66 
The Bulletin 
A number of the more common reagents for alkaloids were employed 
on the presumption that the plant contains an alkaloid, which is the 
active principle. USTo precipitate appeared when Mayer’s reagent was 
added to expressed sap. Potassium ter-iodide, phosphotungstic acid, 
auric chlorid and platinic chlorid failed to yield precipitates. With a 
saturated solution of tannic acid, however, a copious precipitate ap¬ 
peared. Since many organic substances are precipitated with tannic 
acid, and since negative results were secured with all of the other com¬ 
mon precipitants, there is little likelihood of the presence of an active 
alkaloid in white snakeroot. 
Since the glucosides, eupatorin and euparin, are known to occur in 
Eupatorium perfoliatum and E. purpureum respectively, two species 
commonly present within the State, and since certain glucosides are 
known to possess toxicological properties, Bourqelot’s general group 
test for the presence of reducing sugars after hydrolysis was made. A 
quantity of the expressed sap of the plant was made acid by the addi¬ 
tion of 1 per cent by volume of concentrated hydrochloric acid and per¬ 
mitted to stand for twenty hours before analysis. Another portion was 
kept for an equal period of time at about 30 degrees C. to favor activity 
by enzymes within the sap. A third quantity was freshly expressed 
when needed for analysis. One hundred cubic centimeters of each 
sample were diluted with 400 c.c. of water, clarified with alumina cream 
and an aliquot, then taken for analysis. The official method* for the 
estimation of reducing sugars was followed. The results of this analy¬ 
sis showed the presence of approximately .10 gm. of reducing sugar in 
100 c.c. of freshly prepared sap, of .13 gm. in 100 c.c. when enzymes 
within the expressed sap were permitted to act, and of .20 gm. in 100 
c.c. when dilute acid was used. Hydrolysis, therefore, resulted from 
enzymotic activity and from the use of weak acid. This may be taken 
to indicate the presence of glucosides in the sap of white snakeroot. It 
is realized, of course, that there may occur within plants substances 
which can reduce Feliling’s solution without themselves undergoing pre¬ 
liminary hydrolysis, and that substances other than glucosides yield 
glucose on hydrolysis. Further studies on the nature of the active prin¬ 
ciple are in progress. 
Ho particular difficulty need be encountered in explaining the ex¬ 
cretion of this poisonous principle in the milk, a fact which has long 
been supported by more or less experimental evidence prior to the pres¬ 
ent studies. It is a matter of common knowledge that milk acquires 
tastes and flavors from the feed of the animal. This in itself is proof 
*Wiley, H. W., ed. Official and provisional methods of analysis. Association of Official 
Agricultural Chemists. As compiled by the committee on revision of methods. U. S. Dept. 
Agr. Bur. Chem. Bui. 107 (rev.), p. 42, 1912. 
