Am*jan.?i894arm'}   Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  37 
cent,  gurjun  balsam  the  red  color  develops  in  a  few  minutes ;  if  con- 
taining 20  per  cent,  gurjun  balsam  the  color  is  more  intense  and  is 
more  quickly  developed. — Apotheker  Ztg.}  1893,  565. 
Scoparin,  isolated  from  the  aqueous  extract  of  Spartium  Scopa- 
rium,  by  Stenhouse,  has  the  formula  C]9H1608  (OH)  (OCH3)  (and  not 
C21H22O10);  it  melts  at  2020  if  heated  slowly,  at  2190  if  heated 
rapidly.  It  crystallizes  from  70  per  cent,  alcohol  in  yellow  needles 
containing  5H20  and  becomes  anhydrous  at  105°  C;  it  is  soluble 
in  hot  water,  the  solution  reducing  alkaline  copper  and  silver  solu- 
tions. Scoparin  is  not  a  glucoside  as  by  hydrolysis  it  yields  no 
sugar,  but  a  brownish  yellow  substance  melting  with  decomposi- 
tion at  260-2700,  having  the  formula  C20H16O8  -f  2^  H20.  The 
difficultly  soluble  modification  of  scoparin,  which  is  obtainable  by 
boiling  the  above  described  substance  with  alcohol,  forms  a  yellow 
powder  melting  at  234-2 35 0  C,  and  can  be  changed  into  the  first 
form  by  dissolving  in  alkali  and  supersaturating  with  acid. — Gold- 
schmidt  and  v.  Himmelmayr  (Monatsh.  f.  Chem.)  Apotheker  Ztg.y 
1893,  566. 
Extract  of  male-fern  prepared  without  the  use  of  copper  utensils 
has  a  yellowish-green  color  ;  if  prepared  in  a  copper  vessel  this  normal 
color  is  changed  to  a  pure  green,  and,  hence,  Peters  recommends  the 
examination  for  copper  in  all  pure  green  colored  extracts. — 
Apotheker  Ztg.,  1893,  594. 
Irone,  an  odorless  principle,  has  been  isolated  by  Tiemann  and 
Kriiger  from  orris  root  which  is  known  to  possess  the  aroma  of 
violets,  it  is  a  methylketone,  having  the  formula  C13H20O.  An  iso- 
meric ketone  was  prepared  synthetically  from  citral,  the  odorous 
principle  of  lemon  oil  and  which  is  also  present  in  other  oils.  This 
ketone  is  called  ionone,  it  has  an  odor  very  much  like  that  of  irone, 
but  is  a  little  milder  and  recalls  the  odor  of  flowering  violets ;  it  is 
believed  that  one  of  these  substances  is  present  in  violets,  but  the 
quantity  is  so  exceedingly  small  that  this  proportion  is  only  possible 
on  a  large  manufacturing  scale. — (Berliner  Akad.)  Pharm.  Ztg., 
1893,  699. 
Caffein  sulphonates  have  recently  been  recommended  by  Heinz 
and  Liebrecht  as  an  unobjectionable,  safe  diuretic,  especially  in  the 
treatment  of  dropsy.  The  sodium  salt  has  been  called  by  the  name 
nasrol ;  recently  the  manufacturing  firm  having  placed  upon  the 
