A key to organic materia medica : written for the students of the South-London School of Pharmacy / by John Muter.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A key to organic materia medica : written for the students of the South-London School of Pharmacy / by John Muter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    EL EM I.—A concrete resinous exudation probably from Canarium commune, chiefly imported from Manilla. Description.—A soft adhesive and unctuous mass, becoming resinous by age. Its colour is yellowish white, and it has a fragrant odour resembling that of fennel. It should be almost entirely soluble in rectified spirit. Uses.—Elemi is seldom used in British medicine, except in the form of an ointment sometimes prescribed as a stimulating application to old wounds. Chemistry.—Elemi contains 10 per cent, of a fragrant colourless neutral oil, 60 per cent, of an uncrystallisable resin soluble in cold alcohol, and 25 per cent, of a crystallisable resin, called amyrin, in- soluble in cold alcohol. Specially Distinctive Tests.—1. Soluble in chloro- form and ether, the latter solution not being rendered turbid by alcohol. 2. Only partially soluble in alcohol, and the filtered solution is not precipitated by alcoholic plumbic acetate (1 in 10). 3. A portion of the alcoholic solution evaporated leaves a residue insoluble in boiling sodium carbonate.