42 PHYTOLACCA DECANDRA, 
spissated by long boiling. The soluble portion ap- 
pears neither resinous nor mucous. It approach- 
es most nearly to extractive, but has characters 
somewhat peculiar to itself. A decoction of the 
root procured by boiling for ten minutes in dis- 
tilied water, exhibited after filtration the follow- 
ing results, It was transparent, nearly colourless, 
and did not alter litmus. It gave no precipitate 
with the sulphuric, nitric, muriatic, oxymuriatic, 
and acetous acids. It gave no precipitate with the 
sulphate of iron, but formed a copious one with 
the nitrates of mercury and silver, and the ace- 
tate of lead. Muriate of tin produced no effect at 
first, but after standing, a light. precipitate took 
place. Pearl ash, lime water, and muriate of ba- 
rytes rendered the solution turbid. Acetate of 
barytes occasioned no change. Oxymuriate of 
lime formed an immediate precipitate. 
The cold infusion exhibited nearly the same 
results as the decoction. The alcoholic solution 
underwent no change from muriate of tin, but 
threw down a dense precipitate with nitrate of 
mercury. 
From the above experiments it appears, that 
the soluble principle of the Phytolacca differs 
from common vegetable extractive, as defined by 
the chemists, in several respects, particularly in 
