APPENDIX. 97 
We have never met with any kind of hellebore root in the Indian 
Bazars, nor are any of the genus known to grow in India; still, all 
Indian Mahometan works on Materia Medica contain an account of 
the hellebores of the Greeks, which has been copied from the writings 
of the Arabian physicians, and which is mostly a reproduction of what 
Dioscorides says mepi éANeBdpou AevKov and zepi éANeBopov péAanos the 
Verarum album et nigrum of the Romans. The Arabs call these 
drugs Kharbak-abiad and Kharbak aswad, and in Indian medical 
works Autki or Kutaki is given the vernacular equivalent of 
Kharbak, and this drug is sold as a substitute for it. For an 
account of Kutaki, see Vol. III., p. 10. 
MAGNOLIACEZ. 
Constituents of Star-anise. 
The determinations of volatile oil, fixed oil, and ash gave the 
following percentage figures :— 
Volatile Oil. Fixed Oil. Ash. 
611 1°18 : 
Carpels ... 5:20 1:47 2°81 
3°00 22-9 
Seeds... fa 1346 2°46 
21-7 
The volatile oil consists chiefly of anethol C°H*(OCH*)C*H'; 
with small quantities of terpenes, safrol C°H*(O?CH?®)C*°H®, the 
monoethyl ether of hydroquinone C*H*(OH)OC?H°, anisic acid 
C°H*(OCH*)COOH, and a complex aromatic substance yielding upon 
oxidation veratric acid and piperonal. The fixed oil contains the 
usual constituents along with cholesterin and derivatives of phos- 
phoric acid, In the aqueous extract is found protocatechuic acid 
and shikiminic acid C’H?°O°, which by nascent hydrogen iodide is 
converted into benzoic acid. Sugar was not found in any appre- 
ciable quantity, the sweet taste of the fruit, therefore, depending 
upon the volatile oil. Nitrogenous bases could not be detected, 
(F. Ostwald, Arch. der Pharm., 1891, 84—115.) 
Michelia Champaca. 
Merck describes a kind of camphor, mates champacol, obtained 
from champaca wood by distillation with w er purification it 
melts at 86—88°C., has the form of fons uk felted needles, has 
liquid and deve'ops the agreeable odour of the wood. (Berichte, 
1892, p. 18.) 
M 
