Chemical Composition-The most abundant among the constituents of squill are mucilaginous and saccharine matters. Mucilage may be precipitated by means of neutral and basic acetate of lead, yet there remains in solution another substance of the same class, called Sinistrin. It was discovered in 1879 by Schmiedeberg, who obtained it by mixing the powder of squill, either red or white, with a solution of basic acetate of lead in slight excess. The gummy matters thus forming insoluble lead compounds being removed, the liquid is deprived of the lead and mixed with slaked lime. An insoluble compound of sinistrin and calcium separates and yields the former on decomposing the well washed precipitate with carbonic acid. The small amount of calcium remaining in the filtrate is to be removed by adding cautiously to the warm solution the small quantity just required of oxalic acid. Lastly, sinistrin is thrown down by alcohol. It is a white amorphous powder, on exposure to air soon forming transparent brittle lumps. The composition of sinistrin is that of dextrin CHO, both these substances being very closely allied, yet the aqueous solution of sinistrin deviates the plane of polarization to the left. The rotatory power appears not to be much influenced by the concentration or the temperature of the solution of sinistrin. = Analkaline solution of tartrate of copper is not acted upon by sinistrin. It is transformed into sugar by boiling it for half an hour with water containing 1 per cent. of sulphuric acid. The sugar thus produced is stated by Schmiedeberg to consist of lævulose1 and another sugar, which in all probability, when perfectly pure, must prove devoid of rotatory power. The name sinistrin has also been applied to a mucilaginous matter extracted from barley (see Hordeum decorticatum); it remains to be proved that the latter is identical with the sinistrin of squill. We have obtained a considerable amount of an uncrystallizable levogyre sugar by exhausting squill with dilute alcohol. Alcohol added to an aqueous infusion of squill causes the separation of the mucilage, together with albuminoid matter. If the alcohol is evaporated and a solution of tannic acid is added, the latter will combine with the bitter principle of squill, which has not yet been isolated, although several chemists have devoted to it their investigations, and applied to it the names of Scillitin or Skulein. Schroff, to whom we are indebted for a valuable monograph on Squill, infers from his physiological experiments the presence of a non-volatile acrid principle (Skulein?), together with scillitin, which latter he supposes to be a glucoside. Merck of Darmstadt has isolated Scillipicrin, soluble in water; Scillitoxin, likewise a bitter principle, insoluble in water, but readily dissolving in alcohol; and Scillin, a crystalline substance, abundantly soluble in boiling ether. The physiological action of these substances and of Scillain has been examined (1878) by Moeller, and by Jarmersted (1879); that of scillitoxin and scillain was found to be analogous to that of Digitalis. 1 This is the name applied to the lævogyrate uncrystallizable glucose produced, together with crystallizable dextro-glucose, by decomposing cane sugar by means of dilute acids. 2 In 1834 first proposed, by Marquart, for inulin. 3 In Greece they have even attempted to manufacture alcohol by fermenting and distilling squill bulbs. -Heldreich, NutzPflanzen Griechenlands, 1862. 7. 4 Reprinted from the Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft der Aerzte zu Wien, No. 42 (1864). Abstracted also in Canstatt's Jahresbericht 1864. 19, and 1865. 238. Commerce-Dried squill, usually packed in casks, is imported into England from Malta. Use-Commonly employed as a diuretic and expectorant. Substitutes-There are several plants of which the bulbs are used in the place of the officinal squill, but which, owing to the abundance and low price of the latter, never appear in the European market. 1. Urginea altissima Baker (Ornithogalum altissimum L.), a South African species, very closely related to the common squill, and having, as it would appear, exactly the same properties.' 2. U. indica Kth. (Scilla indica Roxb.), a widely diffused plant, occurring in Northern India, the Coromandel Coast, Abyssinia, Nubia, and Senegambia. It is known by the same Arabic and Persian names as U. maritima, and its bulb is used for similar purposes. But according to Moodeen Sheriff it is a poor substitute for the latter, having little or no action when it is old and large. 3. Scilla indica Baker (non Roxb.), (Ledebouria hyacinthina Roth), native of India and Abyssinia, has a bulb which is often confused in the Indian bazaars with the preceding, but is easily distinguishable when entire by being scaly not tunicated); it is said to be a better representative of the European squill.4 4. Drimia ciliaris Jacq., a plant of the Cape of Good Hope, of the order Liliacea. Its bulb much resembles the officinal squill, but has a juice so irritating if it comes in contact with the skin, that the plant is called by the colonists Jeukbol, i.e. Itch-bulb. It is used medicinally as an emetic, expectorant, and diuretic." 5. Crinum asiaticum var. toxicarium Herbert (C. toxicarium Roxb.), a large plant, with handsome white flowers and noble foliage, cultivated in Indian gardens, and also found wild in low humid spots in various parts of India and the Moluccas, and on the sea-coast of Ceylon. The bulb has been admitted to the Pharmacopoeia of India (1868), chiefly on the recommendation of O'Shaughnessy, who considers it a valuable emetic. We have not been able to examine a specimen, and cannot learn that the drug has been the subject of any chemical investigation. MELANTHACEÆ. RHIZOMA VERATRI ALBI. Radix Veratri, Radix Hellebori albi; White Hellebore; F. Racine d'Ellebore blanc; G. Weisse Nieswurzel, Germer. Botanical Origin-Veratrum album L.-This plant occurs in moist grassy places in the mountain regions of Middle and Southern Europe, 1 Pappe, Flora Medica Capensis Prodro mus, ed. 2, 1857. 41. 2 Supplement to the Pharmacopoeia of India, Madras, 1869. 250. 3 Saunders, Refugium Botanicum, iii. (1870) appendix, p. 12. 5 Suppl. to the Pharm. of India, 250. as Auvergne, the Pyrenees, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria. In Norway it reaches, according to Schübeler (l. c. p. 556), the latitude of 71°. It also grows throughout European and Asiatic Russia as far as 61° N. lat., in Amurland, the island of Saghalin, Northern China, and Japan. History The confusion that existed among the ancients between Melampodium, Helleborus, and Veratrum, makes the identification of the plant under notice extremely unsatisfactory. It was perfectly described or figured by Brunfels, Tragus, and other botanists of the 16th century, and likewise well known to Gerarde (circa A.D. 1600). Under the names of Elleborus (or Helleborus albus and Veratrum, it has had a place in all the London Pharmacopoeias. In the British Pharmacopoeia (1867) it has been replaced by the nearly allied American species, Veratrum viride Aiton. Description-White Hellebore has a cylindrical, fleshy, perennial rootstock, 2 to 3 inches in length, and to 1 inch in diameter, beset with long stout roots. When fresh it has an alliaceous smell. In the dried state, as it occurs in commerce, it is cylindrical or subconical, of a dull earthy black, very rough in its lower half with the pits and scars of old roots; more or less beset above with the remains of recent roots. The top is crowned with the bases of the leaves, the outer of which are coarsely fibrous. The plant has generally been cut off close to the summit of the rhizome, which latter is seldom quite entire, being often broken at its lower end, or cut transversely to facilitate drying. Internally it is nearly colourless; a transverse section shows a broad white ring surrounding a spongy pale buff central portion. The drug has a sweetish, bitterish acrid taste, leaving on the tongue a sensation of numbness and tingling. In the state of powder, it occasions violent sneezing. Microscopic Structure-When cut transversely, the rhizome shows at a distance of 2-4 mm. from the thin dark outer bark, a fine brown zigzag line (medullary sheath) surrounding the central part, which exhibits a pith not well defined. The zone between the outer bark and the medullary sheath is pure white, with the exception of some isolated cells containing resin or colouring matter, and those places where the rootlets pass from the interior. The latter is sprinkled as it were, with short, thin somewhat lighter bundles of vessels which run irregularly out in all directions. The parenchyme of the centre rhizome is filled with starch, and contains numerous needles of calcium oxalate. The rootlets, which the collectors usually remove, are living and juicy only in the upper half of the rhizome, the lower part of which is rather woody and porous. Chemical Composition-In 1819 Pelletier and Caventou detected in the rhizome of Veratrum a substance which they regarded as identical with veratrine, the existence of which had just been discovered by Meissner in cebadilla seeds. But according to the observations of Maisch (1870) and Dragendorff, the veratrine of cebadilla cannot be found either in Veratrum album or V. viride. Simon (1837) found in the root the alkaloid Jervine, Tobien (1877) 2 Beitr. zur gerichtl. Chemie, St Petersb., 1872. 95. 1 Those who wish to study the question, can consult Murray's Apparatus Medicaminum. vol. v. (1790) 142-146. the Veratroïdine, discovered by Bullock (1876) in Veratrum viride. Tobien assigns to jervine the formula CH*N2O; that of veratroïdine is not yet settled. The latter is to some extent soluble in water. Weppen (1872) has isolated from this drug Veratramarin, an amorphous, deliquescent, bitter principle. It occurs in minute quantity only, and is resolvable into sugar and other products. Veratramarin dissolves in water or spirit of wine, not in ether or in chloroform. The same observer has also isolated, to the extent of per mille, Jervic Acid in hard crystals of considerable size,1 of the composition CHO12+2 H2O. The acid requires 100 parts of water for solution at the ordinary temperature, and a little less of boiling alcohol. It is decidedly acid, and forms well-defined crystallizable salts, containing 4 atoms of the monovalent metals. By exhausting the entire rhizome (roots included) with ether and anhydrous alcohol, we obtained 25.8 per cent. of soft resin, which deserves further examination. Pectic matter to the amount of 10 per cent. was pointed out by Wiegand in 1841. According to Schroff (1860), in the rootlets the active principle resides in the cortical part, the woody central portion being inert. He also asserts that the rhizome acts less strongly than the rootlets, and in a somewhat different manner. Commerce-The drug is imported from Germany in bales. The price-currents distinguish Swiss and Austrian, and generally name the drug as "without fibre." Uses Veratrum is an emetic and drastic purgative, rarely used internally. It is occasionally employed in the form of ointment in scabies. Its principal consumption is in veterinary medicine. Substitutes-The rhizome of the Austrian Veratrum nigrum L. is said to be sometimes collected instead of White Hellebore; it is of much smaller size, and, according to Schroff, less potent. That of the Mexican Helonias frigida Lindley (Veratrum frigidum Schl.) appears to exactly resemble that of Veratrum album. RHIZOMA VERATRI VIRIDIS. American White Hellebore, Indian Poke. Botanical Origin-Veratrum viride Aiton, a plant in every respect closely resembling V. album, of which it is one of the numerous forms. In fact, the green-coloured variety of the latter (V. Lobelianum Bernh.), a plant not uncommon in the mountain meadows of the Alps, comes so near to the American V. viride that we are unable to point out any important character by which the two can be separated.3 The American Veratrum is common in swamps and low grounds from Canada to Georgia. History The aborigines of North America were acquainted with the active properties of this plant before their intercourse with Europeans, using it according to Josselyn,' who visited the country in 16381671, as a vomit in a sort of ordeal. He calls it White Hellebore, and states that it is employed by the colonists as a purgative, antiscorbutic and insecticide. 2 Kalm (1749) states that the early settlers used a decoction of the roots to render their seed-maize poisonous to birds, which were made "delirious" by eating the grain, but not killed; and this custom was still practised in New England in 1835 (Osgood). The effects of the drug have been repeatedly tried in the United States during the present century; and about 1862, in consequence of the strong recommendations of Drs. Osgood, Norwood, Cutter, and others, it began to be prescribed in this country. Description-In form, internal structure, odour and taste, the rhizome and roots accord with those of Veratrum album; yet owing to the method of drying and preparing for the market, the American veratrum is immediately distinguishable from the White Hellebore of European commerce. We have met with it in three forms: 1. The rhizome with roots attached, usually cut lengthwise into quarters, sometimes transversely also, densely beset with the pale brown roots, which towards their extremities are clothed with slender fibrous rootlets. 2. Rhizome and roots compressed into solid rectangular cakes, an inch in thickness. 3. The rhizome per se, sliced transversely and dried. It forms whitish, buff, or brownish discs, to 1 inch or more in diameter, much shrunken and curled by drying. This is the form in which the drug is required by the United States Pharmacopoeia. 4 Chemical Composition-No chemical difference between Veratrum viride and V. album has yet been ascertained. The presence of veratrine, suspected by previous chemists, was asserted by Worthington3 in 1839, J. G. Richardson of Philadelphia in 1857, and S. R. Percy in 1864. Scattergood obtained from the American drug 04 per cent. of this alkaloid, which however, in consequence of some observations of Dragendorff (p. 694), we must hold to be not identical with that of cebadilla. As stated in a previous page jervine and veratroïdine are present as in the White Hellebore of Europe. Robbins further isolated Veratridine, a crystallized alkaloid possessed of a similar physiological action to that of veratrine, though in a less degree. Veratridine is readily soluble in ether; its solution in concentrated sulphuric acid is at first yellow, changing quickly to a pink-red, and, after several hours' standing, assumes a clear indigo-blue colour, much the same as that displayed by veratrine if mixed with sugar (Weppen's test, 1874). The resin of the 1 New Englands Rarities discovered, Lond. 1672. 43; also Account of two Voyages to New England, Lond., 1674, 60. 76. 2 Travels in North America, vol. ii. (1771) 3 Am. Journ. of Pharm. iv. (1839) 89. Proc. of Am. Pharm. Assoc. 1862. 226. 5 Ibid, 1877. 439. 523. |