LEGUMINOSZ. "595 
with satisfactory results. (Confer. Graefe and Walthers Jour., 
_ 1825, Vol. VI., p. 1.) Dr. G. Smith, who tried it in the Hye 
_ Infirmary at Madras, thinks it a painful and dangerous appli- 
_ ¢ation in ophthalmia and granular lids. He does not say, how- 
ever, whether the seeds were baked before they were applied. 
__ Description.—Chiksu seeds are black and polished, flat, 
_ ofan irregular oval or oblong shape; the end where the hilum 
__ 1s situated is rather more pointed than the other, length and 
4 breadth nearly alike, about 3; to 3 of an inch; testa horny and 
4 thick ; cotyledons yellow; taste bitter. 
_ _ Chemical composition.—The seeds reduced to fine powder 
3 Jost 13°54 per cent. at 100° C. The ash amounted to 3°74 per 
_ Cent.,and contained a trace of manganese. 
On analysis the following results were obtained :— 
Petroleum ether extract . 6°24 per cent. 
er ponies Mee 
Absolute alcohol - 5y-) assis 1°75 i 
Cold water lll es esse 29°66 
The petroleum ether extract was of a bright yellow colour, 
8nd consisted of a non-drying oil, insoluble in alcohol. 
_ Coloration was produced by alkalies: saponified with alcoholic 
_ Potash, and the soap treated with petroleum ether, it yielded 
- No extractive. 
_ The ether extract consisted wholly of a trace of oily matter, 
x completely soluble in petroleum ether. 
The alcoholic extract was yellow, brittle, and hygroscopic, 
and without bitterness. By treatment with water a yellow 
= Solution was produced which gave a brown coloration with 
ferric chloride. Extracted with water acidulated with sul- 
 phuric acid, the solution afforded marked indications of _the 
presence of an alkaloidal principle. Alkalies imparted a bright 
yellow coloration to the solution. The extract also contained _ 
. @ yellow resin insoluble in alkalies. : : 
The aqueous extract reduced an alkaline copper solution = 
_ boiling, and gave a precipitate with acetic acid and ferrocyanide 
_ of potassium. 
