Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1894. 
Contributions  to  Pharmacy. 
249 
to  the  atmosphere ;  it  gave  no  reaction  with  ferric  chloride  nor  for 
aldehydes.  Dehydrated  by  treatment  with  anhydrous  copper  sul- 
phate and  calcium  chloride  and  fractionally  distilled,  it  boiled  con- 
stantly at  830  C;  odor  and  boiling  point  indicate  isopropyl  alcohol. 
The  neutralized  distillate  after  extraction  with  ether  was  evaporated 
to  dryness  ;  one  of  the  lower  organic  acids  was  indicated  by  a  slight 
charring  ;  formic  and  acetic  acids  were  not  detected,  but  the  follow- 
ing tests  for  butyric  acid  were  obtained  :  Odor,  formation  of  the 
ethyl  ester,  formation  of  barium  butyrate  by  acidifying  with  phos- 
phoric acid,  distilling  and  neutralizing  the  distillate  with  barium  car- 
bonate, and  estimation  of  barium  in  this  salt. 
The  acid  solution  left  in  the  retort  after  removing  butyric  acid 
and  isopropyl  alcohol  by  distillation  had  lost  entirely  the  bitter  taste  ; 
agitation  with  ether  removed  nothing  from  this  solution.  To  get 
rid  of  the  sulphuric  acid  an  excess  of  washed  barium  carbonate 
was  added",  filtered,  and  the  filtrate  decolorized  with  animal  charcoal. 
This  solution,  which  reduced  Fehling's  solution,  was  evaporated  to 
dryness  and  the  residue  boiled  with  methyl  alcohol,  filtered,  and  the 
filtrate  mixed  with  ether ;  there  was  formed  a  white  flocculent  pre- 
cipitate which  dissolved  in  water,  was  dextrogyre,  fermentable  and 
gave  a  crystallizable  compound  with  phenyl-hydazine  melting  at 
205  0  C  ;  it  had  a  reducing  value  of  o  634  Cu  for  one  gram  substance 
and  by  oxidation  yielded  only  oxalic  acid.  This  bitter  principle, 
therefore,  is  a  glucoside  decomposing  into  dextrose,  butyric  acid  and 
isopropyl  alcohol.  • 
The  bitter  principle  oxidized  by  heating  on  a  water-bath  an  aque- 
ous solution  with  potassium  bichromate  and  sulphuric  acid  and  distil- 
ling in  a  current  of  steam  gave  but  one  recognizable  product,  butyric 
acid  ;  the  green-colored  liquid  left  in  the  retort,  after  cooling,  was 
agitated  with  ether,  but  the  latter  upon  evaporation  left  no  residue. 
The  substance  separating  in  the  cooling  of  the  hot  alcohol  extrac- 
tion of  the  bulb  is  described  as  a  dark-brown,  tough,  glutinous  mass, 
readily  soluble  in  water,  but  now  only  partly  soluble  in  alcohol;  it  was 
boiled,  using  a  reflux  condenser,  for  several  days  with  90  per  cent, 
alcohol,  whereby  the  color  was  much  improved  but  only  partial 
solution  was  effected  ;  after  filtering,  the  alcohol  was  largely  recov- 
ered by  distillation,  the  residual  liquid  mixed  with  water,  the  solu- 
tion first  decolorized  by  animal  charcoal,  then  evaporated  to  dry- 
ness  and  the  sweet  residue  boiled  with  methyl  alcohol.    The  addi- 
