2 BULLETIN 165, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The following formulas are typical examples of the variation in 
the amount of ingredients and the cost per 100 gallons: 
No.1. | No. 2. | No.3. 
@uassiaichips= <2 3205. tee ee ee oe Oe ee a, eng Sere pounds. . 2.8 8 9 
Wihale-oil soaps. Ss 8a 2 Sek oe ee Eee Le Se ee ee eee doz 1.6 6 6 
Wiser 22% 25. lc JARRE on PAS lyn cies 5 RR Se Mery eye eee gallons..) 100 100 100 
Costiper lOO wallons 22. eee sa sa ee ene eee ee CeNiSSs| ago 69 74.2 
These formulas are concocted differently by different growers. 
Some soak the chips 24 hours in a barrel of water and then boil them 
for 2 hours. Some boil them for 2 hours without previous soaking, 
and others boil them with the whale-oil soap. The several formulas 
and methods of preparation all have their advocates among the hop 
growers. 
CHEMICAL LITERATURE ON QUASSIIN. 
The quassia chips commonly used in preparing spray solutions are 
the wood of the Jamaica quassia (Picrasma excelsa Swz.). The 
literature on the chemical nature of quassun, the active principle of 
quassia wood, was found to be very hmited, but the few important 
references that the writer was able to obtain are discussed below. 
The wood of Picrasma excelsa (Swz.) Planch. (Quassia e Swz.; Q. polygama Lind- 
say; Piceaena e Lindl.; Simarubae D. C.) or of Quassia amara L. (bam Simarubacez). 
Description.—Jamaica quassia. Occurring in various forms, usually chips, raspings, 
or billets, yellowish white or pale yellow, and of rather coarse texture; odor slight; 
taste intensely bitter; medullary rays containing tetragonal prisms or small, arrow- 
shaped crystals of calcium oxylate. Billets of Jamaica quassia are usually 12.5 cm. 
or more in diameter; in tangential section the medullary rays are mostly 3 to 5 rows 
of cells in width. 
Surinam quassia. Occurring usually in billets not exceeding 7.5 cm. in diameter; 
the wood is heavier, harder, and more deeply colored than that of Jamaica quassia, 
and the medullary rays in tangential section are mostly 1 or 2 rows of cells in width. 
Constituents.—Although Jamaica quassia is said to contain traces of a yellowish 
alkaloid, giving a fine blue fluorescence with acidulated alcohol, the important bitter 
principle is a neutral, crystalline substance, commonly known as quassiin, but deter- 
mined by Massute to be a mixture of two crystalline bodies, which he denominated 
a-and f- picrasmin. 
Quassiin is extracted by neutralizing the aqueous infusion with soda, precipitating | 
with tannin and decomposing the precipitate with lead oxide or lime. It is commonly 
said to exist to the extent of only 0.05 to 0.15 per cent, but really exists in much larger 
amount, Wiggers says 0.75 percent. This discrepancy is probably due to the fact that 
it is difficult to procure in the pure state, and that the purification processes involve ~ 
considerable loss. Quassiin crystallizes in needles or prisms, and is soluble in alcohol 
and in chloroform and in 1,200 parts of cold water. Its bitternessismostintense. The 
a-picrasmin (C3;H4,0,9) melts at 204° C. The #-picrasmin (C3gH4g0,9) at 209° to 
212° ©. (408.2°-413.6° F.). The bitter principle of Surinam quassia is closely related 
and of similar action, but not identical.1 To it the name quassin is commonly 
applied. 
1 Hare, H. A., Caspari, C., and Rusby, H. H. National Standard Dispensatory, ed. 2, revised and 
enlarged, p: 1334, Philadelphia, 1909. 
