Supplement to the Edinburgh new dispensatory / By Andrew Duncan.

  • Duncan, Andrew, Jun., 1773-1832.
Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Supplement to the Edinburgh new dispensatory / By Andrew Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/282 (page 7)
    rayta was completely unknown to the ancients, and is totally with- out smell. It is, however, singular, that the figures of Clusius and Bodeus so exactly resemble specimens of G. chirayta in my posses- sion, that, but for their want of smell, their identity could scarcely be doubted. Such is the unsatisfactory result of my inquiries ; but having made them, I was unwilling to suppress them, as they may save trouble to others.—(A. D. Jr.) : Aiscutus Hrprrocastaxum.—The experiments made with bark of the horse-chestnut have not been favourable to its reputa- tion as a febrifuge. In this respect its use ought to be abandon- ed. MM. Pelletier and Caventou think the cinchona bark, even of inferior quality, preferable to it.—Ch. and R. The conclusion which M. Henry draws from his experiments with horse-chestnut bark, compared with those of Vauquelin, on the dif- ferent species of cinchona, in No. 176 of the Annales de Chimie, is, that there is no well marked analogy between the bark of the horse- chestnut and that of cinchona. * MM. Vauquelin and Correa de Serra, inserted a detailed analysis of various organs, as buds, scales, leaves, petals, stamens, embryo, fruit, &c. of the horse-chestnut,t and they found that the predominant ve« getable principles in the bark were tannin and gallic acid, and that it was a mere astringent. The adulteration of yellow Peruvian bark with horse-chestnut bark was pointed out by M. Planche. { Lastly, in the admirable memoir on the chemical analysis of the dif- ferent kinds of the bark of the true cinchonas and analogous trees, MM. Pelletier and Caventou || have shown that the active prin- ciple of the horse-chestnut bark is a kind of tannin, and that there is no principle in it analogous to the alcaloids of the cinchonas.— (A. D. Jr.) ARscutus Hiprocastanum.—™M. Canzoneri announced the ex- istence of a new substance, (Esculin) in the fruit of the horse- chestnut, but this discovery has not been confirmed.—Ch. and R. § The existence of such a substance as that described by Canzoneri as a new vegetable principle was doubted on general grounds by M. Robiquet and M. Guibourt. Not satisfied with this, M. Chereau attempted to get this alleged new principle, by following as accu- rately as he could the process described by M. Canzoneri, but did not procure any of it.—(A. D. Jr.) * Notice sur le Marronier d’Inde; par M. Henry. See Annales de Chimie, T. Ixvil. 8vo. Paris, 1808, p. 205. ++ Annales de Chimie, Tom. Ixxxii. p. 309, and Ixxxiii. p. 36. ~ Bulletin de Pharmacie, T.i. 8vo. Paris, 1809. See p. 33. || Recherches Chimiques sur les Quinquinas. See Journal de Pharmacie, Vol. vii. pe 123. § Essai sur le Marronier, by M. Canzoneri. Translated from the Italian by M. Chereau, Journal de Pharmacie for 1823, p. 539; and the note upon esculine by the latter, in the same Journal for January 1825, p. 47.