_Radix Coptidis_; _Coptis Root_, _Mishmi Bitter_, _Mishmi Tita_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Coptis Teeta_ Wallich, a small herbaceous plant,
still but imperfectly known, indigenous to the Mishmi mountains,
eastward of Assam. It was first described in 1836 by Wallich.[8]
=History=—This drug under the name of _Mahmira_ is used in Sind for
inflammation of the eyes, a circumstance which enabled Pereira[9] to
identify it with a substance bearing a nearly similar designation,
mentioned by the early writers on medicine, and previously regarded as
the root of _Chelidonium majus_ L.
[8] _Trans. of Med. and Phys. Soc. of Calcutta_, viii. (1836) 85.
Reprinted in _Pereira’s_ Materia Medica, vol ii. part 2 (1857), 699.
[9] _Pharm. Journ._ xi. (1852) 204; also _Mat. Med. l.c._
Thus we find that Paulus Ægineta in the 7th century was acquainted
with a knotty root named Μαηιρά.[10] Rhazes, who according to Choulant
died in A.D. 923 or 932, mentions _Mamiran_, and it is also noticed
by Avicenna a little later as a drug useful in diseases of the eye.
Μαμιρὰϛ likewise occurs in exactly the same way in the writings of
_Leo_, “Philosophus et Medicus.”[11] Ibn Baytar called the drug
_Mamiran_ and _Uruk_, and described it as a small yellow root like
turmeric, coming from China. Other writers of the middle ages allude to
it under the name of _Memeren_.
Hajji Mahomed, in the account of Cathay which he gave to Ramusio
(_circa_ A.D. 1550) says that the _Mambroni chini_, by which we
understand the root in question, is found in the mountains of Succuir
(Suh-cheu) where rhubarb grows, and that it is a wonderful remedy for
diseases of the eye.[12] In an official report published at Lahore in
1862,[13] _Mamiran-i-chini_ is said to be brought from China to Yarkand.
The rhizome of _Coptis_ is used by the Chinese under the names
_Hwang-lien_ and _Chuen-lien_.[14] It is enumerated by Cleyer[15]
(1682) as “_radix pretiosa amara_,” and was described in 1778 by
Bergius[16] who received it from Canton.
More recently it was the subject of an interesting notice by
Guibourt[17] who thought it to be derived from _Ophioxylon serpentinum_
L., an apocyneous plant widely removed from _Coptis_. Its root was
recommended in India by MacIsaac[18] in 1827 and has been subsequently
employed with success by many practitioners.
There is a rude figure of the plant in the Chinese herbal _Pun-tsao_.
=Description=—_Tita_, as the drug is called in the Mishmi country,
whence it is sent by way of Sudiya on the Bramaputra to Bengal, is a
rhizome about the thickness of a quill occurring in pieces an inch or
two in length. It often branches at the crown into two or three heads,
and bears the remains of leafstalks and thin wiry rootlets, the stumps
of which latter give it a rough and spiny appearance. It is nearly
cylindrical, often contorted, and of a yellowish-brown colour. The
fracture is short, exhibiting a loose structure, with large bright
yellow radiating woody bundles. The rhizome is intensely bitter,[19]
but not aromatic even when fresh.
It is found in the Indian bazaars in neat little open-work bags formed
of narrow strips of rattan, each containing about half an ounce. We
have once seen it in bulk in the London market.[20]
[10] See also Meyer, _Geschichte der Botanik_, ii. (1855) 419.
[11] _F. Z. Ermerins_, Anecdota medica Græca, e codicibus MSS.
expromsit. Lugd. Bat. 1840. Leonis Philosophi et Medici conspectus
medicinæ, lib. iii. cap. I. (Κεϕ. ά. Περὶὑϕθαλμῶν.....σαρκοκόλλς,
γλαμκίῳ, μαμηρᾀ καἰ καμϕορᾷ).
[12] Yule, _Cathay and the way thither_, (Hakluyt Society) i. (1866) p.
ccxvi.
[13] Davies, _Report on the trade of the countries on the N. W.
boundary of India_, Lahore, 1862.
[14] Otherwise written _Honglane_, _Chonlin_, _Chynlen_, _Chouline_,
_Souline_, &c.
[15] _Specimen Medicinæ Sinicæ_, Med. Simp. No. 27.
[16] _Mat. Med._ ii. (1778) 908.
[17] _Hist. des Drog._ ii. (1849) 526.
[18] _Trans. of Med. and Phys. Soc. of Calcutta_, iii. (1827) 432.
[19] Teeta is the Hindustani tāītā, from the Sanskrit tikta, “bitter.”
(Dr. Rice.)
[20] Two cases were offered for sale as _Olen_ or _Mishmee_ by Messrs.
Gray and Clark, drug-brokers, 22nd Nov. 1858.
=Microscopic Structure=—Cut transversely the rhizome exhibits an inner
cortical tissue, through which sclerenchymatous groups of cells are
scattered. The latter are most obvious on account of their bright
yellow colour. In the woody central column a somewhat concentric
arrangement is found, corresponding to two or three periods of annual
growth. The pith, not the medullary rays, begins to be obliterated
at an early period. The structure of the drug is, on the whole, very
irregular, on account of the branches and numerous rootlets arising
from it.
The medullary rays contain small starch granules, while the bark, as
well as the pith, are richer in albuminous or mucilaginous matters.
=Chemical Composition=—The colouring matter in which the rhizome of
_Coptis_ abounds, is quickly dissolved by water. If the yellow solution
obtained by macerating it in water is duly concentrated, nitric acid
will produce an abundant heavy precipitate of minute yellow crystals,
which if redissolved in a little boiling water will separate again in
stellate groups. Solution of iodine also precipitates a cold infusion
of the root.
These reactions as well as the bitterness of the drug are due to a
large proportion of _Berberine_, as proved by J. D. Perrins.[21] The
rhizome yielded not less than 8½ per cent., which is more than has been
met with in any other of the numerous plants containing that alkaloid.
As pure berberine is scarcely dissolved by water, it must be combined
in _Coptis_ with an acid forming a soluble salt. Further researches
are requisite to determine the nature of this acid. In some plants
berberine is accompanied by a second basic principle: whether in the
present instance such is the case, has not been ascertained.
=Uses=—The drug has been introduced into the _Pharmacopœia of India_ as
a pure, bitter tonic.
=Substitutes=—_Thalictrum foliolosum_ DC., a tall plant common at
Mussooree and throughout the temperate Himalaya at 5000-8000 feet, as
well as on the Khasia Hills, affords a yellow root which is exported
from Kumaon under the name _Momiri_. From the description in the
_Pharmacopœia of India_, it would appear to much resemble the _Mishmi
Tita_, and it is not impossible that some of the observations made
under the head _History_ (p. 3) may apply to _Thalictrum_ as well as to
_Coptis_.
In the United States the rhizome of _Coptis trifolia_ Salisb., a small
herb indigenous to the United States and Arctic America, and also found
in European and Asiatic Russia, is employed for the same purposes
as the Indian drug. It contains berberine and another crystalline
principle.[22]
[21] _Journ. of Chem. Soc._ xv. (1862) 339.
[22] Gross in _Am. Journ. of Pharm._ May 1873. 193.