394 
Analysis  of  Burdock  Root 
l  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      August  18S7. 
oil,  apparently  identical  with  the  preceeding ;  the  wax  was  white,  in- 
soluble in  petroleum  and  in  alcohol,  but  soluble  in  chloroform.  The  oiL 
saponified  with  potassa,  the  liquid  becoming  reddish-brown  and  emit- 
ting a  peculiar  potato  like  odor,  the  soap  after  salting  out  being  yellow- 
ish and  the  mother  liquid  blood  red. 
The  water  soluble  part  of  the  alcoholic  extract  was  successively 
treated  in  both  acid  and  alkaline  solution,  with  benzin,  benzol  and  chlo- 
roform, but  no  indication  of  an  alkaloid  was  observed.  The  solution 
acidulated  with  sulphuric  acid  was  then  neutralized  with  ammonia, 
precipitated  with  three  volumes  of  alcohol  and  the  nitrate  tested  with 
reagents  for  alkaloids  without  result;  nor  did  the  resinous  portion  of 
the  alcoholic  extract  yield  any  alkaloidal  matter  when  treated  with 
dilute  acid.  The  aqueous  solution  gave  with  ferric  chloride  an  olive- 
green  color,  and  yielded  with  lead  acetate  a  precipitate  which  after 
being  decomposed  by  H2S  yielded  a  soft  reddish-brown  mass,  insoluble 
in  benzin,  benzol,  ether  and  alcohol,  and  not  affected  by  Fehling's  test 
until  it  had  been  boiled  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  This  behavior 
indicates  the  presence  of  a  glucoside. 
The  water  extract  mixed  with  two  volumes  of  absolute  alcohol 
yielded  a  precipitate  consisting  of  mucilage,  some  salts  and  a  trace  of 
albumen.  The  addition  of  four  volumes  of  alcohol  to  the  concentrated 
nitrate  did  not  give  a  precipitate  of  dextrin;  the  liquid,  however, 
contained  sugar  which  readily  reduced  alkaline  solutions  of  cupric 
oxide.    Indications  of  an  alkaloid  were  not  obtained. 
The  amount  of  inulin  was  not  determined. 
Chloral-hydrate  as  a  vesicant. — Ivanowsky  recommends  (Vratch, 
1886,  No.  16)  the  external  application  of  chloral-hydrate  instead  of  cantharide&. 
The  former,  he  says,  is  quite  as  strong  a  vesicant  as  cantharides,  and  has  not 
its  disagreeable  bye-effects.  Finely  powdered  chloral-hydrate  is  dusted  on 
an  ordinary  piece  of  strapping ;  on  warming  this  the  chloral-hydrate  melts  ; 
it  is  then  applied  to  the  skin,  which  should  previously  have  been  anointed 
with  oil  or  grease.  Vesication  is  produced  rapidly  and  nearly  without  pain 
and  the  skin  does  not  suffer  as  after  cantharides.  After  removing  the  fluid 
from  the  blister  the  skin  appears  nearly  normal.  The  chloral  plaster  ought 
to  be  removed  as  soon  as  the  blister  forms,  viz.,  after  ten  minutes — or  at  the 
utmost  after  fifteen  minutes.  If  left  on  longer,  or  if  the  skin  has  not  been 
protected  by  oil,  the  skin  suffers.  Deep  ulcers,  which  heal  with  difficulty,, 
would  form  if  the  chloral-hydrate  were  kept  on  for  an  hour. — Med.  Chronicle,. 
March,  1887. 
