326  Jalap  Resin  and  Jalapin.  {Amjui°yuriJ7harm 
warm  ammonia  water  and  not  reprecipitated  by  acids.  The  explana- 
tion of  this  behavior,  it  appears  to  me,  is  to  be  found  in  the  removal, 
by  the  charcoal,  not  only  of  coloring  matter,  but  also  of  that  sub- 
stance in  jalap  resin  which  is  soluble  in  ether. 
The  second  sample  of  jalapin,  to  which  I  referred  above,  did  not 
essentially  differ  from  the  pharmacopoeial  resin  of  jalap,  except  that 
it  was  lighter  in  color,  and  was  sold  at  about  three  times  the  price  of 
the  latter. 
Now,  considering  the  confusion  in  regard  to  the  term  "jalapin,"  it 
appears  to  be  extremely  desirable  to  abandon  it  altogether,  in  phar- 
macy and  in  chemistry,  and  to  likewise  abandon  the  term  "  con  vol  - 
vulin  "  as  not  sufficiently  characteristic.  The  ether-insoluble  resin  of 
true  jalap  may  be  very  appropriately  called  jalapurgin,  which  indi- 
cates the  origin  of  the  principle  as  well  as  its  medical  properties ;  the 
ether-soluble  portion,  however,  is  (at  least  in  its  crude  state)  a  mix- 
ture, and  does  not  deserve  a  distinctive  name  until  fully  investigated. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  ether-soluble  resin  of  fusiform  jalap,  to  denote 
its  origin,  should  be  called  orizahin,  which,  on  account  of  its  identity 
with  the  resin  of  scammony,  would  be  synonymous  with  scammonin. 
It  may  be  stated  yet  that  my  present  experiments  agree  very  well 
with  those  made  in  previous  years,  when  I  ascertained  that  the  ether- 
soluble  resin  of  jalap,  after  being  treated  with  animal  charcoal,  is  not 
white,  but  brownish-yellow;  is  not  brittle,  but  sticky,  and  dissolves  in 
warm  potassa  to  a  slightly  opalescent  solution,  which  becomes  milky 
on  the  addition  of  an  acid.  Still  it  is  possible  that  the  results  may 
vary  to  a  certain  extent,  since  the  amount  of  ether-soluble  matter  has 
been  found  to  vary  from  between  3  and,  4  per  cent,  to  about  12  per 
cent,  of  the  total  pharmacopoeial  resin. 
Whether  the  introduction  into  medicine  or  into  the  pharmacopoeia 
of  a  pure  "jalapurgin"  is  desirable,  appears  to  be  doubtful ;  for  accord- 
ing to  the  investigations  of  Dr.  W.  Bernatzik,  (Zeitschr.  d.  h.  h.  Ge- 
settseh.  d.  Aerztein  Wien,  1862,  1863;  Buck.  N.  Rep.  1864,  xii,  451- 
467,)  about  equal  purgative  effects  are  obtained  with  0*17  gm.  of 
pharmacopoeial  resin  of  jalap,  0'21 6  gm.  pure  convolvulin,  and  0*50 
gm.  of  soft  jalap  resin  (the  ether-soluble  part). 
Two  samples  of  jalap  resin  recently  examined  by  me  yielded  re- 
spectively, 3*01  and  4*8  per  cent,  to  ether ;  in  neither  case  was  the  ex- 
haustion complete,  but  very  nearly  so.  A  good  plan  for  treating  jalap 
resin  with  ether  is  that  followed  by  E.  White  (loc.  ciL),  mixing  with 
