^""MaTissT""  }  Quebracho  Bark.  237 
crystallizes  in  needles ;  the  dichromate  from  hot  water  in  golden-yellow 
needles,  which  become  brown  when  exposed  to  light,  and  decompose 
at  100°  to  110°.  Lepidin platino-chloride,  (CioH9N.HCl)2PtCl,+ 2H A 
forms  orange-red  needles.  With  silver  nitrate  lepidin  yields  white 
needles,  (CioH9N)2AgN03,  fusing  below  100°C. 
On  oxidation  with  alkaline  permanganate,  lepidin  first  yields  methyl- 
pyridin  dicarboxylic  acid,  which  is  subsequently  converted  into  pyridin 
tricarboxylic  acid.  Lepidin  should  therefore  be  considered  as  a  methyl- 
chinolin. — Ber.  der  Chem.  Ges.y  xiii,  p.  1639. 
The  Sweet  Principle  of  the  Smilax  Glycophylla. — Wright  and  Rennie 
have  described,  in  a  paper  before  the  English  Chemical  Society,  the 
results  of  their  study  of  this  Australian  plant.  It  is  used  there  as  a 
remedy  for  scurvy,  etc.,  but  no  investigation  of  the  sweet  principle 
seems  to  have  been  hitherto  made.  The  aqueous  extract  of  the  leaves 
was  first  treated  with  alcohol  to  precipitate  albuminous  bodies,  filtered 
and  the  alcohol  distilled  off  after  filtration;  the  residue  was  then 
shaken  up  with  ether  two  or  three  times.  The  etherial  extract  on 
evaporation  yielded  a  yellowish  crystalline  mass,  readily  soluble  in 
boiling  water.  This  substance  on  purification  yielded  a  body,. 
Ci3Hj40g+2,  or  SHoO.  Its  molecular  weight  could  not  be  deter- 
mined. On  fusion  with  potash  at  250°,  acidifying,  etc.,  an  acid^ 
CgHjoOg,  melting-point  127°  to  128°C.,  was  obtained,  giving  no  color 
reaction  with  ferric  chloride,  and  an  odor  of  a  phenol  when  heated 
with  soda-lime.  As  the  original  substance  extracted  from  the  smilax 
seems  to  have  properties  distinct  from  the  active  principle  of  ordinary 
sarsaparilla  and  from  glycyrrhizin,  the  authors  suggest  provisionally 
the  name  glycyphyllin. — Chem.  News.,  43,  p.  142. 
ON  QUEBRACHO  BARK. 
By  Prof.  Ed.  Schaer. 
Translated  and  abridged  from  "Archiv  der  Pharmacie,"  Bd.  xv,  pp.  81  to        Feb.,  1881. 
By  Frederick  B.  Power. 
As  in  the  case  of  jaborandi,  much  confusion  has  prevailed  in  med- 
ical and  pharmaceutical  circles  with  relation  to  this  new  medicinal  drug, 
which  can  only  be  prejudicial  to  the  proper  application  or  judgment  of 
a  possibly  valuable  medicament.  Those  interested  in  the  subject  will 
therefore  welcome  the  very  serviceable  monograpli  of  Dr.  A.  Hansen 
in  Erlangen  ('^Die  Quebracho-Rinde,  botanisch-pharmacognostische 
