4 
(  Am.. I  our.  rtiarrtk. 
"(      Jitn.,  1882. 
fawn  color.  The  alcoliolic  filtrate  stii  held  in  solution  coloring  matter 
;uk1  extractive  matters. 
VII.  Treatment  with  Acid. — The  ])o\v(ler  exhausted  by  eoht 
water  was  boiled  with  a  1  per  cent,  solution  of  sulphuric  acid  for  six 
hours,  adding  water  from  time  to  time  to  preserve  the  measure.  This- 
treatment  converted  starch  and  its  isomers  into  glucose.  The  solution 
thus  obtained  was  freed  from  its  acid  hy  barium  carbonate  and  then 
examined.  With  Fehling's  solution  it  produced  a  large  amount  of 
precipitate — starch  ;  the  aqueous  decoction  of  the  bark  showed  pres- 
ence of  sugar  by  Fehling's  solution,  and  starch  by  iodine. 
A'lII.  Caustic  soda  (20  grams  to  the  liter  of  water)  yielded  with 
the  powder  a  brownish-red  liquid  which  was  not  further  examined. 
The  residue  now^  consisted  of  cellulose. 
By  distillation  with  water,  the  bark  yielded  a  volatile  oil  of  a  rather 
agreeable  odor. 
Since,  in  the  above  examination,  reactions  indicative  of  an  alkaloid 
w-ere  obtained,  its  isolation  was  attempted  from  two  pounds  of  the 
drug  by  various  methods,  but  without  success,  and  the  reactions  were 
therefore  most  likely  produced  by  other  organic  matters.  The  alco- 
holic tincture  contained  an  acid  resin  which,  after  precipitation  by  lead 
acetate  and  isolation,  was  amorphous,  brown  or  greenish-brown,  brittle^ 
inodorous,  soluble  in  ammonia,  j)roducing  a  deep-colored  solution  from 
which  it  Avas  ])recipitated  by  an  acid  ;  with  ferric  chloride,  its  alcoholic 
solution  gave  a  green  coloration  ;  barium  hydrate  solution  added  to  its 
ammonia  solution  produces  a  brown  precipitate. 
The  filtrate  from  the  lead  precipitate  yielded  a  red-brownisli-yellow 
mass  having  the  odor  of  the  drug,  at  first  of  a  bland  taste  but  soon 
quite  acrid.  It  is  sparingly  soluble  in  distilled  water;  soluble  in 
ether,  benzol,  chloroform  and  carbon  bisulphide;  insoluble  in  ammonia. 
Recapitulation. — The  bark  of  Celastrus  scandens  may  be  said  to- 
contain  :  Acids  in  combination — sulphuric,  hydrochloric,  ])hosphoric 
and  silicic ;  bases  in  combination — potassium,  sodium,  magnesium,, 
calcium  and  iron  ;  an  acid  resin  and  a  neutral  resin,  starch,  sugar  (glu- 
<'Ose),  gnm,  a  caoutchouc-like  body,  coloring  matter,  extractives  and  a 
volatile  oil. 
A  tincture  of  the  bark  made  with  dilute  alcohol  is  unstable,  pro- 
ducing a  precipitate  partly  soluble  in  ammonia  and  partly  in  alcohol. 
Glycerin  will  not  prevent  this  deposit:  and,  as  it  is  more  than  proba- 
ble that  the  activity  of  the  drug  is  due  to  the  resins  and  volatile  oil,  a 
