626 
.Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
J  Am.  Jour.Pharm, 
\      Dec,  1882. 
free  acid.  The  fat  is  sparingly  soluble  in  alcohol,  but  dissolves  freely 
in  ether  and  benzol.  It  contains  a  new  fatty  acid,  umhellulic  acid,  of 
the  formula  C11H22O2,  melting  between  31°  and  34°,  and  when  heated 
emitting  a  disagreeable  irritating  odor.  The  pure  acid  is  white  crys- 
talline, irritating  to  the  mucous  membranes  of  the  throat,  boils  under 
ordinary  pressure  between  270°  and  275°C.,  and  distils  without 
decomposition.— Chem.  Jour.,  iv,  206-211. 
The  presence  of  asjmragin  in  leaf  buds  was  announced  by  J.  Borodin 
(^^Bot.  Zeitung/'  1878,  p.  802),  and  has  been  verified  by  E.  Schulze 
and  J.  Barbieri,  who  found  it  in  the  extracts  obtained  from  the  youn^ 
leaves  of  birch,  horse  (chestnut  and  plane  trees;  the  latter  yielded  also 
•5  to  1  per  cent,  of  allantoin,  calculated  for  the  dry  leaves;  but  urea 
could  not  be  detei^ted.  The  horse  chestnut  leaves  contained,  besides  a 
small  quantity  of  asparagin,  also  leucine. — Jour.  Prakt.  Chem.y  xxv, 
145-158. 
Cholesterin  in  plants  was  first  discovered  by  Beneke  in  1862,  and 
his  observation  was  confirmed  by  Hoppe-Seyler,  Hesse  and  others. 
E.  Schulze  and  J.  Barbieri  have  isolated  from  Lupinus  luteus,  im., 
two  modifications  of  cholesterin,  one  from  the  cotyledons,  the  other 
from  the  shoots,  which  they  propose  to  call  caulosterin.  The  follow- 
ing varieties  of  cholesterin  have  thus  far  been  described :  1,  ordinary 
cholesterin,  melting  point  145°  to  146°C.;  2,  phytosterin  (O.  Hesse), 
m.  p.  132°  to  133;  3,  paracholesterin  (Reinke  and  Rodewald),  m.  p. 
134°  to*134-5° ;  4,  caulosterin,  m.  p.  158°  to  159°C.,  and  5,  isochole- 
sterin,  m.  p.  138°  to  138*5°.  All  except  the  latter  are  Isevorotatory, 
and  give  the  characteristic  color  reaction  with  chloroform  and  sulphu- 
ric acid.— Ibid.,  159-180. 
Bulgarian  Opium. — The  cultivation  of  the  opium  poppy  in  Bul- 
garia has  been  introduced  under  the  auspices  of  the  medical  council, 
and  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  latter  having  distributed 
seeds  as  late  as  1879.  A.  Teegarten  reported  in  1881  (see  "Am.  Jour. 
Phar.,^^  1881,  p.  307)  on  the  opium  obtained  in  the  Lowtscha  district 
in  1880.  Since  that  time  several  Macedonians  who  were  practically 
acquainted  with  the  preparation  of  opium  were  engaged,  and  the  author 
now  describes  the  following  samples  thus  obtained. 
Opium  from  Kuestendil  is  in  hemispherical  cakes,  weighing  from  120 
to  300  gm.  While  still  soft  the  opium  is  formed  into  balls,  which  are 
laid  upon  grapevine  leaves  and  covered  with  the  same  leaves  so  as  to- 
