742 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 22, IS731 
CHEMICAL NOTES ON AFRICAN 
AMMONIACUM. 
BY JOHN MOSS, F.C.S., 
Demonstrator in ike Laboratory of the Pharmaceutical 
Society. 
These notes are supplementary to the paper on 
African Ammoniacum by Mr. D. Hanbury, to whom 
I am indebted for the material on which the experi¬ 
ments were made. 
African ammoniacum softens between the fingers 
more readily than the Persian drug, and retains its 
softness for some time. It also differs from the 
latter in that it does not become orange-coloured 
with solution of chlorinated lime. Gently heated 
with dilute nitric acid, African ammoniacum becomes 
bright yellow and spongy, and floats to the surface 
of the liquid. Strong nitric acid in the cold, acts 
upon it very slowly at first; but suddenly the action 
is intensified, the mass sw r ells up, and dense ruddy 
fumes escape. What is left varies in colour from 
pale lemon yellow to pink, the depth of tint increas¬ 
ing v r ith the duration of contact with the acid ; it is 
soluble in nitric acid, but on diluting the solution, is 
reprecipitated; it is also soluble in spirit, and pos¬ 
sesses great colorific power. 
African ammoniacum does not contain sulphur. 
This was conclusively shown by experiments con¬ 
ducted as I shall describe in a note on Persian 
ammoniacum. 
The sample employed in all the quantitative ex¬ 
periments detailed below, was obtained by simply 
powdering the crude drug in a mortar, sifting through 
muslin, and returning the coarser particles to be 
further reduced. In this way the whole piece with 
which the operation was commenced (about four 
ounces) w r as reduced to a uniform pov T der without 
ing. 
Volatile oil and 'water :—When heated in the air- 
bath to 100° C , the ammoniacum softens, and, fusing, 
gives off whatever volatile oil and water it may con¬ 
tain. During the operation, its peculiar odour (quite 
distinct from that of Persian ammoniacum) is very 
evident. P751 gramme lost *075 gramme. 
Ash :—On igniting the drug in a platinum capsule 
the organic matter burns av T ay very readily with a 
black voluminous smoke, and leaves a grey ash con¬ 
sisting chiefly of carbonate of calcium, lime, and sand, 
with oxide of iron, alumina, and a trace of sulphate of 
calcium. No indication of the presence of phosphate 
could be obtained from this ash, nor yet from the 
gum-resin after oxidation with fuming nitric acid. 
3'697 grammes of the gum-resin gave ’498 gramme of 
. . . 
'Resin: —26-314 grammes were boiled with spirit 
Containing 70 per cent, of alcohol, and the spiiit was 
poured from the undissolved matter on to a tared 
filter warmed by a hot water jacket. This process 
was repeated two or three times with fresh portions 
of spirit, after which the whole was thrown upon the 
filter and washed with spirit until nothing more 
was removed. The spirituous solution having been 
received into a previously weighed dish, was evapor¬ 
ated on the water bath, and finally in the air bath at 
100° C., till it ceased to lose weight. The residue 
weighed 17-83 grammes, This resin is of a reddish- 
brown colour, shining, and so soft as to be elastic, and 
to receive readily and retain lor some time the impres¬ 
sion of the nail. It breaks wi a wavy fiactuie, has 
no particular taste, and has, to a small degree, the pe¬ 
culiar odour of the crude drug. It melts at 38°’5 C., 
dissolves readily in solutions of the fixed alkalies, 
and in oil of vitriol, especially on the application of a 
very gentle heat, forming a red liquid which is de¬ 
composed by water, the mixture becoming opaque 
and pink—at a somewdiat higher temperature the solu¬ 
tion in oil of vitriol becomes black. The alcoholic 
solution reddens litmus. 
Gum :—The matter insoluble in spirit was exhausted' 
by repeated digestion with hot water in the filter. 
This was effected by slipping one end of a piece 
of india-rubber tubing over the tube of the funnel: 
holding the filter, and supporting the free end of 
the tubing at a level above that of the liquid 
in the filter. After each digestion the liquid was 
transferred to a weighed porcelain dish by lowering 
the free end of the india-rubber tube. There was 
left on evaporation a dark brown, brittle, gummy 
residue, weighing 2-372 grammes. The gum has a 
faintly bitter taste ; it burns almost without flame, 
leaving a white ash of carbonate of calcium. The- 
aqueous solution is entirely precipitated by solution, 
of subacetate of lead, but gives no precipitate with 
solution of the acetate ; oxalate of ammonium gives 
a white precipitate of oxalate of calcium. When 
boiled with nitric acid diluted with half its bulk of 
water some oxalic acid is produced. 
Non-volatile matter insoluble in loater and spirit: — 
The material left on the filter after the removal of 
the gum was found to weigh 4-96 grammes. It con¬ 
sisted of red sand, chalk, fragments of straw, seeds,, 
etc., held together in thick flakes by a substance of a’ 
gummy nature—very likely bassorin, for w T hen one 
of these flakes was boiled with water it swelled a 
little, but did not fall to pieces for some time ; when 
this occurred the liquid w T as somewhat thick and 
mucilaginous. The flakes gave a trace of oxalic acid 
when boiled with nitric acid as above. 
The results obtained are represented in per-centages 
in the following table, side by side with which I have 
placed, for the sake of comparison, the result of an: 
examination of Persian ammoniacum by Hagen :— 
African Ammoniacum. Persian Ammoniacum 
(Moss.) (Hagen.) 
Resin . . . .67*76 
Gum.9"014 
. . 19-3 
Water and Yola- 
Gluten. . . 
. . 5-4 
tile Oil . . . 4*29 
Extractive . 
. . 1-6 
Bassorin and inso- 
Sand . . . 
. . 2-3 
luble matter . 18-85 
Volatile Oil 
and 
Water . . 
. . 2-& 
99-914 
100-0 
The ash left by African ammoniacum (13-47 per 
cent.) consists partly of lime etc. from the gum, and 
partly of insoluble earthy matter, and must be com¬ 
puted separately. 
BORAX—ITS ACTION ON FERMENTS OF 
THE DIASTASE GROUP. 
BY S. DARBY. 
Being interested in the property ascribed to borax 
by M. Dumas in a paper presented by him to the 
French Academy, a translation from which in the 
Comptes Pendus appears in the Pharmaceutical 
Journal of January 18tli, I was led partially to 
