5i2 AROTDEM 



botli in ether and in alcohol, but neither in benzol nor in 

 water. In order to obtain this substance^ we precipitated 

 the decoction of 10 lbs, of the drug by means of tannic acid, 

 and followed the method commonly practised in the preparation 

 of bitter principles. By finally exhausting the residue with 

 chloroform, we succeeded in obtaining a very bitter, perfectly 

 crystalline body, but in so minute a quantity that we were 

 unable to investigate its nature/' {Op. ett.^ 2nd Ed., 



p, 678.) 



^ 



Herr Thorns [Archiv^dcr Pharm. [3] xxiv., p. 465) announced 

 the absence of nitrogen in acorin, which is contrary to the 

 results obtained by Faust ; at the same time this author states 

 that under the influence of acids and alkalies, or of emulsin, 

 acorin splits up into sugar and carburet of hydrogen, and that 

 it readily oxidizes and is converted into a resinous substance 

 acoretin, which, when reduced from alkaline solution by 

 nascent hydrogen, gives an essential oil and sugar as final 

 products. 



The fact of a glucoside behaving in this way being inadmis- 

 sible has led M. Geuther to make a fresh examination of 

 acorin, which he obtained by exhausting the root with cold 

 water and separating the acorin by means of animal charcoal ; 

 the impure acorin was then removed from the charcoal by 

 means of alcohol, and, after purification, was found to contain 

 3'2 p. c. of nitrogen, 70'0 of carbon, and 9*1 of hydrogen. 

 Treated with a boiKng dilute solution of soda it yielded no 

 sugar, but was converted into an acid substance which strongly 

 reddened litmus ; treatment with dihite acids also yielded no 

 sugar. Exhausted by soda, the bitter matter has the formula 

 C^°H«'NO'*, and the acid which has been yielded to the alkali 

 has the formula CH'^0" ; treated with hydrochloric acid it 

 sets free an acid of the formula C'^H^'O" or CH^'O", which 

 appears to be a product of the oxidation of the free acid 

 already noticed. M. Geuther considers that the acoretin of 

 Herr Thorns is nothing but impure acorin. {Annalen derChem.^ 

 ccxL, p. 92.) 



