142  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals. 
Am.  Jour.  Pbarm 
March,  1894. 
be  avoided)  with  the  fluid  extracts  of  frangula,  hydrastis,  cascara 
sagrada  and  ergot,  while  the  fluid  extract  of  condurango,  however, 
always  gave  high  results,  caused  by  the  solubility  of  one  or  more  of 
the  constituents  in  water  and  ether-alcohol;  10  gms.  of  the  fluid 
extract  are  evaporated  to  5  gms.,  the  residue  dissolved  in  50  cc. 
water  and  solution  of  lead  subacetate  added  drop  by  drop  until  the 
precipitation  is  complete  ;  the  precipitate  is  allowed  to  subside  when 
the  clear  liquid  is  filtered  through  a  water- wetted  filter  and  then  the 
precipitate  transferred  and  washed  with  water  ;  the  filtrate  is  acidi- 
fied with  a  few  drops  of  diluted  sulphuric  acid,  a  concentrated  solu- 
tion of  phospho-tungstic  acid  added  until  precipitation  ceases  and 
the  mixture  filtered  and  washed  as  before ;  the  filtrate  is  now  made 
alkaline  with  dilute  solution  of  sodium  hydrate,  evaporated  to  syrupy 
consistency,  30  cc.  of  a  mixture  of  equal  volumes  of  absolute 
alcohol  and  ether  added,  the  mixture  filtered  and  the  insoluble 
matter  washed  with  ether-alcohol ;  the  ether-alcohol  solution  is 
evaporated  in  a  tared  flask,  having  a  long  neck,  and  dried  to  constant 
weight.  The  residue  is  almost  pure  glycerin  contaminated  gene- 
rally with  but  a  little  coloring  matter. — Pharm.  Centrahalle,  1 894, 
39- 
Pomegranate  alkaloids. — Ciamician  and  Silber  find  that  the  pseudo- 
pelletierine  of  Tanret  is  a  tertiary  base,  in  all  probability  belonging 
to  the  class  of  keton-amines ;  the  products  of  its  reduction  are  per- 
fectly analogous  with  those  of  tropine.  The  authors  propose  to 
change  the  name  "  pseudo  pelletierine  "  into  "  granatonin,"  to  indi- 
cate its  character  as  a  keton-amine. — (Berichte)  Apotheker  Ztg., 
1893,  625. 
Capsicum. — Capsaicin  exists  not  alone  in  the  placenta,  but  also  in 
the  outer  red  integuments;  these  if  very  carefully  and  perfectly 
freed  from  the  inner  membranes  are  found  to  possess  a  very  pro- 
nounced sharp  taste.  The  following  percentages  of  ether  extract 
were  obtained :  Outer  red  coating,  5-96-6-76  per  cent.;  entire  fruit, 
8-4-9-26  per  cent.;  inner  coating,  6-02-6-50  per  cent.,  and  seeds, 
14-20-14-36  per  cent.  The  above  statement  corrects  one  made  by 
A.  Meyer  (Am.  Jour.  Phar.,  92,  100),  that  the  sharp  principle  was 
only  present  in  the  placentae. — V.  Vedrbdi  (Ztschr.  f.  Nahrungsm. 
Unters.)  Apotheker  Ztg.,  1893,  626. 
The  cochineal  coloring  principle,  recently  examined  by  W.  von 
Miller  and  G.  Rohde  again  establishes  its  non-glucosidal  nature. 
