^'"or,'i8^82*''"'}  Quassii7i.  499 
digitaliretin,  obtained  under  similar  conditions  from  digitalin  by 
Schmiedeberg. 
With  respect  to  the  physiological  action  of  adonidin  the  author  sums 
up  the  results  of  his  experiments  by  stating  that  it  may  be  described 
as  identical  with  that  of  digitalin,  with  the  single  exception  that  it  is 
far  more  powerful.  He  also  confirms  the  statement  that  it  is  not 
cumulative. — Fhar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Aug.  12,  1882;  Arch.f.  exper. 
Path.  u.  Pharmak.,  xv. 
QUASSIIN. 
By  a.  Christensen. 
The  literature  upon  the  chemical  constituents  of  quassia  wood  is 
very  inconsiderable.  In  1806  Thomson  ("System  der  Cheniie/Mv,47,) 
mentioned  that  by  digesting  quassia  wood  with  water  and  evaporating 
he  obtained  a  very  bitter  substance,  which  when  warm  was  soft,  and 
became  brittle  upon  cooling,  and  which,  in  his  opinion,  consisted  princi- 
pally of  the  pure  bitter  constituent ;  it  gave  a  slight  precipitate  with 
tincture  of  galls.  In  1811  it  was  stated  by  Pfaff  ("System  der  Mate- 
ria Medica'^)  that  the  bitterness  was  completely  extracted  by  cold 
water.  In  1826  Buchner  introduced  1  grain  of  the  alcoholic  extract 
into  a  wound  in  a  rabbit,  which  was  followed  by  the  death  of  the 
animal.  Another  investigation  of  the  extract  by  Keller  (Buchner\s 
"  Repertorium,"  ii)  contains  nothing  of  importance. 
Quassiin  was  first  prepared  by  Winckler  (Buchner's  "Reperto- 
Tium,'^  liv.  [1837],  85,  and  Ixv.  [1389],  74)  in  1835  as  follows.  Three 
ounces  of  quassia  wood  were  extracted  with  2  pounds  of  80  per  cent, 
alcohol.  After  evaporation  in  a  water-bath  the  residue  was  dissolved 
in  water,  and  the  solution  filtered  and  evaporated  to  the  consistence  of 
a-n  extract.  The  extract  was  exhausted  with  absolute  alcohol,  evapo- 
rated almost  to  dryness,  and  then  again  exhausted  with  boiling  water. 
The  light-yellow  solution,  decolorized  by  animal  charcoal,  left  after 
slowly  evaporating  crystals  of  quassiin.  Winckler  described  this 
substance  as  crystalline,  difficultly  soluble  in  water  and  freely  in  alco- 
hol, faintly  alkaline,  giving  a  precipitate  with  tannic  acid,  and  as  being- 
obtained  crystalline  most  easily  from  water. 
Subsequently  Wiggers  ("Annalen  der  Pharniacie,''  xxi  [1837],  40,) 
prepared  quassiin  by  repeatedly  boiling  8  pounds  of  quassia  wood  with 
water,  evaporating  the  filtered  dec^oction  to  6  pounds,  cooling,  adding 
lime  and  allowhig  the  mixture  to  stand  a  day  with  frequent  shaking 
