SUMBUL, OR YATAMANSI.

Sumbul, the name and therapeutical properties of which are almost unknown to French physicians, appears to have been employed in India from a very remote period. Pietro Della Valle, who travelled through the different countries of Asia, in 1623, 1624 and 1625, mentions that sumbul is a root, and not a stem, although the Arabic word, sumbul, he observes, refers to the whole plant. It appears that the word sumbul is applied in India to a plant and portions of a plant, used as a perfume, as an incense in religious ceremonies, and again, as a medicinal substance. Sir William Jones thought that the true sumbul was a species of valerian, known both to the Hindoos and Brahmins, under the name of yatamansi. But, according to M. Granville, it appears to be an aquatic umbelliferous plant, found in the neighborhood of rivers.

It is erroneously asserted that it grows in Hindostan. It is not found in any part of the Indian territory, occupied by the English. The plant grows in Bootan and the mountains of Nepaul; and although large quantities of the dried plant have been exported, no botanist has yet been able to describe its char­ac­ter­is­tics from a living specimen. It is said that the native laws forbid the exportation of a living plant, without an order from the sovereign.

Sumbul has been described as a mass of roots and leaves of a greenish color, crumpled and pressed one against the other. This is an error, and arises from the fact of some having been first shown at St. Petersburg, which had been mixed with a {83} strong decoction of this substance of a greenish color. Sumbul appears, on the contrary, under the form of a root, thick, homogeneous, of two, three, and even four inches in diameter, cut in pieces of an inch to an inch and a half long, and whose section presents a fibrous aspect, and a white and yellowish tint. It is brought from the centre of Asia, to Moscow, via Kiatcha. In all the good specimens of sumbul, the epidermis, or external covering, is of a dark shade, approaching to brown; if the color be strongly marked, it indicates that the plant was old. The epidermis is very thin, and much wrinkled. The interior substance is composed of thick, irregular fibres, which may be separated from one another, after the outer covering is detached, and which indicate a porous structure, common to aquatic plants. If, after taking off the outer covering, we make a transverse cut, we shall perceive an external layer, white and marbled, and an internal layer, thicker and yellowish. With a powerful lens we can distinguish transparent points, which look like grains of fecula.

Two very remarkable physical char­ac­ter­is­tics demand our attention when we examine this root: first, its perfume, resembling the purest musk; then the powerful aroma which it exhales when under mastication. This odor of musk is so marked, that some had thought it owed this quality to its contact with musk, in the transportation of drugs from Asia to Europe; but such an idea is negatived by the fact that sumbul retains this odor, even when very old; that even when the external parts have lost it, it continues in the interior; that this odoriferous principle may be extracted from it by chemical manipulation; and again, that it has received from botanists the name of moschus-wurzel or musk-root. Its aromatic taste is also a distinguishing char­ac­ter­is­tic. The first impression on the palate is slightly sweet, this is rapidly replaced by a balsamic flavor, and then by a bitter, but not unpleasant taste.—As mastication proceeds, the mouth and throat experience a strong aromatic and pungent taste, and the breath becomes impregnated with the penetrating odor of the {84} substance.—This flavor is still more decided in the alcoholic tincture than in the root.

The chemical analysis of sumbul has occupied several German chemists, Reinsch, Schnitzlein, Frichinger, and Kalthover. According to Reinsch, the root of sumbul contains, besides water, traces of an ethereal oil, two balsamic compounds, (resins) one soluble in ether, the other in alcohol, wax, aromatic spirit, and a bitter substance, soluble in water or alcohol. The solution of this bitter substance, treated with lime, and chloride of sodium, gives a sediment composed of gum, starch and saline materials. The perfume appears to be contained in the balsams, and its intensity is increased by being diluted with water. Finally, sumbul contains an acid, which Reinsch proposes calling sumbulic acid.

Kalthover directed his attention further to its phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal uses, and obtained an alcoholic tincture of a yellowish color, musky odor, and bitter taste; an ethereal tincture, yellowish, musky, and of a sharp taste; and a substance resembling wax, precipitated after repeated decoctions in water.

It appears then, that we may obtain from sumbul for medical purposes, two tinctures, one alcoholic, the other ethereal, which seem to differ in their principles, and which may be given in drops alone, or combined with other medicines; and a bitter extract, soluble in water, which may be administered in pills. The powdered root may also be given crude, or in pills.—(Union Médicale) in Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie.

[Sumbul has been used as an anti spasmodic and a nervine; further investigation is needed however to ascertain its true place in the Materia Medica. In the mean time it has been imported by one of our apothecaries, Mr. Delluc, and we may soon hope to learn something more concerning its effects upon the system.] ED. JOURNAL OF PHARMACY.

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OBSERVATIONS ON THE STRENGTH OF TINCTURE OF OPIUM. BY A. B. GARROD, M. D.

Professor of Materia Medica at University College, and Physician to University College Hospital.

As many discrepant statements are to be found in works on Materia Medica, in various dispensatories, &c. concerning the strength of the tincture of opium of the London Pharmacopœia, it may not be either uninstructive or uninteresting at least to the medical profession, to have the subject brought under notice and discussion at this society, in order that they may arrive at some definite conclusion concerning the strength of a preparation they are in the daily habit of prescribing. If we refer to the London Pharmacopœia of 1836, we find the following directions for making the tincture of opium:—

In the Pharmacopœia of 1851, we are ordered to—

The only difference in the directions being that powdered hard opium, and digestion for fourteen days, are ordered in the one case, and simply powdered opium and seven days digestion in the other. If we look at the authorised edition of the Pharmacopœia by Mr. Philips of 1836, (and also at the present edition) we find stated, that the preparation has a deep brownish red color, possesses the peculiar odor and taste of opium, has sp. gr. 0.952, and about 19 minims contain 1 grain of opium, which is said to be proved by the following data: 1st, by evaporating the tincture, and finding the amount of solid extract left; 2d, by ascertaining the quantity of opium remaining undissolved. The conclusion at which Mr. Phillips arrived, viz: that 1 grain of opium was contained in 19 minims of the Pharmacopœia tincture, has been copied into most English works on Materia {86} Medica, and most medical men have been and are still in the habit of prescribing the tincture considering it to be of the above strength. Were Mr. Phillip’s conclusions correct?

With regard to the amount of solid extract left on evaporation of the tincture, it appears from the experiments of Mr. Allchin, which are also confirmed by those which I have myself made, that 19 minims yield about 1 grain of extract; but in these cases the Turkey opium of commerce must be first exsiccated; and the tinctures of commerce yield quantities varying from 1 in 19 to 1 in 28 minims of the tincture. Tincture of opium made with Turkey opium in small masses not previously dried, fl.

j. gave on drying 2.7 of solid residue, or 1 grain in about 22.2 minims. Tincture of opium made with good Turkey opium, previously dried and reduced to powder (Pharmacopœia directions) fl.

j. gave on drying—three experiments—3.1, or 1 grain of residue in 19.3 minims.

If made with opium capable of being reduced to a state of powder, the average quantity of extract would be about 1 grain in 20 minims; this proportion would indicate that one-third of the solid ingredient (opium) is left undissolved, which was found by Mr. Phillips to be the case. I believe all good specimens of Turkey opium yield about this amount of residue. An experiment made within the last week at Mr. Bell’s establishment gave this result. If then the strength of tincture of opium be considered to be that indicated by Mr. Phillips, we must assume that the undissolved portion possesses the same therapeutic effects as the dissolved portion. Is this correct?

It has been stated by some that morphia can be extracted from the residuum, and in Dr. Pereira’s Materia Medica, we find the following observations: “Proof spirit dissolves the same constituents as water does, but it takes up a larger proportion of narcotine, resin, oil. I have repeatedly prepared morphia from the insoluble residue left behind in the preparation of the tincture.” Again, in Dr. Thomson’s Dispensatory it is stated that Mr. Brande finds that the whole of the morphia is not taken up; but is found in no inconsiderable quantity in the filter. {87} We suspect occasionally narcotine has been taken for morphia,[7] and in the cases where morphia has really been found, unless the residue had been previously washed, an error may have arisen from the alkaloid being contained in the tincture of opium adhering to the dregs, and not from any contained in the residue itself. I have recently endeavoured to ascertain the true state of the case, and chiefly by means of a therapeutic inquiry into the strength of the residuum. The residue of tincture of opium prepared in the ordinary way at University College Hospital, was taken for experiment; it was first washed with a little cold water to remove any adhering tincture, and afterwards dried in a water-bath. By digestion with ether, it was found to yield abundance of narcotine, and was also found to contain meconic acid sufficient to strike a claret color with the persalts of iron; but at the same time nitric acid gave no evidence of the presence of morphia. It was found also by experiment that proof spirit at the ordinary temperature dissolved but a very small portion of narcotine; the bulk of the narcotine therefore remains in the residuum from the tincture of opium, perhaps united with meconic acid; for when treated with water acidulated with acetic acid, both narcotine and meconic acid were dissolved.

[7] In the sixth edition of Dr. Thomson’s Dispensatory, page 1061, the following method is given for obtaining “meconate of morphia,” extracted from the Quarterly Journal of Science, vol. xx., from which it will be at once observed, that narcotine was mistaken for crystallized meconate of morphia.

“Reduce good opium to powder, put it into a paper filter, add distilled water to it, and slightly agitate it; and in this way wash it till the water passes through colorless, after which, pass a little diluted alcohol through it; dry the insoluble portion (now diminished to one-half,) in a dark place; digest it, when dry, in strong alcohol for a few minutes, applying heat; separate this solution, which by boiling, and after evaporation, will yield crystallized meconate of morphia of a pale straw color.”

A portion of the residue was given internally; one grain to a healthy adult produced no effect; two grains were given with no result; the dose was then successively increased to four grains then to six grains, afterwards to thirteen, and lastly to thirty grains, without causing the slightest effect on the individuals to whom it was administered; the only limitation to the quantity given being the unpleasantness of taking so large an {88} amount of so bulky a matter. It appears, therefore, that the residue is, to all intents and purposes, inert.

From these experiments, it is evident that even should traces of morphia be contained in the dregs, still the quantity must be such (when the tincture is prepared according to the London Pharmacopœia) as to make no appreciable diminution of the strength of the preparation, and that the tinctura opii contains the active matter of the whole of the drug used in its formation, and therefore about 12 minims of tincture of opium possesses all the activity of 1 grain of crude opium, assuming that it loses only 12 per cent. in the drying. If dry opium is taken for comparison, 1 grain is contained in about 131⁄2 minims; and, therefore, one fluid drachm of tinctura opii contains about 5 grains of the drug, or 41⁄2 grains (according as it is compared with the dry or moist opium), in place of 3 grains; or 1 fluid ounce contains 40 or 36 grains in place of 24 grains usually assumed to be contained in it: a difference of strength of the highest importance when we consider the highly poisonous and powerful therapeutic action of the drug.

In the Edinburgh preparation the amount of tincture containing a grain of opium is about 131⁄2 minims, for the opium is ordered in the same proportion but not previously reduced to powder or dried. In the Dublin preparation the opium is ordered to be coarsely powdered, but avoirdupois weight is used in place of apothecaries, which makes the strength of the tincture such that 12.75 minims contain one grain.

The error as to the strength of the tincture of opium, which is found in so many works, has been recently commented on. Thus Dr. Christison objects to Mr. Phillip’s statements; Dr. Royle also alludes to it, and so does Mr. Squire, in his recent work on the Pharmacopœias; and even those writers who have copied the statement must have done so without much thought on the subject, as they have calculated the strength of other preparations of opium, as that of the tinctura opii ammoniata, tinctura camphoræ composita, assuming that all the active properties of the opium used in the preparation had been taken up {89} by the menstrua. And this is the case even with Mr. Phillips himself, in the case of the compound tincture of camphor, when he states that nearly two grains of opium are contained in the ounce, the Pharmacopœia proportions of opium being 1.6 grains only.

I have brought the question before the Society more for the purpose of eliciting the opinions of the members on the point, than with the idea of bringing forward much that is novel on the subject; if the conclusion to which we have arrived, namely, that 12 minims of tincture of opium contain all the medical properties of 1 grain of the crude drug, I think it very important that the members of the medical profession should be made fully aware of the delusion under which they have labored for so many years with regard to the strength of this important preparation.

NOTICE OF SOME VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL SUBSTANCES, NATURAL PRODUCTS OF NEW GRANADA. BY M. J. RAF. MONZON, M. D. (In a Letter to Dr. Pereira.)

Sandi is a resinous gummy substance, produced in abundance by a tree known by this name, on making an incision in its bark. At first it presents itself white, or liquid like milk, and it is called in the province of Barbacoas, “milk of sandi.” In a few days it acquires the consistency of resinous gum. In this state it is applied to various medicinal uses in different parts of New Granada, especially in the province of Barbacoas, a warm and damp country near the Ecuador, from whence the present sample comes. Its principal therapeutic property is resolutive; applied as a plaster upon lupus, fleshy excrescencies of the skin, cold and indolent tumors, &c. it produces their resolution; and this result is frequently confirmed by the {90} inhabitants of those countries. I have obtained it almost always when I have made use of the milk in similar cases. At present my father has applied this gum in the valley of Cauca, and with extraordinary success, for the cure of “bocios,” or obstructions of the thyroid gland. He has been able to purify it, taking away the part of potass which it contains in its original state, and has been able to give it the consistence and color of gum Arabic; with this substance he makes a plaster, which destroys the “bocios,” which so much abound in New Granada; and its general benefits are felt and acknowledged.

It is likewise used as an agent against sterility in women, applying it as a plaster upon the hypogastric region. In ulcers of a good character I have obtained frequent and quick cicatrisation by applying it in the same manner; I have also used it as a vehicle for preparing and applying blisters.

ACEITE DE PALO (oil of wood) is produced by a tree called “manteco,” in the same province. Its principal therapeutic qualities are topical and blistering. By using it as an embrocation I have destroyed the epidermis, and have thus been able to get rid of freckles and superficial stains on the face and other parts of the body. Applied in larger quantities it produces the effect of a strong blister, excoriating and inflaming the skin. This oil is used in its natural state as an ointment, on arms and instruments of steel: it destroys their temper and softens them. By decoction it loses these qualities, and might be used as an ointment without any risk. It cannot be used as a lamp-oil, because it exhales a very thick smoke and the most disagreeable smell. It has no known internal medicinal qualities; it may be classed amongst the corrosive poisons; its color is purple, its taste sui generis.

LECHE DE POPA (milk of the cow-tree).—This substance, in its natural state, possesses the physical properties of animal milk. It is obtained by incision in the bark of the tree, which is very abundant in the province of Barbacoas. The Indians and the African race take it instead of cow milk; it is very nutritive, but has no known medicinal qualities. It is used also {91} for whitewashing houses, combining it with earthy substances, because, being glutinous, it makes the whitewashing last longer, and prevents its staining or rubbing off.

MIEL DE ABEJA DE BREA (honey of the pitch bee).—This honey is extracted from the hive of a bee, very different from the one known in Europe, and very much smaller. It is acid. Its medicinal qualities are for interior refrigeration. I have applied it externally for contusions and ecchymosis, caused by blows or falls, and I have always obtained a good result. The pitch is a resinous substance, of a dark yellow color, and constitutes the hive made by this bee. It has a peculiar taste and smell, is very combustible, and is used by the common people for torches. It is soluble in alcohol. I have applied it as a plaster for nervous rheumatic pains, and it has always relieved the pains and swellings.

CANEDILLO.—This is the name of a cane with a bitter and aromatic bark, and, in my opinion, it belongs to the family of Winter’s bark. It has many therapeutic qualities; amongst others it has particularly attracted my attention as an antidote against the bite of snakes and of other venomous animals. I consider it the best and safest of all the antidotes known. Put two ounces of this bark in a bottle of alcohol, allow it to macerate for three or four hours, to obtain a tincture. Use two parts of this mixture with common water; a wineglass every two hours until you allay the headache of the bitten person—an infallible consequence of the bite, cupping at the same time, and extracting the tooth, which often remains in the part, which is then to be washed and covered with lint wetted with the tincture. By this simple method I have cured hundreds, without the loss of a single life. This antidote is now generally kept by all the owners of mines, as a certain cure for bites of snakes, in preference to other antidotes formerly used. It has this advantage over them, that it may be taken in any quantity without danger. It is, besides, a tonic and anti-spasmodic. I have used it also as a febrifuge; in rheumatism (by friction); and in the windy colic, taken in the same way as for bites by snakes. {92} For indigestion caused by weakness, and for amenorrhœa, from the same cause, it is also used.

SANDALO.—This is the bark of a tree which grows in the province of Esmeraldas, in the republic of the Ecuador. When burned, it produces a balsamic smell; by boiling the bark when fresh, it produces a very aromatic balsam, which, like the balsam of tolu is used in catarrh, spasmodic cough, ulcers, &c.

NOTE.—All these substances are indigenous in the province of Barbacoas. Popa and sandi are found in great abundance. Manteca de palo (oil, or literally butter of wood), is obtained only from young trees which grow in the plains.

ON THE SODA-PYROPHOSPHATE OF IRON. BY ALEXANDER URE, ESQ., SURGEON TO ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL.

My attention was attracted some time back by an ingenious paper of Mons. Persoz on the double pyrophosphoric salts, published in the Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie for 1848. In the latter part of that paper, the author expresses an opinion that the pyrophosphoric salts are likely to prove of importance as medicinal agents. It is well known that iron is rendered very eligible for internal use, if administered in the form of a triple salt, as when combined, for example, with tartaric acid and potash; because the iron then is no longer precipitable by the alkaline hydrate. It would appear, however that the soda pyrophosphate of iron is in many respects superior as a medicine to the triple salts into which the vegetable acids enter.—Thus, the pyrophosphoric salt, from being saturated with oxygen, cannot in passing through the system absorb more, whereas the latter salts under like circumstances, are constantly undergoing a process of combustion, according to Millon; and by withdrawing oxygen in this manner, must necessarily impair the efficacy of the oxide of iron as an oxydizing agent. It deserves notice, moreover, that the constituent ingredients of the soda-pyrophosphate of iron are to be found in the organism. {93}

I have prescribed this salt to various patients, and found it to act as a mild but efficient chalybeate. One little scrofulous girl, now under my care in St. Mary’s Hospital, for disease of the hip-joint, has taken it in solution during several months with the best effect. The remedy was accurately prepared by Mr. Blyth, dispenser to the hospital, according to the subjoined directions of Mons. Persoz: 32.5 grammes of green sulphate of iron in crystals are to be mixed in a porcelain capsule with 5 grammes of sulphuric acid, 30 grammes of water, and as much nitro-muriatic acid as will suffice to effect the oxidation of the protoxide of iron. The above mixture is to be evaporated to dryness in order to get rid of the free acid, and then treated with water to the amount of one litre. From 107 to 110 grammes of crystallized pyrophosphate of soda are to be dissolved likewise in a litre of water, of course in a separate vessel. The two solutions are next to be mixed together, and provided the iron solution has been rightly prepared there will be no precipitate whatever.

Each litre of liquid will contain as much iron as 16.5 of the green sulphate.

This solution is not affected by dilution with rain or distilled water, but from being faintly alkaline, is rendered slightly turbid on the addition of water impregnated with lime.

ON THE SIMABA CEDRON. BY M. BERTHOLD SEEMANN.

A tree, which has attained great celebrity, is that called Cedron (Simaba Cedron, Planch.). The most ancient record of it which I can find is in the History of the Buccaneers, an old work published in London in the year 1699. Its use as an antidote for the bite of snakes, and its place of growth, are there distinctly stated; but whether on the authority of the natives, or accidentally discovered by the pirates, does not appear. If {94} the former was the case, they must have learned it while on some of their cruises on the Magdalena, for in the Isthmus the very existence of the tree was unsuspected until about 1845, when Don Juan de Ansoatigui, ascertained, by comparison, that the Cedron of Panama and Darien was identical with that of Carthagena. The virtues of its seeds, however, were known, years ago, from those fruits imported from the Magdalena, where, according to Mr. William Purdie, the plant grows in profusion about the village of San Pablo. In the Isthmus it is generally found on the outskirts of forests in almost every part of the country, but in greater abundance in Darien and Veraguas than in Panama. The natives hold it in high esteem, and always carry a piece of the seed about with them. When a person is bitten, a little, mixed with water, is applied to the wound, and about two grains scraped into brandy, or, in the absence of it, into water, is administered internally. By following this treatment the bites of the most venomous snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and other noxious animals, have been unattended with dangerous consequences. Doses of it have also proved highly beneficial in cases of intermittent fever. The Cedron is a tree, from twelve to sixteen feet high; its simple trunk is about six inches in diameter, and clothed on the top with long pinnated leaves, which give it the appearance of a palm. Its flowers are greenish, and the fruit resembles very much an unripe peach. Each seed, or cotyledon I should rather say, is sold in the chemist’s shops in Panama for two or three reals (about 1s. or 1s. 6d. English), and sometimes a much larger price is given for them.—Hooker’s Journal of Botany.

[A large number of the Cedron seeds have lately been received in New York, probably from a section of the country where they are cheaper than upon the Isthmus. As a remedy for the bites of venomous reptiles, like all others of the same class, it is of little value, but from its intense bitterness, it may be expected to possess great tonic powers, and if, in addition to these, further experience shall confirm the report of its virtues as an antiperiodic, it will prove a remedy of great value.]—ED. NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY.

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