[Footnote: Read at the meeting of the Amer. Pharm. Assoc.]
By J.W. COLCORD.
Several articles during the past few months, copied from English
pharmaceutical journals, calling attention to the styptic properties of
plantain leaves--Plantago major--having attracted my attention, I
determined to try a few experiments when opportunity offered. Having a
shiftless neighbor whose yard produced a bountiful crop of the article,
I was easily able to secure an abundant supply for my experiments.
Believing that better results would be obtained from fresh plants than
from dried, I expressed the juice from them by means of an "Enterprise"
mill, obtaining about 16 fluid ounces of juice from 3 pounds of leaves.
The juice was of a light green color, very turbid, evidently caused by a
large amount of chlorophyl. Setting aside 4 ounces of the filtered
liquid for further experimenting, I packed the residue from the press
into a conical glass percolator and exhausted with dilute alcohol,
evaporating the percolate in a water-bath to two ounces, mixing with the
12 ounces of expressed juice and adding 2 ounces of alcohol. This
preparation, which I call a fluid extract, represents virtually equal
parts by weight of the dried plants. It is of a dark brown color with a
marked odor of the recent plant, and so far, after standing three months
undisturbed on my shelves, shows no sign of precipitation.
My next experiment was a mixture of equal quantities of the expressed
juice with glycerin. At the present time, after standing three months,
the mixture is clear and bright, with no sign of precipitation. This, I
think, promises to be the most efficient preparation, and will prove
valuable as an injection in the treatment of leucorrhoea, hemorrhages,
and similar disorders.
Experiment number three was made with equal parts of the juice and
alcohol, and number four with three parts of the juice with one part of
alcohol.
In a short time a precipitate was observed in both samples in about
equal proportions, and was removed about one month after making by
filtering through paper, and neither has shown signs of precipitation
since, and continue bright, clear, light-brown liquids.
Of their therapeutic value as styptics, I have not had sufficient trial
to form an opinion, although, as far as I can judge, they have proved
satisfactory. While writing this article, a cook from a neighboring
restaurant, with a finger sliced off in a potato slicer, exposing the
bone, came in for treatment. Having bandaged I applied the glycerate,
which soon stopped the profuse bleeding, giving her a small bottle of it
to apply subsequently. I asked her to report to me in two or three days,
and, on reporting, I found a healthy granulation presenting. Its styptic
properties are undoubtedly due to tannic acid, as all the tests I have
been able to make prove this to be the case. The readiness with which it
can be obtained in the summer renders it a valuable adjunct,
undoubtedly, to the materia medica of the country practitioner or
housewife for stopping hemorrhages in simple wounds.
The bruised leaves applied directly usually prove sufficient for the
purpose; as to whether it will prove sufficiently valuable to add to our
list of pharmaceutical preparations will require longer and more
extended experiment.--_New Remedies_.
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