The description, composition, and preparations of the sanguinaria canadensis [microform]

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\From the Piiabmaceutical Journal for Mahcii, I860].

^(^

PART II. V3 *^^. de ^^>

ES^RIPTION, COMPOSITION, AND PREPARATIONS OF
THE SANGUINARIA CANADENSIS.

BT OEOBGE "D. GIBB, H.D., M.B.C.P., LONDON.

In another place^ I have been at some pains to show the value of the san«
guinaria, or Canadian blood-root, in many internal diseases, of which those of
the chest and throat are the most important. From the evidence which has
been brought forward to prove its value in these, there is no doubt that the
drug will become extensively employed in this country. The pages of the
Pharmaceutical Journal have appeared to me the fittest place for a descrip-
tion of the root, its composition, and of the various preparations employed
medicinally.

The plant belongs to the sexual system Folyandria Monogynia, and the
natural order Papaveracese.

DBSCBIPTION.

The only officinal part of tU's hardy little herbaceous perennial plant is the
root.

The Root. — When fresh^ it is from two to three and a half and four inches
long, abrupt at the end, often contorted and truncated, about as thick as the
finger, fleshy, round, being for the most part tolerably stout in the middle, with
a curvature at epch end, covered with orange fibres two or more inches long, of
a reddish brown colour externally, inclining to copper, of a brighter blood-red
within, and abounding in an orange-coloured juice, which escapes when it is
cut. The end always has the appearance of having been cut off by a dull in-
strument, or broken in removing it from the ground. Occasionally a number of
roots ai*e connected together, principally by no closer attachment than that pro-
duced by a fasciculation of numerous fibres originating from the main body.

When dried, it has considerably shrunken ; and, as met with in commerce, is
in pieces from one to three inches long,f firom a quarter to half an inch or more
in thickness, flattened, heavy, mucb wrinkled and twisted, often furnished with
abrupt ofllsets or knobs and many short radical fibres, externally a darker red-
dish-brown colour, with a spongy, uneven fracture when broken, the surface of
which is at first bright orange, deepest in the centre, but becomes of a dull
brown by long exposure.

Ac4^

See British MedicalJoumal, page 104, ^ i^^a,^^

t A tew reacli tlie length of four inclies

Ji^t^ - /J^c^

2 THE DESCRIPTION, Ac, OF THE VNC5UINAUIA CANADENSIS.

The form s.nd dimensions of the dried root, as usually met with, are repre-
sented in the woodci ''.

There is but the one kind only of blood-root employed in commerce, and it is
met with unadulterated, there being no inducement to practise fraud, from its
cheapness and abundant growth. A few extraneous but unimportant matters
are sometimes found with the dried roots. Two packages of the dried root sent
me by my friend Dr. Fenwick, obtained from Lyman, Savage, and Co., drug-
gists, of Montreal, contained eight pounds each, and were put up in oblong deal
boxes, with a sliding lid, and were j.erfectly air-tight.

The odour of the root is peculiar and somewhat narcotic, and on handling it,
causes sneezing ; the taste is bitterish^, acrid, and durable. The sneezing effect
is also produced by stirring the powder. It yields its virtues to water and
alcohol, and these will be found to be the greatest when the seeds are ripe,
about the months of May and June, which are the best time to collect the plant
for medicinal purposes. The virtues of the root are said to be rapidly deterio-
rated by time ; some difference of opinion, however, exists on this point.

The powdered root possesses a brighter brownish orange-red colour than
powdered cinnamon, and otherwise resembles it.

The seeds are about the size of grains of barley, of a dark shiny reddish brown
colour, half surrounded with a peculiar white vermiform appendage, which pro-
jects at the lower end. Like most other seeds of the poppy tribe, the albumen
of the seeds of this plant is between fleshy and oily. A bland and nutritious
colourless fixed oil is obtained from the seeds, which, as already mentioned,
ripen in the months of May and June, or even much earlier in the southern
states of America.

Theyuice of the plant, generally of an orange colour, sometimes assumes the
tint and redness of blood, especially in the northern parts of Canada. That
obtauied from the leaves is of a lighter tint. Both stain a deep orange yellow,
and hence its use as a dye, as described in the economical uses of the plant
further on.

The juice, when examined under the microscope, presents numerous trans-
parent globules, like those represented in milk, and multitudes of coloured
granules, free and in clusters ; this is at 300 diameters. With a higher power
than this, the likeness to the globules of milk is even more distinct, as they are
varied in size, and are equjilly as numerous as in rich snilk. With a still higher
power of 740 diameters, the fluid is seen to be in a state of life, as multitudes of

£>

THE DR8CRIPTI0N, &C,, OP THE SANOUINARIA CANADENSIS. 3

transparent monads, moving to and fro, give the most active appearance to all
the objects on the field, a peculiarity I have only observed in freshly drawn
milk taken from the female breast, which has undergone saccharine fermenta-
tion within the gland. Many of the globules of the juice tilled cells, which con-
tained as many as fifteen or twenty, thus resembling a compound granular
corpuscle.

The greater part of the globules and granules were dissolved by ether, and
rendered thinner and more transparent by liquor potassae. Acetic acid dissolved
a good deal of the granular matter. The action of a number of reagents, such
as the acids, ammonia, &c., did not produce any of the salts of sanguinarina,
although the condition of the peculiar resin was slightly altered in its molecular
cohesion.

A horizontal section of the fresh root is probably one of the most beautiful
objects under the micioscope to be met with in the whole vegetable kingdom.
It is found to consist of a multitude of cells of more or less uniform diameter
throughout its central part, of a somewhat oval and hexagonal form, and filled
with three different substances. The first of these is the oran<»e-coloured resin
peculiar to the plant, which occupies the larger proportion of the cells, present-
ing the most beautiful shades of transparent amber. The second is a substance,
occupying the cells here and there, of a magnificent transparent garnet hue,
resembling dots of true garnet scattered over the field, with lateral facets, like a
precious stone : this is probably the most remarkable peculiarity connected with
this wonderful plant, and I believe these garnet bodies to represent the sangui-
narina ; whilst tne third substance is white and transparent, occupying even fewer
cells than the last named, but consisting of a colourless fixed oil, peculiar to the
plant itself.

COMPOSITION.

The root, the leaves, and the seeds have been submitted to chemical analysis
by several American physicians ; these, however, were not complete, and did
not all agree with one another.

Dr. Downey, of Maryland, who wrote an inaugural dissertation upon it in
1803, considered the proximate principles of the plant to be resin, r/um, and an
extractive or saponaceous matter, the gum being the greatest in quantity, and con-
taining the active principle of the plant. Dr. Bigelow, on the other hand, who
examined the root chemically in 1816, found neither gum nor extract present,
but a peculiar resin of a deep orange colour, a bitter principle, an acrid prin-
ciple (residing partly in the ream), feciila, and a fibrous or looody portion. Dr.
Fitzgerald Bird, in 1822, published an inaugural dissertation on the root, and
gave a more accurate and minute analysis, the steps of which are carefully
detailed by him." He found the root to contain : 1. Cinchonin; 2. Extractive
matter; 3. Gummy material ; 4. Resin; and 5. Gallic acid in a state of con>
bination. The colouring principle of the root resides chiefly in its resinous parts,
as the alcoholic solution is always more than twice as highly coloured as the
aqueous. Papers dipped in these solutions receive a bright salmon colour from
the tincture, but a very faint one from the aqueous solution.

In 1824i a series of experiments were performed by the late Dr. Dan a, of New
York, and he discovered a peculiar organic alkali in the root, which he called
sanguiiiarina. This alkaloid, no doubt, contains the active principle and medical
virtues of the plant, and is an acrid white substance, which forms coloured salts
with the acids. I nave discovered this principle in the leaves, and have no doubt
it exists in the seeds also.

The following are the different methods which may be employed to procure
this alkaloid, which are here called after the respective chemists, for convenience
of description :

Sanguinarina by Dana's Process, — The finely powdered root is to be infused in
water acidulated witli muriatic or acetic acid, precipitating with ammonia, collecting
tlie precipitated matter, boiling it in water with pure animal charcoal, filtering off

4 THE DK8CH1PT10N, &t'., OF THE SANGUINAHIA CANADKNHIS.

the water, treating the residue left upon the filter with alcohol, and finally evapo-
rating the alcoholic solution.*

Other methods are described as Dana's, which are of sufficient importance to
mention, such as : Digesting the finely powdered root in absolute alcohol, adding
to the tincture a solution of ammonia, so long as it occasions any precipitate. A
grey powder falls down, which is to be treated as described in the process given
above.

The advantage of employing absolute alcohol is that everj'thing soluble is
taken up by it. A whits pearly or pearl grey substance remains, which is the
sanguinarina.

Dr. James Schiel, of St. Louis, Missouri, determined the identity of san-
guinarina with chelerythrine, and he gives the following as the simplest process
of preparing either alkaloid :

Sanguinarina by SchieVs Process.— Digest the root with water strongly acidulated
with sulphuric acid, precipitate with ammonia, wash and dry the precipitate, dissolve
it in ether, treat with animal charcoal, filter, and precipitate with sulphuric acid
dissolved in ether. A pure sulphate of sanguinarina is thus obtained, which may
be decomposed in the ordinary method to obtain the alkaloid.f

Schiel's process has the advantage of both cheapness and simplicity. I have
prepared the alkaloid by Dana's and Schiel's methods, and obtained, perhaps,_an
equal quantity of the alkaloid by each. As the identity of sanguinarina with
chelerythrine has been established by Schiel, found in celandine long subse-
quently to Dana's discovery, I quite agree with Dr. Wood,| of Philadelphia,
tnat the name of chelerythrine should be abandoned.

Riegel, however, suspects that the porphyroxine found by Merck in opium, is
identical with sanguinarina, as well as with chelerythrine, and the alkaloid dis-
covered by Walz in the Eschscholtzia Californica.§

Sanguinarina may also be conveniently procured by a method similar to that
employed by Probst for obtaining chelerythrine from celandine. This consists
of the following process :

Sanguinarina by Probsfs Process. — A strong ethereal tincture of the dried and
powdered root is first to be prepared; a current of muriatic acid gas is to be passed
through this, which will throw down the muriate which is insoluble in ether ; it is
to be dissolved in hot water after filtering, and precipitated by ammonia. This is to
be collected and dried, dissolved in ether, decolorized by animal charcoal, precipitated
by means of muriatic acid gas, and decomposing the muriate as before. ||

Sanguinarina is a white pearly substance, having a bitter and an acrid taste,
very sparingly soluble in water, soluble in ether, and very soluble in alcohol. It
possesses well-marked alkaline characters : thus it changes turmeric to a brown,
and purple cabbage infusion to a green. When heated, it melts into an oil, and
burns without any residue. Concentrated nitric acid decomposes it. Tts formula,
according to Schiel, is Cst Haa Nj Os.

With the acids, it forms salts of some shade of red, crimson, or scarlet, ot
great intensity and beauty ; these are soluble in water and alcohol, and form
beautiful red solutions, in which, perhaps, the crimson predominates, but of a
decided bitterness. Chloride of platinum precipitates them of an orange red,
and infusion of galls of a yellowish red colour.

The following are the more important salts of sanguinarina :

Sulphate. — A pure sulphate is obtained in the preparation of the alkaloid by Schiel's
process.

Hydrochhrate. — As obtained in the preparation of the alkaloid by Probst's process

* Annals Lyceum of Nat. Hist., New York, ii., 250. In United States Dispensatory, 11th
edit., 1858.
\ SiUiman's Journal, N. S., vol. xx., p. 220.
t In a letter to the author.

I Jahro.jur Fraki. Pharm,,xi., 100, in Chem. Gaz., vol. iv., 197.
I Chemical Gazette, vol. i., p. 145.

*-<

*-•

IHE DESCRIPTION, &C., OV THE SANGUINARIA CANADENSIS. 5

it is of a magnificent scarlet colour, which, when dissolved in water, yields, on the
addition of ammonia, pure sanguinarina in wliite or slightly coloured flocks, which
become a yellow powder ly washing and drying.

Ilydrochlorate of sanguinarina is a red agglutinated friable mass. The
powder, under the microscope, presents an agglomeration of well-defined small
crystals. It ia readily soluble both in water and alcohol, especially when
heated, and is insoluble in etiier.*

Acetate, — This, equally with the hydrochlorate, is peculiarly pungent and acid.
Oxalate. — Oxalic acid unites with sanguinuriiiu, and forms minute needle-shaped
cryjtals, visible under the microscope.

Porphyroxin. — Riegel extracted a principle from the blood-root, which he
found to be analogous to the porphyroxin discovered by Merck in opium, and
this has induced me to adopt the same name for it in the sanguinaria. At the
same time, I wholly dissent from the suspicion entertained by lliegel that this
substance is identical either with sanguinarina or chelerythrin. It may be
observed that porphyroxin obtained from opium crystallizes in colourless,
minute, shining needles, is neutral, becoming coloured of an olive green by con-
centrated nitric or sulphuric acids, and is dissolved by dilute acid, becoming red
on boiling ; whereas the crystals of the same substance obtained from san-
guinaria, are of a tabular form.

Porphyroxin, which is a second alkaloid in the root of sanguinaria, is obtained by
extraction with water containing acetic acid, precipitation of the sanguinarina by
ammonia, neutralization of the wash water with acetic acid, and precipitation with
infusion of galls ; the deposit is collected, well washed, dried, and digested with an
alcoholic solution of potash as long as anything is dissolved, carbonic acid passed
into the solution, and the spiiit lemoved by distillation. The residue is exhausted
with water, this evaporated, and what remains extracted with ether, from which it
separates on evaporation as a dirty-white crystalline mass.

By solution in alcohol and treatment with animal charcoal, it is obtained in
small colourless tabular crystals, which arc void of taste and smell, and are
very sparingly soluble in water, more readily so in alcohol. It yields with acids
colourless crystalline salts, which have a bitter taste, dissolve in water, and from
whose solutions it is precipitated of a white colour.f

Puccine. — This is a third distinct principle discovered by Mr. Edward S.
Wayne, of Cincinnati, in the ether, after the precipitation of the sulphate of
sanguinarina in the process of Schiel. As it has not been named, I have
ventured to call it puccine, deriving that appellation from the Indian name of
the plant.

Preparation. — After precipitating all the sanguinarina by Schiel's process, there
remains a substance held in solution by the ether. This is of a much deeper red
colour, and leaves a yellowish soli'1 deposit upon the sides of the vessel. If the
ether is left to evaporate, a substance is left of a dark red colour, and without crys-
talline form. This must be redissolved in ether, and agitated with dilute sulphuric
acid, until all the sanguinarina is removed. By separating the ethereal portion from
the acid, and allowing spontaneous evaporation, a dark red translucent mass remains
behind. If this is treated by alcohol in a displacer, a deep red tincture is obtained,
upon adding water to which, a precipitate is thrown down, to be collected upon a
filter and dried. This is the Puccine.:^

If diluted hydrochloric acid be added to a solution of the mass in boiling
alcohol, a deep red colour is produced, and when set aside to cool, deposits
beautiful needle-shaped crystals of a bright red colour.

With sulphuric acid, it forms a confused warty mass of crystals, which rub to
a bright red powder.

• rhi'osopln<:al Mng , January, 1843.
t Cliemical Gazette, vol. iv., p. 198.
J Amur. Jour. ofPhar., vol. xxviii., p. 521, Nov., 1856.
B

6 THE DESCUIPTION, «fec., OV THE 8AN0UINARIA CANADENSIS.

From its acid combinations, it is precipitated of a pale yellow colour, which,
when dried, has a pale red tint.

The quantity of puccine is so small, that fifteen pounds of the root yielded
but 130 grains of it. This substance, therefore, is pale red, tasteless, insoluble
in water, but soluble in alcohol and ether, and unites with hydrochloric and
sulphurio acids to form crystallizable compounds, of a deep red colour.

thelidonic Acid. — This acid has been ootained from the root by Mr. Wayne,
who considers the acrid and pungent taste it possesses as due entirely to a salt
of sanguinarina, probably the chelidonato. The sanguinarina and puccine he
mentions as having but little taste. He moreover asserts that the red colour
of the root, the tincture and other fluid preparations, is not. due solely to the
sanguinarina.*

F(?CM/a.— The method I used to detect the presence of starch was as follows :
A hot aqueous infusion was prepared fiom the powdered root, and allowed to
cool ; from this was precipitated a flocculent material by alcohol. This was
allowed to settle 24 hours, and then examined with the microscope, when num-
bers of clear, thin, and transparent starch granules were seen, mostly of a
circular form, the hilum not bemg visible unless occasionally. Smaller irregular
bodies were also present, but these were not cellulose.

A very few long needle-shaped crystals were also seen, greatly multiplied on
adding a drop of sulphuric acid, when they assumed the form of stars around
any central body for a nucleus, many of the needles crossing one another. Some
resembled a bundle of thin reeds tied round the centre. A drop or two of the
tincture of iodine added to the fluid in a test tube, converted it into its
characteristic dark blue colour. The demonstration of the presence of fecula
was therefore positive, chemically and microscopically.

Dr. Bigelow only inferred the presence of fecula from finding the hot infusion
to be viscid, glutinous, and to stiff*en linen. This he precipitated by alcohol,
soluble in nitric acid, and again thrown down by alcohol.

Saccharine matter. — This I discovered by applying the usual tests for sugar
to an infusion of the powdered root on being cooled. Barreswil's solution of
the tartrate of copper and potass indicated a tolerable quantity of sugar, a very
heavy yellow precipitate of the sub-oxide of copper falhng.

Vegetable Albumen.— 1 have found a small quantity in the infusion of the root,
but by no means bo much as exists in the seeds, which yield a large amount
of it.

Fixed Oil. — A slow and continued heat, applied to an infusion of the bruised
root, produces a thick iridescent continuous falm upon the surface of the liquid,
not unlike that on mutton broth, which, on being collected and examined, proves
to be a yellowish coloured fixed oil, soluble in ether. It can also be readily
obtained without the application of heat, simply by being allowed to stand three
or four days in the heat of summer. This oil possesses an oily, bitterish, and
somewhat acrid taste, immediately felt in the fauces. It may be procured in
other ways besides those I have mentioned.

The analysis of the blood-root, as derived from the experiments of various
observers, including those of my own, may be represented as follows : —

1. Sanguinarina

2. Porphyroxin

3. Puccine

4. Chelidonic acid

5. Fecula

6. Saccharine matter

7. Vegetable albumen

8. Orange-coloured resin

9. Fixed oil

\\'

The same Journal just quo*'ed.

THE DESCRIPTION, <&C., OF THE SANGUINARIA CANADENSIS.

^'

10. Extractive matter

11. Lignin

12. Gum (a little)

The seeds contain probably the preater number of the foregoing, but a fixed
oil, obtained by expression, together with much albumen, are the principal
ingredients which enter into their composition.

ECONOMICAL USES.

The economical purposes to which this plant is applied are few, but they are
not the less important.

The earliest use made of the juice of the root of the sanguinaria, independent
of its therapeutical agencies, was as a pigment to smear and colour the bodies of
Indian warriors. At the same time, it was generally employed by native Indian
artists to draw rude figures, and, as a dye, to colour their baskets, bark work,
ornaments, and even some domestic utensils ; hence one of its vulgar names,
Indian paint.

Wherever the plant is grown, the Indians use it for these various purposes up
to the present day. The Canadian settlers in the time of Charlevoix made
extensive use of the juice to stain furniture ; so that it would seem to be a plant
not only well known, but extensively employed for miscellaneous purposes both
in medicine and the arts.

The juice of the root is now also well known to produce a fine dye of an
orange colour, and is extensively em.ployed by many of the country people and
others in the United States for dyeing flannel and woollen cloths. The know-
ledge of its application in this way I think not improbable to have been first
derived from tne Indians, who seemed to be well acquainted with the permanent
nature of its colouring matter.

The value of the blood-root as a dyeing agent was fully proved by the experi-
ments of Dr. Downey, of Maryland, in 1803. These were made with a view to
find a suitable mordant to fix this dye. It appears that the colour of flannel
and silk stained with this juice could never be entirely washed out ; that the
sulphate of alumina, or alumina alone, and the permuriate of tin, are tolerably
good mordants for flannel, cotton, silk, and linen. Permuriate of tin was the
only mordant that fixed the colour on cotton and linen.

This plant was then employed as a dye in the woollen cloth manufactory near
Wilmington, Delaware. " If success has been obtained," Dr. Downey observes,
" injfixing the colour permanently, there can be no doubt that the dye obtained
from puccoon will become a highly important article in domestic manufactures."

I have reason to believe that it is now extensively employed in many parts of
the United States, not only as a dye, but for other pu'-nuses in the arts. The
sources of my information on these points, I regret to : :; were not so accessible
as could have been desired. I have recently ascertaii.ed that the plant is now
in active use in France, to dye silks and muslins of a permanent orange colour.*

In that popular and deservedly well-known work, the Commercial Products of
the Vegetable Kingdom, by P. S. Simmonds, 1854, under the head of Oleaginous
Plants, and those yielding fixed or essential oils, the following extract has come
across my notice : —

" The seeds of the Argemone mexicana and of the Sanguinaria canadensis also
contain a bland, nutritious, colourless, fixed oil. The mass from which the seed
is expressed is found to be extremely nutritious to cattle." — Page 511.

The cake, alter the oil is expressed, is thus used for feeding purposes, and Mr.
Simmonds has since informed me that the oil is medicinally employed in North
America for cattle. Further knowledge about this would prove highly valuable,
and should circumstances hereafter furnish me with it, it shall be rendered
available elsewhere.

Partly in connexion with this subject, it may be here stated that the leaves

* Diet. Univeraei det Sciences, &c. Par Bouillet. Paris, 1854.

8

THE DESCRIPTION, &C., OP THK SANOUIMARJA CANADENSIS.

and the root are given (on the authority of Dr. Downey) by the farriers in
Maryland to horses, to inuuce sweating, and thus promote the shedding of their
old coats of hair.

An economical purpose to which the plant may still further be applied, is to
prepare a resinous soup from the root. The residue, after the prepRcation of
eanguinaiina by Schiel's process, mixed with potass and boiled, formed a thick
pultacious mass, which, after some days, evaporated to the consistence of soap
of a dark grey colour. I have no doubt whatever that an investigation into its
saponiibrm properties might lead to very interesting and, at the same time,
profitable results.

ADMINI8TBATI0N.

1. PoLVM Sanotjinaeijii. — Powder of Blood-root. — The usual dose of the
powder as an emetic is from 10 to 20 grains suspended in water. It is preferable
sometimes to administer it in the form of pill to avoid the irritation of the fauces.
Dr. Wood thinks it questionable to bring it in direct contact with the mucous
menibrane of the stomach in its concentrated form. Dr. Leonard frequently
combines it with ipecacuanha, and the combination is a prompt and exceedingly
easy emetic for old or young persons. As a nauseating and stimulating expecto-
rant, the dose is from 1 to 5 grains, repeated more or less frequently according
to the effect desired. Grain doses wiU produce a diaphoretic and expectorant
effect ; if given frequently, say every one or two hours, then it will exert a
sedative action, and reduce the frequency of the pulse.

2. PoLvis SANGCiNARiiE CoMPOsiTDS. — CoTtipound Powder of Sanguinarta.---
(The Author.) (Sanguinaria, powdered, 9ij. ; hard opium, powdered, ^. ;
sulphate of potash, powdered, 3ij. Qi. ; mix them.) Every 10 grains contam 1
grain of opium, 2 of^sanguinaria, and 7 of sulphate of potajs. The dose of this
powder is from 3 to 15 grains, and I have found it the most convenient prepara-
tion of blood-root, and one that can be depended upon. It may not inaptly be
compared to the Dover's powder, the ipecacuanha of which is replaced by the
sanguinaria, but in double the quantity. The majority of cases in which 1 have

■ employed this remedy were treated with this powder, and I can recommend it
as probably the least irritating of all the preparations of psnguinaria.

3. PcLvis SANQUiNABiiB CUM Camphoha. — Powder of Sanguinaria with Cam-
phor.— (Sanguinaria powdered, 9j. ; camphor, powdered, gr. viij. ; cloves,
powdered, gr. xxxij. ; mix them.) This is used as an errhine in coryza, and
proves very efficacious.

4. luFUSUM Sanguinabije. — Infusion of Sanguinaria. — (Sanguinaria, bruised,
3v. ; boiling water, Oj. Macerate for four hours in a lightly covered vessel, and
strain.) The emetic dose is fromSiv. to Sviij. at short inteivals, till its effects
are produced.

5. Decoctdm Sangoinabi^e. — Decoction of Sanguinaria. — (Sanguinaria,
bruised, 3vi.; distilled water, Oiss. Boil down to a pint and strain.) The dose
is the same as the infusion, but is a little more energetic, particularly if given
warm.

6. Succus SANGTiiNABLff:. — Preserved Juice of Sanguinaria. — This is prepared
by expression from the fresh root, and adding alcohol ; but I think it preferable
to employ the expressed juice when required, as obtained fresh from the root.
When the fresh root is broken, or the stems of the leaves, the juice will pour out
in sufficient quantity for immediate use.

7. Olbdm Sanguinabije. — Oil of Sanguinaria. — This may be obtained by
submitting the root with water to repeated distillation. The dose would be from
one to four drops.

8. ExTBACTUM Sanguinabi^. — Extract of Sanguinaria. — (Sanguinaria,
bruised, 5 v. ; water, Oij. The bruised root is to be macerated for some hours
in a portion of the water, then briskly rubbed, adding the remainder, and then
set by for the dregs to subside. The liquor is to be then strained p.iid evaporated
to a proper consistence.) If warm water is used instead of the cold, the extract

THE DESCRIPTION, &C., OF THE 8ANUUINAR1A CANADENSIS.

0

i

soon becomes mouldy. The dose is from an nighth to half a grain three times a
day. It may be necessary to commence with a sixteenth, according to the
strength of the patient. Should griping or tenesmus ensuo, the tincture should
be substituted. My friend, Dr. C. 13. Hall, of St. Thomas, Ciinuda West,
recently told me that the extract prepared by Tilden and Co., of New York, is
much used in Canada as an elegant preparation in chest affections principally.

9. TiNCTDBA Sanouinahi*, U. S.—tiiicture of Blood-root.—'UVxs is the only
officinal preparation, and is prepared as follows, according to the United States
Dispeiimtor^ —

' Take of blood-root, bniised,/owr onncx'i ; diluted alcohol, two pints. Macerate
for fourteen days, express, and niter through paper.

" This tincture may also be prepared by thoroughly moistening the blood-root,
in powder, with diluted alcohol, allo-ving it to stand for 48 houvs, then transfer-
ring it to a percolator, and gradually pouring upon it diluted alcohol until two
pints of filtered liquor are obtained." — U. S.

This will prove emetic in the dose of two to four fluid drachms ; but it is
rather intended to act as a stimulant to the stomach, expectorant, or alterative,
for which purpose from twenty to sixty drops may be given every two or three
hours in acute cases, and three or four times a day in the chronic*

10. TiNCTUBA Sanguinabi^ Grbenii.— GrecM'.'j Tincture of Samjuinaria.—
Although I do not go so far as to believe with Dr. Horace Green that the
officinal tincture is mefficient, it seems to me nevertheless that its strength
might be increased with decided advantage, because the active principle of the
root is readily taken up by the spirit. He recommends the absolute alcohol in
preference to the diluted, in which I fully concur. His formula is as follows :—
Eight ounces of the blood-root finely bruised are to be macerated in two pints of
absolute alcohol, and then prepared in the usual way.

The dose is from fifteen to sixty drops every three or four hours, or three or
four times a day, according to the necessity of the case.

11. Visum Sanguinari.e.— Winfi of Sanyuinaria.—Thxa may be prepared in
the same manner as the tincture, substituting sherry wine for the diluted alcohol.
The dose is the same as the tincture. It is recommended as being more pleasant
and more powerful.

12. AcETUM Sanguinabije — Ft«<'</ar of ^anfjfMtnana.— (Sanguinaria, fresh
and sliced, gss. ; vinegar, Oj. Shake it frequently, and it is ready for ube in a
few hours.) This is the process of Dr. Jennings. I think it preferable to
recommend the root to be bruised and rubbed up with the vinegar, and filtered
after a few hours. He found it most serviceable in the sore-throat of scarlatina,
and it has been employed with advantage topically in some obstinate cutaneous
affections.

13. Stbupus Sxaovn^AuiM.— Syrup of Sanguinaria.—iSanguinaria, m coarse
powder, 3 viij; acetic acid, fjiv.; water, Ov.; sugar, ftij. Add to the powder
two fluid ounces of the acetic acid mixed with a pint of the water, macerate for
three days, transfer to a percolator, and displace with the remainder of the
water mixed with the remainder of the acetic acid; evaporate the infusion
obtained, by means of a water-bath, to eighteen fluid ounces, then add the sugar,
and form a syrup, straining if necessary.) The foregoing is the lormula proposed
by Mr. T. S. vViegand,f and it is one likely to prove serviceable to young
children. The dose as an emetic is from one to two fluid drachms.

14. Ungubntum Sahqvisaris^.— Ointment of Sanguinaria.—(_S&ngmnana,
finely powdered, 3j.; lard, Sj. Mix.) Besides the uses mentioned in previous
observations, it may be applied now and then to foul ulcers.

• United States Disp., eleventh ciMon, 1858; and Wood's Therapeutics and Pharmacology y

vol. ii.

t Amtrkan Journal of Pharmacy, vol. xxvl.; and United States Dispensatory, eleventh
edition, 18j8.

10 THE DESCRIPTION, &C,, OF THE SANGUINARIA CANADENSIS.

15, SANGUiNABiNiE. — Sanguinarino. — The various modes of preparing this
alkaloid were given when speaking of the composition of the plant, and therefore
unnecessary to repeat here. It has not been used in medicine so far as I am
aware, nor has Dr. Wood (the talented author of the United States Dispensatory,
and other works) employed it, as mentioned to me in his letter of the 2'2nd of
February, 1858. I would estimate the dose at from one-sixteenth to half a
grain dissolved in some acid. The sulphate or hydrochlorate would be a more
convenient preparation in doses of an eighth and quarter of a grain. To an
asthmatic female patient I prescribed a twelfth of a grain of the sulphate with
extract of conium twice a day, with the most extraordmary relief to the breathing
and expectoration.

16. Sanouinarin is a preparation from the laboratory of B. Keith and Co.,
of New York. It is a compound of the alkaloid, the resin, a resinoid, and a
neutral principle, as I am informed by my friend Dr. Badgley, who kindly
presented me with a sample of it. The dose is a (quarter to half a grain to begin
with. It is said to combine the leading active pnnciples of the sanguinaria.