A  ua.  Jour.  Pharru .  \ 
November,  1907.  J 
Poison  Sumac. 
521 
stones  from  the  fruits  showed  that  they  contained  a  small  amount  of 
a  fluid  fat,  which  probably  accounts  for  the  fluid  fraction  in  the  fat 
from  the  entire  fruits  as  obtained  above.  The  fat  in  the  stones  was 
determined  as  follows  : 
A  quantity  of  the  stones  (free  from  wormy  specimens)  was  freed 
from  adhering  fats  by  carefully  scraping  with  a  pen  knife  and  subse- 
quent washing  in  petroleum  benzin  of  low  boiling  point.  After 
drying  in  the  air,  the  stones  were  ground  to  a  No.  20  powder,  the 
moisture  determined  by  drying  over  colorless  sulphuric  acid,  and 
the  fat  extracted  from  the  dried  substance  by  petroleum  benzin,  as 
was  the  case  with  the  entire  fruit.  Calculated  on  the  air-dried 
sample  the  stones  contained  5-161  per  cent,  of  waterand  0  8489  per 
cent,  of  fat.  This  fat  is  a  pale  yellow,  odorless,  tasteless,  non-pois- 
onous, liquid  oil.  It  is  easily  saponifiable  and  is  apparently  non- 
drying.  The  quantity  obtained  was  too  small  to  permit  many 
determinations  being  made.  Its  iodine  absorption  number  (Hubl) 
was  130,  and  its  saponification  numoer  (one  determination  only) 
2677. 
That  the  fluid  fractions  of  the  fat  from  the  entire  fruit  are  very 
largely  derived  from  the  stones  rather  than  from  the  mesocarp,  is 
shown  by  the  following  facts  and  experiments  : 
A  quantity  of  the  fruit  was  triturated  roughly  in  a  mortar  in  such 
a  manner  as  not  to  break  the  stones.  The  mass  was  subjected  to 
moderate  pressure  under  warm  water  until  most  of  the  fat  from  the 
mesocarp  was  removed.  The  water  was  cooled,  the  fat  collected, 
melted,  strained  and  dried.  Its  iodine  absorption  number  was  3  98 
or  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  the  fat  from  the  entire  fruit  (3  4), 
which  had  been  purified  by  rec*ystallization  from  alcohol.  The 
iodine  number  of  the  crude  fat  from  the  entire  fruit  was  13-10  and 
that  of  the  fluid  fat  from  the  stones  130.  Since  the  stones  contain 
but  0-89  per  cent,  of  fat  (0  6  per  cent.  or  the  entire  fruit),  a  simple 
calculation  shows  that  the  crude  fat  should  contain  3-12  per  cent,  of 
the  fat  from  the  stones.  With  an  iodine  number  of  130,  this  amount 
would  materially  increase  the  iodine  number  of  a  mixture,  the  other 
components  of  which  are  fats  having  low  iodine  equivalents. 
No  poisonous  constituent  could  be  detected  in  the  ripened  fruit. 
Neither  starch,  alkaloids  nor  glucosides  were  present,  but  the 
residues  remaining  after  extraction  of  the  fats  with  benzin  were 
very  rich  in  nitrogen. 
