12* Note on the Constituents of the Bark of the 



Hymenodyctyon Excelsum. 



By Charles Stanley Gibson and John Lionel 



SlMONSEN. 



[Read at the 3rd Indian Science Congress.] 



A large number of barks are made use of in this country 

 for medicinal purposes, although their action is in many cases 

 obscure, and only in a few cases has a therapeutically active 

 principle been isolated. It has, therefore, seemed to the 

 authors a matter of considerable interest to subject some of 

 these barks to a more careful chemical examination in order to 

 clear up many anomalies and contradictions. 



The first bark selected for this purpose was the bark of the 

 Hymenodyctyon excelsum, a bark which according to the 

 Pharmacographia Indica (Vol. II, p. 193) is used as a tonic, a 

 febrifuge, and also as an astringent. 



This bark was first subjected to a chemical examination by 

 Broughton in 1870, and subsequently Naylor (Pharm. Journ. 

 1893, 14. 311, 1884, 25- 195) investigated it much more thor- 

 oughly. Broughton showed that it contained a glucoside, 

 aesculin, and that on keeping the bark lost its bitter flavour 

 owing to the hydrolysis of the glucoside with formation of 

 aesculetin (scopoletin) . Naylor. on the other hand, succeeded 

 in isolating a crystalline alkaloid to which he gave the name 

 hymenodyctine and the formula G^H^N., and also an amor- 

 phous neutral substance of the formula C^H^G^ 1 . 



From the results obtained by Naylor it seemed possible to 

 us that the alkaloid might be of therapeutic value and further- 

 more, since it was one of the few alkaloids which do not con- 

 tain oxygen, it should be of considerable scientific interest, and 

 we decided, therefore, to attempt its isolation. 



For this purpose three different specimens of the bark were 

 subjected to a careful examination. The first specimen was 

 obtained from the Calcutta Museum by the kindness of Mr. 

 I. H. Burkill, the then Reporter on Economic Products, whilst 

 the other two specimens were obtained for us by Dr. J. R. 

 Henderson, Superintendent of the Madras Museum, and we 

 wish to take this opportunity of expressing our thanks to these 

 gentlemen for their assistance. 



1 This formula is obviously incorrect, containing as it does an odd 

 number of hydrogen atom 



