Am..Tour,Pharm.|    Examination  of  Persian  Insect  Powder.  491 
Oct.,  1881. 
extract  prepared  therefrom  is  found  in  the  market.  The  powdered 
leaves  have  also  been  used  in  cattle  powder  as  a  diuretic. 
The  oleoresin  yielded  19*66  per  cent,  of  volatile  oil  and  37  per  cent, 
of  acid  resin,  the  other  constituents  being  wax,  sugar,  an  undeter- 
mined white  powder  and  a  small  amount  of  inorganic  constituents. 
THE  EXAMINATION  OF  PERSIAN  INSECT  POWDER 
FOR  ITS  ACTIVE  PRINCIPLE. 
By  Oscar  Textoe,  Ph.C. 
Persian  insect  powder  consists  of  the  pulverized  flowers  of  Pyreth- 
rum roseum,  or  Pyrethrum  carneum,  composites  growing  in  the  moun- 
tainous regions  of  Western  Asia,  from  Persia  to  the  Caucasus  moun- 
tains. 
The  object  of  the  work  detailed  below  was  to  determine,  if  possible^, 
the  nature  of  the  active  principle  of  the  drug.  The  reports,  so  far^ 
have  been  contradictory  as  to  the  nature  of  the  constituent  to  which 
the  powder  owes  its  insecticide  effects.  Rother  (1876)  ascribes  its 
action  to  a  glucoside,  called  by  him  persicin.  Semenoff  (1876)  claimed 
to  have  obtained  from  the  flowers  a  volatile  substance,  and  a  French, 
observer  regarded  a  crystalline  alkaloid  as  the  active  principle 
(National  Dispensatory,  page  1192).  The  conclusions  of  the  writer- 
differ  from  these  statements. 
About  one  and  one  half  ounce  of  the  whole  flowers  were  taken  and 
pulverized,  and  passed  through  a  sieve  of  eighty  meshes  to  the  inch. 
The  powder,  firmly  packed  in  a  percolator,  was  left  to  maoerate  au; 
hour  with  benzol,  and  then  percolated  with  six  fluidounces  of  that 
solvent,  the  whole  process  requiring  about  six  hours.  The  percolate 
turned  blue  litmus  paper  red.  The  benzol  solution  w^as  now  evapo- 
rated until  all  of  the  benzol  was  driven  ofl',  and  in  order  to  expel  any 
volatile  oil  that  might  be  present  a  little  water  was  added,  and  again 
evaporated.  The  soft  sticky  residue  became  thinner  when  warmed, 
and  flowed  readily.  This  residue  was  treated  with  acidulated  water 
and  filtered,  and  the  filtrate  tested  for  alkaloids  with  phosphomolybdic- 
acid,  Mayer's  reagent  and  a  solution  of  iodine  in  potassium  iodide^,  no. 
precipitate  being  obtained  with  either  of  the  reagents. 
Upon  the  addition  of  alcohol  the  benzol  extract  dissolved  almost 
wholly,  and  the  solution,  when  poured  into  acidulated  water,  yielded 
