ORIGINAL AND EXTRACTED ARTICLES. OF THE PLANT WHICH YIELDS PATCHOULY. BY DR. PELLETIER-SAUTELET. THE odorous and for some years past very fashionable leaves called Patchouly, employed by ladies as a perfume, and for driving away insects*, is an undershrub cultivated under the name of Patchouli by amateurs and in botanical gardens. The leaves of our plant completely agree with the Patchouly of the perfumers: not so the leaves of Pascalia glauca, Ort., one of the Compositæ, frequently called by horticulturists Patchouly, but which have no resemblance to the genuine Patchouly, and have, moreover, a terebinthinate odour which readily distinguishes them from the leaves used by perfumers. By its foliage and habit, the Patchouly, especially when cultivated in pots, much resembles many Indian and hot-house plants; but particularly Volkameria, and especially Clerodendrum. Some persons have considered it to be one of the Verbenacea; but this is an error, for it is a labiate plant; and Endlicher and Ad. de Jussieu were very near the truth when they declared it to be a species of Coleus. Having found that it was an undescribed species of Pogostemon, M. de Tristan and myself have given it the specific name of Patchouly, as being, in our opinion, preferable to any other; for it is by this name that it is generally known. POGOSTEMON PATCHOULY. P. pubescent; stem shrubby, procumbent at the base; leaves petiolate, ovate acute, wedge-shaped at the base; coarsely dentate; spikes + terminal and axillary, on long peduncles, interrupted at the base; cymes dense, longer than the bracts; bractlets shorter by half than the calyx; tube of the corolla exserted; upper lip spotted; teeth of the fructiferous calyx connivent, lanceolate. Description. An undershrub, procumbent at the base; 2 metres (63-feet) and more long; denuded below; somewhat ash-grey; pubescent. Root fibrous. Stem at the base scarcely exceeding the thickness of the index finger; or many stems, 2-3, thinner, shorter, unequal in thickness and length. Principal branches elongated slender; the old ones like the stems, the adult ones obsoletely, the young ones perfectly, tetragonal; the internodes, at least the lower ones, long, oblong, and somewhat incrassate at the base, with two opposite furrows, which are deeper in dried specimens. The ladies will regret to find that these leaves no more possess the property of driving away insects than the flowering tops of lavender and thyme, powdered pepper, camphor, retiver (Andropogon muricatum Beauv.), and many other substances to which the same property has been assigned. It is now well known that it is not to these substances, but to the precautions with which their use is accompanied, that the supposed good effects of their employment are in reality referable. + Dr. Pelletier-Sautelet terms the spiciform inflorescence of this plant, spicastra, for which Mr. Bentham (De Candolle's Prodromus, pars. xii, p. 153) has substituted the word spica -TRANSL. PH. J. Leaves opposite, one a little smaller, on long stalks which are longer than one-half the blade, broadly ovate, acute, at the base wedge-shaped, and shortly attenuated, coarsely or acutely, or rather acutely unequally duplicato-dentate, somewhat serrate, the teeth being obtusely, or rather acutely serrated, soft, green above, paler beneath, strong smelling, with small innumerable glands visible by the aid of a powerful lens. Inflorescence spiciform. Peduncles long, shorter by about half than the spike, sometimes equal. Spikes terminal and lateral, somewhat panicled, the terminal ones 8 centimetres (about 34 inches) in length at the most, interrupted at the base, the lateral ones shorter or equal to the entire leaves. Bracts [floral leaves] broad-lanceolate, on both sides acute, quite entire, not unfrequently pale violet at the apex. Whorls (Verticillastri) crowded, dense, longer than the bracts. Bractlets bracts] apprest, disposed in 3 or 4 rows, quite entire, on both sides acute, the external ones broad-lanceolate, half as long as the calyx covering the internal narrower ones, the inferior ones linear. Flowers closely crowded, sessile, inodorous. Estivation of the calyx, valvular. Calyx obovato-lanceolate, subfusiform, 6 millimetres [nearly of an inch] long, subacute at the base, 5-toothed, 5-striated, the nerves opposed to the teeth. Teeth equal, lanceolate, acute, pubescent within. Tube obconical. Corolla bilabiate, smooth and whitish. Tube exserted. Upper lip obtusely 3-lobed; the lobes marked with a purple spot evanescent after flowering, unequal, quite entire; the spots confluent at the base. Lower lip almost one-half shorter than the upper one, quite entire. Stamens, four didynamous, nearly equal. Filaments straight, with long, unequal, flexuous, spreading violet or bluish purple hairs, resembling the colour of the flower. Anthers small, roundish, compressed, unilocular by confluence, pale yellow, after flowering whitish. Connectivum scarcely any. Pollen yellowish, afterwards whitish. Pistil very smooth, usually somewhat longer than the stamens. Style filiform, very pale purplish, below whitish, at the apex deeply cleft. Stigmata punctiform, whitish, almost invisible to the naked eye. Ovaries four, distinct, whitish, ovoid, obtuse. Gynophore, beneath convex, subhemispherical, almost entire at the margin, sometimes glanduliferous at the base. Mature calyx and fruit not seen. Grows probably in humid places. Flowered at Orleans on the 14th February. [It has recently flowered at the Kew Gardens. ] [We have already laid before our readers some account of Patchouli, see Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. iv., p. 89, 1844, and vol. vi., p. 432, 1847. A very interesting account of it is given by Dr. Wallich in Dr. O'Shaughnessy's Bengal Dispensatory (p. 493, 1842), the most important parts of which were embodied in Dr. Pereira's notice of Patchouli in the 4th vol. of the Pharmaceutical Journal.-ED. PH. J.] POGOSTEMON PATCHOULY. a. Flowering top of natural size. b. A flower magnified. c. One of the largest leaves. SPURIOUS CHEMICALS. WE have repeatedly had occasion to direct the attention of the readers of this Journal to the adulteration of drugs. It is now our duty to notice a system, which appears to have prevailed to a considerable extent, not of adulteration, but of the wholesale substitution of comparatively worthless compounds, for valuable and powerful medicinal agents. Within the last few years compounds of valerianic acid with oxide of iron, with oxide of zinc, and with quina, have been introduced into medical practice as efficacious remedies, especially in hysteria, and other affections of the nervous and uterine system, and in fevers. A good deal of attention has been devoted by practical Chemists to the preparation of these valerianates, and several processes for making them have been published in this and other Journals. The valerianates, however, have always, and necessarily, been expensive preparations, yet the use of them has been gradually extended in consequence of the testimony borne to their great efficacy. Increased demand led to competition in the supply, which has recently resulted in the adoption, by some manufacturers, of a system of substitutions that would have speedily brought a valuable set of remedies into disrepute, had not the fraudulent practice been detected. Citrate and tartrate of iron, flavoured with a few drops of oil of valerian, has been extensively supplied for valerianate of iron; and acetate of zinc, flavoured in the same way, has been substituted for valerianate of zine; and these spurious compounds have been sold at prices which, although defying competition on the part of the genuine valerianates, have nevertheless been twenty or thirty times greater than the commercial value of the substituted articles. For valerianate of quina the disulphate of that base, with a little oil of valerian to disguise it, has been in like manner substituted. Thus compounds have been supplied for the three medicinal valerianates, which have not contained a particle of the most important of the constituents which should have been present, namely, the valerianic acid. Such being the nature of the frauds which have been practised, we have no doubt, upon many of our readers, we proceed to point out the means of detecting them. 1. The true valerianates have a sour, disagreeable, and very persistent, although not powerful smell, which is essentially different from that of oil of valerian. 1. The spurious imitations, being flavoured with oil of valerian, smell strongly of that substance. 2. The true valerianate of iron is almost entirely insoluble in water; and the valerianate of quina fuses into oily globules in boiling water, and dissolves with difficulty. They are both freely soluble in spirit. 3. The true valerianates, when mixed with a little diluted hydrochloric acid, are decomposed, and the valerianic acid being set free, rises like oil to the surface of the liquid. To get this character it is necessary to operate upon from five to ten grains of the specimen, and to avoid the use of too much of the diluted acid, as valerianic acid is soluble in about thirty parts of water. The liberated valerianic acid has the sour, disagreeable, and very persistent smell, which to a slight extent is perceived. in its salts, but it is readily distinguished from that of oil of valerian. 4. The true valerianates, when mixed with a little proof spirit, and one-fourth the volume of oil of vitriol is then carefully added, will yield valerianic ether, which is recognised by its agreeable fruity smell, somewhat resembling that of the pine-apple. This ether can hardly be distinguished in smell from butyric ether. 2. The spurious valerianate of iron is perfectly soluble in water, especially when aided with a little heat; it is insoluble in spirit. The spurious valerianate of quina is soluble in about thirty parts of boiling water, and, as the solution cools, it is deposited in acicular crystals, which have the bitter taste and other characters of disulphate of quina. 3. The spurious valerianates, when added to water, will generally yield a thin film of oil, which floats on the surface, and is easily detected as oil of valerian. On heating the liquid this oil is driven off, without otherwise decomposing the salt, and no further indication of valerian will afterwards be obtained. On treating them with diluted hydrochloric acid there is no valerianic acid set free. 4. The spurious valerianates yield no valerianic ether; but the spurious valerianate of zinc, when treated as above, yields acetic ether, which is easily detected. The foregoing tests are sufficient to distinguish the true valerianates from the spurious substitutes above mentioned, but there is reason to believe that other substitutions have been practised, although not so extensively. We have met with a specimen of |