Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
May,  1881.  j 
Rhus  Aromatica. 
213 
oughly  washed  with  water  to  free  from  any  adhering  sulphuric  acid, 
treated  with  absolute  alcohol,  filtered,  and  the  filtrate  evaporated. 
This  left  a  soft  oily  mass,  of  an  acid  reaction,  entirely  soluble  in  ether, 
benzol,  volatile  and  fixed  oils,  partly  soluble  in  alcohol,  sp.  gr.  '817, 
and  aqueous  alkalies ;  it  has  a  peculiar  odor,  and  an  acrid,  somewhat 
bitter  taste,  similar  to  that  of  copaiba,  is  soluble  in  concentrated  sul- 
phuric acid,  with  a  deep  brown  color ;  strikes  a  similar  color  with 
■concentrated  nitric  acid,  but  is  insoluble  in  it,  and  gives  with  concen- 
trated nitric  and  sulphuric  acids  a  red-brown  color,  which  turns 
lemon-yellow.  This  substance  was  considered  to  be  an  oleoresin,  as  it 
left  a  permanent  greasy  stain  upon  paper  (fixed  oil),  and  when  treated 
with  alcohol,  sp.  gr.  '817,  and  the  filtrate  evaporated,  left  a  residue  of 
a  resinous  nature  which  gave  reactions  with  sulphuric  and  nitric 
acids,  the  same  as  those  noted  above.  The  fixed  oil  was  boiled  with 
a  solution  of  sodic  hydrate,  filtered  and  precipitated  with  a  solution 
of  sodic  chloride  ;  the  result  was  a  yellow-brown  soap. 
A  fresh  portion  of  the  benzol  extract  was  dissolved  in  ether,  allowed 
to  evaporate  spontaneously,  redissolved  in  ether  and  evaporated  a  sec- 
ond time,  when  the  odor  of  butyric  acid  was  produced.  It  was  then 
treated  with  potassic  hydrate,  alcohol  and  sulphuric  acid,  and  when 
heated  the  odor  of  ethyl  butyrate  was  produced. 
The  drug  exhausted  with  benzol  was  dried  and  treated  with  stronger 
alcohol  until  the  percolate  left  no  residue  when  evaporated ;  the  entire 
percolate  was  carefully  evaporated,  the  extract  weighing  4*774  grams 
=  23*87  per  cent.  This  extract  was  treated  with  several  portions  of 
absolute  alcohol,  sp.  gr.  '7938  at  15*6°C. 
A.  Soluble  ix  absolute  alcohol. — Evaporated  to  dryness, 
powdered  and  treated  with  distilled  water. 
a.  Soluble  in  water,  acid  reaction. 
a\  Precipitate  hy  suhacetate  of  lead. — Ochre  color;  was  washed, 
suspended  in  water,  saturated  wuth  hydrosulphuric  acid  to  precipitate 
the  lead,  filtered,  filtrate  boiled  to  free  from  HgS ;  the  amber-colored 
solution  reduced  Fehling's  solution  when  heated,  formed  precipitates 
with  solutions  of  gelatin,  tartrate  of  antimony  and  potassium  and 
ferric  chloride,  the  latter  giving  a  blue-black,  which  is  altered  only  a 
very  little  upon  boiling.  These  reactions  show  the  presence  of  tannin, 
the  reduction  of  Fehling's  solution  being  due,  probably,  to  a  contami- 
nation with  glucose.  Negative  reactions  for  alkaloids.  The  tannin 
thus  obtained,  after  continued  treatment  with  acids,  gave  reactions  with 
