Am  May!'i887arm'}         Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica.  267 
market  since  that  time.  The  commercial  drug  varies  in  color  between 
violet-black  and  coffee-brown,  the  former  being  the  fully  ripe  seeds, 
and  the  latter  probably  immature.  For  assaying  the  seed  it  is  best 
ground  in  a  mill.  The  two  varieties  were  found  to  contain  7*2  per 
cent,  of  moisture ;  the  black  yielded  3'1,  and  the  brown  seed  3*4  per 
cent,  of  ash.  Petroleum  ether  extracted  from  the  brown  0*2,  and 
from  the  black  1*068  per  cent,  of  a  golden  yellow  thick  oil,  containing 
crystals  of  physosterin.  Ether  now  extracted  0  36  per  cent,  of  a 
yellow  oil  of  agreeable  odor,  and  containing  a  granular  substance 
apparently  different  from  physosterin.  For  estimating  the  alkaloid, 
the  volumetric  process,  with  Mayer's  solution,  failed  to  give  reliable 
results,  but  the  gravimetric  method  was  more  satisfactory.  The  author 
recommends  the  following  process :  exhaust  the  powdered  bean,  by 
digestion  and  percolation,  with  a  mixture  of  alcohol  3  parts  and  water 
1  part,  evaporate  the  spirit,  precipitate  with  lead  acetate,  remove 
excess  of  lead  from  the  filtrate,  render  alkaline  by  ammonium  carbon- 
ate, and  dissolve  the  alkaloid  with  chloroform.  The  alkaloidal  residue 
should  be  of  a  pale  amber  color,  and  wholly  soluble  in  dilute  acid. 
Thus  obtained  the  alkaloid  was  found  to  be  soluble  in  ether,  and  its 
iodohydrargyrate  to  be  quite  soluble  in  alcohol ;  for  these  reasons  the 
author  is  inclined  to  doubt  the  existence,  in  calabar  bean,  of  calabarine, 
announced  by  Harnack  and  Witkowski. 
Astringent  qualities  of  Heuchera  andMitella. — F.  W.  Anderson  re- 
ports (Botan.  Gaz.,  1887,  p.  65,)  that  the  roots  of  Heuchera  hispida, 
Pursh,  H.  cylindrica,  Douglas,  and  H.  parvifolia,  Nuttali,  are  much  used 
in  the  west  by  hunters,  prospectors  and  others  as  astringents,  particu- 
larly in  cases  of  troublesome  diarrhoea  caused  by  the  drinking  of  water 
in  alkali  regions.  H.  parvifolia  is  the  commonest  species  in  Northern 
Montana.  Of  milder  and  somewhat  slower  action  is  the  root  of 
Mitella  pentandra,  Hooker,  which  contains  also  a  bitter  principle,  and 
is  not  likely  to  cause  sudden  constipation  like  the  heucheras. 
Vitis  vinifera,  Lin. — A.  Hilger  and  L.  Gross  have  examined 
(Landw.  Vers.  Stat,  1886,  170-196,)  the  organic  constituents  of  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  grape  vine.  The  sap  exuding  from  cut  vines  contains 
sugar,  inosit,  a  mucilaginous  body,  succinic  acid,  tartrates  and  citrates. 
The  young  shoots  and  leaves  contain  potassium  bitartrate,  calcium 
tartrate,  tartaric  and  malic  acids,  quercetin,  tannin,  starch,  gum,  glu- 
cose, saccharose,  inosit,  oxalic  and  glycolic  acids,  an  ether-soluble  sub- 
stance, ammonium  salts,  and  calcium  sulphate  and  phosphate  ;  in  au- 
