NOTE ON THE OF
CHEMICAL
COMPOSITION
THE LEAVES OF
ERYTHROXYLON MONOGYNUM By L. A. OFFG.
(v. INDICUM).
Waddell, M. B.,
PROFESSOR OF
CHEMISTRY,
Calcutta Medical
College. Since the discovery, about a year ago, of the valuable properties possessed by cocaine and its hydrochlorate as effective and manageable local anaesthetics, extreme interest has been excited throughout the medical world in the coca plant {Erythroxylon coca)?the well-known masticatory of Peru?and its active principle cocaine. And as further experience of the use of the alkaloid has served to confirm the most sanguine expectations which were formed with regard to it when first its remarkable effects on the eye became known, the plant itself is undoubtedly destined to become a product of much commercial importance, and already its cultivation, with this view, is being actively prosecuted in Madras and Ceylon. In the botanic gardens of the latter country the coca plant has been growing since 1870, and thrives well. As we have in India an indigenous species of the Erythroxylon genus, viz., E. Monogynum, it becomes interesting to ascertain whether or uotthe local species contains an alkaloid identical with cocaine or possessed of similar properties. This inquiry was suggested to me about two months ago, on visiting the Calcutta Royal Botanic Gardens, when Dr. King, the able
Superintendent, pointed out
a
healthy specimen
of E. Monogynum which had been growing in the gardens for many years past. The leaves of Erythroxylon monogynum resemble closely those of the S. American species, E. coca. They are described by Hooker. * " 1-2 by f-lin., obovate or as being or
elliptic-
*
The Flora of British
India,
Yol. I, p. ili.
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
282
cuneate-obovate, tip rounded, hardly shining pale glaucous brown beneath when dry, much reticulated, peduncles nerves oblique, above
The synonyms are E. indicum (Beddome)and Sethia indie a (D. C.) and its vernacular names Devada.ru and Adivi gov an ta. It is found in the dry hilly parts of Madras (Cuddapah) and in hot dry parts of the island of Ceylon. Subsequent to commencing the examination of the leaves of this plant, I ascertained * that Dr. H. Trim en and Dr. Bidie, C. I. E.,f have lately expressed the opinion that the leaves ot E. rnon. might possibly contain cocaine. Through the kindness of Dr. King I was provided with an ample supply of the fresh leaves of E. monogynum gathered in the first week in July, My examination of the leaves was simply directed towards ascertaining whether or not the leaves contained any alkaloid of a cocaine-like character. I did not attempt the determination of the detailed composition of the leaves. The processes employed by me in the endeavour to extract an alkaloidal principle were those made use of and recommended by Niemann J and Lossen ? for extracting cocaine from the leaves of E. coca. The leaves were gradually and thoroughly dried, as is recommended with regard to coca leaves, at first on a table in an airy room, and latterly in the sun. The dried leaves were more or less flat, slightly brittle, and of a yellowish green color, and gave off en masse a someAviiat fragrant odour. When chewed, the leaves were insipid and devoid of any positive taste or decided astringency. One kilogramme of the dried leaves was reduced to a coarse powder and exhausted with strong rectified spirits containing one-fiftieth of sulphuric acid. The alcoholic solution was supersaturated with lime, then carefully neutralized with dilute sulphuric acid, the precipitated sulphate of lime removed, and the bulk of the alcohol driven off by evaporation ou the water bath. The residuary fluid was then supersaturated with soda, and shaken repeatedly with ether, and the ethereal solution removed and allowed to evaporate spontaneously. Only some semisolid resinous and fatty material of a peculiar sickening odour was obtained in this way. Repeated solution (in ether and alcohol) and re-evaporation of this ethereal extract failed to obtain any body of an alkaloidal nature, nor could any salts, crystalline or otherwise, be obtained. inches."
* In the Report of the Royal Botanic Garden in Ceylon for the year 1881. " f In a pamphlet on Coca; its source, culture, uses, &c.," published at Madras a few months ago. J In the Vierteljahresschr.fUr practische Pilar made, Vol. IX, pp. 489. Munich, 1860. ? Ann. Chen. Pharm., 183, 352; 1862.
[Sept.,
1885.
A second lot was treated according to Lossen's mode of extracting cocaine. Eight hundred grammes of the dried and coarsely powdered leaves were extracted with boiling water, then acetate of lead added, till no further precipitate The excess of the lead remaining in solufell. tion was removed by sodium sulphate, the mixture filtered, and soda added to the filtrate in slight excess. On shaking this mixture with ether, and drawing off the ether and allowing it to evaporate, only a very small amount of colouring matter was left behind. No alkaloidal body was obtained, nor could any salts, crystalline or other, be obtained. The result of these operations, it will be seen, is to show that no cocaine-like alkaloid is present in the leaves of E. monogynum, and indeed the presence of any alkaloid or glucoside at all is rendered unlikely, for most alkaloidal bodies would have been isolated by the processes here employed.* It is true that the individual shrub from which these leaves were taken was growing in a locality different from its natural iiabitat; but as the bush was in excellent condition, it is extremely unlikely that its slightly foreign location would be attended by an utter absence of any characteristic and normal active principle. The amount of material operated on was so large that the presence of a cocaine-like alkaloid in the most minute traces could not have escaped detection. And collateral evidence lends itself to the belief that the plant when growing in its native habitat is devoid of any very active properties ; for, it has been recorded by Dr. Bidie, that during the Madras famine the starving people in the Cuddapah district consumed, amongst the leaves and fruits of other available trees, large quantities of the leaves of E. monogynum without experiencing any remarkably restorative effects.
*
"
Hygrine,"
soda solution.
if present, would have remained in the
CHEMICAL
COMPOSITION
THE LEAVES OF
ERYTHROXYLON MONOGYNUM By L. A. OFFG.
(v. INDICUM).
Waddell, M. B.,
PROFESSOR OF
CHEMISTRY,
Calcutta Medical
College. Since the discovery, about a year ago, of the valuable properties possessed by cocaine and its hydrochlorate as effective and manageable local anaesthetics, extreme interest has been excited throughout the medical world in the coca plant {Erythroxylon coca)?the well-known masticatory of Peru?and its active principle cocaine. And as further experience of the use of the alkaloid has served to confirm the most sanguine expectations which were formed with regard to it when first its remarkable effects on the eye became known, the plant itself is undoubtedly destined to become a product of much commercial importance, and already its cultivation, with this view, is being actively prosecuted in Madras and Ceylon. In the botanic gardens of the latter country the coca plant has been growing since 1870, and thrives well. As we have in India an indigenous species of the Erythroxylon genus, viz., E. Monogynum, it becomes interesting to ascertain whether or uotthe local species contains an alkaloid identical with cocaine or possessed of similar properties. This inquiry was suggested to me about two months ago, on visiting the Calcutta Royal Botanic Gardens, when Dr. King, the able
Superintendent, pointed out
a
healthy specimen
of E. Monogynum which had been growing in the gardens for many years past. The leaves of Erythroxylon monogynum resemble closely those of the S. American species, E. coca. They are described by Hooker. * " 1-2 by f-lin., obovate or as being or
elliptic-
*
The Flora of British
India,
Yol. I, p. ili.
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
282
cuneate-obovate, tip rounded, hardly shining pale glaucous brown beneath when dry, much reticulated, peduncles nerves oblique, above
The synonyms are E. indicum (Beddome)and Sethia indie a (D. C.) and its vernacular names Devada.ru and Adivi gov an ta. It is found in the dry hilly parts of Madras (Cuddapah) and in hot dry parts of the island of Ceylon. Subsequent to commencing the examination of the leaves of this plant, I ascertained * that Dr. H. Trim en and Dr. Bidie, C. I. E.,f have lately expressed the opinion that the leaves ot E. rnon. might possibly contain cocaine. Through the kindness of Dr. King I was provided with an ample supply of the fresh leaves of E. monogynum gathered in the first week in July, My examination of the leaves was simply directed towards ascertaining whether or not the leaves contained any alkaloid of a cocaine-like character. I did not attempt the determination of the detailed composition of the leaves. The processes employed by me in the endeavour to extract an alkaloidal principle were those made use of and recommended by Niemann J and Lossen ? for extracting cocaine from the leaves of E. coca. The leaves were gradually and thoroughly dried, as is recommended with regard to coca leaves, at first on a table in an airy room, and latterly in the sun. The dried leaves were more or less flat, slightly brittle, and of a yellowish green color, and gave off en masse a someAviiat fragrant odour. When chewed, the leaves were insipid and devoid of any positive taste or decided astringency. One kilogramme of the dried leaves was reduced to a coarse powder and exhausted with strong rectified spirits containing one-fiftieth of sulphuric acid. The alcoholic solution was supersaturated with lime, then carefully neutralized with dilute sulphuric acid, the precipitated sulphate of lime removed, and the bulk of the alcohol driven off by evaporation ou the water bath. The residuary fluid was then supersaturated with soda, and shaken repeatedly with ether, and the ethereal solution removed and allowed to evaporate spontaneously. Only some semisolid resinous and fatty material of a peculiar sickening odour was obtained in this way. Repeated solution (in ether and alcohol) and re-evaporation of this ethereal extract failed to obtain any body of an alkaloidal nature, nor could any salts, crystalline or otherwise, be obtained. inches."
* In the Report of the Royal Botanic Garden in Ceylon for the year 1881. " f In a pamphlet on Coca; its source, culture, uses, &c.," published at Madras a few months ago. J In the Vierteljahresschr.fUr practische Pilar made, Vol. IX, pp. 489. Munich, 1860. ? Ann. Chen. Pharm., 183, 352; 1862.
[Sept.,
1885.
A second lot was treated according to Lossen's mode of extracting cocaine. Eight hundred grammes of the dried and coarsely powdered leaves were extracted with boiling water, then acetate of lead added, till no further precipitate The excess of the lead remaining in solufell. tion was removed by sodium sulphate, the mixture filtered, and soda added to the filtrate in slight excess. On shaking this mixture with ether, and drawing off the ether and allowing it to evaporate, only a very small amount of colouring matter was left behind. No alkaloidal body was obtained, nor could any salts, crystalline or other, be obtained. The result of these operations, it will be seen, is to show that no cocaine-like alkaloid is present in the leaves of E. monogynum, and indeed the presence of any alkaloid or glucoside at all is rendered unlikely, for most alkaloidal bodies would have been isolated by the processes here employed.* It is true that the individual shrub from which these leaves were taken was growing in a locality different from its natural iiabitat; but as the bush was in excellent condition, it is extremely unlikely that its slightly foreign location would be attended by an utter absence of any characteristic and normal active principle. The amount of material operated on was so large that the presence of a cocaine-like alkaloid in the most minute traces could not have escaped detection. And collateral evidence lends itself to the belief that the plant when growing in its native habitat is devoid of any very active properties ; for, it has been recorded by Dr. Bidie, that during the Madras famine the starving people in the Cuddapah district consumed, amongst the leaves and fruits of other available trees, large quantities of the leaves of E. monogynum without experiencing any remarkably restorative effects.
*
"
Hygrine,"
soda solution.
if present, would have remained in the
