122 
Hydrangea  Arborescens. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
X      March,  1&87. 
It  may  be  of  great  interest  and  importance  to  know  if  pure  oxyiodide 
of  bismuth  has  properties  similar  to  those  possessed  by  mixtures  of  oxy- 
iodide and  oxynitrate,  or  if  the  virtues  possessed  by  the  mixtures  de- 
pend on  the  presence  of  oxy nitrate. 
ANALYSIS  OF  HYDRANGEA  ARBORESCENS. 
By  C.  S.  Bondurant. 
Head  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  February  22. 
This  indigenous  plant  grows  abundantly  in  a  large  section  of  the 
United  States.  Considerable  quantities  are  furnished  to  the  market 
from  Ohio  and  Indiana.  Hydrangea  is  well  known  by  its  vernacular 
name  "  Seven  Barks,"  and  is  said  to  have  been  used  by  the  Cherokee 
Indians  and  subsequently  by  more  scientific  practitioners,  some  of 
whonr  regarded  it  as  a  specific  in  treatment  of  urinary  calculi. 
As  far  as  I  am  able  to  learn  hydrangea  has  received  but  little 
attention  as  to  its  proximate  constituents. 
The  first  analysis  was  probably  that  of  Mr.  Jos.  Laid  ley, of  Richmond, 
Va.,  in  1850.  He  mentions  having  found  only  gum,  starch  and  resin. 
The  Amer.  Jour,  of  Phar.,  of  April,  1881,  p.  157,  contains  an 
essay  by  Mr.  Jacob  Baur,  Ph.  G.,  who  claims  to  have  found  in 
addition  to  gum,  starch,  resin  and  sugar,  an  alkaloid  in  small  quan- 
tity and  tannin,  also  a  crystal lizable  body,  but  was  unable  to  sepa- 
rate a  sufficient  amount  to  determine  its  character. 
In  following  the  scheme  outlined  by  Dragendorff,  for  plant  analy- 
sis, I  found  a  distinctly  crystalline  body  in  both  alcoholic  and  ethe- 
real extracts,  the  latter  containing  the  largest  quantity.  Its  extraction 
and  purification  was  attended  with  much  difficulty,  owing  to  the 
fact  of  its  readily  undergoing  decomposition,  which  was  accom- 
panied by  a  resin-like  body,  possessing  an  odor  entirely  different  from 
that  characteristic  of  the  drug. 
A  portion  of  the  body,  distinctly  crystalline  and  freed  from  decom- 
position products,  by  solution  and  recrystallization  from  ether,  was 
examined  as  to  its  chemical  relations.  The  alkaloidal  reagents  were 
applied,  none  of  which  gave  any  evidence  of  alkaloidal  character. 
After  boiling  an  aqueous  solution  of  the  body  with  dilute  hydro- 
chloric acid  and  neutralizing  with  potassium  hydrate,  Fehling's  solu- 
tion was  promptly  reduced.  Its  behavior  to  Fehling  s  solution  and 
the  proneoess  to  decomposition  into  the  resin-like  body  and  glucose, 
are  sufficient  evidence  of  its  being  a  glucoside. 
