176 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
I  Aui.  Jour.  Pliarm. 
(      April,  l%^2. 
laurel  hawthorn,  the  toyou  or  toUou  of  the  Indians,  and  grows  in  the 
coast  range  of  California.  The  leaves  yielded  to  D.  D.  Lustig  hydro- 
cyani(5  aeid,  volatile  oil,  tannin,  gallic  acid,  resins,  fat,  wax,  gum,  col- 
oring matter  and  chlorophyll.  The  fruit  is  eaten  by  the  Indians. — 
Proc.  Calif.  Coll.  Phar.,  1882,  p.  59. 
Thevetia  nereifolia. — Prof.  C.  I.  H.  Warden,  of  Calcutta,  has  iso- 
lated from  the  seeds  of  this  plant  a  peculiar  principle,  jpseudoindican, 
which  with  acids  yields  a  blue  coloring  matter,  thevetin  blue.  The 
seeds  were  deprived  of  oil,  digested  with  alcohol,  the  thevetin  sepa- 
rated by  concentration  and  filtration,  and  the  liquid  agitated  with 
chloroform.  The  solution  of  the  chloroform  extract  was  neutralized 
with  sodium  carbonate,  precipitated  with  basic  lead  acetate,  the  filtrate 
freed  from  lead,  concentrated,  and  the  residue  treated  with  warm 
amylic  alcohol,  which  left  extractive  matter  behind.  Thus  obtained 
pseudoindican  contains  a  trace  of  thevetin,  is  noncrystalline,  bright 
yellow,  transparent,  easily  pulverizable,  slightly  hygroscopic,  readily 
soluble  in  water,  alcohol  and  methylic  and  amylic  alcohols,  neutral  in 
reaction  and  of  an  unpleasant  taste,  free  from  bitterness  and  acidity. 
Aqueous  solutions  acquire  immediately  a  bright  blue  color  with  con- 
centrated hydrochloric  acid,  but  with  the  dilute  acid  no  change  is  pro- 
duced until  after  the  application  of  heat,  when  blue  flocks  are  sepa- 
rated ;  the  colorless  filtrate  gave  marked  indications  of  the  presence  of 
glucose. 
Concentrated  sulphuric  acid  produces  in  a  dilute  aqueous  solution  a 
yellow  color,  rapidly  changing  to  green,  then  to  blue,  with  separation 
of  blue  flocks,  and  on  gently  heating  the  color  changes  to  a  cherry 
red  or  rich  purple.  Solid  pseudoindican  is  colored  yellow  by  sul- 
phuric acid ;  the  color  rapidly  deepens,  on  heating  changes  to  cherry 
red,  and  on  largely  diluting  with  water,  to  purple  or  blue  with  separa- 
tion of  reddish  or  bluish  flocks. 
Pseudoindican  is  colored  yellow  and  oxydized  by  nitric  acid,  not 
altered  by  acetic  acid,  and  yields  a  dirty  greenish-blue  color  on  being 
evaporated  with  phosphoric  or  tartaric  acid. 
The  themtin-blue  after  drying  is  a  dark  brownish  or  black  amor- 
phous powder,  insoluble  in  water,  soluble  with  a  brown  color  in  sul- 
phuric acid,  and  this  solution  yields  a  blue  precij)itate  with  water. 
The  bluish-green  solution  in  hydrochloric  acid,  diluted  with  water, 
yields  blue  flocks  on  heating.  The  reddish-brown  solutions  in  caustic 
alkalies  yield  blue  precipitates  with  acids.    Compared  with  Kuhl- 
