a ee a ee 
as ee aD ee ie ae _ «> * a 7 a 
1034 
Various attempts were made to obtain bonducin in a crystalline con- 
dition or to produce a crystalline derivative from it. Solutions of the 
resin in different solvents were left in the cold storage for weeks without 
result. é 
The resin is not changed by boiling for one and one-half hours with 
100 cubic centimeters of 95 per cent alcohol to which 10 grams of 
concentrated sulphuric acid have been added. 
A different result was obtained with alcoholic potash. 
Five grams of bonducin were boiled on a reflux condenser for one hour with 
alcoholic potash. On pouring into water, nothing separated. The aqueous, 
alkaline solution was now extracted with ether and on evaporation this solvent 
left 2.1 grams of a brown resin. Both of the resins behaved much alike, giving 
the usual color reaction excepting with concentrated hydrochloric acid, which 
produces no color with either, and with nitric acid, which gives the salmon color 
only with the acid product. It was not found possible to obtain a crystalline 
derivative from either resin. 
All the properties of bonducin show that it is a resinous mixture, the 
nature of which it would probably be exceedingly difficult to elucidate. 
It is obvious that no formula can be assigned to it. 
A solution containing one part of bonducin to 1,000 parts water and 
which is exceedingly bitter was prepared for physiological tests. It has 
no effect when injected into guinea pigs. Amoeba were suspended in a 
drop of this solution for three hours without showing any change in their 
movements. ‘The appellation of the “poor man’s quinine” which is given 
to bonduc seeds in India would therefore not seem to be very applicable. 
PLANTS CONTAINING PURGING OILS. 
Plants of this class are numerous in the Philippines. I have examined 
Aleurites moluccana Willd.,** Aleurites trisperma Blane. and Jatropha 
curcas Linn., all of the Huphorbiacee, the nuts of which have the reputa- 
tion of containing efficient purging oils. Thus, Tavera mentions the 
use of the oil of Alewrites moluccana by Dr, O. Roche, in doses of 1 to 2 
ounces, and states that Doctor Xerez, municipal physician of Sampaloe, 
has had frequent occasion to employ the oil. The chemical properties of 
the two Aleurites oils are being studied by others in this Laboratory. 
I have investigated the seeds with the view of isolating the constituents 
of the oil which might be physiologically active, as I hoped to obtain a 
toxalbumin similar to abrin, recin, or crotin. 
Many attempts to isolate such a substance from the seeds of Aleurites 
moluccana were made. — 
“Sp. Pl. 4, 590; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind., 5, 384. ’ 
Habitat: Eastern India to southern China, Malaya, northern Australia, and 
Polynesia, naturalized in tropical America; widely distributed and abundant in 
the Philippines. Native name, lumbang. 
