AMMONIAC 499 



color fading upon standing (absence of galbanum). An aqueous 

 emulsion is not colored red upon the addition of a solution of sodium 

 hypobromite (absence of ammoniac). A petroleum benzin solution 

 should not give a bluish-green color upon shaking it with a solution 

 (1 in 20) of copper acetate (detection of colophony). 



In order to powder Asafetida it is dried at a temperature not 

 higher than 30 C. or placed over freshly burnt lime. It is com- 

 minuted, preferably at a low temperature, and diluents of starch of 

 magnesium carbonate are sometimes added, in order to preserve it 

 in the powdered form. It should be kept in tightly closed bottles. 

 In a glycerin mount the powder shows irregular grayish (or gray 

 streaked with brown) fragments which are opaque and become milky 

 white on the edge from the presence of oil. 



Constituents. About 60 per cent of a reddish-brown amor- 

 phous resin (consisting of the ferulaic ester of asa-resinotannol) 

 yielding on dry distillation umbelliferon; on treatment with sul- 

 phuric acid, resorcin, and on fusion with potassium hydrate, pro- 

 tocatechuic acid; from 3 to 6.7 per cent of a volatile oil, consisting 

 in part of hexenyl sulphide, hexenyl disulphide, pinene and cadinene, 

 and to which the odor of the drug is due; about 1.28 per cent of feru- 

 laic acid (chemically related to vanillin, eugenol and cinnamic acid) 

 which occurs in iridescent, tasteless, odorless needles and yields on 

 fusion with potassium hydroxide, acetic, oxalic and protocatechuic 

 acids. The drug also contains 0.06 per cent of vanillin; 0.60 per 

 cent of free asa-resinotannol, and formic, acetic, valerianic and malic 

 acids; and ash 5 to 10 per cent. 



Adulterants. Asafetida frequently contains other gum resins as 

 galbanum or ammoniac, colophony or fragments of vegetable tissues, 

 red clay, sand and stones; it is sometimes adulterated with dirty 

 white, gritty masses of gypsum, at other times with barley or wheat 

 flour or translucent gums. Recently it has been adulterated with 

 pieces of rose-colored marble. 



AMMONIACUM. Gummiresina Ammoniacum, Ammoniac. A 

 gu;n-resinous exudation from Dorema Ammoniacum (Fam. Umbel- 

 liferse), a perennial herb indigenous to central and eastern Persia 

 and the deserts near the Arabian Sea. The gum-resin occurs in 

 secretion canals throughout the plant, and exudes as a result of insect- 

 punctures and hardens upon the stems and petioles. Most of the 

 drug is sent to Bombay, where it is garbled, and then shipped to 

 London and various points in Europe. 



Description. In irregular, somewhat rounded tears, from 5 to 

 20 mm. in diameter, occasionally agglutinated into larger masses; 



