428  Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica.  {A^^sU8hs7rm* 
GLEANINGS  IN  MATEEIA  MEDICA. 
By  the  Editor. 
r  Huechys  sanguinea,  a  hemipterous  insect,  appeared  recently  in  the  Lon- 
don market  as  "  Chinese  cantharides."  John  Moss  describes  it  (Phar. 
Jour,  and  Trans.,  April  16, 1887,  p.  845)  to  be  from  J§  to  \l  inch  long, 
with  a  vermilion-red  abdomen  and  a  dull  blackish-brown  thorax  and 
wing  cases.  The  insect  has  large  and  prominent  eyes,  two  large  ver- 
milion cordate  spots  behind  the  head,  and  a  keel-like  protuberance  of 
the  same  color  between  the  eyes,  but  rather  below  them.  It  has  the 
smell  of  cantharides,  but  did  not  yield  cantharidin,  nor  could  a  vesi- 
cating preparation  be  made.  The  acetic  ether  extract,  treated  with 
carbon  bisulphide,  left  2.495  per  cent,  oily  matter  undissolved,  which 
acted  merely  as  a  mild  rubefacient. 
Arginine  is  an  alkaloid  which  has  been  isolated  by  E.  Schulze  and 
E.  Steiger  from  the  germinated  seeds  of  Lupinus  luteus,  Lin.  A  hot 
water  infusion  of  the  dried  and  powdered  cotyledons  is  mixed  succes- 
sively with  tannin,  lead  acetate  and  lead  subacetate,  the  filtrate  freed 
from  lead  by  sulphuric  acid,  again  filtered  and  precipitated  with  phos- 
photungstic  acid ;  the  precipitate  is  mixed  with  lime  and  a  little 
baryta ;  the  filtrate  freed  from  these  bases  by  carbonic  acid  gas,  is  neu- 
tralized with  nitric  acid  and  evaporated  to  crystallization.  The  isola- 
ted base  was  not  obtained  in  distinct  crystals ;  it  is  easily  soluble  in 
water,  insoluble  in  alcohol,  has  the  composition  C6H14N402,  and  readily 
absorbs  carbonic  acid  forming  a  crystallizable  carbonate  soluble  in 
water.  Most  of  the  salts  are  readily  soluble  in  water,  and  these  solu- 
tions dissolve  cupric  hydrate,  yielding  crystallizable  salts  containing 
copper  and  arginine.  The  solutions  of  arginine  salts  are  precipitated 
by  phosphoantimonic  acid,  phosphotungstic  acid  and  potassio-bismuth 
iodide,  but  not  by  picric  acid,  tannin,  or  the  double  iodides  of  mercury 
or  cadmium. 
Besides  the  alkaloid  the  young  plants  contain  also  asparagin,  gluta- 
min,  leucine,  tyrosine,  aniido- valerianic  acid  and  phenylamido-propi- 
onic  acid,  which  are  doubtless  formed  from  the  albuminoids. 
Recently  germinated  blanched  pumpkin  plants  contain  likewise  ar- 
ginine, but  in  smaller  proportion  than  the  above. 
Pipi  root,  which  attracted  some  attention  in  Europe  sixty  years  ago, 
and  was  then  described  by  Ach.  Richard,  (Jour.  Chim.  Med.,  Jan. 
1829),  has  again  made  its  appearance  in  the  European  market,  and  is 
