EDITORIAL.
“AN ACT RELATING TO THE SALE OF DRUGS AND MEDICINES.”
“The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
SECTION 1st. It shall not be lawful for any Physician, Druggist, Apothecary, or any person or persons dealing in Drugs or Medicines, or engaged in preparing any compound to be given or administered as a medicine, to offer the same for sale without first affixing or attaching thereto, in a conspicuous manner, a written or printed recipe in the English language, stating the drug or drugs, medicine or medicines, or ingredients of which it is composed, together with the proportions of each.
SECTION 2. Any person or persons violating the preceding section of this Act, shall be considered guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined for each offence in a sum not less than ten dollars, nor exceeding one hundred dollars, or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months.
SECTION 3. This Act shall not take effect until the first day of July, 1852.
Albany, February 6th, 1852.”
On reading this bill, carelessly, we thought that it was intended to be levelled at nostroms and quack medicines. If it were so, however laudable the motives of its originators, its policy is much to be doubted. The public are not prepared for it; it would, at once, raise a clamour about selfish motives and private interests; it would never be enforced: and would tend to bring more moderate and judicious legislation into contempt. But a careful perusal of the bill shows that it applies to Apothecaries and venders of medicines in the ordinary prosecution of their business. Should it become a law, no Apothecary could sell six cents worth of paregoric, or an ounce of spiced syrup of rhubarb, unless he accompanies the article sold with a detailed enumeration of the substances composing it, with the proportions of each “written or printed in the English language,” without rendering himself liable to fine and imprisonment! It is not necessary to characterize such a law to Druggists. It is worthy of notice, however, as an instance of that spirit of pseudo reform which is at present so rampant. As a general rule, we believe, Physicians have no objection to their patients knowing the remedies they prescribe, particularly when the patients themselves are people of sense and information, but in many instances, of what use would it be to the sick man and his conclave of friends to be able to spell {63} out the ingredients of a prescription? Would it help them to a knowledge of its effects? Are they the best judges of its propriety? And if so, had not the law better proscribe educated Physicians altogether?
And then “written or printed in the English language”! The framers of such a law could not be expected to recognize a National or any other Pharmacopœia; which of the twenty trivial names, that in different times and different places have been bestowed upon the same article, should we choose? Should we follow strictly the modern chemical nomenclature, or should we take that of a few years back or should we go to the fountain head and return to the names of the old Alchemists? The whole matter is unworthy serious comment.
COFFINISM.
CAMPHOR AS A STIMULANT.
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CAVENDISH SOCIETY.
CAVENDISH SOCIETY, LONDON.—PRESIDENT—Prof. Thomas Graham.
VICE PRESIDENTS—Dr. Faraday, Prof. Brande, Sir Robert Kane, Arthur Aiken, and others.
COUNCIL—Jabob Bell, Dr. Pereira, Dr. Golding Bird, Robert Warrington, Alfred S. Taylor, and others.
TREASURER—Dr. Henry Beaumont Leeson.
SECRETARY—Theophilus Redwood.
The Cavendish Society was instituted for the promotion of Chemistry, and its allied sciences, by the diffusion of the literature of these subjects. The society effects its object by the translation of recent works and papers of merit; by the publication of valuable original works which would not otherwise be printed, from the slender chance of their meeting with a remunerative sale, and by the occasional republication or translation of such ancient or earlier modern works, as may be considered interesting or useful to the members of the Society.
Heretofore persons in this country were admitted to membership on application to Mr. Redwood the general Secretary of the Society, at London. To facilitate communication between the Society and its American members, the undersigned has been appointed Local Secretary, at Philadelphia, and to whom application should be made. The payment of five dollars U. S. Currency or its equivalent, annually, entitles each member to a copy of every work published by the Society for the period during which their membership continues. No member shall be entitled to the Society’s publications unless his annual subscription shall have been duly paid, and it is to be understood that the charges for duty and freight on the books arising from their shipment to this country are to be paid to the Secretary on delivery.
The number of Works published will necessarily depend on the number of annual subscribers; hence it is of great importance to the individual interest of the members that their aggregate number should be large. The Society now issue two or three volumes yearly. The books are handsomely printed on a uniform plan, for members only, their publication being conducted by the Council who are elected annually by Ballot from among the members; every member having a vote.
Members by subscribing for all or any of the past years, may get the works issued during those years except the first volume, published by the Society in 1848, entitled “Chemical reports and Memoirs by Thomas Graham, F. R. S.” which is now out of print. The other volume of that year which is the 1st volume of Gmelin’s Handbook of Chemistry, can be obtained by paying half the subscription.
The subscribers for 1849 are entitled to the 2d and 3d volumes of Gmelin’s Chemistry—and the Life of Cavendish by Dr. George Wilson of Edinburgh. The subscribers for 1850 receive the 4th and 5th volumes of Gmelin’s work, and those of the Current year will receive the 1st volume of Lehmann’s Physiological Chemistry translated by Dr. Day, and the 6th volume of Gmelin.
As the sole object of the Cavendish Society is the encouragement of an important branch of scientific literature, all who feel interested in Chemistry should assist in that object by subscribing, or using their influence with others to extend the list of members, which now amounts to more than 850. All those who may desire to become members, to examine the works already issued, or to gain further information regarding the Society, are requested to apply to the undersigned.
WILLIAM PROCTER, JR.
166 South 9th Street, Philadelphia. October, 1851.
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NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. MARCH, 1852.
ON THE HEAVY OIL OF WINE. BY EDWARD N. KENT.
Having occasion to use a little of the officinal oil of wine, I applied to one of our wholesale Druggists, who furnished me with an article, which I found to be useless. On testing a sample, it mixed with water and produced a slight milkiness. It was evidently alcohol, containing a trace only of oil. The price of this was $4 per pound.
Samples were then obtained from all of the wholesale Druggists from whom it could be procured, and each of these was proved to be equally worthless, as the results of the following tests will show.
The second sample, when agitated with water, separated into two portions, one of which was aqueous and the other ethereal. The latter exposed to the air, to separate the ether by spontaneous evaporation, left a residue which was completely soluble in water, and proved to be alcohol. The price of this mixture of alcohol and ether was $4,50 per pound.
The third sample when agitated with water, became slightly turbid, and was dissolved. It had a pale yellow color, ethereal odor, and the sp. gr. was .909. A portion of it, exposed twelve hours to spontaneous evaporation in a graduated measure, lost one-eighth of its bulk, and on the application of a taper, burned with a blue flame. It is quite evident that this also was alcohol with a small portion of ether, and a trace of oil. The price {66} of this was $4,50 per pound, and it was labelled “Ol. Aetherii.” It bore also the name of the importers.
The fourth sample, when agitated with water, became slightly turbid, and dissolved. It was colorless, had an ethereal odor, and the sp. gr. was .844. This also burned with a blue flame. The price of this worthless article was $6,50 per pound. It was labelled “Ol. Vini Pur,” and bore also the name of the London manufacturer.
It may be well to remark, that the officinal oil of wine, when agitated with water, separates and falls to the bottom, being heavier than water, whence its name. The sp. gr. of the pure oil is not less than 1.05, and it has a yellow color.
The labels on the third and fourth samples above mentioned, are alone not sufficient evidence to prove that they were imported, but, in addition to the label, I was informed that one of them was recently imported, and also that the manufacturing Chemists in this country do not make or sell the oil of wine.—In view of this statement (if true) the question naturally arises: How did the above worthless articles pass the Custom House under the existing law for “the prevention of the importation of spurious and adulterated drugs?”
I have examined another sample which is not offered for sale as oil of wine, but as it has properties resembling more nearly the officinal oil than either of the four samples above mentioned, it might possibly be confounded with the oil of wine. This sample had an agreeable vinous odor, and a yellow color.—When agitated with water a considerable quantity of oil separated, which was lighter than water. A portion of the original oil, distilled in a glass retort with a thermometer passed through a cork, inserted into the tubulare, gave about half its bulk of a colorless liquid below 180º F., which proved to be alcohol containing a small quantity of acetic ether and œnanthic ether.—The residue left in the retort had the properties of a mixture of œnanthic ether and œnanthic acid. The above article has been, extensively used (in connection with acetic ether) for the {67} manufacture of factitious brandy, and is sold for about $1,50 per ounce.
After having tested samples of all the different articles offered for sale under the name of “oil of wine” by the wholesale Druggists in New York, without being able to find either of them worthy of the name, I prepared a little for my own use, by the following process, which is that of the London Pharmacopœia:
2 lbs. oil of vitriol were carefully mixed with 1 lb. commercial alcohol, and distilled very slowly in a glass retort. The product consisted of two portions, the lightest of which was an ethereal solution of oil of wine measuring 6 oz. This was exposed to the air for twenty-four hours to remove the ether by spontaneous evaporation. The residue, washed with a little dilute solution of potash and dried, was pure “Heavy Oil of Wine,” and weighed half an ounce. The quantity obtained, though small, corresponds exactly with the proportion obtained by Hennell at the Apothecaries’ Hall, London, viz: 17 oz. oil of wine from 34 lbs. alcohol, and 68 lbs. oil of vitriol.
By a simple calculation of the cost of manufacture, and expense of importation, it will be seen that pure oil of wine could not be imported and sold at the prices asked for the samples above mentioned. In making this calculation it will be necessary to observe that under the existing excise law, the price of alcohol in England is much higher than in the United States, and is now, I am informed, from 17 to 18 shillings sterling per gallon. The following calculation (based on the results of Hennell’s process) gives the cost of pure oil of wine, manufactured in England and imported into this country, at $35 per pound; but the spurious articles now sold for oil of wine, are offered at prices varying from $4 to $6,50 per pound.
34 lbs. alcohol (about 5 gallons) at 17 shillings sterling per gallon, | $18 70 |
68 lbs. oil of vitriol, at 21⁄2 cents per pound, | 1 70 |
Labor, fire, packing, bottle, &c. | 1 50 |
Cost of 17 oz. oil, to the English manufacturer, | $21 90 |
| Or per pound, | |
Cost of making 1 lb. pure oil in England, | $20 61 |
Manufacturer’s profit, say 10 per cent., | 2 06 |
Wholesale price in England, | $22 67 |
Duties paid by importer, 30 per cent. | 6 80 |
Charges paid by importer, 10 per cent. | 2 26 |
Cost of importation, | $31 73 |
Profit on importation, | 3 27 |
Wholesale price of the imported oil, | $35 00 |
I regret that I have been unable to find the price of pure oil of wine quoted in the lists of any of the manufacturing chemists, but think it fair to infer that if the article is offered for sale, of English manufacture, at less than $2 per ounce, that impurity or adulteration may be suspected, and in this case, I would recommend the following process for testing its purity.
Agitate a small portion of the oil in a test tube, with an equal measure of water. If it dissolves, reject the sample as impure, but if the mixture separates into two portions, after standing at rest for a few moments, put it on a paper filter, previously well moistened with water. The water in the mixture will pass through the moistened filter, leaving ether or oil upon it. If this is colorless or very pale yellow, it should be exposed a few hours to spontaneous evaporation, to ascertain if it contains oil. But if it is yellow and heavier than water, this portion may consist of oil of wine; this, however, should be verified by observing the odor and sp. gr. of the oil. By carefully operating upon a known quantity in the above manner, the proportion of alcohol or ether (if present) may be easily determined.
As the efficacy of Hoffman’s Anodyne is due to the heavy oil of wine contained in it, and as the proportion of this oil to the other constituents is small, it is particularly necessary that {69} the oil should be pure. The high price of alcohol in England, and a defect in the directions formerly given for its preparation in the United States Dispensatory, are the probable causes of the absence of pure oil of wine in New York. In recent editions of the above work, the defective proportions have been substituted by those of the London college, and there is now no reason why pure oil of wine should not be made in the United States, where alcohol is cheaper, probably, than in any other part of the world. I hope that our manufacturing chemists will turn their attention to this subject, and displace all worthless chemical and pharmaceutical preparations by such as will be useful to the public, and creditable to the manufacturers.
[The United States Pharmacopœia directs two pints of alcohol (sp. gr. .835) to be mixed with three pints of sulphuric acid (sp. gr. 1.845); by weight rather better than 3.3 of the acid, to one part of alcohol, and gives 1.096 as the sp. gr. of the oil.]—ED.
PRACTICAL HINTS, BY A WHOLESALE DRUGGIST.
The prosecution of the business of preparing and vending medicines, has been and still is too exclusively confined to the dollar and cent department.
Buyers take too much for granted. Ipecac is Ipecac all the world over, and he who can sell Ipecac at the lowest price is likely to sell the most and make the most money. To the credit of the craft, in part however, a manifest improvement in this respect, has taken place within the last few years, to their credit in part, I say, because the demand for good medicines has of late increased, compelling some druggists to furnish better qualities than they otherwise would.
It is a common remark that the late law, passed by Congress, relating to the introduction or importation of adulterated and inferior drugs, has produced a more desirable state of things in {70} our community, by opening the eyes of consumers to the fact that inferior drugs are imported and are consumed. This is only in part true. An improved state of public opinion first caused the law to be passed; this, in connection with the law when passed, caused a further progress. The stone, thus set in motion, will no doubt roll on till an entire revolution takes place both with venders and consumers.
It is not to be supposed that the person who swallows a dose of medicine dreams that it is not of good quality, or that he would hesitate in the value of six cents when purchasing his dose, between the best of its kind and that which is comparatively inert. The root of this great evil, viz: the purchasing, selling, and administering inferior medicines is ignorance. The patient can have little or no knowledge of the efficacy of what is given to him to take, and to the shame of a large portion of the medical profession be it spoken, the doctor knows but little more. I speak with confidence when I say that the knowledge of the sensible properties of drugs is almost exclusively confined to the druggist and apothecary. Hence in the purchase of his supplies of medicines of the apothecary, the only guide the physician has, is the price and the word of the seller,—this ought not so to be. At this time I do not profess to offer a remedy. The object of the present communication is to offer a few practical hints to the druggist, connected with the purchase of his stock; many, if not all, desire to purchase reliable medicines, but from want of knowledge between good and bad have only the price, and the reputation of the seller to guide them.
I now propose to take up articles of general use, and suggest a few simple tests of their quality and condition, which any one can apply with such means as an ordinary drug store furnishes.
Before proceeding with this subject, however, I beg leave to urge upon every druggist and apothecary, the great importance of having, at his disposal, a set of reliable hydrometers for liquids heavier and lighter than water, and a properly constructed thermometer for determining the temperature of liquids. He will find them his right hand helps, not only for {71} detecting adulterations, but for determining the strength or quality of nearly all the liquids which come under his inspection.
Certain arbitrary terms have been applied to solutions of ammonia and ethers, such as F.; F. F.; F. F. F.; and so on. These terms were originally intended to indicate the exact strength of those liquids to which they were applied; but, unfortunately, every manufacturer has a standard of his own, indicating the value of an F, or in other words these terms mean nothing, and should be banished from the books of every intelligent dealer. The hydrometer will determine the strength accurately and beyond all question, the dealer therefore should make his purchases, estimating the strength by the specific gravity either in decimals or degrees.
In detecting adulterations of essential oils, the Hydrometer is invaluable. If the specific gravity of an oil does not accord with the standard, it is proof positive that the oil is not pure; the reverse, however, is not so clear. If the specific gravity does accord with the standard, it is not a positive proof that it is pure, for the reason that the adulteration may be of the same specific gravity as the oil itself.
The strength of acids such as muriatic, nitric, sulphuric, aqua fortis, and the like, is accurately determined by this means.
A set of these instruments, on which dependence may be placed, can be obtained at a price varying from $5 to $12.
Let the dealer apply these instruments (where applicable) to all his purchases, and he will soon find out what he sells and who deals honestly by him.
MAGNESIA (CALCINED). Nearly all that is used in this country is imported from England. The quality, notwithstanding the drug law, is usually quite inferior. The impurities generally are carb. magnesia, lime, alumina and silica.
To detect carb. magnesia, put into a vial a small portion, and add two or three times its bulk of water; after mixing them well, add a small portion of sulphuric acid—effervesence will indicate the presence of a carbonate. On the addition of an {72} excess of acid, the solution should be perfectly clear; whatever is deposited is impurity of some kind; if lime is present an insoluble sulphate is formed.
The presence of moisture is indicated by the magnesia being lumpy, and when shaken, the particles do not flow among themselves easily. Good magnesia has a light, lively appearance, and is pearly white.—(TO BE CONTINUED.)
ON BLISTERING CERATE. BY EUGENE DUPUY, PARMACEUTIST, NEW YORK.
The successful researches of Robiquet in his labors on the Cantharis Vesicatoria, have demonstrated that the cristallisable neutral substance to which he gave the name of Cantharidine, is the proximate epispastic principle of the blistering cerate on which the physician depends in most cases, where an extended and yet deep revulsive action is necessary, whether it is derived from the cantharis vesicatoria or from other members of the trachelid family. The experiments of Mess. Lavini & Sobrero of Turin, have confirmed the supposition made by analogy, of the indentity which exists in the vesicating principle of all these coleopters, and there is a strong presumption that our commerce will soon be enriched with the beautiful cantharis, (C. nutalli,) abounding in the midst of our rising South Western States, and that it will eventually supersede the cantharis vesicatoria we obtain from abroad. If adulteration would not destroy, by its baneful influence, the advantageous form of complex extracts, we could obtain a desirable amelioration of our officinal cerate, by substituting for the powdered cantharides an equivalent proportion of the oleaginous liquid, with which they are saturated in the fresh state, and which is possessed of all the vesicating properties of the insect. That liquid is prepared in various parts of the Sardinian kingdom, especially at Verceil, where it is extensively used by veterinary surgeons in preference to the preparations from the powdered insect, it {73} producing deeper revulsion. It is also used, diluted in bland oleaginous substances for stimulating the activity of feeble serous exudations. As for the present we have not generally access to that natural product of the cantharis, we must select those insects in the best possible conditions, and endeavor to fix their active principle in such a manner as will diminish the liability to spontaneous volatilisation of which it is susceptible, even at ordinary temperature.
I have been for many years in the habit of preparing a blistering plaster which, I think, has some advantages over our officinal cerate, because it fixes the volatilisable principle, and at the same time rather increases than diminishes its energy.
To the officinal plastic mixture in which the powdered cantharides have been gradually incorporated, I add about 5 per cent of a mixture containing equal parts of strong acetic acid (prepared by distillation of the acetates of copper or lead), and pulverised camphor. The acetic acid transforms the cantharidine into an acetate of the same which is not volatilized at ordinary temperatures, and the camphor diminishes the symptoms of strangury which some patients have to endure when the application of a blistering plaster is resorted to. I also usually spread the blister on adhesive plaster on account of the convenient adhesion of that material.
ON THE ADULTERATION OF CERTAIN DRUGS AND THE METHODS OF DETECTING SAID ADULTERATIONS. BY C. TOWNSEND HARRIS, Demonstrator of Chemistry in the New York Medical College.
Since the establishment of the Office of Inspector of drugs in the United States custom houses, a vast amount of spurious and adulterated articles has been prevented from finding its way into our market. By reference to the report of the {74} inspector of drugs for the port of New York, through which is received the great bulk of medicinals imported into this country, some idea may be formed of the enormous quantity of spurious opium, jalap root, scammony, iodine, iodide of potassium, etc. annually introduced from abroad. We find that in ten months, from July 1848 to April 1849, inclusive, 90,000 pounds of adulterated drugs were rejected at the above named office. During the years 1848 and ’50, numerous specimens of adulterated articles were submitted to me for examination by Dr. Baily the inspector of drugs. From a long list I may select one as an instance of the impudence exhibited by foreign manufacturers, in attempting to thrust upon us their villainous compounds, “as standard articles.” I found a specimen of iodine, purporting to be pure, to contain 2 per cent. of non-volatile matter and 40 per cent. of water. The solid materials may be passed over as accidental, but the water is undoubtedly a fraudulent addition.
Beneficial as the establishment of this office may be in preventing the admission of any but genuine articles from abroad, in the present state of pharmaceutical regulations, it merely serves as a stimulus to the exercise of ingenuity at home, for producing those adulterations no longer supplied from the other side of the water. It is hardly necessary to say that rogues are to be found in every nation and in every clime, but I am justified (as I believe) in asserting that the spurious articles, at present met with in our market, are manufactured by foreigners whose métier has been destroyed by the passage of the drug bill. It is positively certain that parties who some years since conducted a factory in Brussels, from which spurious sulphate of quinine, sulphate of morphine, narcotine, &c., were palmed upon the citizens of the United States as genuine, are now at work in a city not one hundred miles distant.
How is this home adulteration to be met? The appointment of a home inspector of drugs, whose duty it should be to visit, from time to time, our apothecaries’ establishments, and to inspect the quality of the drugs therein, would be at variance {75} with republican ideas; too much like the excise law of England so obnoxious to the semi-republican inhabitants of Great Brittain. This question, however, has been sufficiently discussed by others more able than myself. The remedy for these abuses rests with the druggists themselves. Legislative enactments are useless. The present college of pharmacy which includes in its list of trustees, some of the leading pharmaceutists of the country, has done much towards elevating the profession. It is to be hoped that the laws under which they act will be extended to other states, and that no apothecary, unless duly licensed by the society, shall have any right to pursue his profession without the diploma of the college.
It is a matter of congratulation that some houses in this city, and those doing an extensive business, and of the highest reputation, have associated with themselves partners possessing a competent knowledge of chemistry. From these houses nothing can be obtained which is not up to the standard. Our apothecaries will find it to their advantage in the end, to employ persons possessing sufficient knowledge to enable them to detect adulterations in drugs, and not only that, but to be able to prepare the most difficult articles.
I shall relate in this paper some instances of home adulterations which have recently come under my notice. I have been furnished by retail druggists in the city with several specimens of the bitartrate of potassa. The results of the examination of five different specimens are here given:
| No. 1. | Bitartrate of Potassa, | 50 per cent. |
| Sulphate of Lime, | 50 per cent. | |
| 100 | ||
| No. 2. | Bitartrate of Potassa, | 65 per cent. |
| Sulphate of Lime, | 35 per cent. | |
| 100 | ||
| No. 3. | Bitartrate of Potassa, | 70 per cent. |
| Sulphate of Lime, | 30 per cent. | |
| 100 | ||
| No. 4. | Bitartrate of Potassa, | 75 per cent. |
| Sulphate of Lime, | 25 per cent. | |
| 100 | ||
No. 5 contains a small per centage of carbonate of potassa and a considerable amount of carbonate of lime. No weighings were made, but the amount of adulteration was apparently much less than in the other cases.
I have also had occasion to examine some specimens of iodide of potassium, procured from some of the first druggists in the city.
| Specimen No. 1, contained: | ||
| Iodide of Potassium, | 64 per cent. | |
| Chloride of Potassium, | 36 per cent. | |
| 100 | ||
| No. 2. | Iodide of Potassium, | 70 per cent. |
| Chloride of Potassium and Carbonate of Potassium, | 30 per cent. | |
| 100 | ||
| No. 3. | Iodide of Potassium, | 35 per cent. |
| Chloride of Potassium and Chloride of Sodium, | 65 per cent. | |
| 100 | ||
In numerous examinations made of the bitartrate of potassa and of the iodide of potassium from foreign sources, I have never detected in the iodide of potassium more than 15 per cent of impurities, nor in the bitrate of potassa, as imported from France, more than 8 per cent. Of course the crude commercial argol always contains a small amount of tartrate of lime.
In a sample of so called “cod liver oil,” submitted to me for examination by Professor Davis, of the New York Medical College, I am unable to detect a single trace of iodine. The {77} oil is rank, almost black, and is evidently a mixture of whale oil and linseed oil; in fact it contains no cod liver oil whatever. This article has been sold by a fellow professing to be a druggist and physician.
It is certainly most important that druggists and their employers should possess a sufficient knowledge of chemical tests to enable them to detect sophistications. I propose to give hereafter the details of examinations of adulterated medicines and the simplest methods I can devise for the detection of such adulterations, and I trust others beside myself will turn their attention toward a subject so fraught with interest to the Pharmaceutist.
ON WOORARA. A NOTE READ TO THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BY M. U. BERNARD, IN HIS OWN NAME, AND THAT OF M. PELOUZE.
Woorara is a violent poison, prepared by some of the tribes inhabiting the forests bordering the Upper Oronoco, the Rio Negro, and the Amazon.
Although the existence of this poison has been long known, very vague notions are still entertained regarding its component parts. Amongst the savages who sell or barter it, its preparation remains secret; and has only been made known through their priests or sorcerers. According to Humboldt, woorara is simply a watery extract of a creeper, belonging to the genus Strychnia. According to M. M. Boussingault and Roulin, it contains a poisonous substance, analagous to a vegetable alkali, woorarine. The information given us by M. Houdet, differs from that of M. Humboldt only in this respect, that he observes, before the extract is quite dry, the Indians of Messaya pour on it a few drops of the venom gathered from the glands of the most venomous serpents. This last circumstance is important, as we shall see that the physiological effects of woorara must {78} cause us to regard its mode of action as entirely analogous to that of venoms.
Woorara is a solid extract, black, resinous looking, soluble in water. We shall have occasion hereafter to advert to its chemical properties. Our attention will now be directed to its physiological effects when exerted on living animals. Woorara resembles venom in this, that it can be eaten, that is, taken into the digestive canal of man and other animals with impunity, whilst when introduced by puncture under the skin, or in any other part of the body, its absorption is invariably attended with fatal results in all animals. This fact we have repeatedly tested. The action of this poison is instantaneous, when it is injected directly into the blood vessels. A weak, watery solution thrown into the jugular vein of a dog or a rabbit, has always produced sudden death, the animal uttering no cry, nor manifesting any convulsive agitation. The effect on the whole organization is electric, and the vital functions are arrested as by lightning. When introduced under the skin in solution or in solid fragments, its poisonous action manifests itself more slowly, and the time is varied by the dose, the size of the animal, and its species. Other things being equal, birds die soonest, then the mammalia, and then reptiles; thus, with the same specimen, birds and mammalia die in a few minutes, whilst a reptile will survive for several hours. But death is invariably accompanied by similar, and very remarkable symptoms; in the first place, when pricked, the animal apparently feels nothing. If a bird, for example, it flies as usual, and at the end of a few seconds, when the woorara is very active, it drops dead without uttering a cry, or appearing to suffer; if it be a rabbit or a dog, it runs about as usual after the puncture, without any abnormal symptom, then, after some seconds, as if fatigued, it lies down, appears to sleep, its respiration stops, and life is terminated, without a groan or sign of pain. Rarely do we see even slight contraction of the sub-cutaneous muscles of the face and body.
On examining immediately after death, the bodies of {79} animals thus poisoned, we have always observed phenomena which indicate a complete annihilation of all the properties of the nervous system. It is generally found that when death has been sudden, the nerves retain for some time the power of reaction under the influence of mechanical or chemical excitement; if a nerve of motion be excited, convulsions supervene in the muscles to which it leads; if the skin be pinched, it causes reflex motion. But none of these are observed after death by woorara. The nerves of the still warm animal, in whom life has been extinct but a minute, are inert as if it had been dead and cold for several hours.
Again, in animals poisoned by woorara, the blood is invariably black, and frequently so changed as to coagulate with difficulty, and not to become bright on re-exposure to air.
If we compare this effect of woorara with that of the viper, we shall observe a great analogy between them, varying only in intensity. We may further remark, that woorara, like the poison of the viper, may be introduced with impunity into the intestinal canal. We might be led to suppose from its perfect innocuousness when introduced into the stomach, that it became modified, or in a word, digested by the gastric juice, so as to destroy its deleterious properties. To verify this supposition, we caused some woorara to be digested in the gastric juice of a dog, at a temperature of between 38° and 40° of centigrade. After leaving it for forty-eight hours, we introduced it by puncture into the veins of some animals, who died with the before-named symptoms; establishing the fact, that a prolonged contact with the gastric juice in no way modified its deleterious properties. This experiment has been repeated in various ways, and on the separate parts, as well as on the living animal. We made a dog, in whose stomach we had formed a fistulous opening, swallow some fragments of woorara mixed with his food; after a little time we obtained some of his gastric juice, and on analysis found it to resemble in every respect a solution of woorara. Thus we have the singular phenomenon of an animal, carrying in its stomach, harmless to itself, a liquid {80} which would cause instant death to any others who should be inoculated with it. Not only did the dog which swallowed the poison experience no fatal result from it, but its digestion was not even affected by it; the gastric juice thus mixed retaining all its digestive properties.
These facts prove that the innocuousness of woorara when introduced into the stomach, is not attributable to the action of the gastric juice. The other intestinal liquids, saliva, bile, pancreatic juice, were attended with similar results, none of them producing by contact the least difference in the poisonous effect of woorara.
The explanation of these facts appears to be simply this: there is a want of absorption of the venomous substance through the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane. This can be shown by the following experiment:—Take the fresh gastric mucous membrane of a dog or rabbit, recently killed; adapt it to an endosmometer in such a manner that the mucous surface remains outwards; then plunge the endosmometer containing sweetened water into a watery solution of woorara, and we shall find, after two or three hours, that the endosmosis will be complete. The level will have risen in the endosmometer, and yet the liquid contained in it will shew no trace of the poison, as can be proved by inoculating other animals with it.
If the experiment were to last longer, the endosmose of the poison might take place, but we should then find that the epithelium which covers its surface, had become changed, and had permitted the imbibition and endosmosis of the poisonous principle. This is so true, that if a partially decomposed membrane should be used instead of a fresh one, the endosmose of the poisonous principle takes place immediately. On the living animal, we can establish this property of the intestinal mucous membrane, and can demonstrate that amongst substances perfectly soluble in appearance there are some which when lodged on the surface of the intestinal membrane, may remain there without being absorbed, or without affecting the system. The active principle of woorara is of this kind. {81}
It was necessary to ascertain whether other mucous membranes, besides those of the digestive organs, were possessed of this same property with regard to woorara. We have tried it successively on those of the bladder, the nasal fossæ and the eyes, and in all we have found an equal resistance to the absorption of the poisonous principle. An injection of this poison into the bladder of a dog, was retained six or eight hours, with no bad effects; but the urine voided after that time had all the poisonous properties of woorara.
One mucous membrane alone offers a remarkable exception; it is the pulmonary. This acts, in regard to the absorption of woorara, precisely like the sub-cutaneous cellular tissue; and on the introduction of some drops of the poisonous solution into the air passages, when every precaution is taken, death takes place as rapidly as when the skin has been punctured.
We readily perceive that this membrane, destined solely for the passage of the air to accomplish the phenomena of respiration, possesses a peculiar structure, and is unprovided with that protecting mucous which lubricates the other membranes communicating with the exterior. This similarity between the pulmonary mucous membrane and cellular tissue, supports the ideas which M. Majendie, long ago, promulgated on the structure of the lungs.
We shall not expatiate, at present, on the remarkable difference in the absorbent properties of the various mucous membranes of the body. We shall have occasion again to revert to the subject, and shall only state that this fact, in relation to the absorption of woorara, is not isolated, and that in the intestines, for example, many active principles, although soluble, cannot be absorbed, and are consequently forced to act locally, or as if shut up in a closed vessel.
For the present we will content ourselves with these conclusions:
1st. That woorara acts upon animals in the same manner as venom.
2nd. That its harmlessness, when injected into the intestinal {82} canal, cannot be explained by any change which the poisonous principle undergoes, but rather by a special property of the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane which resists its absorption.—Journal de Pharmacie et Chimie.