370 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm^ 
t      July,  1882, 
stein.  The  roots  were  six  years  old  from  both  Rheum  officinale  and 
Rh.  palmatum.  The  dried,  peeled  and  powdered  root  was  exhausted 
with  benzol,  this  solution  distilled  and  the  resulting  extract  boiled  with 
soda  solution  ;  the  solution,  after  cooling  and  filtering,  retained  only 
emodin,  which  could  be  precipitated  by  hydrochloric  acid,  while  the 
undissolved  chrysophanic  acid  was  purified  by  repeated  crystallization 
from  alcohol  and  from  70  per  cent,  acetic  acid.  The  highest  yield  was 
obtained  from  Rh.  palmatum  grown  in  a  sandy  moorland,  and  gave 
one  per  cent,  of  the  crude  mixture,  one-fourth  of  which  was  emodin,. 
and  the  remainder  chrysophanic  acid.  The  root  of  the  same  species 
grown  in  clayey  soil  yielded  only  half  per  cent,  of  chrysophanic  acid, 
with  very  little  emodin.  A  like  yield  was  had  from  Rh.  officinale,, 
but  the  pi'oduct  contained  only  uncertain  traces  of  emodin. 
The  rhubarb  used  in  Russia  is  now  imported  from  England ;  the 
author,  however,  thinks  it  may  be  advantageously  cultivated  also  for 
exportation. — Phar.  Zeitschr.f.  RussL,  1882,  Xo.  16. 
Storax  and  mlphurio  acid  yield  under  certain  circumstances  white 
needles  nearly  insoluble  in  ether  (see  '^Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,'^  1881,  p. 
251),  for  which  Mylius  proposes  the  provisional  nsnne  styrogenin.  Seve- 
ral other  crystalline  compounds,  which  are,  however,  more  freely  solu- 
ble in  ether,  are  produced  at  the  same  time.  The  composition  of  styro- 
genin  appears  to  be  Cgo^io^s-  i*^  sparingly  soluble  in  alcohol,  benzol 
and  benzin,  somewhat  more  soluble  in  hot  toluol  and  amylic  alcohol, 
very  freely  soluble  in  chloroform,  in  which  solution  on  the  addition  of 
bromine,  substitution  compounds  are  produced.  It  dissolves  in  cold 
sulphuric  acid  without  alteration  ;  but  on  warming  an  orange-red  liquid 
is  formed  from  which  water  precipitates  an  uncrystallizable  resin,  solu- 
ble in  ether.  Styrogenin  may  be  obtained  from  that  portion  of  storax 
which  is  dissolved  by  boiling  petroleum  benzin ;  but  it  is  not  produced 
from  styracin  or  storesin. — Phar.  Centralh.,  1882,  p.  79  to  81.  \ 
Aconitic  ac/ci?was  found  by  A.  Behr  (1877)  in  the  juice  of  the  sugar 
cane  and  in  crude  su^ar.  H.  B.  Parsons  has  established  its  presence 
also  in  the  juice  of  the  sorghum ;  the  scale  from  sorghum  sugar  pans 
was  found  to  be  impure  calcium  aconitate,  CaHCgHgOg.HgO. — Amer. 
Chem.  Jonr.y  iv.  No.  1. 
Free  acid  in  fresh  cows'  milk  was  observed  by  Dr.  C.  Arnold.  The 
milk  had  a  peculiar  unpleasant,  somewhat  acrid  taste,  was  free  from 
uncombined  volatile  fatty  acids,  but  contained  '80  per  cent,  of  a  pecu- 
liar fat  acid,  the  nature  of  which  was  not  determined,  nor  w^as  the 
