VIII, B, 6 



DuMez: Oleoresin of Aspidium 



533 



preparation, it has been found that a high temperature or pro- 

 longed heating causes the extract to darken somewhat in color. 

 The physical and chemical properties of extracts prepared 

 from the drug in this laboratory are given in Tables IV, V, and 

 VI. A commercial sample of 1,000 grams of the peeled drug 

 was sorted, the rhizomes having an internal green color were 

 separated from those having an internal brown color, and an 

 extract was prepared from each lot using ether as the solvent. 



Table IV. 



Extract from— 



Color. 



Specific 

 gravity, 



25°. 



Refractive 

 index, 15°. 







1.0004 

 1.0048 



1.501 

 1.490 















Table V. 







Solubility in — 



Ether. Acetone. 



1 



Two volumes pe- 

 troleum ether. 



Three volumes 90 

 per cent alcohol. 



One volume gla- 

 cial acetic acid. 



Soluble.. 



Partially soluble.. 

 do 







Oil seoarates. 



Do 



do 



do Do. 1 











1 



• The term "mixes" is to be interpreted as meaning the formation of a turbid solution 

 without the separation of oily particles. 



Table VI. 



Extract f rom— 



Crude 

 filicin. 



Iodine 

 value. 



Saponi- 

 fication 

 value. 



Ash. 



Green rhizomes _ . .. ._ 



Per cent. 

 19.98 

 20.64 



Per cent. 

 99.3 

 101.7 



224.8 

 237.2 



Per cent. \ 

 0.48 

 .49 



Brown rhizomes. 









It will be noticed upon examination of Table VI that the iodine 

 and saponification values vary directly as the filicin content. 

 Such a variation, however, is not constant for extracts prepared 

 from different samples of the drug, owing to the varied compo- 

 sition of the crude filicin and to the variable quantities of the 

 fixed ^^ and volatile'" oils present. Another important item 



*" Wollenweber states the fixed oil constitutes from 70 to 75 per cent of 

 the extract. Arch. d. Pharm. (1906), 244, 466. 



" Ehrenberg found the content of volatile oil to vary with the season in 

 which the rhizomes were collected; those gathered in September yielded 

 0.04 per cent of volatile oil, those gathered in April 0.008 per cent, and 

 those gathered in June 0.025 per cent. Arch. d. Pharm. (1893), 231, 

 345-356. 



