The alcoholic filtrate waa concentrated to a syrup which reduc- 

 ed i'ehling solution and gave the cloaract eristic tests for 

 rhamnose already described. By this hydrolysis, the tar 

 was split up into rhamnose and some form of gallic acid which 

 could be precipitated by sodium carbonate. This compound, 

 whose acetic acid solution was yellow, probably contained 

 fisetin also. The reason for this last statement will appear 

 from the following experiment. 



Decomposition of the 'far with Acetic Acid . 



A portion of the poisonous tar was heated in an open dish 

 with strong acetic acid. The tar seemed to be decomposed 

 to some extent giving a yellow substance. Acetic acid waa 

 added from time to time as it evaporated. After several 

 evaporations, water waa added, the mixture was heated to 

 boiling and filtered. This filtrate Ho. 1 will be mentioned 

 later. The residue in the dish consisted of undecomposed 



tar and an olive-green flaky substance. This substance 

 was heated with a frsh portion of glacial acetic acid. V/ater 

 was added, and the mixture was boilid and filtered. The 



filtrate had a deep yellow colir suggesting fisetin. It waa 

 shaken out with ethyl acetate which became colored yellow. 

 A portion of the ethyl acetate solution gave an orange red 

 precipitate with lead acetate showing the presence of fisetin. 

 The ethyl acetate was removed from the remainder of the solu- 

 tion by evaporation and tlie yellow residue was taken up in 

 -47- 



