Am.  Jour.  Pharm  \ 
March,  18S7.  J 
Oh  imaph  ila  Umbellata. 
125 
EXAMINATION  OF  CHIMAPHILA  UMBELLATA. 
By  E.  S.  Beshore. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  February  22. 
The  leaves  of  Chimaphila  umbellata,  Nuttall.  Nat :  Ord :  Erica- 
ceae, Pyroleee. 
Chimaphila  umbellata  is  indigenous  to  North  America,  Northern 
Asia,  and  Northern  and  Central  Europe,  is  found  in  dry  woods  and 
flowers  in  June  and  July. 
Moisture. — The  amount  of  moisture  was  found  to  be  7.83  per  cent. 
Ash. — Upon  ignition,  the  leaves  yielded  4.04  per  cent,  of  ash. 
Treatment  tvith  Petroleum  Spirit. — The  leaves  freed  from  the  ac- 
companying stems,  were  reduced  to  a  No.  80  powder,  and  50  gm.  of 
the  powder  was  exhausted  by  petroleum  spirit,  boiling  point  45°C. 
The  liquid  was  concentrated  to  a  definite  volume,  to  ascertain  the 
percentage  soluble  in  this  menstruum,  which  was  found  to  be  3.92 
per  cent. 
Crystalline  Principle. — The  remaining  liquid  was  allowed  to  evap- 
orate spontaneously;  when  the  extract  became  concentrated,  to  about 
200  cc.  I  noticed  a  white  crystalline  principle  separating  and  collect- 
ing at  the  bottom  of  the  beaker.  After  concentrating  to  about  75 
cc.  I  separated  the  extract  from  the  crystals  by  decantation,  as  they 
were  then  yet  practically  free  from  impurities;  and  after  trying 
various  methods  to  obtain  them  in  an  entire  state  of  purity,  I  adopted 
the  following  method  : 
Treated  them  with  90  per  cent,  alcohol,  to  remove  traces  of  adher- 
ing chlorophyll,  followed  by  treatment  with  absolute  alcohol,  and 
finally  by  dissolving  in  boiling  chloroform,  when,  upon  cooling,  the 
crystals  will  separate  in  a  state  of  purity. 
With  a  view  of  making  a  further  investigation  of  this  crystalline 
principle,  two  and  a  half  kilos  of  the  drug  were  percolated  with  pe- 
troleum spirit,  which,  after  purification,  yielded  a  sufficient  amount 
of  crystals  to  make  two  ultimate  analyses  with  the  following  results, 
which  indicated  a  formula  very  close  to  C10  H19  O. 
Found.  Calculated  percentage  for 
1st,  2nd.  C10H19O. 
C  77-87  77-67  77-42 
H  12-14  12-21  12-90 
O    9-99  10-32  10-32 
