408 
Illicium  Religiosum,  Constituents. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pliarm. 
t       Aug.,  1881. 
methods  for  the  detection  of  poison  of  Dragendorff  and  Stas-Otto; 
this  alkaloid,  however,  was  not  further  investigated. 
The  symptoms  following  the  administration  of  the  suspected  star- 
anise  to  different  animals,  such  as  dogs,  consisted  principally  of  irrita- 
tion of  the  stomach,  producing  vomiting  and  some  diarrhoea.  Injec- 
tion of  the  extract  into  frogs  mostly  caused  death.  In  rabbits  the 
symptoms  were,  shaking  of  the  head,  restlessness,  sometimes  moving 
in  a  circle,  acceleration  of  the  respiration,  irregularity  of  the  heart- 
beat, then  clonic  convulsion,  especially  in  the  hinder  extremities ;  a 
paralyzed  condition  of  the  hinder  extremities  followed,  leading  to  vio- 
lent convulsions  and  death. 
Kecently  several  cases  of  poisoning  have  occurred  in  Japan,  both 
from  the  fixed  oil  of  the  fruit  used  in  the  preparation  of  food  and 
from  eating  "  shikimi,"  and  Mr.  Sensai  Nagayo  requested  the  author 
to  undertake  a  chemical  investigation. 
The  essential  oil  was  first  examined  ;  40  kilos  of  fresh  leaves 
yielded  177  grams  or  0*44  per  cent,  of  the  oil,  which  was  strongly 
light-refracting,  nearly  colorless,  faintly  yellow ;  when  kept  it  became 
somewhat  darker.  In  distillation,  part  of  it  sank  in  the  water  and 
part  floated  on  the  top ;  the  mixture  was  heavier  than  water,  and  had 
a  specific  gravity  of  1*006  at  16*5°C.  The  odor  differed  from  that  of 
ordinary  anise  and  star-anise  oil ;  smelling  much  more  faintly  of  anise 
and  otherwise  difficult  to  describe  exactly.  It  recalled  laurel,  cam- 
phor, cajuput  and  nutmeg,  the  last  being  especially  perceptible  in  the 
distilled  water.  As  to  the  peppermint-like  odor  which  has  been 
ascribed  by  some  authors  to  the  "  shikimi  leaves,  it  was  not  observed 
either  in  the  essential  oil  or  distilled  water  or  in  the  slightly  bruised 
leaves. 
When  cooled  in  a  mixture  of  ice  and  salt  for  some  time,  no  solidifi- 
cation of  the  oil  took  place,  or  separation  of  stearopten,  even  at  a 
temperature  of  — 20°C.  With  a  Hoffmann's  polarimeter,  the  molecu- 
lar rotatory  power  was  found  to  be  [a]^  =  — 8*6°. 
By  fractional  distillation  of  50  grams  of  the  oil,  about  one-sixth 
was  obtained  as  a  terpene,  boiling  at  173°  to  176°C.,  of  spec.  grav. 
0'855,  and  rendered  thick  but  not  solid  by  gaseous  HCl.  About  one- 
fourth  was  anethol,  boiling  point  231°  to  233°C.,  molecular  rotation 
0°,  spec.  grav.  1*048  at  12°C.,  odor  faintly  anise-like.  An  extract- 
like residuum  and  resinified  substance  was  also  obtained. 
The  essential  oil  of  "shikimi"  mixes  in  all  proportions  with  abso- 
