THE) JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 211 



The remainder of the aliquot portion of the benzin extract, from which 

 the resin had been removed was allowed to evaporate. The difference be- 

 tween the weight of the residue and the weight of the entire residue from 

 an equal portion of the benzin extract was noted as acrid resin. It equaled 

 9.8 per cent, of the drug. 



The remainder of the extract was oily in character and of a green color 

 from dissolved chlorophyll. It was washed with alcohol, which removed 

 the volatile oil. The residue on standing deposited white glomerules of wax, 

 which under the microscope were seen to be composed of needle-shaped 

 crystals that disappeared on heating the slide. From these crystals the 

 fixed oil could be partially drained. Its identity was proved by the per- 

 manent greasy stain it leaves upon paper. Both the oil and the wax are 

 readily saponified with alcoholic potash ; but in aqueous menstrum the oil 

 saponifies, leaving the wax. The melting point of this wax is about 6o° 

 C. It is readily soluble in boiling alcohol, precipitating again on cooling. 



Clark (see above) examined it chemically, and states that, judging from 

 the melting point of the isolated base, it is an ester of cetyl alcohol. 



The residue left after boiling with alcoholic potassa was white, tough 

 and elastic. It was weighed as caoutchouc, and its weight subtracted from 

 the fatty residue. The figures are as follows : Fatty matter, including 

 wax, fixed oil and a little chlorophyll, 7.34 per cent. ; caoutchouc, 0.26 

 per cent. 



The drug remaining in the extraction apparatus was dried and extracted 

 with ether which had previously been allowed to stand over calcium 

 chloride for three weeks and then filtered and distilled, the first portions 

 only of the distillate being used. 



The extraction was continued as before, until a portion of the percolate 

 left no appreciable residue. The solvent was distilled off, and the weight 

 of the residue noted as total ethereal extract. It was found to be 7.2 per 

 cent, of the drug. 



The residue was of a greenish-black color and slightly bitter and as- 

 tringent in taste. It was extracted with acidulated water, which took up 

 a little coloring matter. This acid aqueous solution was then shaken with 

 ether, and the ethereal layer evaporated spontaneously from a beaker. It 

 was at this point that Fischer obtained a crystalline acid which he named 

 robustic acid ; but Clark has not been able to confirm his statement, nor 

 has the writer. 



The acid extract was then made alkaline, and again extracted with 

 ether. The ethereal layer upon evaporation yielded a bitter residue. At 

 this point Fischer found an alkaloid, grindeline. Clark does not find it 

 at all, and the writer finds only a few isolated crystals. These crystals 

 under the microscope yield precipitates with Mayer's and Wagner's re- 

 agents. This alkaloid— if it is an alkaloid— can hardly be of much physio- 



