36 INSECTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES. 



soap, and 34.30 per cent moisture. The merits of a resin, fatt}^ acid 

 soap mixture are well-known and so do not need repetition. 



Stott's Fir Tree Soap evidently consists of a mixture of fatty acid 

 soap and some fir or pine tree products. It may serve the purposes for 

 which it is intended but has not been tested to the author's knowledge. 



Sample No. 20696 is an insecticide forwarded from Florida by a 

 private party through the Entomologist of the Department. It evi- 

 dently consists of a mixture of resin soap and fatty acid soap dissolved 

 in water. It has the advantage of having potash instead of soda as the 

 alkaline principle, and will doubtless serve the purpose for which it is 

 intended. A small amount of alkali is in the free condition, but hardly 

 enough to injure the foliage. 



Lemon-oil Insecticide is evidently a water solution of resin and fatty 

 acid soap, with potash as the alkaline principle. Its name is mislead- 

 ing, in that we would expect to have some lemon oil present. Twenty- 

 five cents per pint is a rather high price for such a mixture. 



HELLEBORES. 



The roots of Veratrum viride, or American hellebore, and the roots 

 of Veratrum album, or European hellebore, when ground in a powder 

 possess considerable insecticidal qualities. 



In making an analysis of this class of compounds, a determination of 

 the following constituents was made: Moisture, ash, to see if the roots 

 had been properly freed of dirt, and alkaloids present, to see if they 

 were the alkaloids that should be present in true hellebore roots. 



METHODS OF ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. 



Moisture. Dry 1 to 2 grams of the sample at the temperature of 

 boiling water for 12 to 14 hours. The loss in weight is reported as 

 moisture. 



Ask. Burn the dried sample from the above determination at a low 

 red heat to a white ash. The residue is reported as ash. 



Alkaloids. From Veratrum viride a 6 well-defined alkaloids have 

 been extracted, namely, jervine, pseudojervine, rubijervine, veratral- 

 bine, veratrine, and cevadine. All of these except cevadine are also 

 present in Veratrum album. In extracting and testing the above sam- 

 ples, the following method is followed: b The finely powdered substance 

 is extracted for 3 to 4 hours with water weakly acidified with sul- 

 phuric acid at a temperature of 40 to 50 C. It is then filtered 

 through a folded filter and the filtrate transferred to a separately fun- 

 nel. It is first extracted in the separatory funnel with petroleum ether 

 to get rid of coloring matter, etc. It is then extracted with chloroform. 



See Wright and Luff, Jour. Chem. Soc., 35, p. 401-426. 

 &See " Poisons: Their Effect and Detection," 3d ed., Blyth. 



