Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1889. 
Geranium  Maculatum. 
239 
tals  of  gallic  acid  of  a  yellowish  color  were  found  to  cover  the  bottom 
of  the  beaker.  The  solution  of  these  crystals  in  hot  water  gave  no 
reaction  with  pure  ferrous  sulphate,  a  blue-black  precipitate  with  ferric 
chloride,  no  precipitate  with  tartar  emetic  or  gelatin,  and  a  green  color 
with  potassium  hydrate  changed  to  red  by  acids  ;  no  tannin  was  found 
in  the  ethereal  extract. 
III.  Treatment  with  Absolute  Alcohol. — Total  amount  ex- 
tracted, 11*40  per  cent. ;  tannin,  2*48  per  cent. ;  decomposed  tannin 
(phlobaphene),  8*92  per  cent. ;  small  amounts  of  sugar  and  a  crystal- 
line principle  not  estimated. 
The  aqueous  solution  of  the  alcoholic  extract  gave  the  following 
reactions :  Solution  of  ferric  chloride,  blue-black  precipitate ;  solution 
of  ferrous  sulphate,  no  change;  solution  of  tartar  emetic,  dark  pre- 
cipitate ;  solution  of  gelatin,  white  flocculent  precipitate. 
Definite  portions  of  this  aqueous  solution  gave  with  lead  acetate 
and  copper  acetate  almost  exactly  the  same  amount  of  tannin— 2'48 
per  cent.  Petroleum  ether  and  ether  extracted  from  this  aqueous 
solution,  made  alkaline,  a  small  quantity  of  a  white  crystalline  body 
soluble  in  stronger  ether,  from  which  it  was  recrystallized.  This  is 
probably  the  " crystallizable  vegetable  principle"  mentioned  by  Staples. 
IY.  Treatment  with  Distilled  Water. — Total  amount  dis- 
solved, 9*54  per  cent. ;  mucilage,  1*12  per  cent.;  dextrin,  2*58  per 
cent. ;  sugar,  5*84  per  cent. 
V.  Treatment  with  Dilute  Alkaline  Solution. — Total, 
7 '52  per  cent. ;  mucilage,  4*64  per  cent. ;  albuminoids,  2*88  per  cent. 
Dilute  acid  and  chlorine  water  extracted  small  quantities,  which 
left,  after  deducting  ash,  57*09  per  cent,  of  cellulose.  In  separate 
portions  of  the  drug  the  moisture  was  found  to  be  5*02  per  cent.,  the 
ash  8*75  per  cent. 
The  amount  of  tannin  found  was  so  low  as  to  demand  verifying, 
which  was  undertaken  by  exhausting  10  grams  of  the  drug  with 
boiling  water.  This  decoction,  with  gelatin  and  alum  solution,  indi- 
cated 4'25  per  cent.  This  discrepancy  not  being  satisfactory,  another 
portion  of  the  whole  drug  was  purchased,  and  powdered.  In  this 
lot,  by  the  gelatin  and  alum  process,  11*53  per  cent,  were  obtained. 
These  differences  in  the  amount  of  tannin  may  be  explained  by  sup- 
posing that  the  two  lots  of  drug  were  collected  at  different  times  in 
the  year,  or  the  first  lot,  coming  from  stock  kept  in  the  powdered  state, 
had  changed ;  the  quantity  of  phlobaphene,  as  may  be  noticed,  being 
excessive. 
