0 ALGAE

ALGAE

Nearly all of the Algae which are of any economic importance are included in the marine forms collectively known asseaweeds. Ofthe four principal groups only two, namely, the brown algse (Phseophyceae) and red algse (Rhodophycese), yield commercial products. On account of their large yield of mucilage quite a number are used locallyforfoodpurposes. The ash of a number of the kelps, as Fucus, Laminaria, etc., still continue to be the source of iodin. A few of the kelps have been used in phthisis, their value no doubt being due to the iodin content.

LAMINARIA. Devil's Apron. The cylindrical stipes and basal portions of the midribs of the fronds of Laminaria digitata and L. clustoni (Fam.Laminariaceae). The for merisavery characteristic kelp which is common north of Cape Cod. The fronds are attached to the rocks by fibers which are frequently arranged in whorls and from which arise a stout and solid stipe, from 3 to 15 dm. in length and which is more or less cylindrical below, compressed above and free from distinct mucilaginous cavities (muciparous glands). When well developed the stipe projects rigidly above the surface of the water at low tide and from which extends the oval or lanceolate lamina, which at the summit is split into digitate segments varying from 6 to 18dm. In leng than d 3 to 9dm. In width. L. clustoniisa common European form and resembles L. digitata. In the preparation of the commercial article the stipes and lower portion of the midribs are cut into pieces of convenient length and quickly dried. They were formerly used in the manufacture of tents and bougies, to which they were well adapted, owing to the fact that the cell walls are mucilaginous, so that the stipes increase six-fold upon the absorption of water from the parts to which they may be applied. As they cannot be sterilized without losing this property, they have been replaced by other materials. In a similar way a number of other vegetable substances have been used.

Description. In more or less cylindrical or slightly flattened or bent pieces of variable length and 10 to 20 mm. in thickness; externally, grayish-brown or dark brown, longitudinally furrowed and wrinkled; fracture tough, horny; internally, dark brown having a slight saline odor and a mucilaginous, slightly saline and bitter taste.

Inner Structure. The stipes show two well-differentiatedlayers, an outer one of narrow cells with brownish walls, and a middle portion consisting of very long hypha like cells, with thick, porous, mucilaginous walls. The cells contain numerous brown chromatophores, the brown pigment of which is soluble in water, leaving the green chloroplasts unaffected.

Constituents. About 47 per cent of mucilage; tangic acid 19 per cent; cellulose 11 per cent; ash 13 per cent, of which two-thirds is soluble in water; iodin from 0.06 to 0.11 per cent. The iodin is apparently combined in an organic form and is soluble in water, alcohol, acetone, alkalies and acids. Tunmann was able by means of very clever technique to detect microchemically the presence of iodin in 0.001 to 0.002 gm. of Laminaria. Sections of the fronds were placed in conjunction with starch upon slides and strong nitric acid added, the liberated iodin unites with some of the starch grains, staining them a blue color.

Literature. Tschirch, Handbuch der Pharmakognosie.

Soure: Scientific and applied pharmagognosy by Henry Kraemer, New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. London: Chapman & Hall, Limited 1920

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0 SCHIZOMYCETES OR BACTERIA

SCHIZOMYCETES OR BACTERIA

Bacteria and their products are extensively used in medicine, as well as in the industries. The preparations, known as serums and vaccines are employed as specific cures for certain diseases, and are especially valuable in prophylaxis and diagnosis. Their manufacture requires great skill and special facilities are necessary to produce them. Furthermore, they can be manufactured only undergovernment license and inspection. While there are many biological products used in diagnosis, prevention and treatment, which cannot properly be placed under any definite classification, yet for the greater part these products may be grouped under two chief classes, vaccines and antiserums.

Vaccines are essentially weakened or modified viruses. The general action of vaccines is therefore preventive or prophylactic and not curative. There are several methods which may be employed in modifying or attentuating viruses. The processes involve the treatment of viruses in such ways that they may be injected into the animal body without danger of producing serious pathologic conditions, while at the same time sufficient specific infectious qualities must be present to produce mild reactions. The successful vaccine must be attenuated to the point which represents a happy medium, and which clearly indicates both safety and activity. Some of the more common methods used in attenuating viruses are attenuation by passage of the virus through some species other than the animal for which the virus is specific (smallpox vaccine); attenuation by drying at constant temperature (rabies vaccine, Pasteur) ; attenuation by growth at a temperature above the optimum (anthrax vaccine); and attenuation by chemicals.

Some of the more important vaccines are smallpox vaccine, black-leg vaccine, rabies vaccine and anthrax vaccine.

Bacterial vaccines or bacterins consist of suspensions of young, living cultures of specific bacteria which have been killed chemically or by the application of moist heat at a temperature slightly above their thermal death point. Wright and Douglas  first advanced the theory of opsonic action and suggested that the subcutaneous injection of a given species of bacteria which had been killed, conferred to the blood of the treated individual greater opsonic activity towards the species of organisms in question. The opsonic activity is expressed by the degree of readiness with which the phagocytes destroy invading micro-organisms. Bacterial vaccines may be used in the formof orstockvaccines. An or" " autogenous autogenous personal vaccine is one prepared from a culture of the specific organism iso lated from the patient in question. Stock bacterial vaccinesarepre pared from stock cultures of the various organisms. The latter may be manufactured and stored until required for treatment. Some of the more common 'bacterial vaccines are typhoid (especially as a prophylactic), streptococcus, staphylococcus, streptococcus and staphylococcus combined, gonococcus, pertussis, acne, colon, canine distemper and equine influenza.

Tuberculins are preparations made from the human and bovine strains of Bacterium tuberculosis and are used both in diagnosis and treatment. Koch's Tuberculin (Old) is the concentrated, glycerinated beef bouillon, in which the tuberculosis organism has been grown. The active substance of the Tuberculin, which is apparently an albuminous derivative insoluble in alcohol, is elaborated by the organisms during their multiplication. In human, as well as in veterinary practice, Tuberculin may be applied as a diagnostic agentin various ways. In addition to the hypo dermatic injectionof Tuberculin Old, the methods of Calmette, von Pirquet and Moro may be used. Calmette's 'test consists in the instillation in the eye of Koch's Tuberculin Old which has been prepared by precipitating and washing the resulting precipitate. Von Pirquet's reaction depends upon the cutaneous application of Tuberculin Old, while Moro's modification of von Pirquet's method consists in the use of Tuberculin Ointment, which is vigorously rubbed on a small area of the skin. A positive reaction is evidenced by the appearance of an eruption at the point of application after about twenty-four hours. Tuberculin T. R. (tuberculin residuum) is prepared by repeatedly centrifugalizing a suspension in water of the dried and ground tubercle organisms. Tuberculin B. E. (bacillary emulsion) is com- posed of a suspension of crushed or thoroughly ground tubercle organ- isms in 50 per cent glycerin solution. Tuberculin T. R. and Tuber- culin T. E. are used as therapeutic agents, and are administered subcutaneously.

Antitoxic and antimicrobial serums are prepared from the blood of animals which have been immunized by repeated injections of specific organisms, in live or dead condition, or by repeated treatments with specific bacterial toxins. Antiserums may be employed in the form of liquid or dried serums or as precipitated globulins. The immunity induced by the use of antiserums is passive in nature. In other words, the protective material or antibodies are furnished to the treated individual ready-made, therefore the immunity which follows is relatively temporary. Antitoxic serums consist of those serums which are prepared from animals, treated with repeated doses of the specific toxins. The antibacterial serums, which are not as specific as the antitoxic, are the result of the treatment of the animals with increasing doses of the dead, attenuated or live bacteria. The important antitoxic serums are the antidiphtheritic and antitetanic, while the antibacterial serums are the antigonococcic, antimenin-gococcic, antistreptococcic and antituberculic."

In an interesting work entitled nik off advanced the theory that duration of life may be prolonged if measures were taken to control intestinal putrefaction. He found that there was a widespread popular belief in the advantage of a diet consisting largely of sour milk, and that there was a fair parallel between unusual longevity and such a diet. He also observed that the cause of much sickness and debility was due by reason of gastro-intestinal autointoxication. It can be demonstrated by laboratory and clinical experiments that the lactic acid, due to the action of Bacillus lactis acidi, in the beverages known as koumys, kefir yoghurt, rapi and buttermilk, tend to inhibit intestinal putrefaction. It has been found that the organism causing Bulgarian sour milk is especially active in lactic acid production. This organism, known as Bacillus bulgaricus, is now prepared commercially on a rather large scale and sold in the form of tablets. The tablets, consisting of slowly dried cultures mixed with milk sugar, are taken as such or after having been added to sterile milk, thus effecting the souring of thesame. In addition to tablets of Bacillus lactisacidi and Bacillus bulgaricus, a mixture of bacteria and yeast capable of producing lactic acid fermentation of milk is sold under the name of " Kefir Carter has made an examination of commercial cultures fungi." of Bulgarian Bacillus. (Jour. A. Ph. A., 1919, 8 p. 179.)

Very great interest has been aroused in the manufacture of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in cultures for the use of farmers. Probably no question is of greater fundamental importance to the agri-culturist than the supply of nitrogen to the soil. It has been known for very many years that nearly all other plants except the Leguminosase (clover, alfalfa, soy beans, etc.) rob the soil of its nitrogen while plants of this family serve to enrich it in nitrogen, hence they" have been called collectors or accumulators of nitrogen." For more than a century it was known that the Leguminosse produced nodules or tubercles on their roots which were supposed to be evidences of disease in the plants. In 1836 Treviranus found that these nodules were normal growths, and in 1865 Woronin discovered in them cells that were filled with bacteria. Hellriegel in conjunction with Wilfarth carried on a number of investigations and arrived at the in controvertible conclusion that the production of nitrogen by leguminous crops was through the absorption of atmospheric nitrogen and connected with the development of the nodules on the roots of these plants. Beyerinck in 1888 isolated the bacteria and studied them and their products in artificial media. The organism found in the nodules on the roots of the Leguminosa 3 is a single species of bacillus known as Pseudomonas radicola. Prazinowski in 1889 inoculated pure cultures into leguminous roots with successful results, and since that time very much work has been done by manufacturers to supply farmers growing leguminous crops with cultures of nitrogen-fixing bacteria which would give them the maximum yield of crops. This is particularly important where the leguminous crops are used in rotation in a soil where the nitrogen-fixing bacteria are desirable.

In the brief space allotted in a few pages it is impossible to adequately cover even the more important phases of applied bacteriology. Mention cannot be made of many products which are based upon the presence of bacteria or which are due to bacterial action, neither can a detailed discussion be given relative to many industrial operations which depend upon bacterial activity, such as the curing of vanilla, the fermentation of tobacco, the manufacture of vinegar, the tanning of hides, the ripening of cheese and the retting of flax.

To-day the study of Bacteriology as an applied science is becoming so broad that it consists of several special branches, the most important of which are Bacteriology in relation to Disease of Animals and Plants, Dairy Bacteriology, Soil Bacteriology, Bacteriology in relation to Water Supply and Sewage Disposal, and Household Bacteriology.

Soure: Scientific and applied pharmagognosy by Henry Kraemer, New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. London: Chapman & Hall, Limited 1920

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0 THALLOPHYTES

THALLOPHYTES

The Thallophytes, while of very great botanical interest, comprise about 100,000 species, yet relatively few are of any economic importance. The Algae are chiefly used because of the mucilagethat they contain and as a source of iodin. A number of lichens contain important coloring matters. A few of the fungi are used in medicine, although a great number of them contain exceedingly toxic principles."

Soure: Scientific and applied pharmagognosy by Henry Kraemer, New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. London: Chapman & Hall, Limited 1920

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0 GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND RULES

GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND RULES

Before taking up the individual drugs some general definitions should be discussed and some generalizations concerning the collec- tion and preservation of drugs should be given consideration.

The natural origin is the scientific name (generic and specific names) of the plant or animal yielding the drug. In the case of vegetable drugs the natural origin is spoken of as the botanical origin.

A vegetable drug usually represents some special part of the plant, but in some instances the entire plant is employed as chirata.

The habitat of plants is the region where they grow. Sometimes this term is applied erroneously to the drugs themselves. Neither the scientific name of the plant nor the commercial name of the drug may be relied upon as indicating the true habitat of medicinal plants. For example, the specific name of Spigelia marilandica indicates that the plant is found in greatest abundance in Maryland, whereas it is only occasionally met with in that state. In other cases plants are common to a much larger territory than the specific name would indicate, as Prunus virginiana. The geographical names associated with drugs frequently apply to the places from which they are exported rather than to the habitat of the plant yielding the drug, as, for example, Para sarsaparilla, which is obtained from a plant growing in the upper Amazon region, is shipped to Para, from whence it was formerly exported.

Plants which yield drugs may grow wild, as is most usually the case, or they may be cultivated, as those yielding digitalis, cannabis indica and the solanaceous leaves. Plants growing in their native countries are said to be indigenous to those regions,

as Stillingia sylvatica, of the Southern United States; Aconitum Napellus, of the mountainous regions of Europe, etc. Plants are said to be naturalized when they grow in a foreign land or in another locality than their native home. Some of these may have been distributed by natural agencies, or they may have escaped from cultivation, or they may have been introduced with the seeds of cultivated plants or with the ballast of ships.

The term commercial origin applies solely to the drugs themselves, and indicates their commercial source, which may be either the country where the plant yielding the drug is grown, or the port from which the drug is sent into the marts of the world. English hyoscyamus leaves are gathered from plants grown in England; Canton rhubarb is the product of plants grown in various parts of China, but shipped by way of Canton.

The official or pharmacopoeial titles of vegetable drugs are derived from either the generic name of the plant, as gelsemium, or the specific name, as ipecacuanha, or they may include both the generic and specific names, as viburnum prunifolium, or they may be derived from other sources, as opium and sarsaparilla.

In addition to the botanical names of plants and the pharmacopceial titles of drugs, a number of vernacular names and synonyms are also applied to vegetable drugs, as licorice root for glycrrhiza, prickly ash for xanthoxylum.

The official or pharmacopoeial definition of drugs is given in the leading paragraph under each drug in the different pharmacopoeias, and includes the botanical origin as well as the name of the part of the plant yielding the drug; and in some cases other special features or requirements are given, as the habitat of the plant yielding the drug, the time of collection, mode of preservation, etc.

The time of the collection of vegetable drugs is of prime importance, and, while we may not be able to make extended generalizations, still, the following general rules for the collection of various drugs may be given :

(1) Roots, rhizomes and barks should be collected immedi- ately before the vegetative processes begin in the spring, or imme- diately after these processes cease, which is usually in the fall.

(2) Leaves should be collected when photosynthesis is most active, which is usually about the time of the development of the flowers and before the maturing of fruit and seed.

(3) Flowers should be collected prior to or just about the time of pollination.

(4) Fruits should be collected near the ripening period, i.e., when full grown but unripe.

(5) Seeds should be collected when fully matured.

The preservation of vegetable drugs is likewise deserving of careful consideration, and attention should be given to the influence of temperature, moisture, air and light, and the attacks of insects.

The temperature of the room or part of the store devoted to the storage of dry drugs should not be more than about 25 C., and maintained nearly uniform throughout the year.

Drugs containing volatile principles require to be kept in air-tight containers, as the herbs of the Labiatse and Composite, and wild-cherry bark. Air-tight tin cans are probably the most eco- nomical and satisfactory containers for the purpose, and the suggestion has been made to coat the edges of the cans with melted paraffin. Drugs are sometimes stored in wooden boxes or in drawers. This method is objectionable, not only because they are more liable to deteriorate, but because the odors are communicable from one to the other. The storage of drugs in parcels is the most objectionable, particularly, as is usually the case, when the different parcels are stored together.

Those drugs that are difficult to dry, as the inulin-containing drugs, and some fleshy roots and rhizomes, as Veratrum, are liable to become moldy and should be thoroughly dried before placing them permanently in containers.

The preservation of drugs against the attacks of insects is, unfortunately, generally overlooked. Most drugs are subject to their depredations, and are usually attacked by the insects in the larval stage. The insects which infest vegetable drugs belong chiefly to the Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera. The Lepidoptera are the most destructive, and include the cornmeal moth (Tinea zea), which, during its larval (the caterpillar or grub) stage, is known to attack aconite, capsicum, ergot, lappa, linseed, rhubarb, taraxacum and many other drugs. Among the Coleoptera are various members of the Ptinedse, as Ptinus brunneus, Anobium paniceum and Lasioderma serricorne, which attack the spices chiefly, as capsicum, cin- namonandpimenta. ChiefamongtheDipteraisTrypetaarnicivora, which is sometimes found in the receptacles of arnica flowers.

For the destruction of these insects and prevention of their attacks a number of substances and methods have been employed, the simplest method of all being to expose the drug to a temperature of about 65 C. This method is probably the most efficient in not only preventinginsectattacks, butallo their forms of deterioration. Camphor and tar-camphor have been employed, but it is doubtful if they should be used, unless in the case of animal drugs. In some instances, as with nutmeg and ginger, the drug is sprinkled in the drying-room, or when packed for market, with quicklime. Benzin and carbon disulphide have been proposed, but these are of a disagreeable odor as well as inflammable. Ether has been suggested, but it is very volatile and inflammable. Formaldehyde has been proposed for the preservation of orris root. Chloroform and carbon tetrachloride are probably the best preservatives that have been proposed. A few drops of chloroform or carbon tetrachloride added to a drug on placing it in the container will usually prevent it from becoming

The amount of chloroform or carbon tetrachloride to be used should be about 25 c.c. to 100 cubic feet of drug. To be effective the drug should be treated on two separate occasions.

Commerical Forms of Drugs. Vegetable drugs are brought into market in various forms; they may be crude; that is, more or less entire, or in a powdered condition. Crude drugs may be nearly entire, as seeds, flowers, fruits, leaves, and some roots and rhizomes; or they may be cut or sliced, as in woods, barks, many roots and a few rhizomes. Theymaybemoreorlessmattedtogether, as inchondrus and the solanaceous leaves; or they may be pressed together by means of hydraulic pressure, giving the so-called pressed drugs;""wormy." or they are first powdered and then molded into forms, as rhubarb fingers." In some cases the periderm is removed, as in roots (althea) , rhizomes (zingiber) and barks (ulmus).

The quality of vegetable drugs is injured by a number of factors, of which the following may be mentioned: (1) Lack of knowledge or want of care in collecting them; (2) carelessness in drying and keeping them; (3) insufficient care in garbling and preparing them for the market; (4) inattention in preserving them and storing them; (5) accidental admixture in the store, and (6) adulteration and substitution.

The influence which the time of collection has on the quality of vegetable drugs may be best shown by a few illustrations. It is well known that when the fruits of conium are green they will yield over 3 per cent of coniine, but when they become yellow the alkaloid diminishes rapidly in quantity, and, therefore, much of the commercial drug will not yield 1 per cent of coniine. The same thing may be said of santonica; when the flower heads are unexpanded they will yield over 3 per cent of santonin, but just so soon as the flowers mature there is a rapid disappearance of the anthelmintic principle. Dealers in insect powder (Pyrethri Flores) know that the flowers gathered when they are closed produce the finest and most powerful insect powder, worth nearly twice as much as that made from the half-closed or open flowers. It may be that the variation in quality of some of the commercial aconite is due to improper drying, or to the extraction of the active principles; still, there is no doubt but that much of the trouble with this drug is due to the variation in the time of collection in different countries, as well as to its being collected from different species.

Another factor affecting the quality of vegetable drugs is carelessness in drying them and caring for them after they are gathered. At one time the Pharmacopoeia specified that some drugs should be kept a certain length of time before being used, as in frangula and cascara sagrada. In these instances the results of the changes on keeping have been ascertained, and since a similar effect may be obtained by heating the barkat 100 C. forforty-eighthours, this specification is deemed no longer necessary.

In some drugs a sort of ripening process takes place in the drying, as in gentian, guarana, vanilla and the solanaceous leaf drugs. In still others a marked deterioration takes place if they are placed in heaps and allowed to ferment, as in the case of lavender and most other drugs yielding essential oils. In the preparation of oil of peppermint, the yield of oil is greater and the quality better if the plants are allowed to dry and are distilled immediately of soon after. On the other hand, the yield of methyl salicylate is greater in the leaves of Gaultheria procumbens or the bark of Betula lenta if they are first macerated in water for about twelve hours.

Quite a number of drugs are not infrequently observed in commerce in a moldy condition, as taraxacum, veratrum, aconitum, zingiber and others. The question as to what influence this mold has on the quality of the drug has not been decided. 1

A third cause of inferiority of vegetable drugs is lack of sufficient care in garbling. This applies to a number of drugs, as leaves, with which may be admixed a large number of stems and roots; rhizomes and tubers, in which the proportion of stem-remnants may be excessive, or, as in other cases, the proportion of roots to rhizomes may be large. The roots contain much less of the active principles, and have been found in cypripedium and hydrastis to the extent of 50 per cent of the amount present in the rhizomes.

A fourth factor influencing the quality of drugs is the manner of preservation. While it is generally conceded that most drugs deteriorate on keeping, still this depends largely upon the manner in which they are kept. Thus, the Pharmacopoeia limits the time of keeping of ergot and states how it shall be preserved ; yet a number of writers call attention to the fact that, if properly prepared and preserved, the time of keepingmaybeverymuchextended. Inorder to preserve ergot, Grover proposed the removal of the oil, and Moss found the drug thus treated to retain its therapeutic value for six and a half years. Zanon suggests placing the drug in alternate layers with sand and keeping it in a closely sealed jar. Others grind the fresh ergot and preserve with chloroform in paraffin paper, while some first extract the oil from the powder with alcohol or ether.

Accidental admixture in the store or warehouse depends upon the care of the individual, and need not receive attention here.

The Valuation of Drugs. In the identification of vegetable dfligs certain characters are taken into account, such as color, odor, general appearance, structure, texture, etc., these at the same time indicating inagreaterorless degree the qualitative value of the drug. While these characters may enable the expert to detect very slight variations in quality, and to estimate approximately the value of a given drug, still the true value is based upon the amount of the medicinal principles or so-called active constituents. The methods employed in the valuation of drugs may be grouped as follows: (1) Chemical, (2) Physical, (3) Microscopical, and (4) Biological.

(1) Chemical methods are more generally employed and usually involve the isolation and estimation of the active principles.

(2) Physical methods involve such processes as the determination of specific gravity of the drug as of jalap, or the determination of the elasticity or measurement of the fibers, as of cotton, and still other special methods which apply to individual drugs, showing indirectly their quality.

(3) Microscopical methods of valuation may oftentimes be employed when other methods fail, as, for example, when foreign starches are added to starchy products, as the cereals and spices. Microchemical reactions may also be depended upon in some instances to indicate the value of a drug, as in strophanthus, where the quality of the drug appears to bear a direct relation to the number of seeds giving a green coloration with sulphuric acid. The separation of the salts of the alkaloids in hydrastis on the addition of sulphuric acid is also of value in determining the quality of this drug.

(4) Biological methods involve the consideration of the effects of drugs upon animals or plants. They may be conveniently grouped as follows: 1. Effects or influence upon animals, including (a) those dependent upon the perceptions or senses of the experimenter or tester, as color, taste and odor; (6) those which are physiological or pathological. These are usually determined by experiments upon insects, frogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, fowls, cats, dogs, fish and even uponman. 2. The effector influence produced upon plants by drugs, or solutions of their active principles. For experiments of this kind seedlings are usually employed and the effects are based upon the amount of growth of the root of the plant in a given time when placed in the solution.1 Some of the lower are also used in testing the properties of chemicals, which may have a toxic action on the protoplast or a plasmolytic action on the protoplasm.

Drug Collections. It is important that the student, pharmacist and analyst possess a collection of typical drug specimens. It is necessary in the study of drugs and also for purposes of identification and comparison. Specimens may be kept invarious kinds of boxes and bottles, but one of the most satisfactory ways is to keep them in type cases, such as are used by printers, the top being covered with glass which can be removed. The glass can be kept in place by means of long, broad-headed tacks or can be fastened permanently by means of hinges. The frames may be hung on the wall or held by means of molding.

The Study of Drugs may be pursued from a number of viewpoints.

In an artificial system they may be grouped according to the parts of plants from which they are derived, as roots, rhizomes, leaves, etc. This method has much to commend it in practice, but unfortunately the form of the commercial article is not such that it is always pos sible to determine whether it should be placed among roots or rhizomes, leaves or herbs, etc. A second system of arranging drugs is according to their important constituents. This may seem to many very desirable and enable us to develop a scientific pharmacognosy to be used as a basis for a rational pharmacology. Unfortunately our knowledge of the chemical constituents of drugs is very meager, and in those drugs which have been investigated there may be present a number of principles, each one of which serves a useful purpose. A third method is to consider the plants yielding drugs according to their natural relationship. With our knowledge of the morphology, including both organography and the inner structure of such a large number of plants, it would seem that this would furnish the best system for practical pharmacognosy and be the most stimulating to the investigator. In a large number of families we find there are certain morphological characters that are more or less distinctive for each. The Composite, for instance, are distinguished by their containing inulin. The Labiatae have not only square stems and bilabiate calyces and corollas, but typical 8-celled glandular hairs. Furthermore, two or more drugs are not infrequently derived from a single plant, and the reason for this can be better considered in connection with the products derived from a single plant than if they are placed in widely divergent groups. After many years of experience as a teacher and trying out the several methods in class work I have come to the conclusion that the natural classification of plants is not only the most systematic, but the most effective in practice.

Literature. Tschirch, Handbuch der Pharmakognosie, 1912.

Power, The Aims and Developments of Phytochemical Research. Am. Jour. Pharm., 1917, 89, p. 97.

Lloyd, Plant Textures, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1917, 89, p. 387. EwingandStanford,BotanicalsoftheBlueRidge. Jour.A.Ph.A., 1919, 1 p. 169.

Taylor, The Pharmaceutical Chemist and the Scope of his Work.

Jour. Indus. Eng Chem., 1919, 11, p. 239. Alsberg,ViehoeverandEwing. Some of the Effects of the War upon Crude Drug Importations. Jour.A.Ph.A.,1919,8,p.459. Beal, George D., Chemistry's Opportunity in Pharmaceutical Research. Jour. A. Ph. A., 1919, 8, p. 260.

Kebler,FraudulentAdvertising. Jour.A.Ph.A.,1919,8,p.201. Power. The Distribution and Characters of some of the odorous

Principles of Plants. Jour. Indus. Eng. Chem., 1919, 11, p. 344.

Soure: Scientific and applied pharmagognosy by Henry Kraemer, New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. London: Chapman & Hall, Limited 1920

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0 SCOPE AND PROBLEMS Scientific and applied pharmagognosy

SCOPE AND PROBLEMS

PHARMACOGNOSY is essentially the study of raw materials and the products manufactured from them. While the origin of this science dates back more than a century in the Old World, it is only within the last twenty years that the subject has received any serious attention in this country. During this time much has been done to make pharmacognosy and chemistry the fundamental sciences in pharmacy.

In a narrow sense pharmacognosy embraces the study of medicinal plants and their crude products commonly designated as drugs. It has, however, many-ramifications and its branches extend into nearly all of the industries, requiring the consideration of a very great number of economic plants and their products. The divisions extend into the drug business, the spice trade, cereals and food products, the gums yielding varnishes, the origin of vegetable dyes, the properties of woods, the nature of fibers, papers and fabrics, etc., so that, in short, pharmacognosy deals with the properties, identification, sources, and nature of raw materials and their products.

Use of Microscope. Inasmuch as pharmacognosy requires that one shall be expert in the use of the microscope it might be said to be equivalent to technical microscopy or microscopical technology, meaning thereby the use of the microscope for the identification of, or confirmation of analytical data obtained in the examination of any natural or commercial product. An excellent illustration of the value of the microscope in the examination of a commercial product is in the case of a seizure of apple jelly many years ago. The price was such that at once the health authorities suspected that itwasanartificialproduct. As the nature of it could not chemically be detected, it occurred to someone to examine it under the micro-scope and it was found to contain the skeletons of certain specific diatoms. Intracing the habitat of these organisms it was ascertained that they grew upon certain seaweeds in the Pacific ocean, especially in the vicinity of the Japan Sea. This led to the discovery that agar-agar, now a common commercial article, had been employed in the making of the jelly.

Aim of Pharmacognosy. The ultimate aim of the science of pharmacognosy is to obtain a knowledge of the chemical nature and the properties of all commercial products, from their origin in nature to the final changes produced in their manufacture. To attain this object requires that the student in pharmacognosy should be well-trained in chemistry.

The term pharmacognosy was introduced by Seydler in 1815, and is formed from two Greek words, medicine, and Yvoiois, knowledge; and literally means the science or sumof knowl- of 1 The most edge drugs. idea of the of scope pharcomprehensive

macognosy has been given to us by Fliickiger, who states that it "is the simultaneous application of various scientific disciplines with the object of acquiring the knowledge of drugs from every point of view." The subject was unusually well expounded by Martius,"

Grundriss der Pharmakognosie des Pflanzenreiches," and may be regarded as a great pioneer in pharmacognosy.

Historical. Tschirch has well said that pharmacognosy dates back further than any of the departments of pharmacy. He rightly states that the old herbalists (rhizotomists) were really the first pharmacognocists, and he considers that Dioscorides, by reason of his writings on medicinal plants, was the first teacher in pharmacognosy. One is sometimes tempted to draw a narrow line and say that the history of the subject begins with the work of Martius.

While it is true that Martius appreciated the significance of the word " we must not pharmacognosy," who, in 1825, published a work entitled forget century and even much later it was usual for people to get their drugs directly from the living plants. Up until comparatively recently the identification of drugs was based on a study of living plants, and it was necessary, therefore, not so much to distinguish between the substances which were brought to market as it was for those who gathered medicinal plants to identify them in the field.

The work of the herbalists and systematists of earlier times gradually merges with that of the morphologists of more recent years. There has been a growing tendency to study not only the portions of living plants furnishing the drugs of commerce, but the entire plant. This is necessary, if we would understand the real significance of the characteristics of drugs. Fortunately, also, plants are being studied at close range and under conditions of cultivation, so that there will be less misapprehension in regard to the authenticity of the material sentering commerce. Informer years a number of mistakes have been made in describing drugs which might have been avoided had the identity of the material been first deter- mined and the foundation studies made upon the living plant.

Histological Pharmacognosy. The development of modern pharmacognosy may be said to date from the initial studies on the inner morphology or the anatomy of plants. All of these studies show that in the cellular structure of plants we find the plant unit. The importance of this discovery will be at once apparent when we recall that very many plants, as well as drugs, may resemble each other very closely when viewed macroscopically, but when we come to examine their cellular structure we find that the nature of the cells and their contents or their arrangement is constant for the most part for the same drug, and vary in different plants or drugs.

This advance in the study of plants is largely due to Schleiden, who, in 1838, announced that the cell is the fundamental unit in plants and showed that all the different tissues are combinations of cells. Schleiden not only contributed very largely to the knowledge of the structure of plants, but was among the first to recognize that drugs of different origin might be determined by their cellular differences. Without having any knowledge, for instance, that the several commercial sarsaparillas were obtained from different species of Smilax, he showed by reason of certain differences in the cells of the hypodermis and endodermis that they must be obtained from different species, which has since been proven to be the case.

Schleiden early saw that pharmacognosy was to be a distinct science. He designated pharmacognosy as a botanical discipline, indeed he said: "Pharmacognosy is the mother of all scientific When Schleiden said this he no doubt had in mind the difficulties attending pharmacognostical work and recognized the value of the training required in this study. For the pharmacognocist working upon dried materials must have in mind the relationship between the fragments of the drug he is examining and the growing plant.

Adulteration in Drugs. By adult eration we mean the deterioration or deficiency in quality of a commercial product, (no matter what this may be due to) , It may be due to a variety of causes such as aging, lack of care in preparation, substitution, extraction of important constituents, or the addition of other substances which maybeeitherharmlessorharmful. Adult eration may occurina great variety of forms. The following may be mentioned as giving some idea of not unusual occurrence:

Large pieces of iron may be used to increase weight, as in Burgundy Pitch ; pieces of lead pipe may be inserted in the fresh root as in Ginseng; bullets are occasionally found in the masses of opium; pebbles and rocks admixed with a safcetida; large quantities of dirt may be left in the middle of the bundles of sarsaparilla ; the substitution for a proximate principle, as papain by bread; admixture or even substitution by other species as apocynum, hyoscyamus and scammony, in which occur closely related forms; the substitution by widely separated genera as Mountain maple bark for Viburnum Opulus; in still other cases toxic drugs may be substituted for the genuine, as spurious cubebs for true cubebs, belladonna for inula.

Micro-chemistry. During the past fifteen or twenty years there has been a growing interest in the study of plant constituents by the application of chemical reagents to microscopic sections.

Up until recently we have been largely concerned in the identi- fication of raw materials and have been quite content to be able to distinguish the genuine article from spurious substances. This work has been based largely upon the forms of cells and composi- tion and structure of the cell wall. In some instances the study of some of the cell contents, as of starch grains and crystals of calcium oxalate, has afforded an important clue to the identity of the product under examination. As our interest in the study of the quality of the drugs increases, and this is based upon the constituents or those principles called active principles, it is very important that these constituents be studied in the cells of the plants and drugs.

A careful perusal of the literature will show that very many observations have been made showing the separation out in microscopic sections of definite crystalline substances. In some cases these occur even upon the outside of the drug, as the coumarin crystals on tonka beans and vanillin crystals on vanilla pods.

Again, these crystals may be formed upon heating the material, as in

benzoin and other 1 substances many drugs. Again, crystalline separate upon the addition of mineral acids, as when nitric or sulphuric acid is added to sections of hydrastis. Cognizance of these crystals is being taken to some extent in all of the progressive pharmacopoeias, and while the subject is in a more or less chaotic condition at present, yet the interest in this method of analysis is growing

to such an extent that we may expect before long that the crystal-lographic methods of analysis will play quite as important a part in the work of the pharmacognocist as the anatomical or histological methods have up until this time.

Problems of Pharmacognosy. Pharmacognosy has for its object the study of drug sand the plants  yielding them. The main object is not only to determine the identity of the drug and its origin, but the study of its constituents and the factors influencing their variation in the living plant as well as after collection. In the pursuit of pharmacognosy we examine drugs which for the most part consist of broken fragments, and from these pieces, frequently microscopic in size, the plants from which they are derived must be determined. Again, particles which resemble each other or are obtained from very closely related species must be separated. Part so fother plants growing with them in the soil must be distinguished and standards established showing how much of this extraneous material is permissible, and these standards must be so framed that drugs collected at widely separated points will be of uniform quality and efficiency.

The problems of pharmacognosy take us at once into the field where the origin of the drug scan best udiedatfirsthand. A second phase of the subject are the studies of pure morphology dealing with the development of certain structures as the stipes in cubeb, or the origin of tissues in seeds, and scars or markings in roots and rhizomes. The difference in constituents of different parts of the same plant, as the oils in the leaves and bark of cinnamon or difference in the proportion of alkaloids in the different kinds of cinchona, offers a most fertile opportunity for the application of physiological studies. Further-more, when we approach the subject of the cultivation of medicinal plants we are confronted with the problems of hybridization and mutation. We may further expect those who have had special training in the literature and language are likely to become interested in the historical study of drugs and in the nomenclature employed in designating them in commerce. In the historical study of drugs such phases are considered as the origin of their introduction into medicine, the dissemination of information concerning their uses among other nations, the official recognition by some, of the more important pharmacopoeias, and finally the facts regarding their real usefulness as supplied by modern pharmacological investigations and clinical experience.

The study of synonyms is one of the most important departments of pharmacognosy. While there have been some attempt stotreat of the synonyms of drug names and their derivation, nothing has been written which is adequate to the needs of this subject. It is one of the most difficult phases of pharmacognosy, and requires that the student shall be acquainted not only with the principles of scientific nomenclature, but that he shall be familiar with the several languages and the historical development of pharmacognosy. Tschirch has designated this department of pharmacognosy, pharmacoetymology.

Finally, there is a phase of pharmacognostical work that is receiving greater attention each year, and this is the division which relates to the study of drugs from the time they are shipped by the collector until they reach the retail pharmacist or even the consumer. This subject can not beignored, for it involves the study of the packing of drugs, the conditions of storage, and the changes in the quality of drugs in passing from hand to hand. While some few drugs remain more or less unaltered, or even may be improved on storing for a limited time, a large number of the more valuable of them require that they be kept under special conditions and for a very limited period of time. As indicating the importance of the subject the various pharmacopoeias are giving very explicit directions regarding the manner in which certain drugs shall be kept and how long they will retain their active constituents. This study requires an intimate acquaintance on the part of the pharmacognocist with the collector, the appraiser's stores, the wholesale warehouse, and the retail drug store.

It should also be stated that in practice we have a scientific pharmacognosy and a practical one. The problems of these two departments of pharmacognosy may be the same, as may also be the results, but the objects in view are very different. In the one, investigations are carried on that our knowledge of drugs may be made more complete and the investigator considers neither the cost nor the time. In the other the expert proceeds so far in the search for this knowledge as the problem in hand permits. The results of the scientific investigator will be published, whereas the results of the practical expert are usually withheld.

To a scientific mind the practices of commercial life are enigmatical, especially as they relate to the sale of foods and drugs. The scientist is familiar with the great variation of commercial products and has been publishing for many years the results of his studies with the view of benefiting mankind. So engrossed she in his search for the truth that he can hardly conceive that others are not working toward this same end. One can imagine his disappointment in finding that the motive of the manufacturer, in practice at least, works out quite to the contrary.

There are several reasons that may be given for the conditions that have prevailed in commercial life up until very recently. In the first place the public could not distinguish whether the commodities they were buying were pure or adulterated. Then price the process of purification, and this was but a step leading to the addition of more or less harmless substances until finally harmful foods and inert drugs were generally exploited. A third factor was the lack of knowledge on the part of the manufacturers and dealers to distinguish genuine foods and drugs from those which were adul-terated, spurious or worthless. This condition was remedied so soon as analytical data concerning the composition of foods and drugs were published in the scientific journals and some of the State Boards of Health employed analysts who published reports from time to time on market conditions.

These published results were rather startling, as up to within "fifteen years ago it was stated that of the whole food supply of the country one-seventh is adulterated." One can readily obtain figures in any of the pharmaceutical journals during the past ten years showing that something like 50 per cent of the powdered drugs upon the market were adulterated. The trade in spices was even worse, for we read that " the adulteration of spices is a practice so common that we would really be surprised to find goods pass through the grocery trade that are absolute lypure." This condition, of course, could not continue indefinitely, and fortunately a few manufacturers, who valued the reputation of their products even more than the money they could make out of them, lent support to National and State legislation which should fix standards of purity for foods and drugs. This finally ended in the passage of the Food and Drugs Act in 1906, which was followed by co-operative legislation in the various states.

The Microscope has been employed in the examination of drugs since 1847, when Schleiden used it in the examination of the sarsa-

In 1853 Schacht showed its value in the examination of textile fibers. The earliest reference in English to the use of the microscope as a means of detecting the admixture or adulteration of drugs is the statement of Professor Pereira in his introductory lecture before the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1851, when he said: " You are doubtless conversant with the recent very extensive employment of the microscope for disclosing the adultera tion of food. No less useful no less powerful is it in disclosing the contamination of drugs; and I cannot too strenuously recommend you to employ it."

The investigations of Pereira, Hassal and others showed even at that time not only that the microscope had unlimited valuable practical applications, but that it was the only means which had been discovered to detect the admixture or adulteration of non-crystalline organic substances. An article published in the American Journal of Pharmacy in 1853 (pp. 45-48) on the use of the microscope in the examination of drugs shows that in spite of the fact that it has only recently come into general use its value was very early appreciated.

Some years ago a pharmacist, who had made a specialty of spices and endeavored to purchase only the purest available, became suspicious upon opening one keg of ground black pepper and finding alarge fragment of apodofcayennepepper. Asubsequent examination of the powder showed that it was an artificial product which was very common some years ago, the strength being reinforced by the use of cayenne pepper.

Very many instances could be given showing the value of the microscope in the examination of commercial products and the detection of adulteration as the presence of poke-root in belladonna root, or the substitution of ruellia for spigelia, foreign starches in cacao, presence of capsicum in ground ginger, the endocarp of olive (commonly called olive pits) in ground pepper and other spices as well as in powdered drugs, the presence of wheat middlings in ground mustard as well as in ground spices and drugs, and even to the detection of organic or inorganic crystalline substances in complex preparations. The use of the microscope is not only valuable in analytical work, but it is also valuable in synthetic work, as in determining the composition of cattle powders, medicinal teas, flavoring mixtures and practically all artificial combinations.

Those who are especially interested in this subject and are considering the advisability of preparing themselves for this work may ask for a definite statement as to the subjects that one should be proficient in in order to be a successful pharmacognocist. Taking it for granted that this inquiry is being made by the student who has his whole future ahead of him and who, it is presumed, can take the necessary time to qualify, we may say that the pharmacognocist of the future should have as a foundation rather thorough laboratory instruction in botany, chemistry, physics and crystallography. Not one of these branches can he afford to neglect, and the amount of instruction should be at least the equivalent of that given in these various subjects in the undergraduate courses of any of the best American universities.

On the other hand, no amount of reading or scientific training will quite take the place of a real interest in the subject. This interest can be acquired not only in the drug store or large warehouse, but in college laboratories with their extensive collections.

Soure: Scientific and applied pharmagognosy by Henry Kraemer, New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. London: Chapman & Hall, Limited 1920

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