Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1889. 
Analysis  of  Two  Labiatce. 
555 
A  COMPARATIVE  ANALYSIS  OF  TWO  LABIATCE. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy— No.  60. 
By  Carvosso  0.  Myers,  Ph.  G.,  and  Henry  R.  Gillispie,  Ph.  G. 
[Read  at  the  Pharmacuetical  Meeting,  October  15,  1889.] 
The  medicinal  members  of  the  natural  order  Labiatse  are 
frequently  disposed  of  in  the  text-books  with  the  statement  that  they, 
possess  the  stimulant  and  aromatic  properties  and  the  usual  constituents 
of  the  order.  It  was,  therefore,  decided  to  take  two  well-known 
domestic  members,  whose  composition  had  not  already  been  well  made 
out,  and  determine  whether  they  contained  any  unusual  plant  constitu- 
ents and  how  closely  they  resembled  each  other. 
Scutellaria  lateriflora,  which  has  some  reputation  as  a  neryine  and 
in  hydrophobia,  was  analyzed  in  1824  by  Cadet  de  Gassicourt  {Jour,  de 
Pharmacie,  vol.  x,  page  439),  who  found  traces  of  a  bitter  principle, 
a  partly  volatile  material,  soluble  in  alcohol  and  water,  which  was  not 
apparent  in  the  orjginal  drug,  but  appeared  to  be  developed  by  chemi- 
cal action,  volatile  oil,  a  yellow  fixed  oil,  tannin,  mucilage,  sugar,  etc. 
In  the  present  analysis  was  found  a  bitter  principle,  which  was 
removed  from  the  drug  partly  by  petroleum  ether  and  ether,  but 
completely  by  alcohol.  On  removing  the  alcohol,  dissolving  the 
residue  as  far  as  possible  in  water,  agitating  the  aqueous  solution  with 
ether  and  evaporating  this  ethereal  solution,  the  bitter  principle  was 
obtained  in  the  form  of  stellate  groups  of  acicular  crystals. 
An  aqueous  solution  of  these  crystals  did  not  reduce  Fehling's 
solution,  but  on  boiling  with  a  few  drops  of  hydrochloric  acid  an 
aromatic  odor  was  developed,  and  then  on  neutralizing  and  testing 
with  the  above  reagent  evidence  of  sugar  was  found,  showing  the 
compound  to  be  a  glucoside.  This  is  no  doubt  the  bitter  principle 
noticed  by  Cadet  de  Gassicourt,  although  it  was  found  in  larger  quantity 
than  found  by  him.  The  partly  volatile  material  observed  by  the 
above  investigator  was  not  found,  unless  he  referred  to  the  odor 
developed  on  boiling  the  glucoside  with  acid. 
The  other  more  important  consituents  found  were  traces  of  volatile 
oil,  mucilage  4*20  per  cent.,  dextrin  2*90  per  cent.,  glucose  2  42  per 
cent.,  ash  14*00  per  cent.,  cellulose  and  allied  bodies  55*28  per  cent. 
Nepeta  Cataria. — No  record  of  any  previous  analysis  of  this  plant 
appears  to  have  been  published.  It  was  found  to  contain  *3  per  cent, 
of  volatile  oil,  small  quantities  of  fixed  oil,  a  crystalline  wax,  5  80 
