A™ctoberj897ym'}    Important  Constituents  of  Taraxacum  Root.  543 
owing  to  the  solution  of  the  coloring  matter  of  the  plant,  and  is 
more  aromatic. 
Although  this  fluid  extract  appears  to  be  an  elegant  and  highly 
concentrated  preparation,  and  to  possess  all  the  properties  of  the 
drug,  it  is  doubtful,  in  the  writers'  minds,  if  therapeutically  it  would 
be  the  most  desirable  form  of  administering  the  drug.  If  the  virtues 
of  the  drug  depend,  as  we  believe,  on  the  oil  and  resins,  the  sepa- 
ration of  these  constituents,  if  possible,  seems  to  be  the  most  advis- 
able step.  The  properties  of  the  drug,  judging  from  some  crude 
experiments,  seem  to  be  stimulant,  diaphoretic,  and  probably 
neurotic. 
^THE  IMPORTANT  CONSTITUENTS  OF  TARAXACUM 
ROOT.1 
By  Iv.  B.  Sayre. 
According  to  the  promise  made  at  the  meeting  of  this  Section 
last  year,  the  investigation  upon  Taraxacum  has  been  continued. 
It  was  begun,  not  without  considerable  misgiving,  but  with  the 
hope  that  some  process  for  crystallizing  the  bitter  principle  would 
be  found,  so  that  a  more  accurate  study  of  its  chemical  and  physical 
properties  could  be  accomplished,  and  that  a  method  of  accurately 
standardizing  this  much-used  drug  could  be  furnished. 
Briefly  summarizing  the  work  of  which  this  is  a  continuation,  it 
will  be  seen,  by  referring  to  the  papers  previously  published  in  the 
Association  Proceedings,3  that  the  following  constituents,  among 
others  less  important,  have  been  identified:  (1)  A  resin  soluble  in 
chloroform  and  ether,  insoluble  in  alcohol ;  (2)  A  resin  soluble  in 
alcohol;  (3)  Taraxacerin,  a  white,  waxy  substance,  separating  from 
alcoholic  solution  in  cauliflower-like  forms;  (4)  A  bitter  principle, 
which,  in  somewhat  concentrated  solution,  is  precipitated  by  a 
number  of  alkaloidal  reagents.  Solutions  containing  the  seemingly 
pure  principle,  when  evaporated,  produced  a  film  which,  under  the 
microscope,  revealed  oftentimes  crystals  of  acicular  form  mixed 
with  globules  of  oleoresinous  appearance.  When  this  mixture  was 
treated  with  oxidizing  agents — even  by  hydrogen  peroxide — it  was 
gradually  converted  into  a  crystalline  mass,  which  proved  to  be 
oxalic  acid.    Attempts  to  separate  the  crystals  found  in  the  unoxi- 
1  Presented  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  1897' 
2 See  Proc.  A.  Ph.  A.,  1896,  p.  160. 
