78 VER BEN A CEM 



spongy, hardly succulent, smooth, hardly sulcate, separat- 

 ing into four Avoody pyreucs. Or the leaves may be mostly 

 ternate or sublinear and larger. The drupe also may vary in 

 size. Some on this account make Rumphius' plant a separate 

 species under the name of C. nerufoUum, but Bentham and 

 Kurz consider it only a vai'iety. 



Chemical composition.— A proximate analysis of the leaves 

 gave the followin'? results : — 



Alcoholic „ 



Ethereal extract , 4-77 



5-70 



]5'54 



11-48 



Aqueous „ .^^^^ 



Alkaline „ ^ 



Organic residue 50-06 



Inorganic „ 



Moisture „ 



6-44 

 6-01 



Total 100-00 



Ash soluble in water 44'14 



„ „ in acid , 47-10 



Sand and silicates 8-76 



V 



^ 



Total 100-00 



Sodium chloride in ash 2401 



The bitter principle is entirely removed by ether, and the 

 subsequent treatment by alcohol and water affords extracts 

 which are free from any bitterness. Ether, alcohol, and water 

 independently exhaust the leaves of this principle, but the former 

 removes it with less admixture of foreign substances. The 

 ether extract evaporated and mixed with water will give up the 

 bitter property to the solvent, and this by gradual evaporation 

 leaves it in an almost pure condition. It is obtained as a viscid 

 mass, which, in process of time and by exposure to the air, hardens, 

 and may bo reduced to a non-hygroscopic powder. It is soluble 

 in water, with a slightly acid reaction, and is partiallv rendered 

 insoluble by neutral plumbic acetate, thus giving eVidence of 

 Its compound nature. The portion precipitated by the lead 

 salt, when liberated from the metal by hydrogen sulphide, was a 



