398 
Chemical  Note-s. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    August,  1882. 
The  author  promises  still  further  experiments  to  establish  the  identity 
-of  the  natural  and  the  artificial  alkaloids. — Ibid.,  p.  1390. 
On  some  New  Compounds  of  Hcemate'in  and  Brazilein. — Hummel 
and  Perkin  have  studied  purified  h^ematein  and  brazilein,  and  have 
obtained  some  new  coloring  derivatives  from  them  by  the  action  of 
sulphuric,  hydrochloric,  and  hydrobromic  acids.  They  first  obtained 
pure  hsematei'n  in  glittering  crystals  of  the  formula  C^gH^gOg.  They 
found  it  sparingly  soluble  in  water,  alcohol,  ether  and  acetic  acid ; 
readily  soluble  in  alkalies.  It  is  destroyed  by  hot  sulphuric  acid,  but 
dissolves  readily  in  cold  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  producing  a  dark 
reddish-brown  solution.  By  adding  hot  glacial  acetic  acid  very  gradu- 
ally to  this  solution,  until  it  is  diluted  to  two  or  three  times  its  bulk, 
an  orange  crystalline  precipitate  is  thrown  down.  This  has  the  for- 
mula C'lgHjgOgSOg,  and  is  called  by  the  authors  sulphate  of  hgematyl. 
By  the  action  of  hydrochloric  acid,  in  sealed  tubes,  on  hseniatem,  a 
body  was  prepared  of  the  formula  CigHnOgCl,  crystallizing  in  scarlet 
needles.  A  similar  compound,  containing  bromine,  was  prepared  by 
the  action  of  hydrobromic  acid. 
Brazilein,  as  purified  and  dried  at  100°C.,  had  the  formula  CigHjgOg, 
H2O,  and  yielded  similar  compounds  by  the  action  of  sulphuric,  hydro- 
chloric, and  hydrobromic  acids.  The  tinctorial  power  of  these  new 
compounds  is  much  greater  than  that  of  the  original  hfematei'n  and 
brazilein,  and  the  colors  are  much  faster.  The  authors  consider 
that  haematei'n  probably  belongs  to  the  class  of  phthalei'ns.  —  Chem. 
News,  June  23,  1882,  p.  274. 
On  the  Composition  of  Turnieric  and  some  of  its  Derivatives. — C.  Lor- 
ing  Jackson  and  A.  G.  Menke  have  made  a  careful  study  of  curcumin, 
the  yellow  coloring  matter  of  turmeric,  and  have  established  its  for- 
mula by  making  a  number  of  derivatives.  They  find  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  curcumin  the  following  to  be  the  best  method  :  The  turmeric 
oil  is  first  removed  from  the  ground  root  by  treatment  with  ligroin  ; 
then  the  curcumin,  mixed  with  a  large  quantity  of  resin,  is  extracted 
with  ether,  and  finally  purified  by  crystallization  with  alcohol.  The 
ligroin  extract  yielded  on  evaporation  a  dark  yellow  oil,  amounting 
•on  the  average  to  11  per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  the  root.  The  cur- 
cumin was  purified  by  recrystallization  until  its  melting  point  was 
178°C.  The  average  yield  of  this  pure  curcumin  was  0*3  per  cent. 
They  give  the  formula  Q^J^^fi^  to  the  compound,  which  formula 
iseems  borne  out  by  the  analysis  of  its  derivatives.    Of  these,  they  pre- 
