ON  ANACAHUITE  WOOD. 
321 
in  medicine  as  a  vermifuge  suggested  to  M.  Lafargiie,  pharma- 
cien  at  Moissac,  the  idea  of  preparing  a  sjrup,  as  follows  : 
Take  of  Santonin  55  grains. 
Simple  Sjrup,  16  ounces,  (Troj.) 
Alcohol,  q.  s. 
Dissolve  the  santonin  in  a  little  alcohol  and  add  the  sclution 
to  the  syrup  boiling  hot.  Each  tablespoonful  contains  about 
three  grains  of  santonin. 
ON  ANACAHUITE  WOOD. 
Br  Prof.  A.  Buchner. 
If  we  were  to  judge  of  its  efficacy  from  the  taste  of  a  remedy, 
we  would  suppose  that  this  wood  has  little  or  no  remedial  pro- 
perties ;  it  is  nearly  tasteless,  except  the  bark,  which  is  faintly 
astringent.  Cold  water  extracts  but  little  from  the  bark  and 
still  less  from  the  wood.  The  brownish  infusion  does  not  red- 
den litmus  paper  ;  sesquichloride  of  iron  is  colored  dirty  green, 
gradually  changing  to  brown,  indicating  little  tannin.  Other 
reagents  did  not  produce  any  characteristic  reaction.  On 
evaporation  very  little  extract  was  left,  which  besides  the  faint 
astringent  taste,  showed  nothing  characteristic. 
Boiling  water  extracted  little  from  the  bark  and  wood,  pre- 
viously exhausted  by  cold  water;  no  starch  was  indicated  by 
iodine,  though  Prof.  Radlkofer  found  under  the  microscope  some 
few  starch  granules  in  the  pith  rays  ;  but  a  considerable  sedi- 
ment of  oxalate  of  lime  was  deposited. 
Alcohol  dissolved  little  from  the  original  bark  ;  the  tincture 
was  light  yellowish,  turning  deeper  yellow,  somewhat  greenish 
with  ferric  chloride.  On  evaporation,  little  brownish  yellow 
extract  was  left,  of  which  the  smallest  portion  dissolved  in  water, 
which  solution  contained  some  tannin  ;  the  residue  was  indiffer- 
ent in  taste,  became  soft  and  pliable  in  warm  water,  and  behaved 
like  resin.  Ether  took  up  very  little  from  the  bark  ;  the  scarcely 
colored  liquid  left  a  very  small  yellowish  residue  of  a  resinous 
nature. 
The  wood  freed  from  bark  has  lately  been  carefully  analyzed 
by  Dr.  Ziurek,  of  Berlin,  (Pharm.  Centralhalle,  ii.  No.  36,)  with- 
21 
