Pareira brava. I myself met with it in the market in 1862. Lastly Dr. Squibb has pointed out * that some small lots of Pareira brava imported into New York in 1871 consisted in large part of a drug entirely different from any previously seen, and that he at first supposed it an adulteration; but that subsequent examination had shown him that the drug in question agreed well with the older descriptions of Pareira brava, and especially with Pomet's figure, so that he was convinced it was true Pareira root. From Dr. Squibb's description I feel sure that the drug before him was the same as that to which I have called attention in the present paper.

There can be no doubt that it would become plentiful if the demand should arise, and that it would advantageously replace the worthless kind now found in the drug trade.

PAPAVERACEÆ.

On a New Opium. By P. Carles. (Journ. Pharm. Chim., 4th series, xvii., 427.) In a paper recently presented to the Paris Society of Pharmacy, the author gave the result of an examination of a new species of opium which has been met with in commerce, and which is described as coming from Persia. This opium is in conical cakes, weighing about 440 grams, and covered with the remnants of poppy leaves. It is free from rumex seeds. Its odour does not resemble that of Smyrna opium, but is similar to that of green coffee; when heated, however, it gives off a perceptible odour of chocolate. It is soft, like fresh opium, which is due to 5.60 per cent. of moisture. When well dried it is easily powdered, but it is slightly deliquescent. The paste is yellow, and does not turn brown in the air. Examined by the naked eye, or by the aid of a glass, it appears very fine and homogeneous. It mixes easily with cold water, without requiring, like the officinal variety, to be worked up in the liquid. The solution is slightly coloured.

Whilst Smyrna opium generally yields 49 per cent. of aqueous extract, this variety yields 53 per cent. In preparing such an extract this opium always presents a remarkable peculiarity. When twothirds of the water have been evaporated in a water-bath, crystalline crusts are formed, which sink successively to the bottom, so that when the liquor is allowed to cool, it nearly forms a mass in consequence of the interlacing of the crystals. By treating such a mass with water the author has obtained 1.10 per cent. of pure narcotine.

* Amer. Journ. Pharm., March 1, 1872, 107.

D

The estimation of the crude opium made by Fordos' method,* gave as the mean of two operations.

That is to say, a proportion of morphine inferior to that indicated for the Smyrna species.†

The facility with which this opium dissolves in water, its deliquescence in air, etc., led the author to suspect that it had been adulterated with honey or glucose. This was difficult to ascertain, since the presence of these bodies as normal constituents in Smyrna opium has been announced by M. Magnes-Lahens. Experiment has shown that these two species clearly reduce the cupric solution; but it is a question whether this reduction is due exclusively to glucose. Considering the number of products contained in opium, some of which belong to the glucose family and reduce the blue liquor, it appeared to M. Carles that fermentation alone could decide the point. Parallel experiments were therefore made with the cupric solution and fermentation; Smyrna opium gave a few bubbles of carbonic acid, and the variety called Persian gave several cubic centmetres; but there was no concordance between these results and those given by the Fehling test, which the author considers to be corroborative of his opinion that the cupropotassic liquors are useless for the exact estimation of glucose in opium, and that recourse should be had to fermentation. In the case under examination the so-called Persian opium appeared to contain an abnormal quantity, but this it was difficult to establish from want of a point of comparison.

This opium differs notably from that described as Persian by Guibourt. § According to him that kind arrives in rolls, wrapped

In following this process the morphine is not precipitated entirely for several days. The author states that, with the opium under notice, if but half the quantity of ammonia indicated be added, the narcotine crystallizes quickly in a state of purity, whilst the morphine remains in solution, and is only precipitated after a time. This peculiarity appears to be of special interest to persons preparing morphine with the opium in question.

This so-called Persian opium the author considers to be certainly of medium quality, as he finds that Smyrna opiums containing 10 per cent. are not the most common. However, as the Codex has adopted that standard for opiums of good quality, he considers that by augmenting the weight one fifth, the new variety might supply the place of the standard Smyrna.

1 cubic centimetre of carbonic acid corresponds to 3.88 m. of glucose. § Drogues Simples, vol. iii., p. 657.

in paper and weighing 20 grams. It yields 4 per cent. of morphia, -or according to Merck, 1 per cent.-and 80-55 per cent. of extract. Guibourt pointed out also that when its solution was evaporated a white crystalline deposit was formed, but he did not define its nature.

CRUCIFERÆ.

The Mustard of the Pharmacopoeia. T. Greenish. (Pharm. Journ., 3rd series, iii., 782.) In an interesting paper, the author, after glancing at the different official preparations of mustard since it was first introduced into the Pharmacopoeia, including a preparation under the name of "Infus. Armoracia Comp., 1809 to 1851," directs attention to a paper by himself in the Pharm. Journ., 1st series, v., 62. He then refers to the British Pharmacopoeia, where he finds that both black and white mustard seed continue to be official, but that there is an alteration in the directions for preparing the Cataplasma Sinapis, the result being a reduction in the temperature at which it is produced. The author then proceeds as follows:

:

Black mustard contains two proximate principles, myrosin and myronic acid, the latter in combination with potash, and it is to their mutual reaction that the formation of the volatile oil is due. Myrosin is an albuminous substancé, soluble in cold and in lukewarm water, but coagulated by heat, alcohol, and acids. Here we have a reason for the successive alterations in the mustard cataplasm.

If black mustard flour be mixed with cold water, or water at a temperature below 100° F., the whole of the volatile oil it is capable of yielding may be obtained from it. If the temperature of the water be 140° or thereabouts, it does not yield more than half the quantity, and at 180° very little oil can be distilled from it. These variations are due to the partial or entire coagulation of the myrosin present. In making the cataplasm of the British Pharmacopoeia, I find that when the linseed meal is added to the boiling water the temperature is reduced to 180°, and after the addition of the mustard to 160°. Either of these temperatures is too high for the full development of the volatile oil.

I would therefore suggest an alteration in the directions. Let the mustard be first mixed with two or three ounces of water under 100°, or lukewarm. Boil the remaining part of the water, with which mix the linseed meal, and add this to the mustard, which has had time to develop its pungency. The temperature of the

cataplasm will then be about 120°. It will be found at once fully efficient and about double the strength of that made by the present formula; and this, in many instances, may be of the utmost importance.

It is the speedy action which gives to a mustard poultice an advantage over a blister.

The question will naturally occur, why mix white with black seeds? The explanation is this. The quantity of myrosin in the black mustard seed is not sufficient for the decomposition of all the

myionate of potassium present, and as the white mustard seed contains a large quantity of myrosin and no myronate of potassium, it is added with advantage and economy. If water be added to pure flour of black mustard seed, the essential oil allowed to form and then removed, a further addition of flour of white mustard seed will again give rise to more essential oil, and thus prove that all the myronate has not been decomposed by the quantity of myrosin naturally present in the black seed; and I believe that by decomposing this excess of myronate of potassium, the bitter taste in the

black mustard can be entirely removed, making it more agreeable for table use.

I do not know a better or more interesting subject than mustard for the "prentice hand" of the student using his microscope for the advancement of pharmacy. Let him take a black mustard seed; soak it an hour in cold water, then boil it in a dilute solution of caustic potash (about 1 part of liq. potassæ to 20 of water). He will then be able to separate the three coats of which the integument is composed, and study them under his microscope. I have several slides of these three coats, from which the accompanying woodcut has been made. The middle coat is the characteristic coat of the black mustard seed, and contains the colouring matter; an intimate acquaintance with these coats will teach him what is black mustard when he meets with it under the microscope. In the top right-hand corner is a drawing of the characteristic cell of the white mustard. Then let him take a sample of commercial mustard, place a little of it with a drop of water on his slide, and cover it with a glass, and with a power of 250 to 300 linear he will see starch-grains. If his eye has not been accustomed to recognize starch-grains under the microscope, let him touch the contents of the slide with a drop of a solution of six drops of tincture of iodine to an ounce of water, when the granule of starch will assume a faint violet colour. And I would here caution him against a mistake he may be likely to commit. If he mixes the mustard with water in a watchglass, adding a small quantity of this very dilute solution of iodine, the development of the volatile oil will decolourize any starch that may be present before it is examined.

SAPINDACEÆ.

Guarana. J. Hallawell. (Pharm. Journ., 3rd series, iii., 773.) The author contributes the following remarks on this drug, which has lately attracted considerable attention, and in so doing acknowledges his indebtedness to a paper by Dr. Leconte, of Paris, for some valuable information :

Guarana is a substance prepared by the South American Indians for commerce, from the seeds of the Paullinia sorbilis, a climber of the family of the Sapindacea, growing in Brazil. The cultivation of this plant, called also "Narana," i.e., a climbing plant, has during the last few years enormously increased, owing to its introductior into Europe as a medicinal agent. The exportation of it at the present time, according to Brazilian returns, in one year, being put down as 30,000 kilos., about 30 tons.