ON  CHIMAPHILA  UMBELLATA.  257 
the  form  of  beautiful  needle  shaped  crystals  of  a  golden  yellow 
color. 
The  stems  yield  a  much  greater  proportion  of  chimaphilin 
than  the  leaves,  both  by  distillation  with  water  and  by  the 
chloroform  process.  The  quantity  of  the  crystals  is  neither  di- 
minished nor  their  beauty  impaired  by  distilling  the  stems  with 
a  solution  of  caustic  potassa. 
Chimaphilin  is  neither  acid  nor  alkaline  to  test  paper;  it  is 
therefore,  a  neutral  substance,  of  a  golden-yellow  color,  insipid, 
inodorous,  crystallizable,  fusible ;  volatilizing  without  change 
and  crystallizing  in  acicular  crystals.  The  crystals  vary  in 
length  according  to  circumstances,  some  of  them  are  as  much 
as  an  inch  and  a  half  long.  It  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  crystalline  substances  in  organic  chemistry.  The  crys- 
tals obtained  by  distillation  are  permanent  in  the  air,  but  those 
prepared  by  the  chloroform  process  are  not,  owing  probably,  to 
their  not  being  perfectly  pure.  The  latter  assume  an  olive  hue, 
ultimately  changing  to  a  purple,  on  exposure  to  the  atmosphere. 
Chimaphilin  is  insoluble,  or  nearly  so,  in  water ;  soluble  in 
alcohol,  ether,  chloroform  and  in  the  fixed  and  volatile  oils,  con- 
centrated nitric  acid  does  not  effect  it ;  sulphuric  acid  carbon- 
izes it ;  chlorhydric  acid  produces  no  change.  Its  solution  is 
not  precipitated  by  corrosive  chloride  of  mercury  nor  by  tannic 
acid  ;  many  other  reagents  were  tried  without  producing  any 
change  whatsoever. 
The  pungent  principle  of  the  stems  resides  in  a  resin,  which 
was  separated  by  agitating  a  tincture  of  the  stems  made  with 
diluted  alcohol  with  ether ;  drawing  off  the  ethereal  solution  by 
means  of  a  pipette,  and  evaporating.  As  thus  obtained,  how- 
ever, it  contains  a  small  quantity  of  tannic  acid  and  chimaphi- 
lin. The  tannic  acid  can  be  removed  by  washing  the  resin  with 
cold  water,  and  the  chimaphilin  by  chloroform,  the  resin  being 
insoluble  in  either  of  these  menstrua.  It  produces  at  first  a 
cooling  sensation  in  the  mouth,  somewhat  like  that  occasioned 
by  oil  of  peppermint,  but  in  a  few  minutes  becoming  excessively 
pungent.  It  is  soluble  in  alcohol  and  ether,  but  is  insoluble  in 
chloroform  and  in  the  fixed  and  volatile  oils. 
Ashes. — The  leaves,  on  incineration,  yielded  5.24  per  cent,  of 
ashes. 
17 
