part 2

(1853) 1815.—Also Meyer-Ahrens, _Die Blüthen des Kossobaumes_, Zürich, 1851. 90 pp.

=Chemical Composition=—Wittstein (1840) found in koso, together with the substances common to most vegetables (wax, sugar, and gum), 24 per cent. of tannin, and 6·25 of an acrid bitter resin, which was observed by Harms (1857) to possess acid properties.

The researches of Pavesi (1858), and still more those of Bedall[980] have made us acquainted with the active principle of the drug, which has been named _Koussin_ or _Kosin_. It may be obtained by mixing the flowers with lime, exhausting them with alcohol and then with water; the solutions mixed, concentrated, and treated with acetic acid, deposit the kosin. We are indebted to Dr. Bedall for a specimen of it, which we find to consist chiefly of an amorphous, resinoid substance, from which we got a few yellow crystals by means of glacial acetic acid.

Mr. Merck favoured us with kosin prepared in his laboratory at Darmstadt. It is a tasteless substance of a yellow colour, forming fine crystals of the rhombic system,—readily soluble in benzol, bisulphide of carbon, chloroform or ether, less freely in glacial acetic acid, and insoluble in water. We found a solution of kosin in 20 parts of chloroform to be destitute of rotatory power. Of alcohol, sp. gr. 0·818, 1000 parts dissolve at 12° C. only 2·3 parts of this kosin. It is abundantly soluble in alkalis, caustic or carbonated, yet has nevertheless no acid reaction, and may be precipitated from these solutions by an acid without having undergone any alteration. It is then however a white amorphous mass, which yields the original yellow crystals by re-solution in boiling alcohol, in which it dissolves readily. The analysis which we have performed of kosin assigns it the formula C₃₁H₃₈O₁₀.

Kosin fuses at 142° C., and remains after cooling an amorphous, transparent yellow mass; but if touched with alcohol, it immediately assumes the form of stellate tufts of crystals. This may be repeated at pleasure, kosin not being altered by cautious fusion.

Kosin is not decomposed by boiling dilute acids. It dissolves in strong sulphuric acid, giving a yellow solution which becomes turbid by the addition of water, white amorphous kosin being thrown down. At the same time a well-marked odour exactly like that of Locust Beans, due to isobutyric acid, CH₃·CH₃·CH·COOH, is evolved. It would thus appear that in all probability kosin is a compound ether of that acid. It is very remarkable that the active principle of fern root, the filicic acid (see Rhizoma Filicis), by decomposition yields butyric acid. If the sulphuric solution of kosin is allowed to stand for a week, it gradually assumes a fine red; and then yields, on addition of much water, an amorphous red mass which after drying is not soluble in bisulphide of carbon, and may thus be purified. We have not succeeded in obtaining this red derivative of kosin in a crystalline state.[981]

In its anthelmintic action, kosin is nearly allied with filicic acid.[982]

Distillation with water separates from the flowers of koso a stearoptene-like oil having the odour of koso, and traces of valerianic and acetic acid. No such body as the _Hagenic Acid_ of Viale and Latini (1852) could be detected by Bedall.

=Commerce=—Koso is brought to England by way of Aden or Bombay; some appears also to reach Leghorn, probably carried thither direct from Egypt.

[980] Wittstein’s _Vierteljahresschrift für prakt. Pharm._ viii. (1859) 481; xi. (1862) 207.

[981] Flückiger and Buri, _Yearbook of Ph._ 1875. 19.

[982] Buchheim, _Archiv der Pharmacie, 208_ (1876) 417.

=Uses=—The drug is employed solely as a vermifuge, and is effectual for the expulsion both of _Tænia solium_ and of _Bothriocephalus latus_. The Abyssinian practice is to administer the flowers in substance in a very ample dose, which is sometimes attended with alarming and even fatal results.

The notion that the action of the drug is partially mechanical and due to the hairs of the plant, prevails in England, and has led to the use of an _unstrained_ infusion of the coarsely powdered flowers. This remedy, from the quantity of branny powder (2 to 4 drachms) that has to be swallowed, is far from agreeable; and as it occasions strong purgation and sometimes vomiting, it is not often prescribed.[983]

The fruit of the koso tree, a small indehiscent achene, is stated by M. Th. von Heuglin[984] to act even more powerful than the flowers; he calls it (or the seed?) Kosála. It would appear that the fruits have been used as an anthelmintic two centuries ago in Abyssinia.[985] Dragendorff (1878) found them to be rich in fatty matters, but devoid of an alkaloid.

PETALA ROSÆ GALLICÆ.

_Flores Rosæ rubræ_; _Red Rose Petals_, _Rose Leaves_, _True Provins Roses_; F. _Pétales de Roses rouges_, _Roses de Provins_; G. _Essigrosenblätter_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Rosa gallica_ L., a low-growing bush, with a creeping rhizome throwing up numerous stems. The wild form with single flowers occurs here and there in the warmer parts of Europe,[986] including Central and Southern Russia, and Greece; also in Asia Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan, and the Caucasus. But the plant passes into so many varieties, and has from a remote period been so widely cultivated, that its distribution cannot be ascertained with any exactness. As a garden plant it exists under a multitude of forms.

=History=—The use in medicine of the rose dates from a very remote period. Theophrastus[987] speaks of roses being of many kinds, including some with double flowers which were the most fragrant; and he also alludes to their use in the healing art. Succeeding writers of every age down to a recent period have discussed the virtues of the rose,[988] which however is scarcely now admitted to possess any special medicinal property.

[983] Johnston in his _Travels in Southern Abyssinia_ (1844), speaking of koso, says its effects are “_dreadfully severe_.”—Even in Abyssinia, he adds, it is barely tolerated, and if any other remedy equally efficient for dislodging tapeworm were to be introduced, koso would be soon abandoned.

[984] _Reise nach Abessinien_, etc. Jena, 1868. 322.

[985] Jobi Ludolfi _Historia æthiopica_, Francofurti, 1681. lib. i. cap. ix.

[986] It has been found in _quasi_-wild state at Charlwood in Surrey.—_Seemann’s Journ. of Bot._ ix. (1871) 273.

[987] _Hist. Plant._ lib. vi. c. 6.

[988] Consult in particular the learned essay of D’Orbessan contained in his _Mélanges historiques_, ii. (1768) 297-337.

One of the varieties of _R. gallica_ is the _Provins Rose_, so called from having been long cultivated at Provins, a small town about 60 miles south-east of Paris, where it is said to have been introduced from the East by Thibaut VI., Count of Champagne, on his return from the Crusades, A.D. 1241. But it appears that he went then to Navarre and in later times never resided in the Champagne. Be this as it may, Provins became much celebrated not only for its dried rose petals, but also for the conserve, syrup and honey of roses made from them,—compositions which were regarded in the light of valuable medicines.[989]

It is recorded that when, in A.D. 1310, Philippe de Marigny, archbishop of Sens, made a solemn entry into Provins, he was presented by the notables of the town with wine, spices, and _Conserve of Roses_; and presents of dried roses and of the conserve were not considered beneath the notice of Catherine de Medicis, and of Henry IV.[990]

We find that Charles Estienne, in 1536, mentions both the _Rosæ purpureæ odoratissimæ_, which he says are called _Provinciales_, and those known to the druggists as _incarnatæ_,—the latter we presume a _pale_ rose.[991] _Rosæ rubeæ_ are named as an ingredient of various compound medicines by Valerius Cordus.[992]

=Production=—The flowers are gathered while in bud and just before expansion, and the petals are cut off near the base, leaving the paler claws attached to the calyx. They are then carefully and rapidly dried by the heat of a stove, and having been gently sifted to remove loose stamens, are ready for sale. In some districts the petals are dried entire, but the drug thus produced is not so nice.

In England, the Red Rose is cultivated at Mitcham, though now only to the extent of about 10 acres. It is also grown for druggists’ use in Oxfordshire and Derbyshire. At Mitcham, it is now called _Damask Rose_, which is by no means a correct name. The English dried roses command a high price.

There is a much more extensive cultivation of this rose on the continent at Wassenaar and Noordwijk in Holland; in the vicinity of Hamburg and Nuremberg in Germany, and in the villages round Paris and Lyons. Roses are still, we believe, grown for medicinal use at Provins, but are no longer held in great esteem.

There appears to be a considerable production of dried roses in Persia, judging from the fact that in the year 1871-72, 1163 cwt. were exported from the Persian Gulf to Bombay.[993]

=Description=—The petals adhere together loosely in the form of little cones, or are more or less crumpled and separate. When well preserved, they are crisp and dry, with a velvety surface of an intense purplish crimson, a delicious rosy odour, and a mildly astringent taste. The white basal portion of the petals should be nearly absent. For making the confection, the petals are required in a fresh state.

=Chemical Composition=—Red rose petals impart to ether, without losing their colour, a soft yellow substance, which is a mixture of a solid fat and _Quercitrin_. Filhol has shown (1864) that it is the latter body, and not tannic acid, of which the petals contain but a trace, that produces the dark greenish precipitate with ferric salts. The same chemist found in the petals 20 per cent. (?) of glucose which, together with colouring matter and gallic acid, is extracted by alcohol after exhaustion by ether. According to Rochleder (1867), the gallic acid in red roses is accompanied by querci-tannic acid.

[989] Pomet, _Hist. des Drogues_, 1694,