504 Dr. Schunck on Rubian and its Products of Decomposition. 



siderable quantity of alcohol. This produced a gray precipitate, 

 which was collected on a filter and well washed with cold alcohol. 

 Some of this precipitate was then added to a solution of rubian, 

 and the mixture was allowed to stand in a moderately warm place 

 until it began to disengage a putrid smell. The liquid was then 

 filtered and evaporated to dryness. The residue was treated 

 with boiling alcohol, which dissolved a part with a yellow colour, 

 leaving undissolved a quantity of brown flocks, consisting pro- 

 bably of some of the ferment. The alcohol on evaporation left 

 a residue, consisting of rubian with its usual appearance and pro- 

 perties, and apparently free from sugar. The substance left on 

 the filter had acquired a brownish-yellow colour, which was not 

 removable by washing with water. On being treated with boiling 

 alcohol, it lost its yellow colour, which was now transferred to 

 the alcohol. The alcohol after filtration and evaporation left a 

 dark brown substance in the shape of a pellicle, which yielded 

 nothing to boiling water. On being treated with cold alcohol, 

 a brown powder resembling verantine was left undissolved, while 

 the filtered liquid gave on evaporation a residue of a resinous 

 nature, which melted when thrown into boiling water and be- 

 came brittle again when cold, and consisted doubtless of rubire- 

 tine. The effect produced by this substance on rubian, there- 

 fore, though it does not equal in energy that of the madder 

 ferment itself, or even of emulsine, exceeds that of albumen or 

 caseine. As regards the substances produced by it, its action 

 resembles that of madder ferment when retarded by the addition 

 of antiseptic substances, and it confirms the law which I have 

 deduced from previous experiments, viz. that the more slowly 

 rubian is decomposed, the more rubiretine and verantine are 

 produced. 



It appears from these experiments, that none of the common 

 and well-known fermentative substances, with the exception of 

 emulsine, are capable of effecting in any considerable degree the 

 decomposition of rubian, and that none of them, with that single 

 exception, can be employed as a substitute for the ferment con- 

 tained in madder itself, which produces an effect on rubian alto- 

 gether sui generis. This circumstance alone, apart from all other 

 considerations, would entitle the ferment of madder to be con- 

 sidered as an entirqjy distinct and peculiar substance, on which 

 it will therefore be necessary to bestow a distinct name. For 

 this purpose I venture to suggest the name of Erythrozrjm (from 

 ipvdpo^ red, and ^v/jltj ferment) as most appropriately indicating 

 its chief characteristic, and I shall now proceed to give a short 

 account of its properties and composition. 



When prepared in the manner above described by precipita- 

 tion with alcohol, er3rthrozym is obtained as a chocolate-coloured 



