Chapter 13

G. Grupe, a Manila pharmacist, treating the bark in 1883 by the same process as that used in the preparation of quinine, obtained a bitter substance which he named _Ditaine_. According to Grupe Dr. Pina used this substance with great success in the treatment of malarial fevers, but neither Grupe's report nor Pina's experiment are of any scientific value, inasmuch as they have neglected to mention the doses in which the so-called alkaloid was employed. Later analyses by Hesse and Jobst revealed several principles: two alkaloids _ditamine_ (C_16_H_19_NO_2_), soluble in ether; _Ditaine_ or _Echitamine_ (C_22_H_28_NO_4_ + H_2_O) insoluble in ether, soluble in water; acetic acid and two amorphous substances dextrogyrous in ethereal solution, one of them a resin, _Echicauchina_ (C_25_H_40_O_2_), the other neutral, _Echiretin_ (C_35_H_56_O_2_); two crystallizable principles, dextrogyrous: _Echicerin_ (C_30_H_48_O_2_), _Echitein_ (C_42_H_70_O_2_) and _Echitin_ (C_32_H_52_O_2_).

_Ditaine_ is employed under the same circumstances and in the same dose as quinine. (The Hindoo writer, K. L. Dey, states that the plant yields an inferior quality of gutta-percha.)

Botanical Description.--A tree, 50 or more feet high, the trunk covered with small eminences resembling the scars of thorns. Branches radiating. Leaves radiating, 5, 6 or more, somewhat elliptical in form, pointed at the apex. Petioles very short, with a pointed glandule on the inner surface of the base. Flowers white, terminal, in umbellate racemes. Calyx very short, 5-toothed. Corolla twisted, tubular, the limb 5-lobuled; throat open, encircled with down. Stamens 5, hidden within the throat and inserted on the tube. Filaments almost wanting. Anthers arrow-shaped. Style as long as the stamens, somewhat flattened, a scarcely visible line throughout its length. Stigma bifid, placed above a cylindrical zone, two follicles, 1° long and 1'' thick, twisted like a string, containing the seeds in a row. Seeds cylindrical with a hairy awn at both ends.

Habitat.--In the forests of Luzon, especially in Batangas. Blooms in April.

_Nerium odorum_, Aiton. (_N. oleander_, L. and Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Adelfa_, Sp.; _Baladri_, Tag.; _Sweet-scented Oleander_, Eng.

Uses.--In the Philippines and in Spain this plant is well known to be poisonous. The bark and the leaves of both the red-flowered and white-flowered varieties are boiled in cocoanut oil and the product is used for inunction in itch and other skin diseases. The bruised root is a useful application for chancroids.

We have stated that the plant is poisonous, and indeed it is actively so in the tropics. It is now recognized as an energetic cardiac poison, comparable with strophanthus, destined to play an important part in therapeutics. Dr. Pouloux has made a study of the hydro-alcoholic extract of oleander and reports that it exerts a marked effect on the heart of frogs and rabbits, arresting them in systole. Where there is asystolia, such as we encounter in Bright's disease, without compensation, it stimulates the heart and increases the urine in the same manner as digitalis. No contraindications to its use are as yet known. It occasions no disagreeable symptoms and may be used many days consecutively provided that the daily dose does not exceed 10-15 centigrams.

The poisonous properties of the plant reside in two alkaloids isolated by Lukowsky from the leaves: _oleandrine_, extremely toxic and _pseudo-curarine_, as its name indicates, resembling curare in its action. Oleandrin is yellow, semicrystalline, soluble in water, alcohol, ether, chloroform and olive oil; fusible at 70-75° and changing to a greenish oil. With HCl it forms a crystalline salt. It is a violent irritant of the mucous membranes and given internally it causes emesis, diarrhoea, tetanic convulsions and death. It arrests the cardiac movements in doses of 25 milligrams.

Loiseleur-Deslongchamps experimented with the drug on his own person, using a solution of 30 grams of the extract in 120 grams of wine. He began by taking three drops of this preparation four times a day, adding a drop to each dose every day, so that at the end of 12 days he was taking 48 drops between 6 a. m. and 9 p. m. He reached a maximum of 64 drops a day but was forced to abandon his experiment at that point on account of the unpleasant symptoms induced--loss of appetite, great weakness and muscular pains. His deduction was that the plant contained a "destructive and irritant principle." The experiment is of interest as demonstrating the maximum dose of the drug.

The active principles of the plant reside principally in the leaves and bark, but that they are abundantly present in other parts is proved by the death of several soldiers in Corsica from having eaten meat roasted on a spit of oleander wood.

Botanical Description.--A small tree, about 6° high. Leaves coriaceous, lanceolate, entire, glabrous. Flowers in terminal cymes, rose-color or white, single or double. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla 15 petals, the inner ones larger, disposed in 3 groups of 5. Stamens 10, fixed on receptacle; filaments short. Style shorter than stamens. Two follicles, sharp-pointed, channeled, containing many imbricated seeds each with an awn.

ASCLEPIADACEÆ.

Milkweed Family.

_Calotrops gigantea_, R. Br. (_Asclepias gigantea_, Willd. and Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Kapal-kapal_, Tag.; _Swallow-Wort_, Eng.; _Mudar_, Indo-Eng.

Uses.--This plant is official in the Pharmacopoeia of India as an alterative, tonic, diaphoretic and emetic. J. J. Durant, having observed that the natives used it for dysentery, experimented with it quite successfully in that disease. For adults he gradually raised the dose from 1.10 to 4 grams, preferring smaller doses, however, for mild cases. To children he prescribed 5-10 centigrams for each year of age, 3 or 4 times a day. He remarked that the effects produced were identical with those of ipecac administered in Brazilian fashion.

The part of the plant used is the dry root powdered. The usual dose is 15-50 centigrams 3 times a day, gradually increased; as an emetic 2-4 grams.

The milky juice that escapes from the stem on the slightest abrasion is a drastic purgative, given commonly in dropsy, lumbricoids, etc. Pledgets of cotton impregnated with the juice and packed in the cavities of carious teeth, relieve toothache. It is applied locally for various skin diseases, including syphilitic ulcers, and as a depilatory.

Some races of India, such as the Rajputs of the districts of Allahab and of Khangor, use this milk-juice to poison their female infants whom they are accustomed to regard as a vexatious burden. Therapeutically they use it with honey, locally for sore throat.

The dry and powdered juice has been used in small doses as an alterative in the treatment of tuberculous leprosy, but it has not given results any better than many other drugs. In syphilis and mercurial cachexia its results are less doubtful.

In 1881 Dr. Riddell obtained a sort of gutta-percha from the juice, previously observed by Professor Redwood.

Mooden Sheriff states that the most active parts of the plant are the root bark and the dried juice. He adds that the action of the juice is irregular and even dangerous, and that the bark is active in direct proportion to its age. He recommends that the inert tuberous layer of the bark be removed; prepared thus and powdered it is emetic in doses of 2.50-3 grams.

Duncan claims to have isolated from the bark an active principle which he called _mudarin_ from "mudar," the Indian name of the plant. Following the same process Flückiger was unable to obtain the substance, but did isolate 1 1/2% of an acrid resin, soluble in ether and in alcohol; a mucilage and a bitter principle decolorized by chloroform and ether. It is probable that this is the active principle of the "Calotropis gigantea."

Warden and Waddell in 1881 isolated a substance crystallizable in nodular masses, with the formula C_17_H_28_O, analogous to the _albana_ of gutta-percha.

Botanical Description.--A small tree, 7-8° high, with straight stem, branched and woody. Leaves sessile, opposite, cleft at the base, oval, fleshy and woolly. Flowers lateral in simple umbels of 3 or more flowerets. Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla monopetalous, 5 acute lobes, white, of rare and beautiful form. Nectaries 5, united throughout their length with the receptacle, their bases curved like the sides of the fleur de lis.

Above the nectaries is a 5-angled crown, the extremity of the receptacle; in each angle a black anther. Two large follicles narrowed at the ends, woolly, the apex somewhat curved to one side, containing many imbricated seeds, each with a tuft of long hairs.

Habitat.--Bauang, Taal and the volcanic island of Taal. Blossoms in April.

_Tylophora asthmatica_, Wight. (_Asclepias asthmatica_, Roxb.)

Nom. Vulg.--(?)

Uses.--We are ignorant of the uses the Filipinos make of this plant. It is official in the Pharmacopoeia of India, the dry powdered leaf being the part employed, and its emetic, diaphoretic and expectorant properties are well known in that country. Roxburgh has used the root as an emetic and Anderson has employed it in the same manner as ipecac in dysentery. Later the experience of Anderson was confirmed by O'Shaughnessy; though in place of the root he used the leaf, the properties of which he regards as more certain and uniform.

Dr. J. Kirkpatrick has noted that the juice of the root and its powder are used by the natives of Mysore as an emetic, and adds that he himself has used it for that purpose in a thousand cases with good results. In its effect on dysentery as well as in its emetic effect it resembles ipecacuanha. He used the powder in doses of 1.20-1.80 gr., to which he added 3-6 centigrams of tartar emetic when he desired to obtain an energetic emetic action. Like O'Shaughnessy he prefers the powdered leaves. He considers it a good substitute for ipecac, not only as an emetic, but as a remedy in asthma, dysentery and catarrhal affections; Drs. Oswald and Mooden Sheriff have made the same observations. The latter advises the administration of the juice of the plant for snake bites till vomiting is produced; then follow with diffusible stimulants.

The emetic dose of the powdered leaves is 1.20-1.80 grams, the expectorant and diaphoretic dose 10-30 centigrams. The concentrated infusion of the leaves has an acrid taste. Tannic acid, the neutral acetate of lead and caustic potash produce with it an abundant precipitate; the perchloride of iron colors it a dark green. Broughton, of Ootaemund (India), informed Hanbury and Flückiger, from whom we quote, that in 1872 he obtained a very small quantity of crystals from a large quantity of leaves. He had not enough to make an analysis, but injected a solution of the crystals into a dog with resulting vomiting and diarrhoea.

Botanical Description.--A vigorous plant with scandent stem 2-4 meters long, the more recent growth woolly. Leaves opposite, entire, 5-12 centimeters long and 2-6 broad, oval or rounded. Petiole striated and short. Flowers in umbelliferous cymes, compound, axillary, solitary and alternate, with woolly peduncles; hermaphrodite, regular, small, of a pale green color inside and a light purple outside. Calyx gamosepalous, with 5 lobules. Corolla gamopetalous, 5 oval, twisted lobules. Staminal crown composed of 5 fleshy scales, joined to the staminal tube. Stamens 5, inserted on the throat of the corolla, filaments joined to form a very short tube with anthers straight, short and crowned by a membranous bilocular appendix. The gynoecium consists of 2 unilocular ovaries each containing an indefinite number of ovules. Style with a pentagonal stigma which bears in each angle a glandular body. Fruits compound with two separate follicles, large, lanceolate, smooth, 8-10 centimeters long and 5 in circumference. Each encloses a seed, hairy, albuminous with straight embryo and flattened cotyledons.

Habitat.--Mountains of San Mateo.

LOGANIACEÆ.

Logania Family.

_Strychnos Ignatii_, Berg. (_S. Philippensis_, Blanco; _Ignatia amara_, L.; _Ignatia Philippinea_, Lour.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Pepita Fruta_, Sp.-Fil.; _Pepita sa katbalongan_, _Kabalongan_, Tag., Pam.; _Pangaguason_, _Aguason_, _Kanlara_, _Mananaog_, _Dankagi_, _Katalonga_, _Igasud_, Vis.; _St. Ignatius Bean_, Eng.

Uses.--The part of the plant employed is the seed, known in addition to the above common names as Pepita de San Ignacio and Pepita de Cabalonga (for _katbolongan_). The natives handle it with the greatest imprudence, selling everywhere in the markets and in the Chinese shops, called _tindang-bayang_. It is not only a remedy among them, but a sort of panacea, to which they attribute, among other virtues, that of expelling evil spirits, simply worn about the neck. They grate it with a piece of earthen pot, mix with a little "tuba" vinegar and apply it to the temples for headache. In bites of poisonous animals they advise the application of the powdered seed over the wound, a treatment which instead of being beneficent might easily be harmful to the patient. Before proceeding further, let us give the chemical composition of the seeds in order that their uses may be the better understood.

_Strychnine_ is found in them in the proportion of 1/2-1 1/2 and _brucine_ 1/2%-1.4%. Flückiger and Hanbury by drying it over sulphuric acid and burning it with "cal sòdica" obtained 1.78% of nitrogen which represents 10% of albuminoid material. Strychnine and brucine exist in combination with igasuric acid discovered by Ludwig in 1873. The proportion of both the alkaloids is greater than in the seeds of nux vomica which contain only .25-.50% strychnine and .12-.05% brucin, although some authors give it as high as 1.01%. Strychnine can be obtained more readily and in larger proportions from St. Ignatius bean, but it is generally obtained from nux vomica seeds on account of the cheapness of the latter.

It is more energetic than nux vomica and its use in medicine should be condemned, preference, however, being given to the official preparations among which the best known is that commonly called "Bitter Drops of Beaumé," of which the following is the composition:

Grated St. Ignatius' beans 500 grams. Potassium carbonate 5 grams. Soot (?) 1 gram. 60% alcohol 1,000 grams.

Macerate for 10 days, strain, express and filter. Dose, 1-16 drops in a little water or wine before each meal, for dyspepsia, anæmia, convalescence from fevers, and other conditions in which a tonic is indicated. The indications for the use of this drug are the same as those for nux vomica, keeping in mind the difference in dose.

Botanical Description.--This plant grows in the deep forests of Samar and Masbate. That industrious and distinguished botanist, D. Regino García, found it growing abundantly in Paranas, Island of Samar. It is a robust vine, the trunk sometimes as thick as a man's thigh, climbing to the tops of the highest trees, apparently without preference as to its host, inasmuch as he saw it growing indifferently on _Ficus_, _Dipterocarpus_, _Litsaca_, etc. The seed which most interests us and is very common, is about the size of an olive, round and convex on one side, angulose and flattened on the other by being compressed with many others within the fruit which contains 50 of them. Its surface is blackish with a gray-blue tinge. It is hard and corneous. Its taste is extremely bitter.

Branches opposite, smooth, the ends square. Leaves opposite, oval, much pointed at the apex, entire, glabrous, with 3 prominent nerves. Petioles very short. Flowers in panicles of many flowerets. Calyx inferior, 5-cleft, very short. Corolla 6-7 times longer than the calyx, funnel-form, 5-lobed. Anthers 5, sessile, fixed in the throat of the corolla. Ovary very small. Style filiform, same length as the stamens. Stigma truncate and thick. Drupe globose, often oval, large, smooth, with thick, woody shell of a single compartment containing seeds as described above.

BORAGINACEÆ.

Borage Family.

_Ehretia buxifolia_, Roxb. (_Carmonea heterophylla_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Mangit_, _Alangitngit_, Tag., Vis.

Uses.--The leaves dried in the shade are used in some Visayan towns, in infusion to take the place of tea. The root is used by the Hindoo physicians as an alterative. Dr. R. Ross has employed it for that purpose in a decoction of 60 grams to 500 cc. of water; 60 cc. a day of this preparation gave him good results in secondary and constitutional syphilis. The Mohammedans of India consider the root an antidote for vegetable poisons.

Botanical Description.--Small tree, 5-6° high, trunk straight. Leaves alternate or bunched in 3's or 4's at the nodes, lanceolate or spatulate, 3-toothed at apex, sometimes serrate toward the apex, set with short, stiff hairs. Petioles very short. Flowers axillary, in racemose panicles of a few flowers each. Common peduncle long, pedicel short. Calyx free, bell-shaped, persistent, divided almost to base into 5 narrow, downy parts. Corolla bell-shaped, 5 oval lobules. Stamens 5. Ovary oval, within the flower. Style bifid. Stigmas simple, truncate. Drupe globose, with hard, slightly furrowed putamen of 6 locules and solitary seeds.

Habitat.--Malinta and many other parts of the Visayas. Blooms in January.

CONVOLVULACEÆ.

Convolvulus Family.

_Ipomoea hederacea_, Jacq. (_I. nil_, Roth.; _Convolvulus nil_, L. and Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Bulakan_, Tag.; _Kala-Danah_, Indo-Eng.

Uses.--This plant is not used as a medicine by the Filipinos, but is official in the Pharmacopoeia of India from which we copy its indications and official preparations.

The seed is the part employed, its cathartic properties being much like those of jalap, though less energetic. An excellent substitute for the latter is 2 or 3 grams of _kala-danah_ seeds in powder form, and no unpleasant effects attend its operation.

The official preparations are:

Extract of Kaladana.--Dose, 30-60 centigrams in pill.

Powdered seeds 500 grams. Alcohol 2 liters. Water 4 1/2 liters.

Tincture of Kaladana.--Dose, 8-12 grams.

Seeds 75 grams. Alcohol 500 grams.

Compound Powder of Kaladana.--Dose, 3-3 1/2 grams.

Powdered seeds 150 grams. Acid tartrate of potassium 270 grams. Powdered ginger 30 grams.

The last is an excellent substitute for the corresponding preparation of jalap.

Resin of Kaladana.--Dose, 30-50 centigrams. It is prepared like resin of jalap and is a safe and sure purgative. In mass it has a dark color, but is gray when powdered. The odor is rather unpleasant, the taste sweetish and then acrid, nauseous, persistent, exciting the saliva and irritating the fauces. It was introduced into practice by Dr. G. Vidie.

Botanical Description.--A twiner with round, downy stem. Leaves heart-shaped, 3-lobed, the middle one broad-lanceolate, the lateral ones rather rectangular with petioles of equal length with the leaves. Flowers large, rose color or pale blue, in axillary cymes of 2 or 3 flowers each. Calyx, 5 long, downy parts. Corolla bell-shaped, 5 faint lobes. Stamens 5, free, inserted in the corolla. Ovary free, 3 biovulate locules. Style simple. Stigma trilobed. Seed vessels globose with 3 locules each containing 2 seeds. Seeds convex on dorsum, 1/2 cm. broad by 1 cm. long, testa black.

Habitat.--Manila. Blooms in August.

_Ipomoea pes-capræ_, Roth. (_Convolvulus pes-capræ_ L. and Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Katagkatag_, _Lagayray_, _Lampayog_, _Bagasoa_, _Kamigag_, _Daripay_, _Tagaray_, _Arodayday_, _Lambayog_, Tag., Vis.; _Lambayog_, Iloc.

Uses.--The dry, powdered leaves are dusted over bruises and ulcers. The entire plant is very mucilaginous and the bruised fresh leaves are applied like poultices to cancers and ulcerating tumors. In India the boiled leaves are applied locally in colic and in rheumatism; the juice is given internally in dropsy as a diuretic, the pounded leaves at the same time serving as a poultice to the oedematous parts.

Botanical Description.--A plant that creeps extensively, the stem taking root. Leaves with 2 well-marked lobules. Flowers rose-lilac color, in axillary panicles with long pedicels. Corolla very large, bell-shaped, the limb 5-angled and 5-nerved. Stamens 5, unequal in height. Stigma globose, marked by a line; later it divides in two. Seed vessel ovate, 2-celled, in each cell 2 downy seeds convex on one side, angular on the other.

Habitat.--Very common on the seashore. Blooms in January.

_Ipomoea Turpethum_, R. Br. (_Convolvulus Turpethum_, L.; _C. maximus_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Albohol_, Sp.; _Turpeth Root_, _Indian Jalap_, Eng.

Uses.--The root, known in the Philippines as "turbita," is a purgative and is a component part of the tincture of jalap, one of the most positive and active of known cathartics. But turpeth root is seldom used alone, for its action is so uncertain that Sir W. O'Shaughnessy pronounced the plant unworthy of a place in the Pharmacopoeia of India. The dose of the powder is 1-4 grams, the resin 40-50 cgms., the decoction of the root 4-12 grams. The active principle is a resin soluble in ether and a glucoside, _turpethin_, C_34_H_56_O_16_.

In the east of India they make offerings of the flowers to the god Shiva, and also put them to more practical use by applying them to the head for neuralgic headache.

Botanical Description.--A vine with quadrangular stem. Leaves heart-shaped. Flowers axillary, numerous, in umbels. Calyx deeply cleft in 5 imbricated, ovate, fleshy parts. Corolla bell-shaped, folded. Stamens 5, unequal in height. Ovary inserted on an hypogynous disk, with 2 biovulate compartments. Style same length as stamens. Stigma bilobulate, globose. Seed vessel square, encircled by calyx, 2 locules each with 2 seeds.

Habitat.--Common in Bauang and Pasig. Blooms in November.

SOLANACEÆ.

Nightshade Family.

_Solanum nigrum_, L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Hierba mora_, Sp.; _Konty_, _Onty_, _Gamagamatisan_, Tag.; _Lagpakon_, _Bolagtob_, _Lubilubi_, Vis.; _Kuty_, _Lubilubi_, Bic.; _Black_ or _Common Nightshade_, Eng.

Uses.--In the Philippines the entire plant is boiled and used for food, with the precaution of pouring off the first 2 or 3 waters in which it is cooked, which contain an active principle capable of causing such disagreeable symptoms as vertigo and nausea. A decoction of the leaves serves to cleanse chronic sores and in fact improves their condition; it is also used as a lotion for various forms of dermatitis, for erysipelas and old burns.

The plant is narcotic, antispasmodic and like belladonna it dilates the pupil.

In India the decoction is given internally, 200-250 grams, for hypertrophy of the liver, and it is considered a good diuretic and alterative. For such uses they heat the above dose in a clay vessel till the color changes from green to brown, when it is cooled and given next day. Its action is diuretic and hydragogue-cathartic. Mooden Sheriff recommends this treatment highly, and for dropsy further advises the aqueous extract, 12 grams during the day divided into 3 or 4 doses. Small doses of 30-60 grams of the decoction prepared as above described, are of use in some chronic skin diseases such as psoriasis.

In 1821 Defosses, of Besançon, obtained _solanine_ from the fruit, previously isolated from the _S. Dulcamara_.

Botanical Description.--A plant about 2° high, stem straight, 3-4-angled, with white dots. Leaves lanceolate. Flowers white, in 2-ranked racemes. Calyx inferior, 5 persistent teeth. Corolla, 5 petals somewhat down-curved. Berry small, black when ripe.

Habitat.--Universally common. Blooms in January.

_Capsicum fastigiatum_, Bl. (_C. minimum_, Roxb.)