490 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I     October,  1907. 
The  ether  extract  of  the  resins  consists,  to  a  very  large  extent,  of 
a  mixture  of  amorphous  products  and  very  small  amounts  of  a  color- 
less crystalline  alcohol  and  a  yellow  substance  of  phenolic  nature. 
The  alcoholic  body  possesses  either  the  formula  C17H2803  or  C23H38 
04.  It  crystallizes  in  plates,  melting  at  256-2570  C,  and  yields  an 
acetyl  derivative  melting  at  i6i°C.  The  yellow  phenolic  substance 
crystallizes  in  prisms,  melting  at  227-2280  C,  and  possesses  the 
formula  C14H1205.    It  gives  an  acetyl  derivative  melting  at  I  $4°  C. 
Aspidium  Marginale  and  Osmunda  Claytoniana. 
By  Henry  Kraemer. 
The  rhizomes  of  a  number  of  ferns  have  been  used  in  medicine 
since  ancient  times.  Of  these,  that  of  Aspidium  Filix  mas  is  pro- 
bably the  most  valuable  and  is  official  in  most  of  the  pharmacopoeias. 
It  is,  however,  only  a  little  more  than  thirty  years  since  the  rhizome 
of  the  closely  related  American  species,  Aspidium  marginale,  was 
first  subjected  to  analysis.  The  rhizome  was  subsequently  examined 
by  Cressler  and  Kennedy,  and  recommended  by  Maisch  for  intro- 
duction into  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  becoming  official  in 
the  1880  edition.  The  rhizome,  having  been  found  to  have  proper- 
ties similar  to  that  of  Aspidium  Filix  mas,  was  probably  introduced 
with  a  view  of  encouraging  the  collection  of  the  American  drug,  and 
probably  also  with  a  view  of  obtaining  the  drug  in  a  fresh  condition. 
While  the  crude  drug  dealers  mostly  list  only  the  foreign  drug, 
and  the  filicic  acid  on  the  market  is  said  to  be  derived  from  Aspi- 
dium Filix  mas  growing  in  Europe,  there  are  indications  that  attempts 
are  made  to  collect  the  drug  in  this  country.  The  collectors,  how- 
ever, do  not  always  seem  to  be  able  to  distinguish  Aspidium  mar- 
ginale from  others  of  our  native  ferns,  and  in  several  recent  instances 
the  drug  purchased  for  Aspidium  has  proved  to  be  the  rhizome  of 
Osmunda  Claytoniana,  a  plant  belonging  to  a  different  family  of 
ferns. 
It  was  pointed  out  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  distinguishing 
these  two  ferns.  The  plants  belong  to  distinct  families  of  the  fern 
group.  Aspidium  marginale  is  characterized  by  the  fact  that  there 
is  no  distinction  of  fertile  and  sterile  fronds  and  by  the  fact  that  the 
sori  have  a  covering  known  as  the  indusium.  On  the  other  hand, 
Osmunda  Claytoniana  belongs  to  a  family  distinguished  by  the  fact 
that  there  are  two  kinds  of  fronds,  fertile  and  sterile,  which  are 
very  distinct  in  character. 
