488     ON   THE  RESINS  AND  AQUEOUS  EXTRACT  OF  JALAP. 
A.  Two  thousand  grains  of  jalap,  in  fine  powder,  mixed  with 
three  times  its  bulk  of  well-washed  sand,  were  treated  with 
water  by  displacement  until  thoroughly  exhausted,  the  fluid 
passing  colorless  and  almost  tasteless.  The  percolate  was  then 
carefully  evaporated,  over  a  water  bath,  to  the  consistence  of  a 
semi-solid  extract.  This  extract  was  then  subjected  to  the  action 
of  alcohol  and  ether  to  remove  the  resins  ;  by  first  throwing  the 
aqueous  extract  into  twelve  fluid  ounces  of  alcohol,  95  per  cent., 
agitating  and  decanting  the  solution,  which  was  of  a  light  brown 
color,  possessing  a  strong  jalap  odor.  It  was  then  treated  with 
another  portion  of  alcohol  (f.jxij.)  of  the  same  strength  and 
heated  to  the  boiling  point.  The  residue  was  then  treated  with 
successive  portions  of  ether,  as  long  as  it  became  colored.  The 
ethereal  washings  were  of  a  light  yellow  color,  having  but  little 
odor  and  taste. 
The  alcoholic  liquids  were  now  mixed  and  yielded,  on  evapo- 
ration, five  drachms  of  the  impure  resin. 
B.  Two  thousand  grains  of  the  powdered  root  were  moistened 
with  a  small  quantity  of  alcohol^  85  per  cent.,  packed  firmly 
into  a  glass  funnel  and  covered  with  a  disc  of  filtering  paper. 
Alcohol,  of  the  same  strength,  was  then  poured  on  from  time  to 
time,  until  the  percolate  measured  three  pints,  having  passed 
ver}'  slowly,  when  the  powder  seemed  to  be  thoroughly  exhausted. 
The  first  ten  fluid  ounces  of  the  tincture  were  kept  separate. 
This  was  a  syrupy  liquid  of  a  dark  brown  hue.  The  remaining 
tincture  was  then  evaporated  to  one  pint  and  mixed  with  the 
first  liquid,  when  the  whole  was  carefully  evaporated  by  means 
of  a  water-bath  to  the  proper  consistence.  The  result  was  four 
hundred  and  twenty  grains,  a  yield  of  twenty-one  per  cent,  of 
resin  of  the  Edinburgh  Pharmacopoeia. 
C.  Two  hundred  grains  of  the  resin  of  jalap  placed  in  a 
flask  were  treated  successively  with  ether  and  boiling  ether. 
The  solutions  were  then  mixed  ;  the  ethereal  tincture  had  a 
strong  jalapy  odor  and  taste,  and  was  of  a  light  reddish  brown 
color,  and  yielded,  on  evaporation,  sixty-five  grains  of  the  ethe- 
real  or  soft  resin.  The  residue  in  the  flask,  which  was  supposed 
to  be  the  hard  resin  in  combination  with  coloring  matter,  was 
then  treated  with  several  portions  of  alcohol,  95  per  cent.,  both 
cold  and  hot,  but  was  found  to  be  only  sparingly  soluble  in  that 
