82  The  Saponin  of '  Sar  sap  ar  ilia,  {^t^s™' 
removal  of  the  flame,  but  it  is  difficult  to  effect  a  perfect  combustion 
of  the  light  charcoal  at  first  produced.  Pure  crystallized  parillin  is 
almost  insoluble  (about  I  in  10,000)  in  cold  water,  but  a  solution  pre- 
pared with  boiling  water  remains  supersaturated  after  it  has  become 
cold.  It  dissolves  at  25°C.  in  25  parts  of  alcohol,  sp.  gr.  0*814,  and 
much  more  freely  in  boiling  alcohol,  crystals  separating  from  the  latter 
on  cooling.  Parillin  dissolves  in  warm  chloroform  to  a  thin  liquid 
which  cannot  be  filtered,  and  yields  upon  evaporation  no  crystals,  but 
only  an  amorphous  varnish,  which,  however,  can  be  recrystallized 
from  hot  alcohol. 
Parillin  does  not  seem  to  be  provocative  of  sneezing,  like  saponin 
from  quillaia,  cyclamen  and  other  sources  is.  Solid  parillin  has  not  an 
acrid  taste  ;  an  alcoholic  solution  has  more  acridity  than  an  aqueous 
solution,  but  incomparably  less  than  saponin  solution.  No  effects 
were  observed  to  follow  the  use  of  such  solutions  of  parillin.  Parillin 
in  alcoholic  solution  has  no  rotatory  action  and  does  not  color  litmus 
paper. 
Parillin  gives  with  strong  sulphuric  acid  a  pure  yellow  solution  that 
becomes  of  a  beautiful  cherry-red  at  the  edges,  due  to  dehydration. 
With  dilute  sulphuric  acid  (10  per  cent.)  it  becomes  greenish  when 
heated  ;  kept  in  a  water-bath  it  gradually  becomes  a  beautiful  red  and 
finally  brown.  Phosphoric  acid  acts  similarly,  but  gives  more  of  a 
yellow-green  color.  The  addition  of  nitric  acid,  nitrates  or  bromine 
to  the  sulphuric  acid  solution  produces  no  special  color. 
An  aqueous  solution  of  parillin  gives  with  an  alcoholic,  but  not  with 
an  aqueous  solution  of  acetate  of  lead,  a  precipitate  again  soluble  in 
excess  of  the  lead  salt  or  of  alcohol.  No  precipitate  is  produced  by 
-subacetate  of  lead  or  tannic  acid.  In  the  cold  a  solution  of  parillin 
does  not  reduce  alkaline  cupric  tartrate,  but  at  8o°  or  900  a  separation 
of  cuprous  oxide  takes  place  in  a  few  hours.  But  it  produces  no  sepa- 
ration of  metallic  bismuth  from  a  solution  of  bismuth  tartrate  in  caustic 
alkali  even  after  prolonged  heating  in  a  water  bath.  Boiled  with  dilute 
sulphuric  or  hydrochloric  acid,  and  the  filtrate  neutralized,  it  freely 
reduces  cupric  tartrate  in  the  cold  after  a  short  time,  and  with  the  least 
warmth  immediately.  It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  parillin  is  a  gluco- 
side. 
The  parigenin  produced  by  the  decomposition  of  parillin  with  dilute 
mineral  acids  is  perfectly  insoluble  in  boiling  water,  so  that  it  can  be 
readily  separated  and  washed.  It  is  probable  that  the  sugar  separated 
is  at  least  partially  crystallizable. 
During  the  decomposition  of  the  parillin  by  dilute  mineral  acids  the 
liquid  acquires  a  strong  green  fluorescence.  The  fluorescence  is  still 
more  marked  when  parillin  in  solution  in  chloroform  containing  alcohol 
is  decomposed  with  dry  hydrochloric  acid  gas.  This  liquid  is  at  first 
colorless,  and  does  not  develop  heat,  but  suddenly  becomes  brown  by 
transmitted  light  and  full  green  by  reflected  light.    Upon  the  addition 
