284 PLANT AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 



While the mean percentage obtained from these combustions 

 indicated oxidation or the presence of adherent impurities, they 

 also pointed strongly to the conclusion that the compound was 

 a solid hydrocarbon. 



The announcement of this discovery was reserved until it 

 should be confirmed by further study. But a paper describing 

 generally the occurrence of crystalline compounds rich in car- 

 bon was read, by title, last summer before the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science. 1 This inference has 

 been put beyond doubt by the further study of the compound. 



Twenty-five kilos of Cascara amarga were extracted and 

 the residue purified by often repeated fractional crystalliza- 

 tions, from which the following results were obtained :- 



0.1058 grms. gave 0.3413 CO 2 and 0.1133 H 2 O. 



0.1113 grms. gave 0.3588 CO 2 and 0.1193 H 2 O. 



I. II. 



C. 87.97 87.89 



H. 11.89 II -9 



99.86 99.79 



From the plants mentioned at the beginning of this paper 

 in which this crystalline principle exists, the Phlox Carolina 

 was also selected as the one to confirm still further the pre- 

 sence and identity of this principle and its chemical compo- 

 sition. 



Recently about 15 kilos of this drug were exhausted and the 

 compound separated and repeatedly purified. Its ultimate 

 analyses gave the following: 



0.1117 grms. gave 0.3600 CO 2 and 0.1208 H 2 O. 

 0.1314 grms. gave 0.4228 CO 2 and 0.1421 H 2 O. 



I. II. Theory for (C n H 18 ) x 



C. 87.90 87.76 88.00 



H. 12.02 12.02 12.00 



99.92 99-78 100.00 



The above results indicate that this compound is an unsat- 

 urated hydrocarbon, and we intend to make it the subject of 



1 By Helen C. De S. Abbott, New York, August, 1887. 



