924 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
is not permissable in the preparation of the official oleoresins 1 ), 
except, perhaps in the case of capsicum, and then only under 
certain restrictions, namely: that percolation be terminated 
after 2 cubic centimeters of percolate are obtained for every 
gram of the drug, as upon further percolation, the oleoresin be¬ 
comes almost solid owing to the large increase of palmitin ex¬ 
tracted. In his experiments with acetone 2 ) he found that, as 
with ether, the first portion of the percolate contained nearly 
all the medicinal ingredients of the drug. He, however, 
continued percolation until the drug was exhausted. The 
marc was then removed from the percolator, dried and re¬ 
percolated with stronger ether; but except in the case of 
capsicum no further extractive matter was obtained. The 
oleoresins were stated to be of excellent quality and the 
yield and properties were nearly the same as when ether 
was used. He especially recommended the use of acetone in 
preparing the oleoresin of ginger, as he claimed that it was in 
every way equal to the preparation made with ether. Follow¬ 
ing is a table showing Beringer’s results with acetone as com¬ 
pared with ether and benzin: 
Table Relative extractive values of acetone , ether and benzin. 
Drug 
Yield to acetone 
Yield to ether 
Yield to benzin 
U. S. P. 
method 
Complete 
exhaus¬ 
tion 
U. S. P. 
method 
Complete 
exhaus¬ 
tion 
U. S.P. 
method 
Complete 
exhaus¬ 
tion 
Aspidium. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
18.00 
25.00 
25.00 
24.10 
21.75 
5.57 
71.00 
24.00* 
5.93to9.97 * * * 8 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
16.18 
21.00* 
Per cent. 
Capsicum.. 
18.00* 
17.32 
' 25.00 
Cubeb.. 
Cubeb... 
Cubeb. 
Ginger.. 
Lupulin. 
70.80 
Parsley. 
22.30 
Pepper. 
5.00 to 6.70 
t 
1 Two cubic centimeters of percolate were collected for each gram of drug. 
8 Represents total extract from which 3 per cent, of wax precipitated, leaving 
21.00 percent, of oleoresin. 
a Represents total extract which yielded 5.93 per cent, of oleoresin. 
1 Pile (1867) confirms this statement in so far as it concerns the oleoresin 
of ginger. He states that neither benzin nor ether completely extract ginger, 
but that alcohol is the best solvent for this purpose. 
8 The acetone used by Beringer was procured from manufacturers of 
chloroform as the product obtained from the distillation of wood was found 
to consist largely of methyl alcohol and even higher boiling fractions. 
