72 
Waldivin  and  Cedrin. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      Feb.,  1881. 
precipitation  with  an  alcoholic  solution  of  platinum  chloride.  The 
first  part  of  the  precipitate  which  forms  a  hard  mass,  insoluble  in 
water^  is  removed;  the  decanted  liquid  is  again  precipitated  and 
filtered,  and  the  solution  then  fully  precipitated.  After  filtration  from 
the  precipitate,  the  jaborin  platinochloride  separates  from  the  alcoholic 
solution.  The  salt,  together  with  the  third  precipitate,  is  extracted 
with  hot  water  and  the  filtrate  concentrated  by  evaporation  over  sul- 
phuric acid  in  a  vacuum.  Jaborin  platinochloride  is  a  bright  yellow 
powder  or  a  dark-red  amorphous  crumbling  mass.  The  deeper  color 
is  due  to  impurities,  which  can  be  partly  removed  by  washing  with 
alcohol.  Another  method  of  obtaining  tolerably  pure  jaborin  is  to 
mix  the  aqueous  solution  of  the  crude  substance  with  hydrochloric 
acid,  filter,  and  add  mercuric  chloride  until  a  precipitate  forms.  On 
shaking  and  filtering,  a  bright  yellow  liquid  is  obtained  :  sulphuretted 
hydrogen  is  added  to  remove  the  mercury,  and  the  concentrated  liquid 
is  mixed  with  soda  solution  and  shaken  up  with  ether.  On  evapora- 
tion, jaborin  is  left  as  a  clear  colorless  amorphous  body.  Jaborin  is 
a  very  strong  base,  which  differs  from  pilocarpin,  especially  in  its 
sparing  solubility  in  water  and  more  ready  solubility  in  ether.  Its  salts 
are  soluble  in  water  and  alcohol,  and  do  not  crystallize.  Free  jaborin 
volatilizes  with  difficulty  at  high  temperatures.  It  probably  belongs 
to  the  tertiary  amines.  The  composition  of  jaborin  is  either  identical 
with  that  of  pilocarpin,  or  their  empirical  formulse  are  closely  related. 
It  is  probably  contained  in  small  quantities,  together  with  pilocarpin, 
in  the  leaves  of  the  plant. — Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  Dec,  1880,  from  Annalen. 
ON  WALDIVI^s^  AND  CEDRIN. 
By  Ch.  Tanret. 
Translated  from  "  Bull,  general  de  Therapeiitique  "  (Tome  xcix,  1880,  pp.  504  to  506),  by  Fred.  B.  Pcwer. 
The  Simaha  ivakUvia  (Simarubacese)  grows  in  Columbia,  where  it ' 
is  sometimes,  but  wrongly,  confounded  with  a  tree  of  the  same  family, 
the  Simaha  cedron.  Its  fruit,  which  possesses  an  extreme  bitterness, 
shares  with  that  of  the  latter  the  reputation  of  the  remarkable  proper- 
ties which  have  been  attributed  to  the  cedron  in  the  republics  of  the 
equator,  and  of  which  several  travelers  have  already  spoken  to  the 
academv.  At  the  request  of  Mr.  Dujardin-Beaumetz,  who  was  desi- 
rous of  studying  the  physiological  and  therapeutical  action  of  it,  the 
author  has  isolated  the  two  active  principles  of  the  two  fruits,  which 
