5 16 
Poison  Sumac. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
I  November,  1907. 
less.  This  required  about  ten  hours.  The  insoluble  residue  in  the 
thimble  was  removed,  dried  in  the  air  and  again  extracted  with  ether. 
Only  a  trace  of  colored  substance  was  removed.  The  insoluble  sub- 
stance in  the  thimble  was  then  decomposed  by  H2S04  in  alcoholic 
suspension.  A  non- poisonous  oil  was  given  on  evaporation  of  the 
solvent.  The  ether  extract,  which  was  of  a  deep  green  color  in 
ethereal  solution,  was  filtered  and  dried  by  immersing  sticks  of 
fused  calcium  chloride  in  its  ethereal  solution  for  twenty-four  hours. 
On  evaporation  of  the  solvent  it  yielded  a  dark-brown,  oily  residue, 
which  was  poisonous  and  which  contained  37  7  per  cent,  of  lead. 
Further  experiment  showed  that  this  residue  was  a  mixture,  con- 
sisting of  an  oily,  lead-free,  poisonous  substance,  soluble  in  alcohol, 
and  a  non-poisonous,  tru^  lead  compound  insoluble  in  alcohol. 
The  lead  compound  (which  was  present  in  far  greater  proportion), 
when  separated  from  its  oily  congener,  suspended  in  ether,  and 
decomposed  by  hydrogen  sulphide,  yielded  a  light  yellow,  ill-smell- 
ing oil,  which  was  very  poisonous.  It  is  probable  that  this  odor 
was  due  to  compounds  of  hydrogen  sulphide  with  ether,  rather  than 
to  any  characteristic  of  the  poisonous  substance,  as  the  resin 
obtained  by  decomposing  the  lead  compound  with  sulphuric  acid 
had  no  such  odor,  but  was  at  the  same  time  poisonous.  Three  frac- 
tions were  thus  obtained ;  that  from  the  ether-insoluble  lead  com- 
pound was  non-poisonous,  that  from  the  ether-soluble  lead  com- 
pound was  poisonous,  and  the  lead-free  oily,  poisonous  portion. 
A  considerable  quantity  of  the  poisonous  resin  was  obtained  by 
suspending  the  green  ether-soluble  lead  compound  in  alcohol  and 
decomposing  it  by  sulphuric  acid.  Excess  of  acid  was  removed  by 
lead  carbonate,  and  the  liquid  after  filtration  evaporated  under 
reduced  pressure.  This  residue  was  of  a  dark  amber-red  color,  had 
the  characteristic  sumac  odor  and  was  very  poisonous.  Its  lead 
precipitate,  prepared  by  the  method  given  above,  was  found  to  be 
almost  completely  soluble  in  ether  when  extracted  for  a  long  time 
in  a  Soxhlet  apparatus.  This  second  ether  extract  resembled  the 
first  in  physical  properties,  but  when  decomposed  by  sulphuric  acid, 
and  subsequent  evaporation  of  the  solvent,  the  resultant  resin  was 
found  not  to  be  poisonous.  As  this  substance  was  no  longer  pois- 
onous and  lack  of  time  prevented  the  preparation  of  a  fresh  quan- 
tity of  the  material,  no  further  work  was  done  upon  the  resins. 
A  number  of  combustions  were  made  upon  the  products  obtained, 
