262 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [September 30,1871. 
Fig. G .—Lydus 
trimaculatus. 
properties, and where sufficiently abundant would be 
no bad substitute for the green tty. 
Thebe-spotted Lydus, Lydus trimaculatus , Fabr.; 
black; elytra tawny, with three 
black spots.—Fiscli. Ent. Russ. ii. 
t. xli. f. 5, G; Brandt and Ratzb. 
ii. t. xviii. f. 16. Mylabris trima- 
culata, Billb. Monog. Myl. t. 6, 
f. 15. Cantharis trimaculata, Oliv. 
Ent. iii. t. 2. f. 19. 
Head black, somewhat hairy, 
punctate, transversely depressed 
in front. Thorax somewhat hairy, 
black, punctate, a little longer than 
broad. Scutellum black, punctate. 
Etytra three times as long as broad, roughly punc¬ 
tate, with four elevated lines, tawny, the spot beliind 
the middle discoid, or fasciate and abrupt at the 
suture and margin ; the spot before the middle 
confluent at the suture, as if it were one cordate spot. 
Breast and abdomen black, punctate. Feet black. 
Inhabits the north of Europe, where, according to 
Professor Westwood, it is employed as a vesicant. 
It is one of the species included by Brandt and 
Ratzeburg in them ‘Medical Zoology,’ though it 
seems to be limited in its use. This, as well as the 
preceding, was formerly classed with Mylabris, to 
which it is closely allied. It is the Mylabris tri¬ 
maculata of some pharmacologists. 
(To be continued.) 
THE PROPERTIES OP INULINE. 
BY DR. K. TRANTL. 
The philosophical faculty of the University of 
Munich offered, for the year 1869-70, a prize for the 
best investigation on inuline, its sources, proper¬ 
ties, and physiological value, together with a criti¬ 
cal review and enlargement of these statements 
based upon original investigation. Dr. Trantl has 
gained the prize by an exhaustive work, a short 
outline of which will here suffice to draw attention 
to the original. 
The inuline was prepared from the root of Inula 
Helenium and from the tubers of Dahlia variabilis, 
the last being easily obtainable in large quantities, 
and yielding a considerable percentage; the roots 
were coarsely powdered and heated with an equal 
volume of water, and a small quantity of carbonate 
of lime to neutralize organic acids; the extraction 
was repeated with fresh portions of water till the 
liquid did not become turbid with alcohol. The de¬ 
coctions are always turbid from coagulated albumen 
and fragments of membrane; they are allowed to 
stand for some time, the liquid poured off from the 
sediment and evaporated till a skin is formed on the 
surface. In about 24 hours the liquid solidifies to 
a thick brown magma, and, on addition of water, the 
inuline separates as a yellowish-wliite powder, and 
is finally purified by dissolving it in much water, 
boiling with charcoal, filtering and evaporating, when 
it is separated as a perfectly white powder, which is 
dried first at 50° C., and ultimately at 120° C. 
Inuline, thus prepared, consists of microscopically 
small globules of different sizes, without smell or 
taste; heated to 165° C. it becomes viscid, slightly 
brown, and solidifies on cooling to a gummy mass, 
which dissolved in cold water separates in two 
layers on addition of alcohol, one unchanged inu¬ 
line, insoluble in alcohol, the other a yellowish- 
brown fluid, leaving, on evaporation, a brittle, gum¬ 
my substance of very sweet taste; it is readily solu¬ 
ble in cold water and in alcohol, and does not reduce 
Feb ling’s copper solution. Dr. Trantl named tills 
substance pyroinuline; Payen takes it as isomeric 
with inuline, as his analysis gave the formula 
In contact with water inuline gives a milky liquid, 
which, on evaporation, leaves scarcely any residue; 
but on heating, it becomes clearer, and, according to 
the degree of heat, is dissolved, as shown in the fol¬ 
lowing table, viz.:— 
100 c. c. saturated at 0° C. contained 001 gram inuline. 
14° „ 0-02 
30° 
60° 
80° 
100 ° 
>> 
n 
n 
n 
n 
n 
ii 
v 
n 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
0-27 
1-57 
4-00 
36o0 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
it 
Inuline forms a real solution, not merely a paste¬ 
like starch, and it may be obtained from the solution 
in spheroidal crystals; alcohol does not dissolve it, 
as erroneously stated in several books, it is also in¬ 
soluble in ether, bisulphide of carbon, and in essen¬ 
tial and fatty oils. 
Concentrated sulphuric acid first makes the grains 
transparent, and then dissolves them, and continued 
action carbonizes it; dilute sulphuric acid readily 
changes it into grape sugar. 
Concentrated phosphoric acid carbonizes the inu¬ 
line, and dilute acid acts similarly to dilute sulphuric 
acid. 
Nitric acid readily dissolves inuline in the cold, 
but on dilution no explosive compound is precipi¬ 
tated as with starch. 
Many other reactions are given by the author, 
mostly confirming previous observations of Payen, 
Schaclit and others. 
The author deduces from his investigation the final 
result that inuline cannot be compared with starch 
or cellulose, and from dextrine it differs by its stabi¬ 
lity, but it is nearest allied to cane-sugar. 
Dr. Trantl comes next to the condition in which 
inuline exists in the root: anatysis showed that the 
roots contained a pretty strong solution, viz. 10’7 
per cent, to 77*7 per cent, of water, a concentration 
which cannot be obtained by a solution without 
separation of inuline on cooling; and after several 
unsuccessful experiments to explain this solubility 
in the plant itself, the author assumes that inuline 
in the cell-sap exists in a different modification 
which is more soluble in cold water, and which once 
separated goes over into the less soluble modifica¬ 
tion. The exhaustive treatise concludes with a very 
lengthy list of plants which contain inuline.— 
Buchner s Rejpert. fur Pharm. 1870, ix. p. 513, and 
x. p. 577. 
ADULTERATIONS OF BROMIDE 
POTASSIUM. 
OF 
BY M. ADRIAN. 
Ten samples of bromide of potassium obtained 
from the principal French manufacturers were ana¬ 
lysed, and only one of them was found sufficiently 
pure for medicinal purposes; the others contained 
from 10 to 15, one sample even 35 per cent, of im¬ 
purities. Similarity in form of crystallization of 
