646 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1883. 



Saponin was discovered in 1809 by Schrader in the root of Saponaria 

 rubra. Stiitz prepares it from the bark of Quillaja saponaria as follows: 

 10 kilograms are extracted with water, the evaporated liquid is dried, 

 pulverized and extracted with hot alcohol, which on cooling yields flocks 

 of saponin; these are purilied byre-solution in hot alcohol. In this 

 way 10 kilograms of bark yielded 200 grams of saponin. It is a white, 

 amorphous powder, neutral and tasteless. It is soluble in water in all 

 proportions, and even when dilute the solutions froth like a soap solu- 

 tion. It has the composition expressed in the formula C19H30O10, but con- 

 tains also 2.4 per cent, ash, consisting of the carbonates of magnesium, 

 calcium, and potassium. Experiments lead the author to conclude that 

 the constitution is expressed in the formula C 19 H 25 (OH) 5 2 3 . (Liebig's 

 Annalen, ccxviii, 231.) 



A New Source of Mannite. — L. Lindet has found this sugar quite 

 abundant in the pineapple of Brazil, amounting, he claims, to 1 per cent, 

 of the fresh fruit. The mannite is extracted from the fermented pulp by 

 neutralization with sodium carbonate and evapoatjon to the consist- 

 ence of molasses. On cooling small needle-shaped crystals, having a 

 slightly sweet taste, are obtained ; purified by solution in boiling al- 

 cohol they give the true characters of mannite. He intends to pros- 

 ecute the study with a view to ascertaining whether the mannite was 

 formed during the fermentation or whether it exists already formed in 

 the fruit itself. (Bull. soc. chem., XL, 65.) 



Saccharone and Saccharine. — By the action of calcium hydrate on dex- 

 trose and on levulose P61igot obtained in 1880 a body having great sta- 

 bility and crystallizing with facility, which he called saccharine. Hein- 

 rich Kiliani, by acting on this body with concentrated nitric acid, has 

 obtained a new substance, which he names saccharone, and which is 

 both a lactone and a monobasic acid. Consequently both saccharone 

 potassium C 6 H 7 OK and saccharonate of potassium C 6 H 8 7 K2 are obtained 

 when saccharone is treated with potassium, the latter at a boiling tem- 

 perature. By the action of hydriodic acid on saccharone, saccharinic 

 acid, a dibasic acid is obtained, having the formula C 6 Hi 2 6 . (Liebig's 

 Annalen, ccxviii, 361.) 



Borneol from Camphor. — Professors C. Loring Jackson and A. E. 

 Menke recommend the following process for preparing borneol from 

 camphor on account of its simplicity, rapidity, and economy. The cam- 

 phor is dissolved in about ten times its weight of common alcohol, and 

 an excess of sodium is added in pieces of somewhat lessthau a gram at 

 a time. By working with quantities not over ten grams the action can 

 be carried on in an open flask without cooling. As soon as all the 

 sodium has disappeared, part of the alcohol is distilled off and water 

 added, which precipitates crude borneol. This is freed from sodium 

 hydroxide by washing with water, and crystallized from hota lcohol. 



