18 Acid Meconic, . 19 Prussic, - - 121 Pyroligneous pure, - 170 Antimony Tart, - 170 B Bark, Peruvian, 37 Cahsaya, 44-162 Loxa or Crown, 45-162 Red, (Oblongifolia,) 46-161 Maracaibo, 60-162 Blue Mass, 90 Brucine, 112 Black Pepper, Extract, 88-167 Oil of - 153 Buchu, Compound Extract, 178 C Cinchona, History of - 37 Calisaya, 44-162 Loxa or Crown, 45-162 Oblongifolia, 46-161 Cornine, Sulph. 55 Copaivt, Solidified, 57 Cinchona Maracaibo, - 60 Cinchonine, 63-117 Cyanic Syrup, 123 Cyanuret of Potassium, 123 Zinc, 123 Iodine, 124 T 2 222 INDEX. ♦ Confection Aromatic Ghalvbeate, - 176 Croton, Oil, - - "' - - 129 Chloruret of Lime, " - - 137 Soda, - - - 136 Copaiva, Oil of - - - 1-55 Cubeb3,Oilof - - - 15o Citrated Kali, - - - - 156 Cornus Florida, Extract, ^ - - ' 163 Circinata, Extract, - - 16 4 Canthaiidin, Oil of - - - 165 Calomel, ... - 168 Carbonate of Iron, - - - 172 Congress Spring Powders, - - - 186 Catalogue of Medicines, - - 196 Instruments, - - 211-220 D Denarcotized Extract of Opium, - ^ Acid Tincture of Opium, 9 Delphine, - - - " ^26 Digestive Lozenges, - - ^ 139 Digitaline, ... - 140 Diosma Crenata^ Extract, - - 178 Doses of Medicine, - - - 1^6 K English Opium, . - - 2 East India Opium, - - - 2 Extract of Opium, - - - -^ Denarcotised Acidulous, - 8 Extractof Black Pepper, - - 88-167 Nux Vomica Alcoholic, - 107 Emetine, - - - " ^ ^ ^ Pastiles and Syrup, - - 116 Euphorbia Lathjris, on, - - 132 Extract, Sarsaparilla Fluid, - - 148 Extract, Compound Tonic, - - 160 Sem. Stramonii, - - 16i INDEX. 223 Extract, Quinine, Cornus Florida, Circinata, I'metic, Tartar E^xtract, Buchu compound, - 161 163 164 170 173 F Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla, - 118 G (?finger Beer Powders, Gelil^ Muriate and Oxide, (icntianine, Tincture and Syrup, - 17G 127 133 134 H Hydriodate, Potass, Solution, Ointment, Hepatic a Triloba, Sjrup, - lO.j 104 190 I Iodine, Tincture of lodurets of Mercury, Ointment and Iodine, Cjanuret of Iron, Carbonate of Tincture, 101 102 105 lOG 124 172 K Kali, Citrate-d, 15G I. Loxa or Crown Bark, - - 45-120 Lactucarium, - . - 126 Lupaline, - - - - 127 Pills and tinctures, - - 128 Syrup of - - 129 Lime, Chloruret - - - 137 Lozenges, Digestiveor bi-carbonate of Soda^ 139 Liverwort, Compound Syrup of - lOO 224 INDEX. M Morphia, Acetate Solution of - Merphia, - . - . Salts of - - - Meconic Acid, IMaracaibo Bark, . - - Mercury, Division of, in Blue Mass, Proto and Deuto lodurets, Ointment, Tincture, Sulph. yEther, Morphia, Mercury, Black Oxide, Medicines, Catalogue of P :n^ Narcotine, Nux Vomica Alcoholic Extract, Tincture, 14 17 13 19 GO-162 31 105 106 106 206 107 113 159 196 15 -114 109 103 O Opium, Turkey, - . - 2 East India, - - - 2 English, . - - 3 Consumption of - - 5 Extract of - - - 7 Denarcotised Acidulous Extract, 8 Tincture, - 9-23 RezinCoutchouc, Oil and Acid, 16 Fceculencies, - - - 18 Manufacture of - - 24 Ointment Hydriodate of Potass, - 104 Proto and Deuto loduret Mercury 106 ofVeratrine, - - 120 OilofCroton, - ~ - - 129 Soap of - . - 129 Euphorbia Lathyris, - - 132 Black Pepper, - - - 153 INDEX, 225 Oil of Copaiva, - 155 Cubebs, - 155 Oxide of Mercury, Black - 159 Oil of Cantharidin, - 165 P Poppy, on the Cultivation of - - 24 Peruvian Bark, - 37 Piperine and Quinine combined, 55 Pipcrine, - 73 Potass, Hydriodate Solution, - - 103 Ointment, - 104. Pills, Proto and Deuto lodurets of Mercury, 107 Strychnine, 110 Pastiles of Emetine, 116 Pills of Veratrine, 119 Prussic Acid, - 121 Pectoral mixture, 122 Potassium, Cyanuret, 123 Platina, Salts of 127 Pills of Lupuline, 128 Phosphorus, 141 Powders, Ginger Beer, Chalybeate, 176 Powders, Saratoga, 186 a Quinine, Sulphate, remarks on, , - •53-117 Quinine, Extract of • 161 n Red Bark, - 46-161 Rhubarbaine, - 67 Rhubarb, i^i varieties. Sulphate of Morphia, - - 68 „ 18 Quinine, - 53- -64-117 Cornine, - 163 Solidified Copaiva, . 57 226 INDEX. Sulphate of Cinchonine, . G3-117 Rhubarb, - - 67 Solution, Hydriodate Potass, - 103 Strychnine, - 108 Pills and Tincture, - 110 Syrup of Emetine - 11(> Solution of Veratrine, - - 120 Syrup, Cyanic, - - 123 Salanine, - 125 Syrup of Lupuline, - 129 Gentianine, - - 134 Soda, Chloruret, - 13^ Salacine, . 142 Sarsaparilla, - 144 Compound Fluid Extract, - 148 Strammonii, Extract Sem. - 161 Saratoga Powders, . 186 Syrup of Liverwort, - . 190 Surgical Instruments, - 211-220 T Turkey Opium, _ ^i Tincture Deuto-loduretof Mercurj^, - 106 Nux. Vomica, - 108 Strychnine, - 110 Veratrine, . 119 Thrydace or Lacutacarium, - 126 Tincture of Lupuhne, - 128 Gentianine, - 134 Tonic Extract, Compound, - 160 Tartar Emetic, - 170 V Veratrine, _ 118 Pills and Tincture, _ 119 Solution and Ointment, 120 Urea, - . 126 Vegetable Extracts, - 172 Zinc, Cyanuret, Z