Am.  Jour.phaim.  j  Chemical '  Examination  of  Nutmeg.  573 
December,  1908.  J  '  °  ^ 
substances  of  a  resinous  character.  The  ethereal  liquid  was  finally 
washed  until  free  from  alkali,  and  the  ether  removed,  when  about 
0.5  gramme  of  a  solid  substance  was  obtained.  The  latter,  after 
recrystallization  from  alcohol,  melted  at  540  C,  and  was  identified 
as  trimyristin. 
The  aqueous  liquid,  after  extraction  with  ether,  was  treated  with 
a  solution  of  basic  lead  acetate,  which  yielded  a  voluminous  brown 
precipitate.  The  latter  was  collected,  washed,  suspended  in  water, 
and  decomposed  by  hydrogen  sulphide.  On  filtering  the  mixture  a 
reddish-brown  liquid  was  obtained,  which,  when  concentrated  under 
diminished  pressure,  yielded  only  a  resinous  product.  It  gave  a 
deep  green  color  with  ferric  chloride,  and  appeared  to  consist  chiefly 
of  tannic  and  coloring  matters. 
The  filtrate  from  the  basic  lead  acetate  precipitate  was  deprived 
of  the  excess  of  lead  by  means  of  hydrogen  sulphide,  again  filtered, 
and  the  liquid  concentrated  under  diminished  pressure.  A  large 
quantity  (about  1000  grammes)  of  a  thick  syrup  was  thus  obtained, 
but  after  standing  for  a  long  time  it  deposited  nothing  crystalline. 
It  was  optically  inactive,  contained  an  abundance  of  sugar,  and 
readily  yielded  an  osazone  which,  after  a  few  crystallizations  from 
pyridine,  melted  at  212-213 0  C,  and  was  evidently  ^-phenyl glucosa- 
zone.  A  portion  of  the  syrupy  liquid  was  dried  on  prepared  saw- 
dust, and  the  mixture  successively  extracted  in  a  Soxhlet  apparatus 
with  ether,  ethyl  acetate,  and  alcohol.  The  ether  removed  nothing, 
and  the  other  solvents  yielded  only  syrupy  extracts  from  which 
nothing  crystalline  could  be  obtained.  Another  portion  of  the 
original  syrupy  liquid  was  heated  for  some  time  with  dilute  sul- 
phuric acid,  when  a  little  furfural  was  produced,  but  there  was  no 
evidence  of  the  presence  of  a  glucoside. 
Examination  of  the  Resin  (/?). 
The  resinous  matter  which  had  been  separated  from  the  aqueous 
liquid,  as  previously  described,  formed,  when  dry,  a  black,  brittle 
solid,  and  amounted  to  490  grammes.  It  was  dissolved  in  alcohol, 
and  intimately  mixed  with  purified  sawdust.  The  mixture  was  then 
thoroughly  dried,  and  extracted  successively  in  a  Soxhlet  apparatus 
with  light  petroleum  (b.  p.  40-600  C),  ether,  chloroform,  ethyl 
acetate,  and  alcohol,  when  the  following  amounts  of  extract,  dried 
at  ioo°  C.  were  obtained : 
