Am'jan.!'i894.arm'}   Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  33 
alcohol,  acetone  and  water  will  dissolve  it,  especially  the  first  two  ;  the 
acetone  solution  is  precipitated  by  chloroform.  Cold,  dilute  acids  do 
not  decompose  it,  but  the  alkalies  produce  deep  yellow  solutions  con- 
taining alteration  products ;  hot  diluted  acids  in  the  presence  of 
alcohol  decompose  it  according  to  the  reactions  C24H26013  -f-  H20  = 
C6H1206  -j-  C18H16Os,  the  last  formula  represents  irigenin  which  is 
well  crystallizable,  melts  at  1 86°,  has  the  properties  of  a  phenol  and 
gives  with  ferric  chloride  an  intense  violet  color.  Irigenin,  with 
strong  alkalies,  yields  formic  acid,  iridic  acid  C10H12O5,  and  a  phenol 
C7H804  called  iretol ;  iridic  acid  above  its  melting  point,  1800  C, 
yields  carbon  dioxide,  and  the  phenol  iridol  C7H5(OCH3)2OH  which 
melts  at  570  C. — (Berichte)  Apotheker  Ztg.,  1893,  523. 
Glucosides  of  alcohols. — If  gaseous  hydrochloric  acid  be  passed 
into  a  methyl  alcohol  solution  of  glucose,  which  is  kept  cold  by 
refrigeration,  the  mixture  after  a  short  time  loses  the  power  of 
reducing  Fehling's  solution  and  will  yield  a  well  crystallizable  pro- 
duct having  the  formula  C6Hn06CH3.  This  reaction  is  character- 
istic for  all  alcohols  which  dissolve  glucose  ;  alcohols  which  do  not 
dissolve  glucose  will  still  give  the  reaction  if  the  glucose  be  replaced 
by  acetic  chlorhydrose,  which  is  easily  soluble  in  ether,  chloroform 
and  benzole  and  by  the  gaseous  hydrochloric  acid  decomposes, 
yielding  glucose  as  one  product,  which  then  unites  with  the  alcohol 
as  above.  The  derivatives  of  ethyl  and  methyl  alcohol  with  man- 
nose,  galactose,  glucoheptose,  arabinose,  xylose,  rhamnose  and 
fructose  were  obtained ;  sugar  of  milk  (lactose)  and  maltose  do  not 
follow  the  rule  because  of  their  aldehydic  character.  This  class  of 
compounds  react  very  much  like  the  natural  glucosides ;  while 
boiling  alkalies,  phenylhydrazine  and  Fehling's  solution  produce 
no  change  ;  boiling  with  dilute  acids  decomposes  them  into  the  com- 
ponents. Interesting  is  the  fact  that  some  of  these  compounds 
have  a  sweet  others  a  bitter  taste,  and  hence  the  possibility  that  the 
so-called  vegetable  bitter  principles  may  belong  to  this  class.  The 
name  proposed  for  the  class  is  simply  to  change  the  ose  of  the  sugar 
into  osid  and  precede  this  term  by  the  name  of  the  alcohol  radical 
as  methyl  glucosid,  ethyl  arabinosid,  etc. — Emil  Fischer  (Berlin. 
Akad.  d.  Wissensch.)  Chem.  Repert.,  1893,  234. 
Chionanthin,  a  glucoside  from  chionanthus  virginica,  was  isolated 
by  extracting  the  root  with  hot  petroleum  ether ;  after  distilling  off 
