Am.  jour.  Pharm. \  Color  Reactions  from  Acer  spicatum.  i? 
January,   1917.    J  J  r  1  J 
solution  described  above,  but,  as  had  been  noted  before,  the  color 
obtained  in  the  test  with  ammonia  water  is  not  as  intense  as  that  ob- 
tained with  older  extracts.  This  apparent  increase,  on  aging,  in  the 
amount  of  the  material  which  gives  the  test  with  ammonia,  as  indi- 
cated by  the  intensity  of  this  test,  opens  the  question :  is  it  not 
present  originally  as  a  different  compound  which  is  changed  either 
by  simple  oxidation  or  by  means  of  ferments  existing  with  it  in  the 
bark,  into  the  substance  which  gives  the  reaction  ? 
Farwell  {Bull,  of  Pharmacy,  191 3,  XXXIII,  p.  65)  points  out 
that  most  of  the  drug  sold  as  Viburnum  opulus  is  in  fact  Acer 
spicatum.  Kraemer  in  the  second  edition  of  his  pharmacognosy  also 
states  that  the  drug  described  in  the  U.  S.  P.  VIII  is  in  fact  Acer 
spicatum. 
This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  several  commercial  fluidextracts 
of  Viburnum  opulus,  as  well  as  a  few  proprietary  remedies  claiming 
to  contain  Viburnum  opulus,  gave  the  tests  described  above. 
Summary. 
Acer  spicatum  contains  a  substance  which  gives  a  crimson  color 
with  ammonia,  and  which  may  be  similar  to  the  emodins  of  the 
common  cathartic  drugs.  It  also  contains  a  substance  which  gives 
a  blue  color  with  ferrous  sulphate  solution  similar  to  that  obtained 
with  rhubarb. 
Further  it  seems  that  these  two  reactions  should  be  of  value  for 
the  identification  of  extract  of  Acer  spicatum  in  medicinal  prepara- 
tions. Hubbard  has  shown  that  rhubarb,  alone  of  all  the  common 
"  emodin-bearing  "  cathartics,  gives  the  blue  color  with  ferrous  sul- 
phate solution.  Rhubarb  is  distinguished  from  Acer  spicatum  by 
the  red  color  which  the  former  gives  with  the  calcium  hypochlorite 
test.  The  identification  of  Acer  spicatum  in  the  presence  of  rhubarb, 
of  course,  cannot  be  accomplished  by  these  tests. 
Contribution  from  the  Laboratory  of  the  American  Medical  Association. 
