210 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



vening parenchymatous tissue (medullary rays) is colored dark gray, 

 or grayish-black, due to the infiltrated coloring matter. The fracture 

 is short and rough ; the taste is peculiar, biting, somewhat acrid, pro- 

 ducing a sensation slightly reminding one of pyrethrum ; the odor — 

 more prominent in concentrated preparations — cannot be compared 

 to that of any other substance ; it has a somewhat musty or mousey 

 odor, accompanied with a peculiar pungency. 



We have chemically examined each in the laboratory, and find the 

 following constituents : 



Chloroform extract 1.353 



Petroleum ether extract 1.32 



Benzole extract 2.025 



(a) Soluble in alcohol 87.66 



(6) Insoluble residue 12.34 



Ether extract 2.12 



(a) Soluble in water 18.95 



(b) Soluble in alcohol 57.87 



(1) Soluble in carbon dieulphide. 50.12 



(2) Soluble in benzene 18.98 



(3) Residue (insoluble in dilute acide) 30.90 



(e) Insoluble residue 23.19 



Alcoholic extract 12 .078 



(a) Resin 9.78 



(6) Vegetable acids 38.62 



(c) Coloring matter 51 . 58 



Aqueous extract 9 . 744 



{a) Gum 32.33 



(&) Carbohydrates 18.95 



(c) Undetermined residue 51.28 



Soda extract 20.026 



(a) Albuminoids 13.36 



(b) Undetermined residue 86.64 



Carbon Disulphide Extract. — It was found by the preliminary 

 analysis that, among the various solvents used, carbon disulphide 

 would be the most promising as the one which might yield the activi- 

 ties of the drug and leave behind in the extraction apparatus the 

 largest percentage of inert and coloring matter. Acting upon this, it 

 was found that our predictions were correct, as will be seen from the 

 following : Fifty grams of the powdered root were introduced into a 

 Soxhlot apparatus, and by continuous percolation for eight hours was 

 thoroughly extracted by this solvent. After slowly evaporating the 

 tincture spontaneously, and when the concentrate reached a small 

 bulk, acicular crystals appeared. These were large and well defined. 

 When the liquid was concentrated to a semi-solid, under the microscope 

 it could be well intermixed with the large acicular crystals and small 

 sheafs and rosettes. These were suspended in a brownish, somewhat 

 sirupy liquid. The crop of crystals was quite abundant, almost entirely 



