A formulary for the preparation and medical administration of certain new remedies / Translated from the French ... with annotations and additional articles, by James Manby Gully.

  • Magendie, François, 1783-1855
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A formulary for the preparation and medical administration of certain new remedies / Translated from the French ... with annotations and additional articles, by James Manby Gully. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Preparation of Veratria. The seed of the sabadilla is treated several times with boiling alcohol. These tinctures, filtered while still nearly boiling, deposit on cooling flakes of a white waxy matter; the substance remaining in solution, reduced to the consistence of an extract, is again taken up by cold water and filtered; a small quantity of fatty matter remains upon the filter. The solution is then slowly evaporated, when an orange-yellow preci¬ pitate forms, exhibiting the characters of the colouring matter found in almost all ligneous vegetables. A solution of acetate of lead is poured into the liquor, which is still highly coloured, and immediately a new and very abundant yellow precipitate is formed, which is to be separated by filtering. The liquor, now nearly colourless, still contains, among other substances, the acetate of lead which has been added in excess. The lead is thrown down by means of a current of hydro- sulphuric acid; the liquor, being filtered, is concen¬ trated by evaporation, treated with magnesia, and again filtered. The magnesian precipitate is treated with boiling alcohol, and the tinctures afford by evaporation an exceedingly acrid pulverulent substance, presenting all the properties of an alkali. This substance is at first yellowish, but by repeated solution in alcohol, and precipitation by the addition of water, it is obtained in the form of a very white and perfectly inodorous powder. Chemical properties of Veratria. Veratria is very sparingly soluble in cold water; boiling water takes up one-thousandth part of its weight, and becomes sensibly acrid. It is readily soluble in ether, and still more so in alcohol. It is insoluble in the alkalis, and soluble in all the vegetable acids. It saturates all the acids and forms with them uncrystal- lizable salts, which by evaporation assume the ap-