VIRGIN SCAMMONY, WITH SOME REMARKS UPON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SCAMMONY RESIN. BY B. W. BULL.

The more extended use in medicine which this substance has acquired within a few years, and its consequent greater consumption, render the knowledge of its peculiarities and the modes of ascertaining its purity doubly important to the druggist and apothecary.

An instance occurred a few weeks since, showing the necessity of careful and thorough examination of every parcel of this drug, and possessing some interest, from the fact that no description of any similar attempt at falsification has, I believe, been before published.

The commercial house with which I am connected, purchased a parcel of what purported to be virgin scammony from the importer, who obtained it direct from Smyrna. A sample of it was examined and found to contain seventy per cent. of resinous matter, but when the whole lot was received, it was found to consist evidently of two different grades of the article.

The whole of it was composed of amorphous pieces, possessing externally a similar appearance. Upon breaking them, however, a manifest difference was observable. Some of the pieces possessed the resinous fracture, and the other characteristics of virgin scammony, while the remainder, which constituted about five eighths of the whole, exposed a dull, non-resinous surface when freshly broken.

I selected two samples, each possessing in the highest degree the characteristics of the two varieties, and subjected them to the action of sulphuric ether with the following results, designating the resinous or best No. 1, and the other specimen No. 2:—

	No. 1.	No. 2.
Specific gravity	1,143	1,3935
	Per cent.	Per cent.
Resinous matter and water	94.35	49.86
Vegetable substance insoluble in ether	3.20	45.16
Inorganic matter	2.45	4.98
	100.00	100.00

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The vegetable substance in No. 2 was principally, if not entirely, farinaceous or starchy matter, of which the other contained not a trace. The result shows that this parcel of scammony was composed partly of true virgin scammony mixed with that of an inferior quality; and also indicates the necessity of examining the whole of every parcel, and of not trusting to the favorable result of the examination of a mere sample.

The powder in the two specimens was very similar in shade, and they possessed in about the same degree the odor peculiar to the substance, showing the fallacy of relying upon this as a means of judging of the comparative goodness of different samples. This fact may appear anomalous, but on different occasions the powder of No. 2 was selected as having the most decided scammony odor.

Since examining the above, I have had an opportunity of experimenting upon a portion of scammony imported from Trieste as the true Aleppo scammony, of which there are exported from Aleppo not more than from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds annually.

The parcel consisted of a sample of one pound only, which was obtained from a druggist of respectability in that place by one of my partners, who was assured that the sample in question was from the above source, and the kind above alluded to. This scammony was in somewhat flattish pieces, covered externally with a thin coating of chalk in which it had been rolled, the structure was uniformly compact, the color of the fracture greenish, and it possessed in a high degree the caseous odor.

The fracture was unusually sensitive to the action of moisture. By merely breathing upon a freshly exposed surface, a film resembling the bloom upon fruit was at once perceived. Its specific gravity was 1,209, which, it will be observed, approximates with unusual accuracy to that given by Pereira as the specific gravity of true scammony, viz. 1,210. It contained—

Resinous matter and water	89.53 per cent.
Vegetable substance insoluble in ether	7.55 per cent.
Inorganic matter	2.92 per cent.

There was no starchy matter present in the portion examined.

The mode of deciding upon the value or goodness of different samples of scammony, by ascertaining the amount of matter soluble in sulphuric ether, has seemed to me productive of a negative result in showing {9} how much non-resinous matter was present, rather than a certain method of ascertaining the actual amount of scammony resin present; but some experiments upon the resinous residuum lead to a more favorable conclusion.

The results of the analyses made by Johnston, who seems to be the only chemist who has paid any attention to its ultimate composition, show that it varies in composition materially from many other resins.

According to his analyses, as contained in Löwig, it has the formula	C₄₀ H₃₃ O₈
While that of Guaiac resin is	C₄₀ H₂₃ O₁₀
Of Colophony	C₄₀ H₃₀ O₄

Or expressed in per cents:—

	Scammony.	Guaiac.	Colophony.
Carbon	56.08	70.37	79.81
Hydrogen	7.93	6.60	9.77
Oxygen	35.99	23.03	10.42
	100.00	100.00	100.00

The resin analysed by Johnston was obtained by evaporating the alcoholic solution, and he describes it as opaque, pale yellow, hard, and brittle; when obtained, however, by evaporating the ethereal solution I have found it transparent.

It might be inferred that, with a composition so different from that of the substances above adduced, its behavior with re-agents would be different from theirs; and its action with strong acids confirms the supposition, as may be seen by reference to the appended papers from a late number of the Paris Journal of Pharmacy.

The Edinburgh Pharmacopœia has an extract of scammony among its officinal preparations, prepared by treating scammony with proof spirit, and evaporating the solution. It is described as of a dirty greenish brown color. This color, however, is not a necessary accompaniment, but is owing either to some coloring matter being dissolved in the menstruum or to the partial oxydation of the dissolved substance under the influence of the air and the heat of the operation.

The ethereal solution of scammony resin, when gradually evaporated, and without exposure to heat, leaves a colorless or amber-colored resin, perfectly transparent and soluble in alcohol; when heated, however, {10} during the operation, more or less insoluble matter of a dark color is found. Sometimes the ethereal solution, when spontaneously evaporated, leaves a dark residuum, but a second solution and evaporation leave it as above described.

This product, obtained from several different parcels of virgin scammony, I have considered free from admixture with any of the substances with which scammony is said to be adulterated, and from the similarity of their behavior, and, as the circumstances under which the sample from Trieste above alluded to was obtained are such as to make its genuineness very certain, feel warranted in so doing.

Sulphuric acid does not immediately decompose it, but produces the effect described by M. Thorel.

Nitric acid produces no discoloration, nor does hydrochloric acid immediately.

If scammony should be adulterated with colophony, sulphuric acid would be a very ready method of detection, though it would seem that this substance would hardly be resorted to, unless an entirely new mode of sophisticating the article should be adopted abroad.

The introduction of farinaceous substances and chalk is effected while the scammony is in a soft condition, in which state it would be difficult to incorporate colophony completely with the mass.

An admixture of resin of guaiac is also detected by the same agent, a fact which seems to have escaped observation.

When brought in contact with sulphuric acid, resin of guaiac immediately assumes a deep crimson hue, and this reaction is so distinct that a proportion of not more than four or five per cent. is readily detected.

The deep red mixture of sulphuric acid with resin of guaiac becomes green when diluted with water, a remarkable change, which adds to the efficacy of the test. Scammony resin, on the contrary, suffers no alteration by dilution.

In addition, nitric acid affords a ready mode of ascertaining the presence of resin of guaiac. It is well known that nitric acid, when mixed with an alcoholic solution of guaiac, causes a deep green color, which soon passes into brown, or if the solution is dilute, into yellow.

This reaction is manifest when scammony resin is mixed with guaiac resin in the proportion above mentioned, though the greenish blue tinge is then very transient, and sometimes not readily perceived.

Chloride of soda is a delicate test for the presence of guaiac resin. {11} Added to an alcoholic solution, a beautiful green color appears, while it produces no effect on scammony resin. This reaction is very evident, though transient, when a very small proportion of guaiac is present. Nitrate of silver causes a blue color in a solution of guaiac resin, as does also sesqui-chloride of iron, neither of which agents affects the color of a solution of scammony resin. In fact, the evidences of the presence of guaiac are so numerous and distinct that there can be no possibility of an undetected adulteration with this substance.

The high price of resin of jalap would seem to be sufficient to prevent its being resorted to as a means of sophisticating scammony; but in case this substance should be made use of, the method proposed for detecting it by means of ether is defective, since, according to authorities, resin of jalap is partially soluble in that substance.

It becomes of interest to know whether in the preparation of scammony the juice of the plant from which it is obtained is ever mixed with that of other plants of similar properties, or with that of plants destitute of efficacy. This information can, of course, only be furnished by those familiar with the localities and with the mode of its preparation.

[1]“In advancing the opinion that scammony should only be employed for therapeutic purposes in the state of resin, I mean that this resin should only be prepared by the apothecary himself. When, however, it is impossible for the apothecary to do so, and the commercial article is in consequence resorted to, there arises a liability to deception. We must then be enabled to recognise its purity.

To avoid detection of the fraud, the admixture must either be in small quantity, or it must possess nearly the same action. In this latter case, resin of jalap would be employed as being less in price and nearly as active.

The method I propose for detecting an adulteration of this nature, in case it should be attempted, is based on the one side upon the entire insolubility of resin of jalap in rectified sulphuric ether, and on the other, upon the solubility of scammony resin in this liquid. Nothing is easier than the detection of a mixture of these two resins, since eight grammes of ether dissolve completely ten centigrammes of scammony resin. {12}

Thus by agitating for a short time a mixture of twenty centigrammes of suspected resin with sixteen grammes of sulphuric ether, we shall be certain of the presence of resin of jalap, provided there is no other admixture, if a portion remains undissolved. This undissolved portion, dried and weighed, gives the proportion of the two resins.

Other more culpable sophistications may be attempted, either by the addition of resin of guaiac, or by that of colophony or other substances.

The resin of guaiac may easily be detected by means of the solution of gum, which I have specified as one of the most certain re-agents (Repertoire du Pharmacien, vol. iv., 1848), or by the means of nitrous gas, or bichloride of mercury.

Many re-agents disclose the presence of common resin or of pitch in the resin of scammony. First, spirits of turpentine, which dissolves the common resin at the ordinary temperature, and which leaves scammony resin almost untouched. The most certain re-agent, however, in my opinion, is sulphuric acid. This acid possesses the property of dissolving many resins—modifying their composition more or less.

Thus, if a small quantity is poured on common resin, an intense red color is produced by contact; poured on scammony resin, on the contrary, it does not produce an immediate change; only after some minutes, and with exposure to the air, does it become colored, and then but feebly, with the production of a color resembling the lees of wine, while in the first case the color is a very deep scarlet.

By this method one twentieth part of colophony may be detected in scammony resin. It is sufficient to pour upon twenty-five or thirty centigrammes of resin, placed in a glass or porcelain mortar, four or five grammes of commercial sulphuric acid, and to give one or two turns of the pestle; if colophony is present, the mixture will redden immediately upon contact; if, on the contrary, it is pure, the liquid will only become colored after the lapse of some time.

Colophony being more soluble in sulphuric acid is acted upon with more rapidity.”

[2]“Scammony resin obtained by alcohol of 86 degrees occurs in form of powder or in thin transparent scales, if the alcoholic solution has been evaporated on a stove upon plates, or upon sheets of tin. {13}

It is characterized by the peculiar odor of the substance from which it is obtained, the odeur de brioche, or of rancid butter.

If scammony resin has been mixed with one twentieth of common resin, trituration in a mortar developes the odor of the latter to a sufficient degree to cause detection of the fraud. Heated in a tube, a peculiar odor manifests itself with sufficient distinctness to indicate its purity.

This pure resin is soluble in all proportions in ether of 56 degrees (·752). This property affords a means of purifying it, by means of which it is obtained in thin flakes, by exposure to the air on plates.

Solution of ammonia at 24 degrees (·910) dissolves scammony resin completely. The solution has a more or less green color. These different properties, which the resin of scammony, obtained by alcohol, possesses, are sufficiently distinct to assist in distinguishing it from other resins or to establish its purity.”

December, 1851.

[1] Methods for detecting Resin of Jalap, Resin of Guaiac, and Colophony, in Resin of Scammony. By MR. THOREL.—From the Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, for Nov. 1851.

[2] Note by MR. DUBLANC.—From the Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, Nov. 1851.

ON THE PREPARATION OF STRAMONIUM OINTMENT. BY EUGENE DUPUY, PHARMACEUTIST, NEW YORK CITY.

The powerful narcotic and sedative properties of the Datura stramonium; added to the fact of its luxuriant growth in the vacant grounds of the inhabited districts of the United States, has made its use popular with most of our practising physicians. Besides its use smoked as tobacco in asthmatic cases, its properties analogous to those of hyosciamus and belladonna, have enabled practitioners to use it with success for producing dilatation of the pupil and in anodyne fomentations. In fact, the consequence of its demonstrated efficient activity as a remedial agent, has prompted its adoption in the United States Pharmacopœia, where the leaves and seeds are recognised, and the Tincture, Extract, and Ointment are officinal. According to our Pharmacopœia, last edition, to prepare the ointment, one drachm of the extract of stramonium is mixed to the proportion of one ounce of lard. Such a mixture, though possibly as effectual as need be, lacks the green color and homogeneity to which both patients and physicians have been accustomed. To remedy these objections, I have found the {14} following process to give a good preparation both in quality and appearance. I am inclined to think that the objections which have been made to the former officinal ointment are chiefly ascribable to the difficulty of obtaining readily an ointment which would keep one year, that is free from water of vegetation or not impaired by a too protracted ebullition, and consequent decomposition, which deprives it of its properties, spoiling its appearance, and giving it an unpleasant pyrogenous odor, which shows the extent of the alteration it has undergone, making of it an irritating rather than a soothing unguent. In the process I now submit to the opinion of the profession, I had in view, 1st. To obtain at all seasons an ointment fulfilling the reasonable expectations of practitioners; 2d. Which could be easily prepared by competent Pharmaceutists throughout the United States. It is as follows:

Stramonium Leaves,	half a pound.
Alcohol at 95°,	a sufficient quantity.
Prepared lard,	fourteen ounces.

Moisten the leaves, previously reduced to a coarse powder, with sufficient alcohol, in a tight vessel having a suitable cover; melt the lard in a pan three times in capacity to the bulk of the lard, and stir in it gradually the prepared stramonium; keep the mixture in a warm place for five hours, stirring occasionally, till the alcohol has disappeared from the ointment, which may be ascertained by placing a lighted match on the surface of the warm ointment just stirred. Filter the mixture through flannel, in an appropriate vessel. The stramonium ointment thus prepared is a reliable preparation, possessed of a handsome green color, a rather pleasant herbaceous odor, and forms a homogeneous mass containing all the valuable constituents of the Datura stramonium, if the leaves have been gathered while the plant is in bud, and properly preserved. For the warm days of summer the substitution of two ounces of beeswax for the same quantity of lard gives it the consistence which it has at the low temperature of the remaining seasons.

{15}

COMPOUND FLUID EXTRACT OF SENNA AND DANDELION. BY EUGENE DUPUY, PHARMACEUTIST, NEW YORK CITY.

Senna (officinal),	two pounds.
Torrefied Dandelion Root,	one pound.
Chamomile,	quarter of a pound.
Sugar,	twenty ounces.
Carbonate of Potash or Soda,	one ounce.
Oil of Gaultheria,	half a drachm.
Alcohol,	two ounces.
Water,	half a gallon.

Mix the dry plants, previously reduced to a coarse powder, with the water holding the alkaline carbonate in solution; let the mixture stand twelve hours; introduce it in a percolator, and gradually pour in water until a gallon of liquid shall have passed; evaporate it to twenty ounces by means of a water bath, then add the sugar, filter, and make the addition of the alcoholic solution of gaultheria when cold. By following this process, I believe that a kind of saponification takes place, which allows of the more ready solution of the active principle of the senna in the aqueous vehicle, probably because chlorophylle being united to a dried essential oil, participating in the properties of resins, is rendered soluble, and the extractive portion being denuded of its resinoid covering, is more readily extracted by the percolating liquid. I make use of a percolator possessed of a convenient hydraulic power; it has rendered readily, within thirty hours, a highly saturated liquid, containing in a gallon all the soluble principles of this extract. Ordinary percolators will answer also; but the ingredients needing to be more loosely packed, do not yield so fully or so readily. The addition of torrefied dandelion root is intended to give to this fluid extract some greater value on account of its peculiar action on the hepatic system. I employ in preference the German chamomile (Camomila vulgaris[3]), because of its pleasant aroma and its carminative properties, joined to a bitter principle, which seems to increase the purgative effect of the senna.

This extract has become a favorite anti-bilious purgative with many of {16} our practitioners, who, some of them at least, have used it with success with children, who can take it readily, as well as for adults, where an anti-bilious purgative is desirable, seldom producing pain or nausea, and not liable to induce constipation.

[3] Matricaria.