PLANT ANALYSIS AS AN APPLIED SCIENCE 207 
wood. A plant 1 was analyzed in the laboratory of Parke, 
Davis & Co., named Cascara amarga, from which a new alka¬ 
loid, picramnine, was separated. This alkaloid is like berberin 
in its properties. Specimens of this plant were lately forwarded 
to me, and there is every indication of the relationship of 
identity of “chichipate” and Cascara amarga. This incident 
is significant as deciding by means of chemical analysis the 
identity of plants under distinct names from different regions. 
No analysis under the name of “chichipate” had ever been 
published until my own report. The dyeing property of the 
substance, chichipatin, separated from “chichipate,” I think 
is quite independent of the alkaloid, though berberin, it is 
well known, yields yellow colors with wool. I also separated 
a new camphor from this plant. It is crystalline, and under 
polarized light gives a beautiful play of colors. 
During the year 1886, Professor Trimble 2 separated a new 
crystalline camphor, phloxol, from the underground portion 
of Phlox Carolina. This substance resembles the camphor 
found in chichipate. It is soluble in petroleum-ether, and 
this solvent is suggested as a means of distinguishing powdered 
Phlox Carolina from Spigelia. The latter contains no cam¬ 
phor. Phlox is frequently put on the market for Spigelia. The 
two drugs in the normal condition can be readily identified. 
An estimate of the profitable ends of the chemical analysis 
of plants may be gathered from the above statements. 
Plant analysis covers a wide field, for it includes the chemistry 
of the living and the dead plant. Its application to various 
industries is far-reaching. 
Plant analysis in this country has been called an “infant 
industry.” There are probably differences of opinion about 
the infant needing protection. It certainly needs encourage¬ 
ment and support, when its importance as a citizen is recog¬ 
nized. 
Plant chemistry should not only be directed towards the 
1 “Cascara Amarga,” by F. A. Thompson. Ther. Gazette ., January 15, 
1884, p. 8. 
2 “An Analysis of the Underground Portion of Phlox Carolina” by Henry 
Trimble, Amer. Jour. Phar ., October, 1886, p. 479. 
