ON HEMATOXYLIN IN THE BARK OF SARACA 
INDICA. 1 
Miss Helen C. De S. Abbott stated that De Candolle 2 
and Linnaeus describe Saraca Indica as a member of the family 
Leguminosae. According to De Candolle it belongs to the 
genus Jonesia , Saraca Linn., and is separated by five genera 
from the genus Hccmatoxylon , or the logwood. 
In an article on certain drugs indigenous to India, Dr. 
Waring 3 gives an account of the medicinal uses of the bark 
of Saraca Indica. The attention of Messrs. Parke, Davis & 
Co., Detroit, Michigan, was called to this drug, and through 
their correspondents in India they secured a supply, samples 
of which have been submitted to the speaker for a chemical 
analysis. The full results of this analysis will appear elsewhere, 
but it is now desired to announce a discovery of practical and 
scientific interest in this connection. 
A coloring principle, identical with logwood dye, has been 
isolated by her from the bark of Saraca Indica , where it existed 
in two conditions, as haematoxylin and an oxidized product. 
The former was separated as yellow crystals, analogous in 
form to haematoxylin crystals from the true logwood, Hccma¬ 
toxylon campechianum. The alcoholic extract of the bark 
contained about 18 per cent, of a red-colored substance, 
which agreed in color and dye tests with a like constituent 
found in logwood. Mordanted cotton fabric was dyed with 
haematoxylin, extracted by ether from the Saraca bark, and 
presented the characteristic logwood dye colors. 
1 From the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, 
November 30, 1886. 
2 Pro. Sys. Nat. Reg. Vegetabilis , vol. ii, p. 487. 
3 British Med. Jour., June 6, 1885, p. 1145. 
