The following note on it was distributed ; —
Purpose.— To test the efficiency of the root of Picrorhiza Kurroa as to a tonic and febribuge. For the purpose a tincture is provided, made according to the recipe of the British Pharmacopceiu. Indian and Colonial Addendum, Government of India Edition, 1901, page 50.
Dose— ½ to 1 fluid drachm.
Note.— The drug as an antiperiodic seems to be very inferior to quinine, but as a bitter tonic, is, we believe, distinctly serviceable. It is extensively used in India under the name of Kutki, but it is far from being the only Kutki in the bazars, where several drugs bear this name, e.g., Black Hellebore and Gentiana Kurroo.
The root of Picrorhiza Kurroa is somewhat purgative. The active principle is picrorhizin.
The authors of the Pharmacogaphia Indica say :— " We can state from personal obseration that it is used successfully as an antiperiodic in native (practice its slight laxative action is rather beneficial than otherwise. " Pharm. Indica, Volume III, page 11)."
Chemical composition. — A proximate analysis of this drug showed the following percentage composition : —
| Wax | 1.06 |
| Bitter principle (Picrorhizin) | 14.96 |
| Picrorhizetin | 3.85 |
| Organic acid ppt. by lead | 3.54 |
| Glucose | 11.53 |
| Cathartic acid, &c. (water extract) | 9.33 |
| Substances dissolved by NaHO | 7.62 |
| Arabin bodies from crude fibre | 14.56 |
| Fibre | 24.00 |
| Moisture | 5.73 |
| Ash | 3.82 |
The bitter principle is a glucoside Picrorhizin, freely soluble in water and alcohol, but almost insoluble in pure ether. It is acid in reaction, is not precipitated from solution by lead salts or tannin, but is absorbed by animal charcoal together with any colouring matter that is present. It is best obtained by exhausting the powdered drug with crude ether, and is left, after the evaporation of the ether, in brown resinoid drops which form ramified crystals on standing. It is difficult to obtain the picrorhizin in a crystalline condition after heating or after solution in water. Any wax removed by the crude ether can be separated from the dry extract by petroleum spirit, which has no solvent action on the bitter principle. The picrorhizin is decomposed by hydrolizing it with a boiling 1 per cent, solution of hydrochloric acid for three hours, and a decomposition product, which we have named Picrorhizetin is formed together with glucose. In obtaining 0.7 gram of picrorhizetin .368 gram separated during the first hour, .219 gram in the second hour, .113 gram in the second hour, .113 gram in the third hour, and none in the fourth. Weighed quantities of the picrorhizin, after drying at 100° C, afforded, on hydrolysis, 62.48 and 62.79 per cent, of picrorhizetin, as the result of two
