Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1897.. 
Root  of  Phytolacca  Decandra. 
285 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  "  phytolaccin "  of  Claussen  was 
described  five  years  before  the  "  phytolaccine  "  of  Preston.  Should 
the  latter's  discovery  be  confirmed,  it  would  be  necessary  to  rename 
the  substance  described  by  him. 
The  authors  desire,  at  this  point,  to  express  their  thanks  to  Mr. 
C.  P.  Berkey,  instructor  in  mineralogy  at  this  University,  for  his 
careful  examination  of  the  sugar  crystals,  and  to  Dr.  Wm.  Trelease 
and  Mr.  John  S.  Wright,  for  assistance  in  securing  the  literature  on 
the  subject. 
RECORD  OF  INVESTIGATIONS. 
The  work  of  investigation  was  begun  in  October,  1895,  an<^  nas 
been  carried  on  more  or  less  continuously  since  that  time.  Two 
proximate  analyses  were  made.  Besides  these,  various  quantities  of 
the  root  were  extracted  in  different  ways  for  certain  of  the  constituents. 
Three  partial  analyses  were  also  made.  Air-dried  material  was 
used.  This  was  obtained  from  three  different  wholesale  houses  and 
personally  garbeled  before  grinding.  The  latter  process  is  an 
extremely  unpleasant  task  when  done  with  a  hand-mill,  for  the 
inhalation  of  the  dust  produces,  as  has  been  noted  in  the  historical 
summary,  most  severe  inflammation  of  the  membranes  of  the  nose 
and  throat. 
Most  of  the  substances  previously  reported  were  found  in  the 
present  investigation.  Preston's  phytolaccine  was,  however,  not 
obtained,  nor  could  the  presence  of  tannin  or  of  chlorides  be  shown. 
The  crystallized  sugar  which  was  found  is  undoubtedly  the  "  glu- 
coside  "  of  Coscera  and  the  "  few  crystals  "  of  Partee.  The  "  acicular 
crystals  "  of  the  latter  were  probably  potassium  nitrate.  The  large 
amount  of  potassium  in  the  root  is  easily  recognized.  Its  character- 
istic flame  is  observed  when  a  splinter  of  the  root  is  held  in  the 
Bunsen  flame. 
The  percentages  extracted  by  the  various  solvents  were  as  follows  : 
Petroleum  ether   '627 
Sulphuric  ether  .  .   "ioo 
Absolute  alcohol                                                                .  11  734 
Cold  water   25*232 
Dilute  sulphuric  acid     38*386 
Dilute  alkali    4744 
Removed  by  potassium  hypobromite   3-2o6 
Residue  of  cellulose   16  378 
100*407 
