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-
<iuently is seldom or ever employed by our ph)iji-
cjans. From various modes and different menstrua
which I have tried, I iind the following to make the
most eligible preparation, possessing most advan-
tages both in the activity and persistency of the ex-
tract, as well as having the decided superiority over
crude opium, by affording all its desirable effects,
without any of its inconveniences or disadvantages.
Denarcotised acidulous Extract oj Opium. — Digest
^i. coarsely powdered opium i^i. sulphuric asther oi
the specific gravity .735 for ten days,"*^ occasionally
fubmitting to a moderate heat in a water bath, distil
off the aether and add fresh portions until it ceases
to take up narcotine or act at all upon the opium,
which may be readily known by dropping a little oa
a clean pane of glass which will leave no trace when
the opium is completely exhausted, the second or
third distillation will prove sufficient, most of the
• Where it is necessary to prepare it ia haste, less t rne
may be employed by aabiriltlng- it more frequently to the
temperature of ebullitioQ,
OPIUM. 9
?Ether maj be saved if prepared with care and in a
|iroper apparatus. Professor Hare* recommends
the digestion of the opium in aether,«to be performed
in the Papin's digester, submit the opium thus treated ,
to the action of spt. vin. rect. 5viii. acetic, acid,
fort. 3J.t aqua ovii. and digest for seven dajs, filter
and evaporate in a water bath to the consistence of
an extract. This in fact will be an impure acetate
of morphia, possessing most of the advantages of that
valuable medicine. One ounce of the best Turkey
<^pium yielded by this process 5vi. of extract. Laud-
anum and other preparations may be made of the
usual standard, calculating 5vi. of the extract equiv-
.alent to 51. of opium.
Denarcotised acidulous Tincture of Opium. — Digest
^i. of coarsely powdered opium in one pint of
sulph. asther,s, g. .735 for ten days, occasionally sub-
mitting it to the influence of a moderate heat, until
it ceases to act upon the opium, separate the opium
and dry it, then digest in spt. vin. rect. 5viii. acetic,
acid. fort. ^ii. aqua. ^vi. for seven days, and filter.
This preparation will be found to possess great ad-
vantages over laudanum and the black drop of the
shops, to which it w^ill be much preferable, inasmuch
as it will be destitute of the stimulating principle,
(narcotine,) wdiich produces such distressing effects,
and frequently forbids the administration of opium,
where it might otherwise be extremely useful, the
• See Philaaelphia'Journalof the Med. and Phyt. Science!,
No. IX. New Series, p. 78.
Aclt.1 pyrolig-ncoua, pure, (concentrated.)
10 OPIUM.
addition of acetic acid will contribute much to in^-
crease the calming or sedative elfecis, which are
most generally desired, and for which opium is par-
tkalarly given. By its union with the morphia, it
forms in solution the active sedative salt of opium,
(acetate of morphia,) and differs only from the solu-
tion of the acetate of morphia of the shops, in it«
state of parity, and as the extraneous matter with
which it is associated has no effect on the animal sys-
tem, it may be considered as good an article, and
should be preferred for general use, in consequence/
x>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
<lirected to be made, to say nothing of the worse than
useless articles which enter into its composition, such
as yeast, nutmeg, and saffron."^ The black drop
* It is a singular circumstance, that so Imperfect and unsci-
tntific a preparation should so long have maintained a place
in our materia medica. I believe there is no formula, not
eren for the most innocent compound, so extremely indefi-
nite, and allowing- so great a scope to the judgment of the
operator. In the first place, the vinegar containing the op I-
wm, nutmeg, and saffron, is directed tabe boiled to a proper
©oiisistence. The activity of the preparation will consequent-
ly be subject to as much variation as the ideas of persons may
differ in relation to what is termed a proper consistence, '.iP.4
opruitf. 11
f)wcB its supcrioritj over laudanum to the acetic
r.cld of its composition, and to that alone^ and it will
he admitted by those conversant with the articles in
question, that acetic acid exercises a most powerful
influence in modifying the effects of opium. This I
can account for in no other way than by its uniting
wilh the morphia, thereby rendering it. much more
soluble, and consequently facilitating its effects on
the constitution, which are directly sedative, while
while one person after evaporallng perhaps one-eighth of the
menslrua, would consider it of proper consistence, another
might think it necessary to reduce it one -fourth, a third might
conceive that even one-half was the right consistence, and the
strength of the preparation would consequently be subject to
a like enormous variation. In the second place we are di-
rected to dig'est for seven weeks, and then place in the open air
until it becomes a syrup; we cannot see the propriety of digest-
ing so loQg a time, if at all, when the menstrua, if not saturat-
ed by the previous boiling, has- at least, taken up all its solu-
ble matter. Exposing it to the air until it becomes a syrup, h
subject to as many objections as boihrig to a proper consis-
tence, and is almost as indefinite, as the consistence of a syrup
is of no fixed standard, but varies from a thin fluid, to the den-
sity of honey. It is lastly directed to be bottled, and to add
a little sugar to each bottle, what quantity is meant by a little
sugar, and what size the bottles are, to wliich it is to be
added, we are left to conjecture ; independent of the useless
addition of sugar to what is already a syrup ; the strength of
the article must be diminished in proportion to the sue of the
bottles, and quantity of sugar to be added ; we think an arti-
cle so active as the black drop, should be prepared with more
care, and particular and specific directions given for the mode
of its preparation. An ingenious essay upon this subject «»
given by Mr. Tuoxas Evaxs, in the Journal of the Philadet -
phia College of Pharmacy.
1!8 OPIUM.
U\e effects of opium in its natural state are stimii-
hiting.*^
It has been recommended, by Mr. Robiquet, U>
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 <o quinine:
equal proportions of each will act with much more
encriry than the whole quantity of quinine or piper-
inc alone. Dv. Chapman informi us, he has met
with mucfc success in the treatment of intermittent
fevers by employing i]\e following prescription.
R. Quinine gra X
Pipcrine grsX
M.ft. PillNoX
One to be taken every hour in absence offerer.
Oil , of black pepper is much more active thaa
piperine, one drop being fully equal to three grains of
piperine, three drops of oil of black pepper added
to ten grains of quinine, will greatly increase the
powers of this remedy, oil of black pepper alone ii
a valuable stimulant in typhus fever, and is a valua-
ble adjunct to many medicines.
All the preceding varieties of bark, sulphate of
quinine, cinchonine, and all the preparations of bark
and quinine, may be procured at Geo. W. Carpen-
ter's Chemical Warehouse, 301 Market street, Phi-
ladelphia.
J\''o{e. — An alkaline substance somewhat analagow
to quinine, has recently been discovered in the cor-
nus florida, which has been denominated cornine.
and which has been very carefully and accurately
described by Dr. Samuel G. Morton in the Pbiladel-
56 OBSERVATIONS, EXPERIMENTS, &C.
phia Journal of Medical and Physical Sciences.
From the most respectable sources in the medical
profession, from various parts of the United Statei
where the article has been sent, the nnost favourable
accounts have been received of the unequivocal suc-
cess of the cornine in the treatment of intermittent
fevers in the same doses as the quinine, and the only
circumstance which precludes its competition with
that substance, is the extremely minute comparative
proportion of cornine yielded by the cornui florida.
ON A NEW PREPARATION
OF
BALSAM COFAIVA.
Balsam Copaiva being a medicine used in ihs
practice of almost every physician, its characters, t(-
f?c(s and uics are conscvquenlly familiar to them. It
is admitted by all, to be one of the most nausco«f
and disagreeable articles of the materia medica. Di«-
g'lised or mixed as it may be, its unpleasant nature
is Siiil manifest, and little if at all dixninished, com-
municating 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 cir-
cumstances, its use is frequently abandoned in caiie*
• Our distinguished Professor of Practice, in the 1st volurae
ot his Therapeutics, page 417, observes, that two circumstan-
ces frequently interfere with the exhibition of copaiva, and
detract fi'ora its utility. It sometimes purges, and when it
doe?, its efficacy is lost or greatly diminished. If laudanum
does riot check this injurious tendency, it must be discontin-
ued till the bowels recover their tone. To the stomachs of
some persons the copaiva is so exceedingly ofFenslvc, that it
cannot be retained. As it is hardly possible to disguise the
taste of the article, it is sometimes very difficult to OTer«oine
this prejudice. — See Chapman's Thcr.ipcutics,
r^ KEW PREPARATION OF
where it otherwise would be of the highest utiUtj,
and even where it is almost indispensable, and other
lemedies much less efficient are substituted, thus
protracting the cure which would have been speedilj
eQected bj the copaiva.
Since the introduction of this remedj down to th€
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
is singular in its character, that amidst the rapid
march of improvement and discoveries, (which forms
a peculiar character in modern chemistry and phar-
maceutical knowledge,) an improvement in the ex-
hibition of copaiva, should so long have evaded the
vigilant researches of the critical and scrutinizing
chemist, and pharmaceutist. With these premises,
I feel happy to inform the medical faculty that 1 hare
succeeded in consolidating copaiva to a proper con-
sistence, for being formed into pills. The consoli-
dated copaiva is the oil and resin united, and conse-
quently possesses all the properties of the balsam. It
may be made into four grain pills, and one oi two
pills taken three times a day ; two pills are equal to
thirty drops of the balsam. These pills may be taken
without the least inconvenience, neither communica-
ting taste, nor imparting odour to the breath, it is also
retained without the least disquietude or measinesi
to the stomach, and I am informed by Dr. Rousseau,
that in large doses it does not purge.
This article differs, very essentially, from what is
termed extract, or resin copaiva, being not la the least
BALSAM COPAIVA, 59
deteriorated in the preparation, nor at all weakened
by admixture of any foreign substance for the purpose
of giving consistence. It is particularly recommend-
ed to the faculty for its numerous advantages over the
balsam^ and all its preparations. As the oil of co-
paiva is an active preparation, it is the best mode of
using this article, for being united with the resin it
may li^made into pills which can be taken without
experiencing the nauseating taste of the oil, while
the oil alone cannot be taken otherwise than ia
draught, which will subject it to the same inconvc-
niences with the fluid balsam, having its disagreeable
taste with its unpleasant effects.
The consolidated copaiva is manufactared and
gold at Geo. W. Carpenter's Chemical Warehouse,
No. 301, Market street, Philadelphia.
•BSEHVATIONS ON A NEW VAIlIBTIc
or
PERUVIAN BARS,
WITH SOME REMAriKS
Qfi tht Alkaline Bases, Quinine and Cmckonin€,
PiRUviAN bark, one of the most important article!
©f the materia medica, embraces a number of species,
in the medicinal qualities of which (here is a vast dii-
parity. It is therefore peculiarly unfortunate that its
natural history and classification should be so en-
Teloped in ambiguity, the nomenclature of the dif-
ferent species so inadequate and defective, and the
various writers so opposed in their opinions on the
subject, as to render the investigation of the stident
from books almost fruitless. The attention of our
pharmacologists should be particularly directed to
the cinchona, for the purpose of determining a spe-
cific classification of those species ndw occurring ia
commerce, and of establishing a nomenclatiire for
them, by which each variety could be readily par-
ticularised, and at once understood by its name,
which, in its present unsettled history, is impossible.
In the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Phy-
sical Sciences, Vol. XI. I called the attention of the
(acuity to this subject, and described the severai
MAR AC Al BO BARK. 01
fpccies of Peruvian bark which then occurred in
commerce, as carefully and accurately as possible
from specimens before me, so that the several spe-
cies might be readily known and contradistinguished.
f then suggested, as the most appropriate nomencla-
ture, the names of the provinces in South America
from which the different species w^ere collected, as
Calisaya, Loxa, &:c. 6zc. and wdiich, I am pleased to
hnd, has become generally adopted, and is now the
most familiar mode of distinguishing the barks of
commerce. The terms Calisaya, Losa, and Cartha-
gena, conveys at once the particularkind of bark, and
is perfectly understood, while the terms lancifolia
and cordifolia involve in ambiguity as to the kind
intended, inasmuch as several varieties of different
qualities come under the same term, and it is impos-
sible to determine wd:iich is intended ; for example,
the Calisaya and Carthagena, (the former the best,
and the latter the worst species in commerce,) being
both yellow bark, would come under the name of
cordifolia; hence, if cordifolia was ordered, it would
be difficult to determine whether the Carthagena or
Calisaya was intended, or some intermediate quality.
Having devoted considerable attention to this val-
uable article of our materia medica, 1 have deter-
mined to describe every nev/ species which I may
meet with ; and as there has appeared, since my des-
cription of Peruvian bark alluded to, a species not
hitherto observed in our market, and unnoticed by
any of the writers on the subject, I propose to des-
F
62 MATIACAIBO BARK,
cribe il in the present communication. This bark I
denominate Maracaibo, being brought from IhaL
place, generally in bales from serenty to one hur-
dred pounds, and the importation of it is likely to h?
continued, so that we may calculate upon a regular
supply. This bark is much superior to the Charthu-
gena or com.mon bark, producing more than double
the amount of saline matter composed of cinchonine
and quinine ; also a larger quantity of extractive
matter than the latter, and is therefore of at least
more than double the value of the same. As the
former can be purchased at the same price as the
latter, it will be advantageous for the practitioner to
be acquainted with its distinguishing characters, that
he may be enabled to discriminate it among the dif-
ferent species and varieties of common bark.
It occurs in flat, short, and broken pieces, as if
separated from the tree with difficulty, mostly of
from one to three inches in length, and half to one
inch broad, and rather thinner than Carthagena
bark. Occasionally small quills are found, the lon-
gitudinal edges folding together, forming tubes from
a fourth to a half inch in diameter. It is of a deep
yellow colour; the epidermis is extremely thin,
smooth, of a light gray colour, and is generally re-
moved from the bark. It may be distinguished from the
Carthagena bark, by being more compact, by break-
ing with a short and cleaner fracture, and more par-
ticularly by its taste, which is much more intensely
bitter. Jt is quite as strong a bitter as the Loxa
CINCIIONINE AND QUININE. 63
bark, but does not possess the astringency of the
latter. The internal layer is fibrous, but iii a
less degree than the Carthagena. This bark has
only appeared in our market within a year or two,
and as it will supply the place of a much inferior
article, is of high importance to the profession.
The quality of barks depend*unquestionably upon
the product of cinchonine and quinine they respec-
tively contain, and the separation of these alkalies, is
a very valuable mode of discovering with precision
the comparative quality of different species of bark.
Dilferent barks, however, produce various /?ro/?or-
lions of th^se two salts; thus we fmd the Calisaya
produces most quinine, the Lo>: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
<s the same as that of the tincture of iodine, are
• employed as well as it in the treatment of goitre anrd
scrofula, in the latter case some tonic is general!/
combined with it.
M. Magendie has for some time mr.de use of the
solution of hydriodate of potass both in hospital and
private practice ; he is confident the dose of tlus
solution- may be increased to three gros per diem^
without any unpleasant consequences ; debilitated
and very nervous women have taken this quantity
for many weeks, without the least appearance of
derangement in any function. In this dose two case*
• of cancer of the tongue recovered in the space of -a.
fortnight, in the incurable wards of V Hospice dt la
Salpetrierc, The women were aiiected with thii
disgusting and horrible disease for many year^, anil
■ admitted into the hospital as incurables, one still re-
-4JiaiRs there, having beea three months- under Irefit-
104 ON IODINE
ment and is going on very well. la the same placcj
a woman who had for a long time suifered under
ulcerations of the tongue, has just received a com-
plete cure fr^m the use of the hjdriodate of potass.
Ointment of the Hydriodate of Potass,
Take ofHydriodate of Potass ^ drachm.
Axunge J ^ ounce.
Mix. — This may be used to the extent of half a
drachm night and morning in the way of friction upon
a goitre or glands, enlarged with scrofula; at the end
of a week, the quantity may be increased to a drachm
or more, according to the age of the patient and ex-
tent of the tumour. Sometimes by these means a
complete resolution of tremours is effected, which
could not be removed entirely by saline solutions.
This ointment has been successfully used in variou*
cases of enlargement of the testicles, which had re-
sisted other means. Sometimes, however, mere
f/iction will not do, and recourse must be had to
both modes of exhibition, buf, in general, more ad-
vantage seems to be derived in scrofulous atfec-
iions from the saline solutions. The activity of this
ointment may be increased by adding from 10 to hS
grains of pure iodine to form whatis called ointment
ofioduretted Hydriodate of Potass.
Ointment of Iodine.
Take of Iodine - - . 1 drachmo
- Axunge, » - = i ounce.
AND ITS PREPARATIONS, 105
Powder the iodine and triturate it with the lard
in a glass mortar. This ointment is used in the same
manner as that of the hjdriodate, in about the same
quantity; it is, however, not as much used as the
hydriodate ointment, which latter is in every way
preferable.
lodurets of Mercury.
The ProtO'lodurct of Mercury is prepared by
uniting solution of hydrate of potass and protonitrate
o( mercury, which precipitates the proto-ioduret,
Jt is of a yellow colour and insoluble in water, ac-
cording to Dr. Thompson, 162 parts contain 62 of
iodine and 100 of mercury, or 25 of mercury and
156 of iodine.
The deuto-ioduret is prepared by dissolving sepa-
rately 70 parts of corrosive sublimate, (deuto-chloru-
ret of mercury) and 100 parts of the hydriodate of
potass, and uniting the solution when the deuto-iodu-
ret of mercury will be precipitated, it is very solu-
ble in the hydriodate of potass and in mercurial salts,
'60 that care must be taken not to apply an excess of
'either of them. This preparation contains 250 parts
of mercury and 312 of iodine. Hydriodic acid may
be substituted for the hydriodate of potass in the pre-
paration of these iodurets.
These preparations are employed in the form of
ointment, tincture, solution and pills, and have proved
I'a valuable remedy in chronic syphilis and venereai
'-ulcere.
106 ON IODINE
Ointment of Proto-ioduret of Mercury.
Take of proto-ioduret of mercury, 20 grains.
Axunge • - U ounce.
This ointn:ient has been highly recommended in
the treatment of inveterate venereal ulcers, in which
it is said to accelerate the cicatrization.
Ointment of the deuto-ioduret of Mercury,
Take of deuto-ioduret of mercury, 20 grain?.
Axunge, - - I4 ounce.
This preparation is more active than the preced-
ing, and is therefore to be used in smaller quantities^
Tincture of Deuto-ioduret of Mercury .
Take of deuto-ioduret of mercury, 20 grains.
Mix. Alcohol at 36°, - 1^ ounce.
Twenty-six drops of this tincture are nearly equiv-
alent to one-eighth of a grain of the deuto-ioduret
itself, it may be given to the extent of 10, =15 or 20
drops in a glass of distilled water. We are assured
that it has succeeded in scrofulous complaints coni^
plicated with syphilis.
Sulphuric JEther with Deuto-ioduret oj
Mercury.
Take of sulphuric asther 1 jounce.
'Mix. Proto or deuto-ioduret of mercury 20 grain?.,
This being a more active dose than the precedin
must be administered, in smaller doses.
A-ND ITS PREPARATIONS!. 107
Pills of the Deuio-Iodiiret of Mercury,
■ Take of Deuto-Ioduret of Mercury 1 grain.
Extract of Juniper 12 grains.
Liquorice Powder q. s.
Mix and make into 8 pills, two to be taken at first
morning and evening, augmenting the dose subse-
quently to four at the same periods.
Pills of the ProtO'Ioduret of Mercury,
May be made in the same manner, and taken in
the same dose.
The combination of mercury and iodine must
certainly be a medicine of considerable activity, and
'from the effects of each of them on the system in
glandula affections, we might anticipate the most
favourable results from the compound in scrofulous
and venereal diseases.
Alcoholic Extract of Nux Vomica,
The nux vomica is one of the most active articles
of the materia medica, and has lately been success-
fully employed in the treatment of paralysis. M.
Fouquier who has had much experience with its use
and action, gives it in the form of pills, consisting of
two grains each. The dose is two pills daily for the
commencement, and gradually increased to 10 or
12, a number rarely exceeded.
The constant effect of this substance is to produce
first in the paralyzed parts, and afterwards in the
106 ON IODINE.
rcfit of the body, a succession of shocks or contrac-
tions, similar to those occasioned by galvanism,
Magendie recommends the pills to be made of
one grain each, and to commence with one or two
daily, increasing the dose until the desired effect is
produced. This is the dose I have generally seen
prescribed by the physicians of this city, A tincture
may also be employed according to the following
formula.
Tincture of Nux Vomica.
Take of Alcohol at SG*' 1 ounce.
Dry extract of I^ux Vomica 3 grains.
Dissolve,
Of this a few drops may be given in any simple
vehicle. In this form it may also be used by fric-
tion upon the parts affected, it is a mode much em-
ployed in Italy, and from which M. Magendie hasi
iseen great effects result in his own practice.
Strychnine,
U would appear to be almost useless labonr ex-
pended to obtain a more concentrated preparation
than the nux vomica, or the extract. The crude
iubstance, however, like all other articles of the
materia medica, is subject to vary in quality and '
strength, and to be affected by various circumstan-
CCS, to which it may be exposed, thus making the
strength of the crude material vary ; and conse-
qu«Dt]y tli€ extract difieriDg in proportion to th«
STRYCHMNE. IGD
acting of the Nux Vomica, ami also in the variable
modes of its prepiinUion.
Strjchninc as we generally see it is of a greyish
white, granular or in powJer, this is owing to its too
rapid crystaUiz.i'ion, ifcareruily pr(M)ar(vd it is l.\ ihe
form of minute crystals, wliich by the aid of the mi-
criscope are fonnd to con-i^t of four sided prisms ter-
minated by pryramids with four depressed faces.
The sigii of its p nity is n;)t reddeisi ijc with nitric acid,
a degree ahrjost unattainable in strychnine procured
from nux vomica. Tiiat obtnined from St. Iu;natius*
bean is purer, but the purest and most easily obtain-
ed is furnished by the Upas, it is also obtaiijeJ from
the snake root."* The brucine exists with the stry-
chine in all tiie above articles, but iii less proporlion
in the St. Ignaiius:and iM, Majendie observes it is un-
fortunate that the bean of St. Ignatius is so r.ire an
article in commerce, as the strychnine contained ia
it is nearly fiec from brucine and could be readiljr
obtained from it in a state of purity.
Its action on thesystem is the same as that of the ex-
tract of nux vomica, and is applicable in the same cases
though much more powerful and requirir.g a less
dose, and it might be entirely unnecessai-y to have
recourse to strychnine, if the extract of the nux vomi-
ca were always prepared in the same manner, and
exempt from those variations in their effects arising
from the different modes in which they ai-e prepared;
in consequence of the greater uniformity of thd
• Lignum or Strychnos Colubrinura*
k
i 10 STRYCHNINE
•trjchninc ili^bis respect, it is in general preferred.
In Germany and Italy accounts have been published
of its successful employment. It is generally efViploy-
ed in the form of pills which are made from the fol-
lowing formula:
Pills of SlryeJiiiine.
Take of Pure strychnine 2 grains.
Conserve of roses ^ drachm»
Mix accurately and divide into 24 pills.
Tincture of Strijclinine,
Take of Alcohol at 36 deg. 1 ounce.
Strychnine. 3 grains.
Mix.
Dose from 6 to 24 drops in draughts or common
drink.
The pills were they can be taken are preferable
to the solution, in consequence of the extreme bitter.
ness and unpleasant taste, for although nearly insolu*
ble in water 6,667 times its weight, at a temperature
of 10 deg. its bitterness will be distinctly perceptible.
If a solution of strychnine made in cold water, and
consequently not containing above gooo P^^^ ^^ ^^s ^^'
lime, be even still diluted in a hundred times the
quantity of the same fluid.*
The strychine is certainly a valuable remedy in
paralysis, if we regard the writings of some of th«
•Majendie*s FormularjTa
AND ITS PREPARATIONS. Ill
most distinguished physicians. Dr. Ratier statcb he
had occasion to see it administered to a young man
aflected with paralysis in pills, containing each a
ouarter of a i^rain. In the dose of a grain and a half,
it occasioned, but in a more considerable degree, the
phenomena proper to the nux vomica; viz. a general
titanic rigidity, with twitchings, which supervened
every two or three minutee. These efTects, which
had at (irst alarmed the patient and assistants, termi-
nated gradually in about three or four hours, and
without any troublesome consequences.
Strychnine readily unites with acids, and forms
salts, which are crystallized and are soluble; this must
be remembered when giving strychnine in common
h'ink, for lemonade and all acids very much increase
its activity. The following are some of the salts of
strychnine, sub-carbonate, sulphate, hydrochlorate,
phosphate, nitrate, iadate and hydriodate, it also
forms salts with the acetic, oxalic, tartaric and hy-
drocyanic acids, all of which are readily obtained,
and form crystallizable salts.
The salts of strychnine in consequence of their
greater solubility are more active, and consequently
more intensely poisonous than their base, when the
patient is habituated to the action of strychnine, it
may sometimes be advantageous to substitute the
salts for the strychnine itself witiiouc increasing the
dose. M. Magcndie has used none of the salts ex-
cept the sulphate which has produced most decided
relief in a case of paraplegia, given in a dose of a
twelfth of a grain.
112 BRUCiNE.
JBruclne,
This exists as before stated in nux vomica, an^4
several ofthe articles containlngstrychnine, itis anal-
agous to strychnijie l);it less intense, being in the pro^
portion to that of [)nrc strychnine as one to twelve,
or according to M. Andrai,jr. six grains of brucine
are equal lo one of impnre, and a quarter of a grain |
of pure strychnine; it i.- generally given in the forni
of pills or tincture, increasing; the dose gradually. In
medical use, that which is obtained from the bark of {,
the brucea antitlysintcrica should be preferred,* as
that furnished by the nux vomica is rather apt to be
mixed with a portion of strychnine, which increases
its power and deranges our calculation as to the ef-
fects. As it possesses the properties of strychnine in
a milder degree, it may be i;iven to the extent of one,
tvi^o, or even three grains, without apprehension as
to the consequences in the same cases as the prepa-
rations of nux vomica are found to benefit. It is
probable that much larger doses may be given, but
• Brucine is obt lined by suhjectiiig" tiic inner baric of the
brucea antlchsiterica to a s'nnlar process to tliat directed for
tlie preparulio:i of strychni «, witU tliis diR'crjnce, tb^it tha
magnesian precipitate mu-.l not be so elaborately wajihed.—
Cnicine beinij ni'icli more sohtble in water than strychnine,
on account of ihe c^reater qimiiiy of colonrn^- mister wl^icli
it contains. By evaporating the alcoholic liquors, the brucine
13 readily obtai'»ed in a rtsinons form, not being yet sufficient-
ly pure to crystaiizi. In its purification it mus- be conibined
with oxalic acid vvliich is to be :<gain decomposed by m:<gne-
Via, and the brucine separate*! by a!colu)l, which being slowlj^
evap )r:ite I in the open air, bruc.ne wib be obtained in a cryi.
Ullizcd form.
MORPHIA. M$
we must be attentively npon oar guard. M. AnJral
has given it in cases of palsy with advantage, from
^ half a grain to five grains. M. Magendie has used
it successfully in tvi'o cases of atrophy, one of the
arm and the other of the leg. The patient took six
pills daily of one-eighth of a grain. As it* is subject-
to variation or strength from the frequent admixture
of strychnine in it, the latter should be preterred as
being a more active and uniform medicine.
Pills of Bruciiie and the Tincture may be made in
the same marmer as those of the strychr.ine. Brucine
forms salts in the same manner as the strychnine, and
being more soluble than bru( i»e itself, is more ac-
tive, and possesses some advantages.
Morphia,
This is the anodyne or sedative principle of opium,
M. Robiquet prepares it by precipitating a strong
infusion of opium by means of caustic ammonia, filt-
ers and evaporates the liquid down to a &ixth part of
its bulk, to this he again adds ammonia and obiauis
a fresh precipitate of pure morphia which he re-
ceives on a filter and washesit with cold water, when
well dried he sprinkles it with a little al< ohol, and
passes the spirituous liquors through a filter, which
carries with it a large portion of the colouring matter
and also a small quantity of morphine, fie then
ilisolves the morphine in acetic acid, and treats the
solution with ivory black. This mixture being agi-
tated frequently, daring twenty-four hours, i«
K 2
114 NARCOTINB.
finally projected on the filter, and p^^sses tliroagh 'is
the receiving vessels entirely colourless. He next
applies ammonia, and the morphia is precipitated in
the form of a white powder, if this be again dissolved
in alcohol, and allowed to evaporate spontaneously,
the morphine will be found in tine regular, white
crystals, four sided rectangular prisms. Dr. Staples,
-an ingenious chemist of this city, has obtained the
morphia by a more simple process, his formula is
published in the North America Medical and Surgi-
cal Journal of this city.
Morphia unites with most of the acids, forming va-
rious salts of these preparations, the acetate and su1»
phate have hitherto obtained the preference. Their
proportion in respect to the opium is an eighth of a
-grain for a grain. M, Magendie recommends the
eyrup of these salts, four grains of the salt to a pound
of syrup. The sulphate is preferable to the acetate
on account of its solubility. Seing perfectly soluble
in cold water; the acetate is also rendered perfectly
soluble in water by adding a few drops of acetic
acid to it.
For a further description of morphia and its pre«^
'^aralions, see the article opium.
Narcoline,
This preparation is not used as a medicine. For
particulars, see description of it under the head oi
•^pium, in a preceding part of this work.
■EMETINE. 115
Emetine.
jThis is a peculinr principle lately found in the ipc-
•cacuiinha. M. M. Pelletier and Ma«^endic states that
this substance being much more active than the Ipe-
cacuanha itself, without possessing its disagreeable
taste or nauseous. smell, nught upon all occasions be
substituted for it with Bdvanlage. Emetine is little
4ised in this country, much less than most of the other
proximate principles.
To prepare emetine, the ipecacuanha is reduced
^to a coarse powder and digested in aether at 60®, to
'dissolve the fatty odorous matters. Then exhaust
it by alcohol in successive portions. Place the al-
•coholic tinctures in a water bath and re-dissolve the
Tesidue in cold water, it thus loses a portion of the
•%vax and a little of tlie fitty matter which still re-
Tnainedjit is only necessary further to macerate it on
carbonate of magnesia, by which it loses its gallic
acid, to re-dissolve it in alcohol and to evaporate it t«
"dryness.
The emetine obtained in this way is not perfect!/
pure, but is the kind altogether in use here, the ex»
needing high price of the perfectly pure and white
emetine has excluded it altogether from use here.
The emetine obtained in the above process presents
'itself in the form of transparent scales of a reddish
*brown colour- having scarcely any smell, but a bitter
ithough not disagreeable taste.
The action of the pure emetine to that of the co«
floured, is as one to four; particular car^ should there^
116 i:metine
fore be observed in prescribing emetine to distinguish
which kind you intend, or serious mistakes might^c-
cur. In prescribing emetine it should be recollected
•that it is httle soluble in water, and when we wish
to give it in an aqueous vehicle, it should previousljr
be dissolved in a little acetic or sulphuric acid; eme-
tine is administered under the form of sjrup or pas-
tiles. M. Magejidie has proposed emetic pastiles as
a convenient form for children, who cannot be mad«^
without difiicuhy, to swallow liquids.
Take of refined sugar 4 ounces,
coloured emetine 32 grains.
From this make pastiles of 1 8 grains, one of whick
^aufikes for children and three or four for adults.
Pectoral Pastiles of Emetine,
Take of Refined Sugar 4 ounces.
Coloured Emetine 32 grains.
For pastiles of nine grains, one is given everj boor;
^i more frequently, nausea will be excited.
Syrup-^f Emetine.
Take of Simple Syrup ib'.
Coloured Emetine 3 6 grains.
Make a Syrup.
The above syrup may be substituted for the syrep
«f ipecacuanha used in France.
AND ITS PREPARATIONS. J 17
Tlie Pasliles and Sijrup of Emetine,
Maj bcmride in the same manner as the above bj
osing t^nc fourth the quantity of pure emetine, that is,
€ grains instead of the 32 grains of coloured emetine.
For the alcalies of cinchona bark, see the article
cinchona.
Quinine arid Cinclionine.
The sulphate of quinine is preferred and in gene-
ral use, if is prescribed generally in pills of one or
two grains each, or in the form of mixture with gum
arai)ic and cinnamon water, the mixture is objection-
able on account of W^q quinine being only partly so-
luble in water, and is merely suspended for a short
time by the mucila^^c of the gum arabic. The fol-
lowing I consider a more eligible mode of exhibition
as it forms a perfectly transparent and entire solution,
wljich will keep unaltered for any length of time.
Take of Sulphate of Quinine 8 grains.
Alcohol vn.
Acid Sulphuric 6 drops.
Aqua C'innamon 1 ounce.
Reduce the quinine in powder, and add by degrees
Sii of water, in which the sulphuric acid is mixed,
and as soon as dissolved, add the remainder of the
cinnamon, water, and alcohol.
Veralrlne.
This \Q.Ty acrid alkalive principle is met in all the
plants of the family of veratrum, and especially in
ibc sabadiila,, colchicum and white hellebore; on ac-
120 ^ ^TRINE
This tincture nia; oe given in the quantity offron^
10, 15 to 25 drops, .n a cupful of any mild or simple
drink. It ma^ - administered internally instead of
the liiiCtu-c 0, caichicum in anasarca and other va-
n-ties ef dropsy, and externally in frictions in the
lamc disease^', and also in gout.
Q^ln Ratier's formulary one ounce of veratrine is
diiected to he used with four ounces of alcohol,
and the dose is directed in the same quantity as the
above prepared with four grains. This is certain-
ly a very great error and might lead to very seri-
ous accidents.^CO
Solution of Veratrine.
Take of Sulphate of Veratrine 1 grain.
Distilled Water 2 ounces.
To be substituted for eau medicinale of Husson^
Ointment of Veratrine,
Take of Veratrine 4 grains.
Axunge 1 ounce.
In external applications In cases, of chronic rbea*
matism, anasarca and gout.
PRUSsia Acm.
•©«--
This very powerfal medicine was discovered by
Scheele in 1770, although he could only obtain it
mixed with variable proportion of water. To M,
Gay Lussac wo are indebted for its acquisition in
the state of purity.
For the preparation of prussic acid see Coxe's dis-
pensatory, and most of the chemical works.
Prussic acid is readily decomposed if left to itself
in well stopped vessels, it sometimes decomposes in
less than an hour, and it can rarely be preserved for
any length of time. This circumstance forms a con-
iiderable objection to its use. It should be kept in
black bottles, as light is found to decompose it rapid*
Jy; its taste at first is an agreeable freshness, but soon
becomes acrid and irritating. Its odour is powerful
and noxious, being insupportable when not mixed
with a considerable quantity of air, it then resembles
the smell of bitter almonds. Its action on animals is
very powerful one drop of the pure acid introduced
into the fauces of a remarkable strong dog killed him
instantly; a few particles applied to the eye will pro-
duce effects almost equally sudden. The acid which
we receive is not so strong, and is called medicinal
prussic acid; prepared no doubt from the formula of
Scheele, or the acid of Gay Lnssac diluted. . Prussic
L
122 PKUSSIC ACID.
acid diluted according to the formulas we are about to
give, has been successfuU}- employed in all cases of
morbid irritability of the pulmonary organs, it is also
advantageously employed in the treatment of nervous
and chronic coughs, asthma and hooping cough, and
where this symptom is sympathetic with an affection
of some other organ, as also in dispepsia.
The acid prepared by Scheele's process, is very
▼anable, in consequence of the arbitrary discretion
which the process allows the operator. That of Gay
Lussac is much better adapted for use when properly
diluted being of more uniform strength. It is to be
mixed with six times its volume of distilled water. This
is the preparation which M. Magendie has given the
name of medicinal prussic acid, and is about th
strength of the prussic we now receive, so that phy-
sicians can prepare it according to the following for-
mular:
Pectoral Mixture,
Take of Medicinal Prussic Acid ^i.
Distilled Water Ifci.
Refined Sugar ^ij.
Mix.
Of this mixture a tablespoonful may be taken nighc
and morning. The dose may be gradually increased
to five or six times this quantity, it is very important
that the mixture should be well shaken immediately
before using it, to avoid serious consequences, as the
acid sometimes floats on the surface of the water.
CYANURET OF ZIKC 123
Cyanic Syrzip*
Take of Simple Syrup 1 pound.
Medical Pnissic Acid ^i.
Make a Syrup,
This preparation is used in common pectoral drinks,
and as a substitute for other syrups.
In consequence of the variable strength of the
prussic acid, and preparations made by different pro-
cesses being indiscriminately sold; the faculty should
be cautious in their prescriptions for it, to ascertain if
possible the strength of it, or to begin with a very
small dose, which can be gradually augmented until
he discovers what quantity would be most judicioui
to employ.
Cyanuret of Pure Potassium.
M. M. Robiquet and Villermer have proposed the
solution of the cyanuret of potassium as a substitute
for the prussic acid, its action on the animal system
being the same; which being an uniform preparation,
will obviate the inconvenience of the variable strength
of the prussic acid. This preparation has not yet been
used in this country.
Cyanuret of Zinc,
This preparation of late has been employed in
Germany instead of the hydrocyanic acid, and has
obtained the reputation of possessing decided vermi-
fuge powers. The following is the mode of prepar-
124 CYANURET OF lODINlS.
ing a composition which is apparently the one ia
vogue in Germany,
M. Pellctier has succeeded in obtaining this pre-
paration by the following process: Sulphate of zinc
« precipitated by hvdrocyanate of potass; which
forms a triple hydrocyanate of zinc, which being well
dried and calcined at a dull red heat, is converted
into cyanuret of zinc. It always contains however,
cyanuret of potassium.
This preparation may be given in the same doses
as cyanuret of potass, beginning with one fourth of
a grain, and advancing gradually to a grain and a
half in a mixture to be taken by spoonful. But cau-
tion should be particularly observed in its administra-
tion.
Dv. Henning reports (in Hufleand's Journal for
1823) that this medicine has been successfully em-
ployed in all cases vsdiere prussic acid is applicable,
more especially among children in cases of worms.
He there gave one grain with powder of jalap.
Cyanuret of Iodine.
This preparation has not yet been used in medi-
cine, nor its effects on the animal system yet ascer-
tained. M. Serullas is of the opinion from its compo-
iition, that it ought to produce powerful effects on
the animal economy, and tliat probably as a medicine
occasion maybefoutid for its employment. Itdoesnot
however appear to be so deleterious as the nature of
its elements would lead us to suppose. M. Serullas
tasted it, and several persons in his laboratory, M.
SOLANINE. 125
Thenard h'ad furnished M. Magendic with a sufficient
quantity of this substance but was not able to repori
yet upon its mode of action.
Solamiie,
This alkahne principle exists in the leaves of the
solanum dulcamara, and is also found in the greatest
abundance in the berries of the solanum nigrum,
where it exists in the state of malate. In order to
obtain it the juice of these berries when filtered, is to
be treated with ammonia, which produces a grey co-
loured precipitate, thisdeposite collected on a filter,
.washed and treated with boiling alcohol, yields by
evaporation a salafiable base, which if the berries
have been perfectly ripe is in effect sufficiently pure.
If the berries were green the solanine will contain a
portion of green colouring matter, which is with dif-
ficulty separated. Introduced into the stomach of a
cat to the amount of two to four grains, it produces
violent vomiting, followed quickly by a state of drow-
siness which lasts several hours. The acetate is the
only salt of solanine which has been tried upon the
human species. In the dose of a quarter of a grain
it produces nausea but the tendency to sleep has not
been remarked.
From what has been reported of it, it appears that
solanine like opium may produce vomiting and sleep,
but its emetic powers seem to be more decided than
those of opium, the narcotic properties are evidently
much less so. It has not jetbeengiven in cases of disease,
but it may be employed wherever the extract of sola-
uum nigrum or that of dulcamara may be indicated.
1. 2
126 DELPHIWE, ITREA, &C.
Delphine,
•
This alkali was detected in 1819 in \\\q seeds of
the delphinum staphisagria. It has not jet been em-
ployed as a medicine, but if the stavesacre possesses
any medical power it no doubt resides in this alkali, it
may therefore be employed where this plant is appli-
cable to diseases, and the salts, of which it forms the
base, will there be preferable on account of their lo-
lability.
Urea»
Is the immediate principle of the urine of mammi«
ferious animals. It is obtained by evaporating the
urine to the consistence of syrup, forming a superni-
trate of urea by nitric acid, and decomposing again .
by sub. carb. potass, by which the urea is obtained
in crystals.
M. Fouquicr has employed the urea as a diuretic,
though to M. Bailey it docs not appear to possess that
property, the dose is from 50 to 60 grains. It does
not appear to be a medicine likely to prove very im-
portant.
Thrydace or Lactucarium,
M. Bidault de Villers had for a long time employed
the inspissated juice of the garden lettuce, and M,
Francois has proposed to renew its use under the
name of thridace. He ascribes to this substance a
sedative action milder than that of opium, inasmuch
«i it is accompanied neither with constipation not
tfOLD, FLATINA AND LI7PULINE. 127
«tupor. The dose is two grains. It is necessaVj says
M. Francois, to increase rapidly the doses and for one
or two days to interrupt its exhibition, as the sto-
mach very soon act ustonis itself to its action. It nnaj
be carried to the extent of eight grains taken ia
3 doses during the 24 hours without any inconveni-
ence.
Preparations of Gold and Platina*
The preparations of gold have been highly extolled
in inveterate syphilitic aiTections. With M. Culle-
rier who has given thein a persevering trial, they
have not succeeded. They are difficult to manage,
8S much on account of their great activity, as on ac-
count of the facility with which they are decomposed.
The dose ought to be extremely small, not exceeding
the fifteenth or twentieth of a grain. The same ob-
icrvations may be applied to the salts of platina.
Four preparations of gold are now employed in m*-
dicine.
1st. The chlouret or muriate of gold.
2. The chlouret or muriate of gold and soda.
3. Ths oxide of gold.
4. The oxide of gold by tin or purple powder of
• cassiu!.
The muriate of gold is that most generally employ-
ed in medicine and is preferable to the other prepa^
rations,
Lupuline,
h the active principle of the hop, (Humulus Lupo-
128 LUPULINE.
lus) it is in the form of small shini/igyellowishgrains^
which cover the hase of the strobiles of the hop, it is
of a golden yellow colour, of an aromatic odour and
pulverulent. Upon analysis it is found to consist es-
sentially of rosin, a little volatile oil, and a bitter prin-
cle; its taste is extremely bitter. Magendie states it
is soluble in water, alcohol and aether. I have on!
found it partly so in asther, and that alcohol was the
best menstrua. M. Magendie has not recognized in
•lupuline, the narcotic properties advanced by Profes-
sor Ives, of New York; although this is one of the
properties he observes most readily manifested in his
•experiments with it on animals.
It may be administered in the form of powder, pills,
tincture, or syrup. It can be readily reduced to pow-
der, by mixing it with two parts of sugar and tritura-
ty, then gradually pound them together in a mortar.
Pills of JjupuLine.
May be made of two grains each, it may be beaten
into a pillularmass without any adjuvant.
Tincture of Lupuline.
Take of Powdered Lupuline 1 ounce.
Alcohol at 36" 4 ounces.
Digest it tor six days in a close vessel, strain, press
li strongly and filter: Magendie directs it made with
two ounces of alcohol, and when pressed, sufficient
alcohol is added to m:ike up three ounces of tincture;
this is certainly objectionable, for the quantity of ai-
OIL OF CUOTON. 129
«ohol which is added to the tincture, would certain-
\y be preferable to add while digesting, as the two
ounces of alcohol docs not exhaust the lupuline, and
barely covers it, four ounces is quite srnall enough;
and I even think that six or eight ounces of alcohol
would be preferable, and would then be considerablj
stronger than the tincture of hops.
Syrup of Lupuline.
This is made by adding the tincture of lupuline to
simp'e syrup. The doses of these preparations are
not yet accurately fixed, but as the lupuline pos-
sesses no poisonous quality, the dose may easily be de-
termined by the practitioner.
Lupuline has generally beenprescribed, in this city,
in doses of two or three grains; and I have been inform-
ed by several of the faculty, that it possessed ano-
dyne properties, and was a highly valuable substitute
for the hop.
Oil of Croton.
This is a very powerful purgative oil, it possesses a
strong peculiar smell and a very acrid and spicy
taste, it is extracted from the seeds of the croton tig-
lium, a shrub of the family euphorbia, which grows
in the East Indies. It was introduced in 1630, and
was employed by several physicians w'ith complete
success in dropsy, constipation, &c. one drop in Ca-
nary wine was at that time a common purgative.
The medicine however had entirely fallen into ne-
glect in Europe, when Mr. E. Conwell, in the Ec-
130 OIL OF CROTON.
glish East India Company''s service at Madras, re-
called attention to it. It is generally enciployed in
India, and has been lately introduced into England.
It is obtained from the seeds by expression and
boiling, similar to obtaining tiie castor oil. Dr. Nim-
mo of Glasgow has obtained the oil by digesting the
braised kernels in sulphuric aether, by this process he
obtained from 300 grains of the seed two drachms of
the oil; which had the taste and medicinal properties
of the common oil of croton.
The croton seeds will yield about fifty per cent, of
oil.
The oil of croton may be employed as an ordina-
ry purgative, when there does not exist any symp-
toms of irritation about the stomach or intestinal ca-
nal; it should especially be preferred when common
purgatives have been administered without success
in apoplexies, in dropsies, and when mechanical or
other obstacles oppose the action of usual purgatives,
but above all when it is requisite to produce action
on the bowels speedily.
It is recommended by Dr. Ainslie of Madras, to
be externally used in cases of rheumatic affections.
A number of cases of obstinate constipation is ci-
ted by Dr. Kinglake as having been cured by a single
drop of this oil given in the form of a pill.
In this manner he cured a patient labouring under
colica pictonem (see Bulletin des Sciences Medjcales
Feyrier, 1824, page 145.)
OIL OF CROTON. 131
Soap of the Oil of Croton.
M. Caventon, to obviate the inconveniences aris-
ing from the variation in the size of drops, has pre-
pared a soap according to the following method. Two
parts of the oil, and one part of the liquid caustic so-
da of the French pharmacopea, are to be triturated
together without heat. When it has acquired con-
sistence, it is poured into a paper mould, and cut in
slices to be kept in a large mouth stoppered bottle.
This soap has been given by M. Bailey, in doses
of from two to three grains, in pills or solution, and
the effect has been the same as oil of croton.
The oil of croton may be advantageously used as
an adjunct to other cathartic medicines, which
would increase the activity and not enlarge the bulk.
Professor Coxe, sugsjests that a similar acrid and
powerful oil exists in the skins of the castor oil bean,
1 and suggests the importance of experimenting upon
them ; the seeds when taken into the stomach, most
,certainly in small quantities excites very considerable
and increased action, more than equal to the quan-
tity of oil which would result from ten times the
quantity of seeds, it therefore must be evident that
there is still a very active principle left in the resi-
dium of the beans after the oil has been expressed;
and hence it is, that the hot pressed oil is more ac-
tive than the cold pressed, which, no doubt, arises
from pressing the seeds more closely, and the heat
separating a portion of this acrid oii, from the skins.
There can be no doubt bat that the opinion of Fro*
132 OIL OF EUPHORBIA.
fessor Coxe would be verified by experiments upoD.
this article.
Oil of Eupliorhia Latliyris.
Dr. Carlo Calderino obtained an oil from the seeds
of the euphorbia lath} rus, or spurge, which may be
used with advantage for the oil of croton ligliuni,
and which, like it, acts in a very small dose.
The oil is obtained by simple process ofexpres*
sion, 14 ounces of seeds will yield six ounces of verj
prime oil.
My friend, Dr. Milnor, of Allentown, New Jer-
sey about a year since, sent me some of the seeds of
the euphorbia, which grew in the neighbourhood,
very abundantly. 1 have expressed the seeds, and
obtained the oil similar to that imported; since which
Mr. Thomas Bellanger, of New Jersey, has sowed
an acre of this plant, and manufactured considerable
of the oil. The euphorbia grows abundantly in this
country and will no doubt be extensively cultivated
ahould full experience with the article justify its
value as a medicine.
The oil differs from croton in not being acrid, nor
possessing an unpleasant flavour; it very much
resembles the castor oil; it has the same colour, but
not quite so dense, and does not possess any odour.
It forms like croton oil soap with alkalies. The ac«
tion of the oil of euphorbia is purgative, and its ef-
fects is very certain and prompt. It is to be con-
lidered, says the Italian author, as a very mild pur«
gative; it does not produce vomiting, colic, or
GENTIAKINE. 133
tenesmus; it may be administered even in dyser*-
taries, when there is irritation in the intestinal canal.
It may be employed in all cases where it is desirable
to purge geRtly, and with a small dose of medicine.
The dose of the oil of spurge is from 4 to 8 drops —
children of two or three years, may take a dose of 3
drops in chocolate. To very irritable subjects an
emulsion may be given, made with ei':^ht drops of the
oil, some aromatic water, and syrup of orange peal ;
this has in several cases produced very good effects.
Gentianine.
This is the active principle of the gentian root of
commerce. It is little soluble in cold water, but
dissolves in boiling water ; it is yellow, inodorous,
possessing very strongly the aromatic bitter taste of
the gentian. All which I have seen imported is of
a dark brown colour, and is no doubt very impure,
resembling m.ore a common extract than any other
of the alkaline or proximate principles.
The gentianine is obtained by digesting the pow-
der of gentian in cold aether, which furnishes a green
tincture ; this being filtered and poured into an open
vessel, if sufficiently concentrstted, will deposit a
yellow crystaline mass ; this mass is to be treated
with alcohol, which filtered and exposed to a strong
heat, the ) ellow crystaline substance begins to ap-
pear, assuming at the close of the evaporating pro-
cess a solid mass, extremely bitter ; taken up again
by alcohol it is partially dissolved. This last spirit-
uous solution, besides the bitter principle o( ths
M
134 GENTIANINE.
gentian, contains an acid substance and the odorous
principle also. Upon evaporating this liquid to
dryness, washing the residuum in water, adding a little
ealcincd and well washed magnesia, boiling and
evaporating in a water bath, the greater part of the
odorous matter of the Gentian is driven oif, the
acidity is removed by the magnesia, and the bitter
principle remains partly free and partly in a state
of combination with magnesia, to which it imparts a
beautiful yellow colour. Then upon boiling this
magnesia with agther, the greater part of the bitter
principle is obtained pure and is insulated by evapo-
ration. The tincture is the most preferable form for
its administration, and it may be made in the follow-
ing manner.
Take of alcohol at 24° 1 ounce»
Gentianine 5 grains.
This may be substituted for the tincture of gentian^
and used in the same circumstances.
Syrup of Gentianine,
Take of simple syrup Ibi.
Gentianine 16 grains.
Make a syrup.
This is one of the best bitters that can be cm-
ployed in scrofulous affections.
CHLORURETS OF LIME AND SODA. 135
CMorurets of Lime and Soda.
The advantages of these substances were n».:id€
known in 1812, by M. Mazuyer, professor to the ik^
culty of medicine at Strasburg. At that time lie cn^-
ployed them with great success, in the wards of hos-
pitals in which typus fevers was then raging, and for
the puriiication of the theatres of anatomy. M. La-
barraque has demonstrated by a great number of ex-
periments, that the chloruret of soda was one of the
most powerful agents for the instantaneous annihilia-
tion of that disgusting fetor, wdiich is produced by the
maceration of intestines in water. The same gen-
tleman extended the use of the chlorurets to the pu-
riiication of all animal substances under putrefaction,
and many distinguished physicians have used them
as medical agents. A prize of three thousand francs
to M. Labarraque, and two thousand to M. Mazuyer,
was decreed by the Academy of Sciences, for this
useful discovery.
The method for preparing the chlorurets, although
known for a long time, it will nevertheless be useful
to describe the manner in which M. Labarraque pre-
pares them in order to obtain always the same com-
pound:
The Chloruret of Soda
Is prepared by dissolving five pounds of pure car-
bonate of soda^' in 20 pounds of distilled water. Put
• Soda Sub. Carbonai.
136
€HLORURETS OP
theliquoY into a flask of sufficient size, that it may be
about three fourths full. Expose a glass balloon suf-
ficiently large to contain four pints, having a long
neck with a wide mouth, introduce into it 5G 7 grammes
of hydrochlorate of soda, and 448 of tlie per-
oxide of magnesia; lute to the mouth of the globe
a large curved tube, and a tube with a double curve
for the introduction of the weak acid : place the
first tube into a ilt^sk containing a small quantity of
water for the purpose of washing the gas ; and from
this flask should proceed a large cur\ed tube, com-
municating with the vessel containing the sahne so-
lution.
The apparatus being properly disposed, and the
iuiing very dry, pour into the bent tube the diluted
acid cold, and having been mixed for some hours
with water, apply fire to the sand bath and continue
the heat until chlorine ceases to be disengaged.
The operation being finished, examine the strength
of the product, by- its action in decomposing the
sulphate of indigo.
The chloruret of soda has chiefly been employed
in medicine, and has produced highly satisfactorj
results, and has succeeded in all cases in which it
has been used for the removal of general or local
iafections. Thus in carbuncle, in hospital gangrene,
bad venereal ulcers, sloughing wounds, or those
of the phagedenic kind, rapid advancement has
been observed towards cicatrization, by the employ-
ment of the chloruret diluted in 10 or 15 parts of
water. In numerous patients affected with ulcera-
LIME AND SODA. 137
ted cancer of the breast, or of the uterus, which
were in the hospital, it has been used daily ai a
lotion at the time of dressing ; by this means the
fetor of the discharge has been destroyed, and the
sufferings of these unfortunate women have been
much meliorated ; and they have found from the
use of these lotions, their sleep has been more tran-
quil. M. Alibert has prescribed similar lotions with
advantage for herpes exedens. M. M. Roche and I.
Cloquet have found it equally useful in the worst
cases of gangrenous ulcers. M. I. Cloquet directs
the diseased limb to be bathed in a solution of one
part of the chloruret, with from 10 to 15 of water,
and administer 25 or 30 drops of it in a pint of
barley water. It has been used as a gargle in sore
throat, as a lotion in ulcerated gums, exhaling an
offensive odour. M. Lisfranc has used it extensively
in burns and common ulcerations; for this purpose
a solution of the chloruret, marking three degrees of
the chlorometer of Gay Lussac.
The chloruret of lime is prepared by placing the
hydrate of lime on shelves of a convenient distance
from each other. The gas is disengaged from a
similar mixture to that employed for the chloruret
of godoa, and passed into a chamber containi.._, iha
lime, which must be occasionally stirred, so that the
chlorine may act equally on all parts of it; the hy-
drate of lime sufficiently charged' with chlorine,
becomes moist, by which it is ascertained that the
•operation is about to terminate.
M 2
138 CHLORURET OF LIMfi.
This is a very powerful disinfecting agent, an^
can be used in the following manner. Previous to
exannining an animal body in a putiif) ing state, it
Tvill be only necessary to procure a bucket, and mix
the chlorate of lime with v/ater. Let a sheet be
completely moistened with this solution, and wrapt
about the whole subject, so that every part of it may
be covered. The putrid odour will soon cease. U
there be an unpleasant smell in passages, stair cases,
&c. let them be sprinkled with the liquid. Care
should be taken to sprinkle the cloth which covers
the body frequentl}' with this liquid, by which means
the offensive odour will be prevented. The chloru-
ret of lime may be used with advantage for the dis-
infection of privies, water closets, ships, stables, hos-
pitals, wards, &:c. for which purpose it will be- suf-
ficient to dilute the chloruret in 60 times its weight
of water, and to sprinkle the clear solution over the
surface of the objects or places which are intended
to be purified ; a broom or watering pot may be
used for the purpose, and a few minutes will be suffi-
cient to complete the disinfection.
In wards with patients the solution is to be poured
into deep plates, and placed under the beds. The
infectious odour cannot spread, because it is des-
troyed in proportion to its formation, in consequence
of the continual disengagement of chlorine.
Several physicians and surgeons of the hospital
haYe made a useful application of these substances
in the treatment of burns, chronic inflammation of
DIGESTITE LOZENGES. 139
the mucous membrane, &c. M, Lisfranc has used
the foilovving preparation successfully in burns:
Chloride of calcium (marking 3 degrees
of the the chlorometre of Gaj LussacJ | 4
Water ibi.
This solution has also been used as an injection
in the case of chronic catarrh of the vagina or blad«
der, and has been equally employed in the treatment
of gangrene. Besides iti utility as a disinfecting
agent, it appears also to exert a beneficial influence
on the progress of cicatrization.
Lozenges of Blcarhonate of Soda^ or
Digesike Lozenges,
These lozenges have proved highly beneficial in
the treatment of dispepsia, and have been found use-
ful in promoting digestion by saturating the free
acid of the stomach which is essential to the com-
:plete solution of the aliment.
Formula for preparing the digestive lozenge* of
M. D'Arcet:
Take of dry pure bi-carbonate of soda 5 gramme^
Fine white sugar in powder 95 da.
Mucilage of gum tragacanth
prepared with w^ater q. «,
Kssential oil of mint 2 or 3 drops.
Let the bi-carbonate of soda and refined sugar,
-each reduced separately to a fine powder, be p«t
into a very dry bottle. Shake the bottle well that the
;powder may be thoroughly mixed. Take any quan-
•llty of this powder, let it be well mixed on a Kiarble
140 BIGITALINE.
filab, with a siifficieMt quantity of mucilage of gum
tragacanth, and oil of mint; form the mass into lozen*
ges, weighing about one drachm, dry them in the
air or on a stove. As these lozenges attract slightly
the moisture of the atmosphere, they ought to be
kept in well stopped bottles, or in a dry place.
They may be flavoured with any other essential
oil, or with the balsam of tolu, which is very suitable
for that purpose.
Much benefit has been obtained from the u?e of
these lozenges, taken immediately when the func-
tions of the stomach are found to be in a deranged
state ; if taken before a meal, the digestive functions
will be performed with m.ore facility. These lo-
zenges being very useful to assist digestion, ought to
be prescribed before and after a meal to patients
effected with gout or calculi.
Digltallne.
M. Augusti Leroyer has obtained the active prin-
ciple of digitalis, which he has obtained in well de-
fined crytals of various forms. M. Leroyer has
inade the following experiments with it : he dis-
solved a grain of digitaline in three gros of distilled
•water, which he injected into the abdomen of a
middle sized rabbit ; after some minutes the respi-
ration became slower, the pulse whch w^as rapid
fell to 60, and became very irregular; all the vital
phenomena became gradually extinct; it died with-
out agitation and without distress, like falling asleep.
A grain and a half of dj;3italine was dissolved in half
t»HOSPHQRUg. 141
an ounce of water, and was injected into the jugular
vein of a middle sized dog ; he died in 15 minutes.
The arterial blood of the animals which hare been
killed by this substance, present a very strong venous
colour, &c. &:c. It appears that the deleterious
principle in soktioQ in the blood, acts directly upon
the nervous system.
This subtance has not yet been employed as a
medicine, and nothing therefore can yet be said of
its action on the human system.
Phosphorus.
This substance has been little used in medicine.
It has lately been much extolled by Dr. Lobstein;
the diseases in which it has been given with great
success, according to the author, are extreme prostra-
tion of strength, obstinate intermittent fevers, rheu-
matic and gouty affections, &c. &c.
Bertrand Pelletier, who has made very extensive
and useful researches respecting phosphorus, has
pointed out a very excellent method of preparing
this substance for medical purposes. This process
consists of putting six'grains of phosphorus, cut into
small pieces, in an ounce of sulphuric aether; this
mixture must be occasionally agitated, for 3 or 4
days. The dose of this medicine is from 10 to 15
drops in a glassful of barley water, or any conve-
nient vehicle, and repeated, so that from 120 to 150
drops may be taken in the space of 3 or 4 da3*s.
This liquid may be used in frictions also when such
are deemed necessary. BI, J. Pelletier objects to
142
SALACINE.
these preparations in which the phosphorus is dis
solved in a volatile fluid, only such as asther and
essential oil, because exposed to the air and heat
of the body driving olTthe menstruum the phosphorus
remaining per se. may influence by heat and friction,
but with fat or fixed oil this inconvenience will not
take place, because the substances not being volatile,
cannot leave the phosphorus.
Salacine.
This new and valuable article of the materia med-
ica, is the alkaline principle of the willow bark, and
has acquired considerable reputation in Europe as a
substitute for quinine. The following is the pro-
cess for preparingit, as recommended by M. Peschier.
The bark of the willow is to be dried, crushed, boiled
for one or two hours in water, and the liquid sepa-
rated by a cloth, and powerful pressure. Sub.
acetate of lead is to be added as long as precipitation
occurs ; the whole filtered ; the clear liquor boiled
with carbonate of lime sufficient to decompose the
excess of acetate of lead ; saturate the acetic acid,
and remove the colour. Being left to settle, the
clear liquor is to be decanted, the deposit is to be
washed twice or thrice, the washing liquor added to
the formel*, and the whole evaporated to the con-
sistence of an extract. This extract, w^hile hot, is
to be put on bibulous paper and pressed for some
hours; after which, it is to be digested in alcohol of
s. g. 0.347, the fluid filtered and concentrated,
when it will yield crystalised salacine, very white
'
SALACINE. 143
and pure. Salacine when thus prepared, and ad-
ministered in doses of 3 to 5 grains, repeated at In-
tervals of one hour during the apyrexia of intermit-
tent fevers, is said to be found effectual in arresting
their progess with more certainty than the sulphate
of quinine. Salacine (according to M. M. Pelouze
and Jules Gay Lussac) when pure, forms white
crystaline prismatic needles. It has a bitter taste
and somewhat the odour of willow bark. One
hundred parts of water dissolve 5. 6 parts of sala-
cine at 67° F. at 212® F. it appears to dissolve in
any proportion. It is equally soluble in alcohol,
but aether and oil of turpentine takes up no portion
of it.
This article has lately been introduced here, and
as lar as it has been yet used, has given the most en-
tire satisfaction. Dr. Miller of Lancaster informs me
he has successfully treated several cases of intermit-
tents, in which quinine appeared to have no effect,
and which readily yielded under the use of the sala-
cine; and from the experiments which he has made
with it, is fully of the opinion that it is a very valua-
ble medicine, and more efficient than the quinine*
SMILAX
This highly valuable article of our materia medica*
has been variously represented. The greater part of
our most respectable physicians however concur in
the opinion that it is a medicine of very useful pow-
ers in venereal scrofulous, and mercurial diseases.
"When combined with mezerion,guaiacum, sassafras,
dulcamara, &c. &c. becomes one of the most efficient
compounds for depurating the blood and removing
most constitutional diseases arising from this cause.
This preparation has been much recommended in
scrofulous and rheumatic affections, and in some of
the chronic diseases of the skin. Quarin regarded
the compound decoction of sarsaparilla, as the most
useful remedy we possess in gout: Sydenum also con-
iidered it useful in this affectioia, and"Scudemors
■ays it sometimes proves beneficial during the state
of convalescence. The mezerion, one of the ingre-
dients of the compound sarsaparilla, is recommen-
ded in venereal and mercurial diseases, and in chro-
nic cutaneous eruptions. Dr. Cullen states that he
found it successful in diseases of this kind. Lauris
•assafras, another of the constituents of the compoui..^
SARSAPARILLA. 145
sarsaparilla, has also been recommended by some of
the best authors. Alibert speaks very favourable of
its virtues in rheumatic affections, he administered it
frequently at the hospital St. Louis, and it always
appeared to him, he observes, to exert a manifest
action on the cutaneous emunctories. He mentions
a case of chronic rheumatism which yielded to the
infusion of sassafras, after a great variety of other re-
medies had been tried inefTectually. He also speaks
of two cases of goutjin which the sassafras was employ-
ed with complete success. Professor Eberle also
states that he has known the continued use of an in-
fusion effectually to cure a case of inveterate rheu-
matism, he further states that it has generally been
employed in the form of infusion, but the oil is the
most eflicient, and therefore the best preparation.
Guaiacum another of the ingredients of compound
/sarsaparilla, stands high in the estimation of almost
every physician. In the treatment of rheumatism,
says a distinguished author, it has long been consi-
dered as peculiarly serviceable, and is unquestionably
a remedy of very considerable value in this disease.
It has also been prescribed, continues the author, in
affections ari sins; from the influence of jnercurv, and
in such cases I have had several striking examples of
its usefulness. Mr. Pearson says, I have given the
decoction of guaiacum with the best effects, to a great
number of patients, in cutaneous diseases, in ozasna
and scrofulous affections of the membranes and liga-
ments.
From what has been said from the moat respecta-
N
146 SARSAPARILLA.
ble sources of authority, in support of the different
articles constituting the compound sarsaparilia, it
would appear most unquestionably to be a medicine,
when combined and properly prepared, posiessing
the most valuable properties, and deserving the par-
ticular attention of the faculty.
The preparations of sarsaparilla has most general-
]y been improperly made, and there can be no doubt,
but the variable opinions which have been entertain-
ed of its properties by ditferent physicians and writers^
have arisen entirely from the various modes of it3
preparation. The compound decoction of sarsapa-
rilla, requires considerable boiling to take up its ac-
tive and soluble matter, this I do not say from specu-
lation, as many have done, but from actual experi-
ments repeatedly made for the purpose, expressly for
ascertaining and establishing the fact, and I have
found, that after several days boiling, these ingredi-
ents, (and particularly the sarsaparilla,) contained a
very considerable proportion of extractive matter
quite as active as that obtained by the first boiling.
It has been foolishly suggested that decoction injures
its active properties, and that it should be only ma-
cerated and not boiled, this would merely wash off
the dirt which adheres to the roots, together with
some of the decayed corticle fibre which is more or
less found among the freshest roots which we receive,
this may give a little colour to the decoction, and
may be mistaken for its active principle. After under-
going this operation the root would be in good con-
dition to begin the decoction. I have experimeoted
SARSAPARILLA. 147
with various menstruum upon the roots of sarsapa-
rilla, and find that water is the best, producing
a more active preparation of the root than anj
other, and in a larger quantity. Alcohol is the next
most active menstruum, but it is altogether objection-
able from the increased expense incurred in its pre-
paration, producing an extract possessing no advan-
tage -whatever ever that of the water.
Numerous preparations of sarsaparilla and various
modes of preparing them have been given, all of
which of course will diifer according to the mode of
preparation which each individual maj adopt. It in
Ihereibre an object of the highest consideration and
importance, that we should have a standard prepara-
tion of uniform strength, and possessing the most
advantages ; also, the trouble and difficulty which
patients are subjected to in making the decoction
and syrup, has rendered it a still further object of
importance to procure'a preparation of it in a mor«
convenient form, than those usually prescribed. Sar-
saparilla, as before stated, requires considerable boil-
ing, to take up the extractive matter, and it has
consequently, most frequently been improperly made,
by those unacquainted with pharmaceutical pre-
parations. To obviate these difficulties, I have
made a number of experiments to ascertain th«
most effectual means of extracting the virtues oC
the compound sarsaparilla, and to discover the most
eligible form of preparing it for exhibition, which
has resulted to my most entire satisfaction, and it is
with much pleasure I now offer to the faculty my
148 SARSAPARILLA.
compound fluid extract of sarsaparillay which posses-
ses all the virtues of this medicine in a highly con*
centrated degree. It possesses numerous advantages
over sarsaparilla, its syrup, decoction, and solid ex-
tract, and is intended as a preparation of much easier
portability — not liable to injury by long keeping, and
consequently better adapted to the use of persons
travelling or residing abroad.
The fluid extract of sarsaparilla is a more conve-
nient article than the solid, the latter requiring some
trouble and difficulty to dissolve it, while the former
is immediately dissolved when it is put into water,
and is consequently immediately fit for use.
As the decoction will rarely keep more than
twenty-four hours, particularly in warm weather, it
would be exceedingly troublesome for the patient,
put under a course of sarsaparilla, which has to be
taken for some time, to be obliged to prepare the
decoction every day, besides getting a very weak
and inferior preparation from the short time he would
have to boil it, not taking up perhaps one fourth of
its active principle.
The syrup, which is the common preparation
generally used, has still further objections ; it being
the decoction prepared in the common way, over-
loaded with sugar, which is exceedingly objectiona-
ble, as it will be necessary for the patient to surfeit,
and not unfrequently nauseate his stomach with a
large portion of saccharine matter in taking a dose of
the decoction, which is generally weak, so that not
unfrequently it might be said with propriety that he
SARSAPARILLA. 149
is taking a dose of sugar rather than sarsaparilla, as
the former exists in a larger proportion in the prepa-
ration. We frequently hear o[ concentrated syrups of
sarsaparilla, which is simply change of name for the
same article, as it is impossible when a fluid is satu-
rated with sugar, to take up an extra portion of any
f ubstance ; and if the decoction is much concen-
trated, a portion of the fluid extract which it holds,
would be precipitated by the sugar. 1 will not in this
place call in question the essays of one of my fellow
competitors to support or refute the value of the extract
of sarsaparilla, but might quote numerous authors,
whose opinions would h'd\e weight andinjluence^ and
whose experience and observations would entirely
sink and outweigh those little acquainted with the
subject, who from want of experience aided by pre-
judice, have fallen into the greatest absurdities,
I will simply select one on the present occasion,
which is published in the Medico-Chirurgical Re-
view, for July 1830, Vol. 18, No. 41, page 162 —
*' Observations on the Extract of Sarsaparilla in vene-
real alTections, &:c. by Benjamin Tra verb's F. R. S. &;c,
&:c.'' Speaking of the compound of syphilis and mer-
cury, he states that no remedy, next to the adjust-
ment of diet, is equal to the extract of sarsaparilla.
The extract dissolved in water or milk, is the men-
struum which I rely most upon in these cases, its pow-
er is extraordinary, more so than any other drug
which I am acquainted with. To regard it as inert,
as a mere diluent or an offensive nutrient, is eitlier
a proof of very limited experience or very prejudiced
N2
150 SARSAPARILLAe
observation. It is in Ihe strictest sense a tonic, witk
this invaluable attribute, that it is applicable to a
itate of the system so sunken, and yet so irritable as
renders other aubslances of the tonic class unavaila-
ble or injurious.
We tiike ihe liberty of marking in italics, says the
distii]guished editor, Dr. Johnson, the passage respect-
ing sarsapariila, because we most cordially concur
with Mr. Travers in the statement, which it con-
tains in favour of the valuable properties of the ex*
tract of sarsaparilla.
The compound iluid extract of sarsaparilla, which
I have prepared has decidedly proved one of the
most popular medicines ever introduced in Philadel-
phia. There has been a little clamour against it by-
some of my worthy competitors in trade, (this must
be expected in all valuable and extensively used ar-
ticles, it was so with quinine, and some of our most
inestimable medicines,) but it all sinks into insignifi*
cance when compared with its general approbation
by the faculty, and its extensive use by some of our
most distinguished physicians. It has already been
gent to almost every populated section of the United
States, and whether in town or country, hospital or
private practice, it has invariably given to patient
and practitioner, the most decided and unequivocal
satisfiiction, and produced the most salutary and be-
neficial effects. Numerous letters have been receiv-
ed from some of the most distinguished physicians in
the country, and from the professors of several me*
dical colleges, all recommending in the highest terms.
SARSAPARILLA. 151
the value of this medicine, and its superiority over
other preparations of sarsaparilla. Several cases of
secondarj syphilis, mercurial and scrofulous diseases,
have entirely recovered in the incurable wards of our
public institutions, which had for many years resisted
every mode of treatment which could be devised.
These cases furnish striking examples of the salutar/
^ effects of this medicine in arresting some of the most
f inveterate diseases after the glands were destroyed
and the bones already afifected.
The dose of the fluid extract is two teaspoons full,
morning and night, in a glass of water. Two tablo-
id spoons added to fifteen ounces of simple syrup, im-
\ mediately produces a mixture similar to a pound of
" the compound syrup of sarsaparilla, and the same
quantity added to fifteen ounces of water instantly
forms a mixture, equivalent to a pint of the Lisbon
diet drink.
One bottle of the fluid extract of sarsaparilla, if
fully equal to a gallon of the syrup or decoction at
is generally made.
Two grains of corrosive sublimate carefully dissol-
Ted in a small partion of alcohol or water, and added
to the syrup above form.ed, will be similar to the anti-
scrofulous and syphilitic remedies lately introduced
under various names.
The fluid extract of sarsaparilla is now prescribed
by some of the most distinguished physicians in this
=city, and has been more efhcient in practice, than any
|)reparatioD. of sarsaparilla yet ofTered to the public
^&r the advantages it possesses -ov^^r the ordinary
152 SARSAPARILLA,
preparations. See professor Dewees valuable work
on the Practice of Physic, and most of the late stand-
ard works on medicine.
- It is highly aproved of and recommended by pro-
fessor Gibson, who has prescribed it very successful-
ly in his practice and prefers it to any other prepara-
tion of sarsaparilla.
Professor Eberle in the last edition of his Thera-
peutics, vol. 2nd, page 20G, makes the following re-
marks: "Carpenter's compound fluid extractof sar-
saparilla is a very neat and excellent preparation. It pos-
sesses all the active properties of the root in a highly
concentrated state, a tablespoon full being equivalent
to half a pint of the ordinary decoction. I have used
it in several instances with decided benefit. From
the smailness of the dose it is peculiarly adapted for
administering this remedy to children."
Professor Frost of the Medical College of South
Carolina has written to me of the salutary effects of
this medicine, in a ca?e of secondary syphilus by us-
ing two bottles, united with small doses of the per-
cLlurideof mercury, and his high opinion of this medi-
cine and its superior advantages over the ordinary
preparations of sarsaparilla.
I might quote numerous authorities in addition, of
the most respectable character, but sufficient has been
said to establish the character of this preparation, and
its decided superiority to the ordinarj^ preparatioiis
of sarsapariila.
OIL OF BLACK PEPPER. 153
CAUTION.
After the reputation of any valuable medicine is
established with considerable expense, trouble, and
many experiments by the proprietor, he should re-
ceive the benefit of it. He is sometimes, however,
interrupted by spurious imitation of his preparations,
made by the ignorant who prepare inferior and fre-
quently entirely different compounds, and sell them
under the same name, and on the reputation of the
genuine medicine, copying the directions, and putting
a up in the same bottles and form. Thus frequently
deceiving the public and injuring the reputation of
valuable medicines. Under these circumstances, 1
would beg the faculty to be extremely particular in
their orders for the extract of sarsaparilla, and to
observe that each bottle will have my written sig-
nature without which none will be genuine.
A copperplate label is also on the outside of each
bottle, on coloured paper, as a caution.
Oil of Black Pepper.
This article is precipitated in the preparation of
piperine. It contains all the heat and acrimony of
the pepper in a very powerful degree, and is no
doubt the active principle of it. A portion
of this oil is always combined with the piperine, to
which it no doubt owes its effects. We find all the
f nsible characters of the piperine to increase or
■ninisli in proportion to its degree of purity, or as
it may be more or less combined with the oil ; hence
154 OIL or BLACK PEPPER.
it is that the pure white crystals of piperine are with-
out taste, the yellow crystals possessing considerable
heat and acrimony, and the dark greenish crystals
are extremely active and powerful, containing nearly
Mty per cent, of oil. One drop of the oil of black
pepper is equal to four grains of piperine. One
drop of the oil of black pepper added to three grains
of quinine, will greatly increase the powers of that
remedy.
CAUTION.
Physicians should be extremely particular in their
orders for this article, as an oil of pepper has been
obtained by distillation, which is eetirely different
from the above preparation, possessing comparatively
little ornone of the active principle of the pepper —
the above preparation is a fixed oil, and of course
can not be obtained in this way. The object was
no doubt, to obtain a cheaper preparation, but it
will not answer the purpose at all, and would there-
fore be dear at anj^ price. As it has been sold for
the true preparation, 1 make these observations that
physicians may be on their guard in relation to it.
I received some time since a letter from a highly re-
spectable* physician in Virginia, stating that he had
been induced to make trial of the oil of black pepper
from reading an article of mine on the subject in the
American Journal of Medical Sciences, that he had
written for some of it, and had obtained an article
which did not in any way correspond with my des-
cription of it, either in the appearance of the article ^
0T in any of its sensible characters. 1 requested
OIL OF COPAIVA. 155
him to send me on some of it to exmaine, and I was
much surprised to find it was the distilled oil of pep-
per which had been sent to him instead of that ob.
tained In the process of piperine ; and it it more thaa
probable others have been equally disappointed.
Oil of Copaiva.
This- oil is obtained bj distillation, from the bal-
•am, and is a valuable preparation. It contains all
the virtues of the balsam in a concentrated state,
and being more limpid than the balsam, it is admin-
istered with less inconvenience, and is altogether a
very considerable improvement in the exhibition of
copaiva, and altogether preferable to the common
balsam. The dose of this oil is 5 to 8 drops. When
distilled in glass vessels and pure, it is preferabU to
iDaptha for preserving potassium.
Oil of Cuhehs.
This oil is obtained by distillation from the cubebs-
t is a very active preparation and possesses all the
i^irtues of the cubebs; and being a very concentrated
preparation, is much preferable to the crude sub-
itance, which is objectionable from the bulk of the
lose, which is otherwise unpleasant. This is a val
lable adjunct to the oil or balsam copaiva, ten t>
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.)
0
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
ev<jr seen, they are of uniform strength, and can al-
ways be safely relied upon, I have made arrange-
ments to be constantly supplied with extracts from
this house, and physicians can always receive these
extracts at my Chemical Warehouse, 301 Market
street.
Carbonate of Iron,
The carbonate of Iron is one of the most excellent
and safest chalybeates, it may be given from five to
^0 grains, but all chalybeates answer better in small
CARBOXATE OF IRO:i. 173
doses frequently repeated; hence it is the chal) bcatc
water?, aided by saliixC medicines are so benetical.
Pl.ysicians should always prefer the precipitated
carbonate, which he should alio be particular ia
knowing it to be properly made. The rubigo fcrri
(sub. carb. ferri) is a very impertcct preparatioji, and
hr^e quantities of it is now manuflictured in a very
rough and careless manner; I have seen considerable
of it, which 1 found on examination to be near one
half whiting. In the Medico Chirurgical Review,
vol. xviii. No. 42, for October, 1330, b an interesting
paper fiom the Glasgow Journal, on the pharmaceu-
tical preparations of the precipitated carbonate of
iron. The British pharmacopass direct a waters so-
lution of sulfhaie of iron and sub-carbonate of soda
to be mixed, and the resulting precipitate to be col=
Iccted on a-iiiter and dried. The precipitate at first
is white, but soon becomes of a dark ii^rien colourj
and very bulky in substance. Exposed to the air,
the colour ciianges to a rusty yellow, the efTect of
oxygen. A decomposition is produced according to
our author in the following manner.
The precipitated carbonate of iron consists of car-
bonic acid combined with the black oxide, which
black oxide readily combines with more oxygen, for-
ming the red oxide of iron, but as the red oxide can-
not like the black, retain cnrbonic acid in combina-
tion, this acid Hies off. So that in the yellow mat-
ter alluded to, an additional dose of oxygen has tal.ea
the place before held by crrbonic ac' -^ Theyeilor/
colour is owin!]j to the red oxide ex\iu\)]^ in cbmbiria=
n ^ -'^ ■■■-■■' -f
1*74 CARBONATE OF IRON.
tion with water, or to use (he language of modern
chemistry, a hydrate, and the yellow colour is chan-
ged to red whenever we apply so much heat as will
drive ofTthe combined water. Then the red oxide of
iron, or colcothar of vitriol alone remains. The con-
sequence is, that what is sold in shops for precipita-
ted corbonate of iron, contains no more than a trace
of that substance, and is frequently nothing more than ;
colcothar of vitriol. This colcothar the author ob-
serves, is not less diff(*rent from carbonate of iron m
its medicinal eiTects, than its chemical properties.
I have seen patients of ditFerent ages and sexes
"swallow for a fortnight, at the rate of half an ounce
per day of colcothar of vitriol, without producing any
apparent eiFect, except that thicir stools were colour-
ed by the powder to a reddish hue, indicating that it
had passed through the body unaltered. Whereas, I
have seen a healthy man made sick by a dose of a
quarter of a drachm of genuine carbonate of iron, and
made to pass in consequence dark greenish black
stools, for two days after, and I have seen similar de-
fects produced on patients, who had been unaffected
by colcothar of vitriol. The sikness however is not
produced after the first or second day.
These observations deserve the attention of the
profession in these days when carbonate of iron is so
much in use.
We give the remaining part of the paper in the au-
thor's own words.
From the preceding observation it is easy to ga-
ther, that the two defects to be avoided are exposure
CARBONATE OF IRON. 175
io air and exposure to lieat. Both of these defects
I propose to avoid by forming the precipitated carbo-
nate into an electuary, thus:
Take of sulphate of ironand sub-carbonate of soda
each eight ounces, powder each salt and dissolve them
separately in warm water, if necessaiy tilter. Being
tiltered and cool, mix tije solutions in a deep vessel
capable of holding one or two gallons of water, which
till up cold, stir, let it subside, and then decant the clear
liquor from the precipitate, fill up again with water
and likewise again decant, and repeat this operation
two or three times, so as to separate the solublcsalt?,
next put the precipitate on a filter of cotton or linen
cloth, supported hy a square frame. When the wa-
ter has ceased to pass, gather into one hand the edges
of the filter, so as to make it a sort of bag, and with
the other twist round from the holding hand, down-
wards, so as to squeeze out the remaining water.
The precipitate will now have the appearance of
clay, loo soft for moulding. With soft sugar and aro-
matic powder in suitable proportion?, make it into an
electuary.
Thus we obtain a carbonate of iron uniform in its
properties, hardly deteriorated by the process it under-
goes, and little liable to change by keeping.
The precipitated carbonate of iron Vvhile yet moist,
is soluble m carbonic acid. Hence a teaspoonful of
the above electuary is soon dissolved in a glass of
ginger beer, except the aromatic powder it contains,
it may be asked therefore, whether an eligible me-
dicine might not be obtained by unitingthis.prepara-
17G CARBONATE or IRON.
tion with the ginger beer powder?; the excess- of car-
boMiC acid in them would dissolve the iron, and you
would have a higlily agreeable draught w'ith all the
chalybeate properties of this valuable niediciiie.
G. VV. Carpenter is pleased to inform the laculty
he has prepared the above preparations in the most
caretul manner, and given them the following names,
by which physicians can always designate them wdien
they -wish these preparations prepared by me.
Itkromatlc CJtalybeate Oenjecilon.
This article since I have had the pleasure of pre-
paring it, has been used by a. number oTthe most re-
spectable physicians, and has given the highest de-
gree of satisfaction, and who accord fiilly wiih the
writer in the revievv\
CARPENTER'S
Chahjheate Ginger Beer Powders,
These powders form an extremely pleasant and
agreeable draught, and from- their tonic and chalybeate
properties, aided by the stomachic eirects of the tine
puritied ginger in their composition, render them an
extremely valuable medicine, and adapted to many
cases of weak and diseased state of the stomach and
bowels. They have already been extensively used,
and have given in all cases the highest degree of satis-
faction, and produced the niost salutary and beneii-
cial circcts.
CARBONATE OF TRON. 177
From full experiments carefully made with the
preparations of iron, as suggested above, the most sa-
tisfactory results have occurred, and there appears to
be no doubt but that it deserves all the attention of
the faculty, which the writer claims^ and that it will
receive their sanction and approbatioji from its deci-
ded superiority to the ordinary preparations of iron,
vill entirely supercede their use.
COMPOUND FLUID EXTRACT OF
For BUeases of the Bladder^ Obdructlons of Urine,
Chronic Gonnorhea, and Gleets of long standing.
The Buchu leafs (Diosma Crenata) ha%'e been high-
ly recommended for diseases of the bladder, by some
of the most distinguished physicians in Europe; and
when united with cubebs and diuretics, have eilected
some extraordinary cures, a few cases of which will
be given hereafter. In order that physicians may
have a uniform preparation of this valuable medicine,
made in a careful manner, with proper proportions
and specific dose adapted to the disease ; George W.
Carpenter is pleased to announce his Compound Ex-
tract of Buchu, which he recommends to the medi-
cal profession as a concentrated preparation of this
article, and the most convenient mode in which it can
be exhibited, and which will obviate the necessity of
preparing the decoction, which is ahvays attended
with trouble and expense, and always differs more
Of less -in strength, according to the mode of prepa-
ration, which different individuals adopt, and not u!i-
frequently much impaired, if not totally rendered
inert, by the injudicious and unskilful management of
those unacquainted witli pharmaceutical prepara-
tions. This compound will therefore overcome all
JEXTRACT OF BUCKU. 179
llicse difficulties, and being of uniform strength, and
ready prepared for the patient, can be administered
with more certainty of success by the practitioner,
and with less trouble and expense to the patient.
Under these circumstances, this medicine has been
prepared expressly for the use of the faculty, and will
no doubt receive their approbation and encourage-
ment.
Among various liighly satisfactory accounts of the
value of the Buchu in diseases of the bladder, ob-
structions of urine, chronic gonnorhea, gleets of long
standing, &c. I will quote a few cases and remarks
by Dr. Ephriam McDowell, a highly distinguished
physician and member of the Royal College of Sur-
geons in Ireland, published in the transactions of the
King and Queen College Physicians.
A variety of remedies have been advised, says Dr.
jicDowell, for chronic inflammation of the blidder,
&c. which vvhen neglected, extends to the ureters
and kidneys, producing a train of severe local as well
as constitutional symptoms. Its original cause fre-
quently cannot be discovered in many cases; we will
however find it frequently succeeding to mismanaged
gonnorhea, neglected retention of urine, diseases of
the prostate glands, strictured urethra, or calculous
afTections.
In some cases, as for example, when it depends on
diseases of the prostate gland, we can do little more
than palliate urgent symptoms; in other instances
much may be efTected.
A variety of remedies have been advised for these
180 EXTRACT OF BLCHU.
diseases, most of them I have repealediy tried willr
little or no cfTect, beyond (hat of being in sonne de-
gree paliative. The Compound Buchu having been
lately strongly recommended, 1 was induced to make
trial of it, and my experiments have resulted in the
most satisfactory manner, having succeeded in saving
the most inveterate cases, in which I had no hopes of
success. 1 will quote a few for example.
Case First,
The first case in which I used it, was apparentlv
a hopeless one, recommended to me by a medical
friend in December, 1821. James Thompson,
set upwards of six years ill, emaciated and
greatly debilitated, lower extremities paralytic.
When he passed iiis urine, it was generally either with
great difficulty from its being loaded with a large
quantity of slimy, tenaceous and stringy matter, or
else involuntarily. His bowels were habitually cos-
tive, appetite totally gone. He had been under the
care of so many medical practitioners, without the
least benefit, that I feared little could be done for
him. I passed a bougie in the first instance, to ascer-
tain the state of urethra, which I found rather irrita-
table. I also used several of the common remedies
for irritable bladder with no efTect, at the same time
closely attending to the state of the digestive organs;
lastly I gave the Compound Buchu, which gave im-
mediate relief. In six days after I found his appe-
tite and strength improved, able to walk firmly, the
mucous much diminished in quantity, capable of re-
Bucnu, 181
(aiiiinghis urine ?ome hours, and no longer passing it
involuntarily. His own words to a medical friend
were nearly the following:
"Instead of being disturbed every five minutes dur-
ing the night by painful erections, or by the desire of
making water, I can sleep some hours at a time; no
involuntary passing of urine. I can walk stoutly
through my room, and even up stairs without help;
my appetite is excellent; the heartburn gone; the se-
diment in the urine greatly diminished. I feel a
strength in my back and loins unknown to me for
} ears." He continued to improve for a considerable
time, but being unable to obtain any more of the Bu-
chu, he in some degree relapsed; his condition how-
ever infinitely improved, and a short further continu-
ance of the Buchu would restore him to entire health..
Case Second,
Philip Dwyer, aged ^xty-seven years, sallow com=..
plexion, emaciated, ill for three years; complains of
severe pain in the pubic region, particularly before
he passes water. Great irritability of bladder, passing
water in small quantities every quarter or half hour
during the night; during the day can occasionally re-
tain it for two or three hours. Less irritability when
using much walking exercise; when sitting, is effec-
f ^ed with a stinging or scalding sensation in the pros-
tate region. Urine generally white or muddy. Fre-
quently passes a large quantity of slimy, pale yellow
coloured, mucous, voided with great difficulty, and
foon putrefying, is much relieved by its expulsioq
Q
from the bladder, is greatly debilitated, end has lost
much weight. Tongue loaded with yellowish mu-
cous. Thirst. No appetite. Bowels generally con-
stipated. No enlargement of the prostate gland*
could be felt.
Previous History. — Never had gonnorhcea. Has
been a temperate liver. The disease commenced
three years ago, first with slowness and difficulty in
passing water, which was followed by frequent mic-
turition. He attended the Talbot dispensary for
five months, and left town apparently cured. He re-
lapsed however, in a month, and returned to the dis-
pensary, May 1 3, 1 822. He was ordered a pint of
the Aqua Calcis daily, twenty drops of the muriatcd
tincture of iron three times daily, an opium supposi-
tory (three grains) every night, and purgative pills to
be taken occasionally.
May 24. Up five times last night to pass water;
slime in less quantity; can expel his urine with more
force.
May 29. Worse; op fifteen times last night. The
ilime has not been discharged for some days; since
its stoppage great irritability of the bladder has exis-
ted. Prescribed the Buchu and continued the use of
muriated tincture of iron.
May 31. Reports that he has been better for the
last two nights than for years previous. Passed a
large quantity of slime yesterday, which came awaj
readily: up but four times last night.
June 7. Continues better.
June 9. Great irritability of the bladder A paio-
BrcHC. 183
ful swelling in pubic region; no mucoui discharged
for some days. This relapse arose from not being
able to procure the Buchu during the last v/eek.
The Buchu repeated as before, also (he muriatcd
tincture of iron.
June 21. Much better. The shme was dischar-
•ged after taking the medicine twice; up bat twic«
last night.
The Buchu continued as before,
July 5. Continues mending.
August 4. Called on me to say he continues well,
and has been able to follow his ordinary occupation
as a labourer, for the last month, and considers him-
self radically cured,
Henderson Waters, a debilitated and emaciated
man, aged thirty-one j-ears, visited me, August 4,
1822, with my friend Dr. Gumming; found him la-
bouring under much fever. Urine dribbling almost
constantly from him, or else passing it in the quanti-
ty of half an ounce every five minutes; the urine
loaded with slime; lower extremities totally paraly-
sed; the upper nearly so. His lower limbs rigid, and
frequently jerked up under him by painful spasms;
fcvere pains in the soles of his feet; much irritabilitv
of the rectum. The glans penis in a state of slough,
-from keeping it constantly immersed in the urinal
The last dorsal vctrebraB more prominent than usual;
no pain caused by its forcible pressure. The usual
remedi=3S were applied by two eminent physicians
lS4 fetrciiu.
who had been attending him without success or be-
nefit.
June 8. Put on the use of the Buchu as the last
case.
August 10. Can retain his urine for half an hour
at a time; Httle or no pain in the bladder; strength
and appetite improved. The sloughs detached from
penis, sore healthy; a sUght slough over the trochan-
ter major, from pressure and debility; ordered nour-
ishing diet, and to continue the Buchu.
August 20. (Reported by Dr, Gumming.) In every
respect better; can now retain his urine for two or
three hours at a time; no uneasiness in the bladder.
For some days past, sitting up; looks greatly improv-
ed. Tongue, pulse, and bowels natural. Paralytic
affections of lower extremities, as before.
August 30. At his work as a watchmaker. Can
retain urine for four or five hours; health good; limbs
much stronger,
January 8. Continues as last reported, and is en*
tirely recovered.
In dispepsia it appears to be ^ valuable auxiliary to
other medicines. I had an opportunity of meeting
with a case of gravel, of the uric acid kind, in a se*
dentary and dispeptic individual; the attack coming
on whenever the digestive organs were deranged,
and frequently lasting with much severity for three
days, attended with violentpain, shooting in the course
of the ureter to the groins, testicles, and anterior part
of the thigh; much fever, restlessness, and irritability;
any excess in drinking wine, invatiably produced au
fiucHU. 185
-Sittack. He has been in the habit, for the last three
years, of taking the Aqua Kali Caustica, whenever
attacked, and usually continued it for a considerable
time, in quantities of one ounce daily. In a late pa-
roxysm, he took it along with the Buchu; a white
precipitate in the urine in large quantities resulted;
he then omitted the alcali and took the Buchu alone-
He recovered rapidly; both the white and red preci-
pitate ceased to recur, and he has had no attack of it
since.
The above accounts of Dr. McDowell are entitled
to the highest degree of confidence, being a man
highly distinguished in the medical profession, and of
large experience from the most extensive practice.
'Catition.
After the reputation of any valuable medicine is
established with considerable expense, trouble and
many experiments by theproprietor,heshould receive
some benefit from it. He is sometimes, however,
disappointed by the spurious imitation of his prepara-
tions, made by the .ignorant, who prepare inferior
and frequently entirely different compounds, and sell
under the same name, and on the reputation of the
genuine medicine, copying the directions, and putting
it up in the same bottles and form, and thus frec^f^nt-
ly deceiving the public, and injuring the repi'tati n
of valuable medicines. Under these circum-itanc 3
I would beg the faculty to be extremely pnrtictlar
in their orders, and to observe that each bottle *vill
vhave my written signature, without which none WiU
y^e genuine,
Q2
'CARPEf^TER'S
nAIilLTOGA POWDERS,
FOR MAKING
Congress Spring or Saratoga Waters,
There is perhaps scarcely an individual in the Uni"
ted States, who is not acquainted, either bj experi-
ence or report, with the salutary effects of the Con-
gress Waters at Saratoga. From thirty to fifty thou-
sand persons annually visit these Springs, many from
the remotest sections of the United States, and some
from the West Indies, and other foreign places. The
great expense in visiting the Springs, excludes the
greater portion of the community, (more than nine
out of ten,) and the bottled water, from its high price,
prevents its use to the extent of being serviceable,
and confines it to a small number; it appears to be a
serious evil that so valuable an article should be so
restricted, that comparatively few should be able to
enjoy what is so conducive to general health in the
hot weather of our summer months. From these
circumstances, Geo. W. Carpenter is pleased to an-
nounce the preparation of the above powders, con-
taining all the essential substances with which these
celebrated Springs are impregnated, and from which
the waters of the Congress Springs at Saratoga are
precisely and effectually imitated. With a view to
accommodate the public, and to bring into general
iwe so conveQient and valuable a substitute for these
SARATOGA rOWDERS. 1S7
waters, he has been induced to go very tjxtcnsivelj
into the manufacture of them, and to put them at a
price to be within the reach of most persons. For
the accommodation of the pubhc, agents have been
appointed in all the cities and principal inland town?^
to give a general circulation to so usetul an article
throughout the country. The public are recommen-
ded to make trial of these pawders, as he tindc by ex-
perience, and from the opinion of the most cmijient
of the faculty, that the water made from them posses-
ses the same medical qualities, is as effectual in its
operations, and precise in taste as that taken imme-
diately from the Springs. These powders are there-
fore recommended as a valuable remedy in all caseg
where Saratoga Vvaters are prescribed.
Persons on sea voyages, or fesiding at a distance
from the Springs, and in warm climates, will at once
perceive the great advantage of making use of these
powders, which besides being more portable, and less
expensive than the bottle water, will keep without
injury for any length of time; and as they are equal
in medical effect to that taken fresh from the Springs,
they are certainly much preferable from the many ad-
vantages they possess.
These powders are superior to the Seidlitz, inas-
much as the} are equally aperient and agreeable, and
at the same time possessing tonic and chalybeate
qualities in a superior degree, and are consequently
better adapted to weak and debilitated constitutioni
than any other cathartic in use.
It is now scarcely two years since the introductioo
1^ SARATOGA POWDEltS.
of these powders, in which time thej have been^erfi
to almost every populated section of the United
States, and have given in all places the highest de-
gree of satisfaction. They are now extensively used
throughout the Southern States, where they are high-
ly appreciated by the faculty, and extensively em-
ployed by the most distinguished physicians. They
have elicited from the professors of several medical
institutions, and from highly distinguished individuals
in various places, voluntary acknowledgements of
high commendation on their valuable properties. The
reputation and demand which Carpenter^s Saratoga
Powders have acquired, will no doubt be an induce-
ment for the ignorant to attempt their preparation,
the proprietor has already received frequent com-
plaints that spurious and inferior imitations have
been made, and that sales are ctlected on the repu-
tation and character of his preparation. I deem it
justice to the community to apprise them of these
facts, that they may be on their guard. They should
be particular to specify in their orders "Carpenter's
Saratoga Powders," otherwise they may get a differ-
ent article from what they intended.
f)^We are pleased to tind that the imitation pow-
ders are not patronized by the faculty, but are objec-
ted to wherever they are known, in many cases, how-
ever, they are purchased by individuals who are not
acquainted with the circumstances, and do not disco-
ver the fact until they begin to make use of them.
The proprietor has received numerous letters on the
subject of this grievance, and a number of expri^s-
^SARATOGA POWDERS. 189
flions of dissatisfaction have appeared in various jour*
nals and Gazetts of the Southern States, where these
powders are most used. The following is from the
Southern Times and State Gazette, of July 11, 1831,
published at Colombia, Sojth Carolina.
" I copy with pleasure the editorial article* from
the National Gazette, of Philadelphia, because I can
safely and honestly say, the compliment is deserved.
There are some very inferior imitations of Carpen-
ter's Saratoga Powders, which are by no means
worthy of public notice, compared to Carpenter's.
As a summer laxative, equally pleasant and etKca-
cious as tUe water; these powders may be relied
upon."
♦ See National Gazette of June 22, 1831
COMPOUND
37RUF OF LIVERWORT.
Hepatica Triloba*
This plant has proved to be a safe and valuable
medicine for Coughs, Spitting of Blood, Consump*
tion, and Liver Complaints.
Most of the medicines made use of for the above
diseases, are of a stimulating nature, composed gene-
rally of Rezins and Balsams, in alcoholic solutions,
which, although sometimes giving temporary relief,
in almost every mstance where they are freely used,
aggravate the disease and reduce the strength of the
patient.
This article possesses superior advantages over
these preparations, its action being of a tonic, invigo.
rating and strengthening nature, thus overcoming the
disease, by promoting expectoration and gradually
increasmg the strength of the patient, and this with-
out being attended with any unpleasant effects;
it also agrees with the stomach in all cases, and is
a pleasant and agreeable medicine to take.
It has generally been administered in the form of
tea or decoction; this has most frequently been im-
properly made by those unacquainted with pharma-
ceutical preparations, and has brought this medicine
in disrepute, preventing its application in many casesj
SYKUP OF LIVERWORT. 191
where it would otherwise have proved highly useful
afid beneficial.
To guard against these inconveniences, and to
bring before the public a concentrated preparation of
this valuable article of uniform strength; George VV,
Carpenter is pleased to announce the preparation of
Compound Syrup of liverwort, which will obviate
all the disadvantages above described. This prepa-
ration is as active as it can be made from the fresh
plant, and the virtues considerably improved by the
tonic and expectorant medicines which have beeo se-
lected as adjuvants.
Directions. — Dose for grown persons, a table-
epoonful three or four times a day when the Cough
is troublesome; for children a tea-spoonful may be ta-
ken in the same manner.
N. B. During the cough, the patient will find much
advantage from taking a dietical jelly, made of the
flour of Slippery Elm.
RKMARK^
ON
CARFEUTER'S
Compound Syrup of Liverwort,
It is scarcely one year since the introduction of this
preparation, in which time it has been sent to almost
every populated section of the United States, and
has in all places been highly approved of by the fa-
culty, and prescribed by the most distinguished phy-
licians, and has given in all cases the most decided and
unsquivocal iatisfaction, and produced the most salti-
192^ SYRUP OF IJVERWORT;
lary and beneficial effects — and in numerous instan-
ces elicited, from the most distinguished members of
the medical profession, (for whose use, and under
whose direction the article is expressly prepared and
respectful!}' submitted,) voluntar}' acknowledgements
of high commendation upon the valuable properties
of this medicine.
The following are a few extracts from letters of
highly respectable physicians, addressed to the sub-,
scriber on the subject of the above preparation.
From Dr. T. P. Hereford of Hai/rnarket, Virginia.
Whose observations on the Liverwort are entitled
to the highest consideration. His experience with
this plant is perhaps, superior to any other medical,
man in our country, and the public are indebted to
him for many valuable and interesting essays on the
iubject,in our periodical journals and papers..
From the National Intelligencer.
As Phthisis Pulmonalis or Consumption of the
Lungs has been emphatically styled an approbium
medicorumy and as it has for ks victims all ages and
•exes, and a large portion of the young and beautiful,
it becomes the paramount duty of every humane phy-
sician, to contribute in any way he can towards ar*
resting in its march, this terrible disease. With an
eye to this purpose, I have strenuously recommended,
and do still recommend, the Liverwort, particularly
Carpenter's Compound Syrup, which I consider the
most Taluable mode it can. be exhibited* being a
SYRUP OF LIVERWORT. 193
concentrated preparation of the fresh plant, with
valuable expectorant medicines selected as adjuvants,
and although I have never recommended it as a
medicine, indiscriminately adapted to all cases, yet
I am fully persuaded that it has done more signal
service than any other single remedy, so far as experi-
ments with it have been made, or according to the
extent it has acquired the public confidence; but we
are too apt to appreciate lightly, or invest with little
consequence, things which have the external appear-
ance of simplicity; while those which are enrapt in
secrecy, or have a mysterious character, allure, fas-
cinate or inspire us with confidence and admiration.
T. P. HEREFORD, M. D.
Jan. 18, 1830. Hay market, Virginia,
From Dr. William Watson, a highly respectable
physician of Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania; whose
extensive practice and experience entitles his ob-
servations to the highest public confidence.
Bedford, June 27thi 183a
Dear Sir — You were pleased to send with my
medicines, two bottles of your Compou^nd Syrup of
Liverwort. I have a favourite servant boy, who
was taken with pneumonia inflammation, in Novem-
ber last, which resisted all the remedies and means 1
have been able to apply. For some time 1 have con-
sidered him to be in the hectic state of phytisis,
having purulent cough, much expectoration, night
sweats, great emaciation, &c. Under these cir-
cumstances, without any expectation of benefit, I,
R
194 SYRUP OF LIVERWORT.
gave hirn the two bottles you gent me as directed,
and immediately the fever and expectoration dinran-
ished, the sweats were renioved, and his strength
and cheerfulness inerca&ed. I had a quantify of the
herb gathered, a syrap madie in the usual \vay^ but
Dotwithslanding the free use of tliis synip, he imme-
dia(ejy declined, and he is now in the state in which
he was when he comnieneed with your preparation.
1 believe a cure would have been clfected by a few
fnore !>ottles 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 <S^ Surgical Instrumetits^
For a Physician at the outset of his Practice;
PREPARED AT
No. 301,
X1.HKKT STREET, PHIKADXI.FHI1.;
Where the artieles can be procured of the most imex--
ceptionahle quality^ put up in the neatest and most
careful manner^ and as low as those of like charac-^
'ier can be had in Philadelphia or elsewhere.
It is often a difficult task for the young practitioner
to call to mind the various articles which he will re-
quire at the outset of his practice, and particularly
to proportion the quantities. In the annexed list are
all the essential articles required for practice in the
proportion which they are generally consumed. The
quantities are made small, which is preferable at the
commencement of practice, as they can be in-
creased as they may be required. Those residing
at a considerable distance, and require some time te
CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES. 197
receive their medicines after they are ordered, it
would be advisable to increase the (juantities of some
of the most important articles.
lb. 02.
Antimony, Tartrat. - - 4
Emetic purgative and diaphoretic, dose half grain
to one scruple.
Febrifug, (James's Powder) '4
Diaphoretic, 5 to 10 grains.
Alcohol, 36, . - . . 2
Stimulant, used as a menstruum or vehicle for
other medicines.
i\qua Ammonia, ... 8
Stimulant and diaphoretic, dose 10 drops diluted
with ft^ater; externally in frictions,
Acid, Muriatic, - - - 4
Stirnulant, dose ex'ernally 2 to 4 ounces in foot
baths, internally, half drachm to 1 diachm in each
pint.
AcidT^itric, - , . 4
StimMlant diuretic. In lemonade by drops until an
agreeable acidity is produced.
Acid Sulphuric, - - . 8
Stimulant, dose 20 to 30 drops in 2 pounds of water.
Acid, Pyroligneous Concentrated, .4
Astringent, refrigerant when diluted, dose of th^
conceniruted acid 1 scuple to 1 drachin, or com-
mon acid 1 ounce.
One pint of this concentrated acid added to
seven pin^s of water, instuntly produces a mix*ure
similar and equal in every respect to the distilled
vinegar of ihe shops.
Acid, Tartaric, ... 4
Refrigerent, dose 12 to 36 grains in solution.
Acid, Critic, - - . \
iiefri^erant, dose, 10 to 15 grains in a pint of liquid,
K 2
198 CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES.
lb. o>.
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, • ^</.
Dyacylon, simple, - t
ditto, cum. gum. - 8
Roborans, - ♦ '8
Ext^a^ct Gentian, - - - 1
Tonic and stomachic, dose 1 to 4 grains.
Colocynth, comp. - 1
Cathartic, 5 to 10 grains.
Hyociami, - - 1
Narcotic, antispasmodic and resolvent in all ner-
vous disorders, dose 1 to 2 grain*.
Cicuta, - . - 1
Narcotic, anodyne, and resolvent, dose 2 to 10 grsMM.
^0!l CATAlvOGUE OF MEDICINES.
Ih, oz.
esternaUy in cataplasms, lotios, &,c. in scinhovig
and cancerous aliections.
Stramonii,
Narcotic, and resolvent in epilepsy, hlbteria, corea
and cancer.
Gljcyrrhlza, - - I
DemuJcent in allaying- coughs, dose 2 to 6 grains.
Quinine, - - - I
Two grains of this exti*act arc equal to one grain
of the sulphate, and is at one third the price.
Carpenter's Compound Fluid Extract of
Sarsaparilla, - - - ^ doz.
One tablespoon ful of this extract added to a pint
of water, instantly produces the Lisbon 13ict Drinlc
of the usual strength. It is particularly recom-
mended to the faculty as an active preparation of
Sarsaparilla, and for its convenience and portability.
CAUTION.
The reputation and demand for this article has induced
base imitations of it, against which the faculty should be on
their guard.
Caustic, potass, - . - 3
Used externally as an escharotlc.
Cantharides, ... 4
Internally, stimulant and diuretic; and externally
rubefacient and epispatic, dose 1 too grains.
Conserv. rosarum, - - 4
As a vehicle for other remedies.
Elaterium, (Clutterbuck,) - 1-8
Uosel-8 to 1-4 grain.
Fior. Channomile, - - 4
Aromatic and emmenagogue, dose, in infusion,
from 2 scruples to 2 drachms.
Fol. Senna Alexandrin, - - 5
Purgative, 2 drac'ur.a to 1 ounce, in infusion.
catal(k;ue of medicines* 203
lb . oz,
Fol. Digitalis, - . . 2f
Diuretic unci sedative, dosi 1 grain to 1 scruple.
Uva Ursi, ... 4
Astringent and diuretic, dose 1 scruple to 1 drachm
two or three times a day.
Sabina, ^ . . 4
A powerful stimulant, with diaphoretic emana-
go£j-ue and r.nlhclnnintic properties, dose 5 to 10
grains two or three times a day.
Opium, - - - »- <-
Narcotic, anodyne andsudorificj dose ^ to3~^ains,
Manna Flake, ... 4
Laxative, dose for children 1 to 4 drachms, adults,
1 to 2 ounces.
Camphor, . . - 4
Sedative , vermifuge and sudorific, dose 2 to 20 grains
suspended in emulsion.
Gum Myrrh, Pulv. - - 2
Tonic, vermifuge, emmsnagogue and stimulant,
scarcely used except externally, dose 15 to 30
grains.
Assafoetida, .... S
Antispasmodic, dose 12 to 30 grains; in enema ^
drachm.
Guaiac, ... 4
Sudorific and antisyphilitic, in gout, rheumatism,
syphilis, £<.c. dose ^ to 1 drachm in powder;
tinct. 1 drachm to ^ ounce.
Aloes, ... S
Drastic purgative, dose 5 to 30 grains.
Ammoniac, - . - - 4.
Stimulant and expectorant, dose 6 to 20 grains ia
emulsion
Kino, ... X
Tonic, astringent »nd febrifuge, tincture i t« I
Urachm; powder 15 taSQ grains.
?i04 CATALOGUE OF MEDXCIK£S.
lb. oz.
Gamboge, ... 2
Drastic purg-ative, in passive dropsy, chronic jaun-
dice, vermes, &c. dose i to 15 grains.
Scammony, - - - \
Drastic purgative, dose 5 to 20 grains. This is the
Aleppo scammony, the Symrna is very inferior^
and should not be used.
Arabic, - - - 4
Demulcent and pectoral, dose ^ to 1 ounce.
Glyster Pipes, - - - ^ doz.
Hydriodat Potass, - - 1
See the remarks on this article and Iodine in a pre-
ceding part of this work.
Iodine, ... - 1
Kermes Mineral, . - - 1
Diaphoretic expectorant and emetic, dose 1 to 2
grains.
Patent Lint, ... 4
Magnesia, Calcined, - - 4
Antacid and purgative, dose 1 to 2 drachms.
Oleum Olivarum,- - - 1 bot.
Purgative, emetic and demulcent, dose ^ to 4 oz.
Bergamot, - - - 1 oz.
Used in giving fragrance to cologne water and
other article*
Lemon, - , . 1
Used the same.
Ricini, - - - ^bot,.
Purgative, dose ^ij to ^ij.
Cinnamon, - - - 1
Stimulant, Cordial, dose 2 to 5 drops.
Caryopbilli, - - - ^
Tonic, stomachic, and emxoanagogue, dose 5. to 10
drops.
CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES. 205
lb. 02.
Oleum Carui, ... i
Stimulant and carminative, used as an adjunct to
'purgative pills, dose 1 to 10 drops.
Juniper,
Carminitive, diaphoretic and diuretic, dose from 2 to
10 drops. It is sometimes given in dropsy and
may be added to Foxglove when given in pills.
Lavender, - - -
Stimulant and cordial, do»e 1 to 4 drops.
Sabina,
Stmulant, diajihoretic and emmenagogue, dose
from 2 to 6 drops.
"Wormseed, -
Anthelmintic, 10 to 20 drops.
Menth. Pip. -
Stimulant and carminitive, dose 1 to 3 drops.
Sassafras, - - -
Stimulant, sudorific and diuretic, in chronic rheuma-
tism and cutaneous affections, dose 2 to 10 drops.
Croton Tig. - - - 1 vial.
Purgative, 1 to 2 drops. See full account of it in
a preceding part of this work.
Oil of Black Pepper, - - 1 vial.
This is much more active than the piperine, one
drop of which is equal to 3 grains of the latter.
It is a valuable adjunct to Quinine, 1 or 2 drops
added to 6 grains will greatly increase the powers
of that medicine.
Oil of Amber, rectified,
Stimulant, antispasmodic and rubefacient, dose from
' 5 to 12 drops.
Aniseed,
Carminative, dose from 5 to 15 drops.
Merc. Precipit. Alb.
Bxternally in the form of oil for cutaneous erup-
tions.
S
206 CATALOG!: 1-: of medicines.
lb, oz.
Merc. Precipit. Rub. - - 4
Escharotic, externally incorporated with cerate or
other ointm&nts.
Fiperine, - - - - \
This is highly approved of by the facully as an
adjunct to quinine in intermittent fevers. For a
full and detailed account of this article, see my
paper in the American Journal of Medical Sci-
ences.
Pill Boxes, - - 2 papers,
Pulv. Jalap, ... 8
Purgative, dose in powder 15 to 30 grains.
Fulv. Rhei, ... 8
Purgative, dose 30 to 40 grains.
Pulv. Ipecac. . . - 4
Emetic, purgative and diaphoretic, dose in powder
15 to 30 grains.
Quicksilver, (Hydrargyrum,) - 4
Vermifuge, in decoction 1 pouiid of mercury to 2
pounds of water.
Rass, \a^. Quassia, - - 4
Tonic, stomachic, febrifuge, dose in powder from 1
scruple to 1 drachm, infusion 1 to 2 drahms, tinc-
ture ^ drachm to 1 ounce.
Rad Gentian, ... 8
Bitter, tonic and febrifuge, tincture ^ to 2 drachms.
Colombo, ... 1
stomachic and anti-emetic. Employed in nervous af-
fections of the stomach, dose ^ drachm to 1 ounce.
Do. Pulv. - - 8
Serpentaria, - - 4
Tonic, f"' 'fuge and diaphoretic, dose from 1 to 2
drachms lu infusion.
Senega, , . . 4
Stimulant, expectorant and diaphoretic, dose de-
coction, ^ to 1 ounce, powder 10 grains to half
drachm.
CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES- 201
Spigela, - • - - S
Vermifuge, dose 2 to 4 drachms in infusion.
Sarsaparilla, ... 1
Sudorific, in syphilis, diseases of the skin, gout,
and rheumalirsm; dose, decoction 1 to 2 ounces;
the fluid extract is the best preparation, see a
preceding part of this work.
Scilla, ... 4
Diuretic, emetic and expectorant, in dropsies, kc.
dose from 4 to 12 grains, oxymel and syrup, 2
drachms to ^ an ounce.
Glycjnhiza, - - 8
Mild demulcent, in decoctions generally, and joined
to other remedies.
Valerian, ... 4
AntispasTiodic, tincture 25 to 60 drops, dose in.
power 20 to €0 grains.
Sponge, fine, ... 2.
Sem. Foeniculi, - . , 4
Carmative, used with senna and other purgative
medicines.
Anisi, - - - 4
Used same as the above.
Sulphate Quinine, - - i
Tonic and febrifuge, dose 1 to 5 grains.
Compound Sjrup of Hepatica, - i doz.
This is a valuable tonic and expectorant medi-
cine, and will be highly useful in most cases of
pulmonic and hepatic affections. For a full ac-
count of this article see a preceeding part of this
work.
Sub. Carb. Soda, ... 4
Stimulant, diuretic .ind sodorific, dose 20 to 40
grains.
Sapo. Castile, ... 4
Aperative and dissolvent, used as an adjunct to aloes
and other purgatives in pills, externally in fo-
mejitations, lotions and baths.
8
208 CATALOGITE OF MEDICINES.
Ih. 02.
Spermaceti, ... 1
Demulcent, emolient, dose 5 to 1 drachm, in the
form of emulsion, externally in the composition
of several ointments.
Salts, Glauber, - - - 2
Epsom, ... 6
Purgatire, I3 to 3 ounces.
Sal. Tartar, (Sub. Carb. Potass.) - 4
Deobstruent, diuretic and antacid, used in saline
drau|»hts neutralised with lemon juice.
Rochelle, - - - 8
Purgative, ^ to 2 ounces.
Soda, (sub. carb.) - - 4
Antacid diuretic, dose 10 to 20 grains.
Ammonia, (muriate,) - 4
Diaphoretic, diuretic, febrifuge and tonic, dose 10
grains to 2 scruples, externally discutient,.
Nitri, ... 4
Refrigerant and diuretic, and when externally ap.
plied, cooling and detergent; dose 10 to 15
grains,
Martis, - - . 4
Tonic and febrifuge, dose from 1 scruple to 2
ounces in solution or pills.
Sac. Saturni, - . . 3
Styptic and antisudorific, dose externall^'S drachms
to 1 ounce in a pound of water, internally 1
grain in pills or solution.
Sulph. Potass, - - - 4
Purgative, dose J to 2 ounces in water.
Ung. Merc. Fort. - - 4
Externally applied.
Citrini, - - - $
Externally applied, stimulating and detergent
in herpatic and other cutaneous eruptions.
CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES. 209
lb. oz.
Carpenter's Saratoga Powders, - ^ doz.
This is a valuable medicine where tlie stomach
is debilitated, and ordinary medicines cannot be
retained. It is much preferable to the Seidlitz
Powders, being- equally aperient, and at the same
time possessing valuable tonic and chalybeate
efFects.
CAUTION.
This article has been imitated, and the faculty
should be particular or they may get the spurious
kind.
Carpenter's Compound Extract of Buchu.
This is a new article and will be found higkly
valuable in diseases of the bladder. It is recom-
mended by some of the most distinguished phy-
sicians in the English Medical Journals. For a full
account of it see a preceding part of this work.
Composition Mortar and Pestle,
x\0.
1
Glass Funnel,
(I
1
Graduated Measure,
i(
1
Scales and Weights,
- 1 sett.
Spatulas, different sizes, -
u
2
Sheep Skin,
(I
1
Syringes, Penis, -
u
6
Do. Female,
i;
3
Do. Enema pint,
4(
1
Stomach Tube, Elastic, -
il
1
Scarificstor,
U
1
Cupping glasses, -
((
6
Thumb Lancets, -
u
2
Catheters, Elastic,
u
6
Bougies, -
;(
6
Pocket Case of Instruments,
. I sett.
Teeth Extracters, in case,
- I do.
mo CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES.
Breast Pipe, - . . -
No. 1
Nipple Shells,
u 4
Quart Specie Bottles,
u 12
Do. Tinctures, -
" 12
Pint Species, - - -
«' 12
Do. Tinctures,
" 12
Half pint Salt mo.
" 6
Do. Tinctures, - - -
6
4 oz. Tinctures, -
'* 6
Wrapping Paper, blue and white,
(jrs. 3
Assorted Vials,
gross, i
Vial Corks, - - -
do. 1
The following articles can alioays he
had
at Carpen-
ier^s Chemical Warehouse^ and
are
frequently
wanted by the physician who has become established
in successful practice.
French Skeletons on Wires — Male and
Female.
These are very superior, the bones are white as aoow, the
teeth perfect, and put togetlier in the most ne;U and substan-
tial manner, and with the most anatomical precision.
Arterial Preparations.
Very complete arteries and veins injected, and muscles
displayed.
Dissected Heads and Separated Craniums.
Heads sawed in various ways.
Ditto, with Dr. Galls Phrenological marks, illus-
trating his System of Phrenology, and referring by
numbers to his work.
French Anatomical Preparations, preserved in
alcohol.
G. W. C. always keeps on hand a large assort-
CATALOGUE OF INSTRUMENTS. Ill
ment of London and American Surgical Instruments
of all descriptions, of the most superior quality.
He will also at any time have made to order, any
description of Surgical Instruments which may be
wanted.
Very superior setts of Cupping instruments, in
mahogany case, with exhausting syringe, &;c. They
Tire now in general use in this city, and are much
preferable to the ordinary mode of cupping.
Pill Machines, to make from 12 to 24 pills, and
•size from 1 to 4 grains. They will be found a very
convenient, and higlily useful article for the physi-
cian w^ho has a large practice.
Superior French Syringes, of every description,
for the Ear and Kyc, Penis, Female, Enema, Sto-
mach Pumps, &ZC. &;c. These are made of block
tin, and are much superior to the pewter Syringes,
they are made very true, being bored and turned,
instead of cast, and work as true as an air pump.
Eye Glasses, to wash the eye without the neces-
sity of bathing it with a cloth, which frequently irri-
tates, and only has access to the exterior.
Very neat small cases for filing, plugging, and scal-
ing the teeth.
Obstetrical Models, or machines of leather, with
mannakin, complete, for illustrating the practice of
obstetrics.
Obstetrical Instruments of every description, all
complete and of the best quality.
Splints for the thigh, each arm and legs, all com-
plete.
212 INSTRUMENTS, SlC,
Amesburj's Apparatus for Fractures of the Leg
and Thigh.
Vaccine Virus Bottles for preserving the virus.
Having made arrangements with one of the Vac-
cine Physicians of this city, Physicians in the coun-
try will be supplied with fresh Virus, by application
to the subscriber on the lowest terms.
Having made preparations particularly for supply-
ing physicians in the country, they can at all times
depend upon receiving every article carefully select-
ed of the choicest and most unexceptionable quality,
and their orders will receive the most prompt and
particular attention.
i
I
OF
SURGICAL INSTRUMENl'S,
Used ill Practice, &c.
It will no doubt be interesting to the practitioner,
to have a list of the Surgical Instruments now in use,
with a description of the contents of the ditFerent
«ett3 and cases, which are put up under various
names.
JLythotomy,
In a neat mahogany case, containing the follow
ing instruments.
Dr. Physic's Gorget, with 6 blades of different sizes,
4 pair Forceps, ditFerent sizes,
4 Male Sounds,
4 Male Staffs,
1 Female Sound,
1 Staff,
1 Scoop,
1 Hamula,
1 Scalpel,
1 pair of Forceps with a screw for breaking stone
Amputating.
In a neat mahogany case, containing the following:
1 Capital Saw,
1 Metacarpal, do.
^211 CAT.^OGUE OF
2 Capital Knives,
1 Catline Knife,
1 pair Artery Forceps with Slider,
1 Scalpel, steel handle,
1 pair Bone Nippers,
1 Tourniquet,
12 Curved Needles,
1 Tenaculum.
Trepanning*
In a mat mahogany cas-e.^ conUnnit^g (he foH<jwiug:
2 Trephines,
I Elevator,
1 Hey's Saw,
1 Scalpel with Raspiter,
1 Brush.
Midwifery,
In a neat leather case, contaimngthe, follozoing:
1 pair Forceps,
1 Vectis,
1 Crotchet,
1 Perforatins; Scissors,
1 Blunt Hook.
Dissecting.
In a neat mahogany or morocco case containing
the fotloroing:
6 Scalpels,
1 Single Hook,
1 Double Hook with a joint,
1 pair Forceps,
1 Silver Blow Pipe,
1 pair Scissors.
SURGICAL SNSTRUMENTS. 215
Pocket Instruments, No, 1,
In a neat morocco case irith a lock or 4 foldy
containing the folloiving:
1 pair crooked Scissors, ^
1 straight do.
1 Dressing Forceps,
1 Dissecting do.
I Director,
1 Spatula,
2 Silver Probes,
1 Tonsil Forceps,
1 Curved probe pointed Bistoury,
1 Large Scalpel,
1 Gum Lancet,
1 Abscess Lancet,
1 Tenaculum,
I. Small Scalpel,
1 Straight Spear,
1 Silver Female Catheter,
1 Physic's Forceps and Needle,
1 Thumb Lancet,
6 Curved Needles.
Pocket Instruments, No, 2,
In a neat morocco case with a lock or Sfoid^ con-
taining the following:
1 Pair crooked Scissors,
1 Dressing forceps,
1 Dissecting do.
1 Director,
1 Spatula,
2 Probes,
1 Tonsil Forceps,
1 Curved probe point Bistoury,
1 Straight Spear do.
1 Large Scalpel,
216 CATALOGUE OF
1 Tenaculum
1 Abscess Lancet,
1 Gum do.
1 Thumb do.
6 Curved Needles.
Pocket Instruments, No. 3.
In a neat morocco case with a lock^ or 2 fold, con-
taining:
1 large Scalpel,
1 pair straight Scissors,
1 Curved Spear Bistourv,
2 Probes,
1 Tenaculum,
1 Spatula, 'I
1 Pair Dressing Forceps,
1 Director,
1 Gum Lancet,
1 Thumb Lancet,
6 Curved Needles.
Eye Instruments.
In a neat case, containing:
3 Knives,
1 Iris Knife,
2 Needles, curved and straight,
1 Curette and Hook,
1 silver Speculum,
1 pair Forceps,
1 Curved Scissors.
Phlebotomy.
Silver Sping Lancets, Button-trigger,
Do. do. do. Lerer,
Brass do. do. do.
— Horse do. do.
SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS. 217
Thumb Lancets,
Lancet Phlemes.
Cupping*
III a neat mahogany case containing:
6 Glass Cups with brass caps and valves,
1 Brass Pump or Exhauster,
1 *Scariticator improved.
*0r with German Scarificator.
Plain Sets of Cupping.
In a 7ieat mahogany case,
6 Glass or Tin Cups,
1 ^Scarificator, improved,
1 Brass Spirit Lamp.
•Or with German Scarificator.
Pessaries.
Doctor Dewees's Silver gilt,
do. do. plain,
do. Flexible Metalic,
do. Ivory,
do. Wood,
Gum Elastic,
Glass Pessaries, a new article^ and recommended by
Professor Dewees.
Teeth Extractors.
In a neat morocco case, containing the following'.
1 Foxe's Key, spring bolt,
1 Curved Forceps, double joints,
1 Straight do. do.
T
218 CATALOGUE OF
1 Tooth Punch,
1 Gum Lancet.
Any other Key can he substituted for Foxe^s if
desired, but it is decidedly the best for extracting
teeth generally.
Instruments for scaling and plugging the teeth, in
neat morocco cases, containing:
12 Scalers and Borers assorted.
Also cases of Six do.
These are very neat instruments and are much
used, the price being very low.
Teeth Instruments,
Hinge Fulcrum Key with a spring bolt,
ivory handles.
Do. do. ebony do.
Dr. Fox's Key, springholt, ivory handles,
Do. ebony do.
Dr. Clarke's improved Spring Key, with a pivot,
ivory handles.
Do. do. do. ebony do.
Curved turn Key with a pivot,
Plain Fox's Key, ebony handles,
Curved Common Key,
Straight, do. do.
Curved Forceps, double joints,
Straight do. do. ^^
Hawk's Bill do. do.
Pelican do. do.
Forceps, common joints,
Curved Tooth Punches,
Straight do. do.
Tooth Files,
Gum Lancets,
SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS. 219
Trusses.
Eberlc's ivoiy patent,
Do. do. double.
Do. wood do.
Do. do. do. double.
Ivory Turnpads,
Do. do. double,
Wood do.
Do. do. double,
Leather do.
Do. do. double,
Plain Ivory Turnpads,
Do. do. double,
Oppositesided do.
Do. do. double,
Bellows Head do.
Do. do. double.
Common spring Turnpads,
Do. do. double,
Children's do.
Do, do. double,
Umbelical,
Suspensory.
CatJieters,
Silver Male,
Do. Female,
Flexible Metallic Male,
Do. do. Female,
Gum Elastic Male,
Bougies^
Flexible Metallic do.
Miscellaneous >
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
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