NOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDIC A. 



find a slender pedicel supporting the carpels, which are nomin- 

 ally four in number, but of which at least one or two are mostly 

 abortive. The carpels are oval or nearly spherical, ^ths of an 

 inch in longest dimension; externally they are of a bright 

 reddish-brown, covered with prominent tubercles filled with 

 oleo-resin; internally they are furnished with a hard, papery, 

 white membrane, which becomes loose, contracts and curls up 

 when the seed falls. The drug has a peculiar aromatic taste, 

 and, when crushed, an agreeable and highly aromatic odour 



229 



iseo 62. 



Fia. 1, 



properties due to the oleo-resin contained in the outer part of 

 the carpel. 



The fruits of Zanthoxylum alatum, Roxb., 1 have been sub- Analysis of 

 jected to chemical analysis by Dr. Stenhouse, who has obtained Dr.stenhouse 

 from them by distillation : 



1. An essential oil, to which the aromatic properties are 

 chiefly due. This oil, which when pure is called by Dr. 

 Stenhouse Xanthoxylene, is a hydrocarbon isomeric with oil of 

 turpentine. It is colourless, refracts light strongly, and has an 

 agreeable aromatic odour ; its composition is C 10 H 8 . 



2. Xantlioxylin, a stearopten found floating on the water, Xanthoxylin. 

 distilled from the seeds, and also separable from the crude 

 essential oil. 



After repeated crystallizations from alcohol, xanthoxylin may 

 be obtained in a state of purity, and then presents the form of 

 large crystals of a fine silky lustre, insoluble in water, but 

 readily soluble in alcohol or ether. It has a very slight odour 

 of stearine, and a slightly aromatic taste. It distils unchanged ; 

 its fusing point before and after distillation remaining the same, 



1 Erroneously supposed at the time to be those of Z. piperitum, D.C. 



