1050 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[June 29, 1872. 
;sequent distillation, other acids, like muriatic, would be 
.set free, thus contaminating the distillate. I think that 
on the whole it would he preferable to employ for the 
above purpose an iron compound completely free from 
acid. Such a one we find in the liquor ferri dialysati, 
the preparation of which I have mentioned in the 
jprevious article. There I remarked that the liquor can¬ 
not come in contact with well-water without decom¬ 
position. I now add, that the decomposition upon such 
contact with well-water furnishes hydrated ferric oxide, 
which is very voluminous, and therefore may be sup¬ 
posed extremely applicable to the precipitation of organic 
.admixtures. 
Indeed, experiments made with very turbid swamp- 
water showed me that liquor ferri dialysati precipitated 
.the suspended organic impurities, the water becoming 
•clear. Even a portion of the organic substances in 
-solution I was able to introduce into the precipitate; 
but I became convinced that for the complete separation 
•of the latter, so large a quantity of the liquor is requisite 
.as to render its practical application impossible. The 
following examples may serve as illustrations :— 
Experiment 1. 200 c. c. of the above water, heated to 
70°-80° and mixed with 5 c. c. diluted sulphuric acid 
(1 : 13), used up 6*2 c. c. of a solution of potassic perman¬ 
ganate, of which 6*0 c. c. were required to decompose 
10 c. c. of a solution of oxalic acid, containing 0*398 
; grms. to the litre, to the extent of producing a reddish 
•colouration, lasting about two minutes. 
Experiment 2. 300 c. c. of the same water were mixed 
with 2 c. c. of liq. ferri dialysati, containing 1-5 per 
•cent, hydrated ferric oxide, submitted to rest in a closed 
vessel for two daj^s, when 200 c. c. of the clear super¬ 
natant liquid were withdrawn with a pipette, titrated 
with permanganate, of which 5*6 c. c. were used. 
Experiment 3. A mixture of 300 c. c. of the same 
water -with 3 c. c. liq. ferri dialysati: 200 c. c. of the 
'dear supernatant liquor used up 4*2 c. c. of perman¬ 
ganate. 
Experiment 4. A mixture of 300 c. c. of the same 
water with 4*5 c. c. liq. ferri dialysati: 200 c. c. of the 
.clear supernatant liquor used 3*8 c. c. of permanganate. 
The used of ferric chloride and sulphate also furnished 
no more favourable result, for even then part of the 
original organic substances in solution escaped precipita¬ 
tion.— The Chicago Pharmacist. 
SOME CONSTITUENTS OF ERICACEOUS PLANTS. * 
BY JEFFERSON OXLEY. 
Of this order, Uva ursi and Chimaphila umbellata have, 
npon examination, been found to contain arbutin, urson 
and ericolin. Thinking it of some interest to know if 
these principles are alike common to other plants of the 
same order, Gaultheria procumbens and Epigcea repens 
were submitted to examination. 
From two pounds of Gaultheria , as usually found in 
market, after removing the larger stems, the remaining 
leaves and smaller stems weighed one pound and six 
ounces, showing a loss of 31 per cent. Garbling one 
pound and a half of Epigcea repens in the same manner, 
one pound of leaves and small stems remained, indicating 
a loss of 33 per cent. 
Reduced to a convenient powder they were digested with 
water during several hours, strained and expressed, and 
a second time submitted to like treatment. Upon 
•drying the residue, the Gaultheria weighed twelve 
ounces, a loss of 45 per cent. Epigcea vepens weighed 
ten and a half ounces, a loss of about 34 per cent. 
The infusions were treated with neutral acetate of 
lead, the filtrates. with subacetate of lead, and fil¬ 
tered. The resulting solutions were almost free from 
colour, being a light yellow. The lead was removed 
with sulphuretted hydrogen, the solutions filtered and 
* From an Inaugural Essay by the Author. 
heated to remove excess of hydrosulphuric acid. After 
concentrating and treating with ammonia to neutralize 
the acetic acid present, then with animal charcoal, and 
washing with cold water, the filtrates were reduced, 
by heat, and set aside to evaporate spontaneously. After 
several days, crystals not appearing, a portion was 
separated and treated with alcohol, leaving a large per 
cent, of insoluble extractive matter. The alcoholic 
solutions were allowed to evaporate to a syrupy consis¬ 
tency, but without the formation of crystals. 
At this point the extract of Epigcea repens was of a 
deep reddish-brown colour, very much resembling li¬ 
quorice in odour and taste. On adding sulphuric acid to 
a dilute solution of this extract, no precipitate was pro¬ 
duced indicating the absence of glycyrrhizin 
The extracts were dissolved in water, treated with 
animal charcoal, washed, and the filtrates set aside to 
evaporate, but failed to yield crystals. The charcoal 
used in the latter case was digested with alcohol. The 
alcoholic solutions in each case had a slight colour; 
that from Epigcea repens light yellowish-brown, from 
Gaultheria light green. Upon evaporation these solu¬ 
tions yielded a small crop of crystals. 
The evaporation was continued for several days, with 
the hope of a large yield; upon examination the crys¬ 
talline structure was found in a great measure lost. 
The yield was too small to apply the various tests for 
arbutin. Jungmann’s test* was applied. A dilute 
aqueous solution rendered alkaline with ammonia, pro¬ 
duced, on the addition of phosphomolybdic acid, a blue 
colour. 
A portion of the reserved aqueous extract was sub¬ 
mitted to like treatment, producing the blue reaction due 
to arbutin; the formation of crystals and the reaction 
with phosphomolybdic acid warrant the conclusion that 
arbutin is present in each of the plants under considera¬ 
tion. However, it seems present in a much smaller 
proportion than in TJva ursi or Chimaphila umbellata , 
and separated with much more difficulty. 
The above extracts were dissolved in a dilute solu¬ 
tion of sulphuric acid and distilled, the distillates 
possessing a peculiar and rather agreeable odour, in¬ 
dicating the presence of a volatile principle liberated 
by the action of the acid. The distillates possessed an 
acid reaction, due, no doubt, to the acetic acid present 
in the lead salt used in the early part of the process. 
Neutralized with bicarbonate of soda an.d redistilled, the 
odour remained intact, and the distillates possessed a 
slight acid reaction. Neutralizing the residue with 
nitric acid, treating with sesqui salts of iron, produced 
in each a red colour, which was removed upon the addi¬ 
tion of a strong acid. Nitrate of silver and protonitrate of 
mercury gave precipitates which, by heat, liberated the 
metals in the case of Epigcea repens , but not so in that of 
Gaultheria. With a mixture of alcohol and sulphuric acid 
added, each gave an odour characteristic of acetic ether, 
indicating acetic acid. The reaction with the solution 
from Epigcea repens indicated the probable presence of 
formic acid. 
An infusion of TJva ursi was also distilled in the pre¬ 
sence of sulphuric acid. The odour of the distillate was 
found, on comparison, to be quite similar to those re¬ 
ferred to, that from Gaultheria varying somewhat, 
perhaps owing to the volatile oil. 
A portion of the dried leaves remaining from the in¬ 
fusions was treated by percolation with alcohol; the re¬ 
sulting tinctures were of a deep green colour, that from 
Gaultheria possessing a beautiful emerald hue. Allow¬ 
ing the tinctures to evaporate spontaneously, the residue 
was put upon a filter and washed with alcohol to remove 
the chlorophyll: that from Epigcea repens parted with 
this colouring matter more readily than Gaultheria ; 
urson was not obtained in a pure state, but sufficiently 
so to be sublimed in a test tube. The action of reagents 
* ‘American Journal of Pharmacy,’ 1871, p. 207. 
