Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Sept.,  1887. 
Mexican  Lign  Aloes. 
449 
tive  alkaloid  is  soluble  in  water  and  to  some  extent  is  antagonistic  to 
strychnine.  Daphnandra  retards  the  development  of  bacteria,  deodo- 
rizes putrid  meat,  checks  the  growth  of  the  yeast  plant,  and  kills  some 
water  plants. 
Daphnandra  micrantha,  Bentham,  has  similar  properties;  it  is  a 
shrub  growing  in  the  neighborhood  of  Brisbane. 
Curacao  aloes. — Prof.  W.  Stoeder  has  examined  the  aloin  pre- 
pared from  this  variety  by  Tilden's  process  (Nieuw  Tijdsch.  Phar. 
Med.,  p.  98;  Phar.  Jour.  Trans.,  April  2,  1887).  The  yield  was  5.5 
per  cent.  It  is  odorless,  bitter,  melts  giving  off  the  oclor  of  caramel,  is 
almost  insoluble  in  chloroform  and  ether,  moderately  soluble  in  water 
and  very  soluble  in  spirit.  The  yellow,  aqueous  solution  red  uces  Fell- 
ling's  solution,  is  rendered  darker  and  red  by  ammonia,  and,  on  being 
heated,  becomes  red,  beginning  with  the  upper  layer.  Sulphuric  and 
nitric  acids  color  it  a  pure  red,  but  on  stirring,  the  mixture  becomes 
yellow.  If  then  the  vapor  of  fuming  nitric  acid  be  passed  over  it,  a 
grayish-blue  color  is  produced,  which  quickly  disappears.  Bronio- 
bromide  of  potassium  gives  an  abundant  precipitate,  but  tannin  gives 
no  precipitate.  Thus  Curasao  aloin  resembles  nataloin  in  the  effect 
produced  by  fuming  nitric  acid,  and  is  like  barbaloin  and  socaloin  in 
the  formation  of  a  bromo- derivative,  but  differs  from  barbaloin  in  not 
giving  a  precipitate  with  tannin. 
MEXICAN  LIGN  ALOES. 
By  E.  M.  Holmes,  F.L.S., 
Curator  oi  the  Museum  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society. 
Although  the  essential  oil  bearing  the  above  name  has  been  a  com- 
mercial article  for  many  years,  and  was  noticed  in  the  columns  of  this 
journal  by  Mr.  J.  Collins  as  long  ago  as  1869,  yet  nothing  definite  has 
been  ascertained  concerning  its  botanical  source  until  quite  lately. 
Three  years  ago  a  description  of  the  tree  yielding  the  oil  was  published 
by  M.  Poisson  in  the  Bull,  de  V Assoc.  Franc,  pour  VAvancement  des 
Sciences,  xiii.,  p.  305,  pi.  x.  (Blois,  1884),  but  in  consequence  of  the 
difficulty  of  access  to  this  publication  it  has  been  overlooked  even  by 
the  authors  of  the  'Biologia  Centrali- Americana/  and  it  was  only 
during  a  recent  visit  of  Professor  Baillon  to  the  Museum  of  the  Phar- 
maceutical Society  that  my  attention  was  called  by  him  to  the  article 
