438 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
J  Am  Jour.  Pharm 
t      Sept.,  1881. 
mainly  upon  an  alkaloid,  readily  crystal lizable  from  ether,  for  which 
Paul  and  Kingzett  ascertained  the  formula  CggH^gNOg,  while  Wright 
and  Luff  (1879)  called  it  japaconitia,  having  the  composition  CggHgg 
N2O21,  and  on  being  boiled  with  alkalies  found  it  to  split  into  benzoic 
acid  and  a  new  base,  CggH^iNOjQ.  The  alkaloid  is  a  stronger  poison 
than  aconitia  and  pseud-aconitia,  possesses  strongly  irritating  proper- 
ties and  destroys  life  by  paralyzing  the  heart  muscles. 
The  tubers  of  an  aroidea,  known  in  Japan  as  haku-bushi  (white 
bushi)  and  in  China  teh-fu-tsze,  bear  some  resemblance  to  the  kusa-uzu,. 
but  are  readily  distinguished  by  their  light  weight  and  by  the  trans- 
verse section. 
Sen-uzu  and  kusa-uzu  yield  the  most  poisonous  extracts ;  then- 
follows  dai-bushi,  next  shirakawa-uzu  and  finally,  as  the  least  active,, 
katsuyama-bushi. — Arohiv  d.  Phar.,  1881,  March,  pp.  161-185. 
Lonchocai'pus  Peckolti,  Wawra.  Nat  ord.  Leguminosae,  Papilion- 
acese,  Dalbergiese.  In  Brazil  many  poisonous  plants,  like  several  spe- 
cies of  Serjania,  an  araceous  plant,  etc.,  are  called  Umbo  ;  the  above 
named  is  often  distinguished  as  Umbo  boUcario.  It  is  a  small  tree,  4 
or  5  meters  high,  flowers  in  July  and  ripens  its  fruit  in  November. 
The  roots  are  often  of  the  size  of  a  child's  arm,  externally  light 
brown,  the  bark  internally  yellowish  and  easily  separated  from  the 
wood,  which  in  small  roots  is  white  and  in  thick  roots  deep  yellow. 
The  fleshy  bark  is  employed  and  has  in  the  fresli  state  a  penetrating 
musk  odor,  similar  to  that  observed  near  poisonous  serpents  and  croc- 
odiles. 
Dr.  Peckolt  obtained  from  the  fresh  bark  0*1588  to  0*1727  per 
cent,  of  volatile  oil,  having  a  strong  repulsive  musk  odc»r.  Sulphuric 
acid  colors  it  orange-yellow,  then  yellowish-brown.  Hydrochloric 
acid  colors  red-brown,  bluish,  light  blue,  on  boiling  paler,  on  cooling 
deep  indigo  blue.  Tne  decoction,  after  precipitation  with  lead  acetate 
and  evaporated,  yielded  to  ether  10  per  cent,  extractive,  nearly  inodor- 
ous, but  of  repulsive  taste,  producing  intoxication.  The  residue  was 
partly  insoluble  in  alcohol  and  consisted  mostly  of  saccharine  extract- 
ive. The  bark  contains  also  albumen,  starch,  three  resins  (a  resin, 
soluble  in  ether  and  insoluble  in  alcohol ;  /9  resin,  soluble  in  alcohol 
and  ether,  dark  brown,  soft;  and  y  resin,  crystalline  floccules  from 
boiling  alcohol),  two  resin  acids,  a  crystalline  acid,  lonchocarpic  acid,  and. 
also  a  volatile  poisonous  alkaloid,  lonchocarpina,  which  is  light  brown,, 
oily,  of  a  faint  musk-like  stupefying  odor,  insoluble  in  water,  easily 
