Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1894. 
American  Colocynth. 
275 
9192  per  cent.  The  powder  from  the  dried  pulp  was  light  in  color, 
resembling  the  powder  from  the  Indian  fruit,  and  like  the  latter 
very  bitter ;  the  dust  arising  from  it  irritating  to  the  eyes  and 
nostrils,  but  differing  considerably  from  the  other  in  density,  being 
much  more  compact  and  less  fluffy. 
As  time  has  permitted,  I  have  endeavored  to  make  a  comparison 
between  this  American  Colocynth,  and  that  of  the  Trieste  fruit  of 
the  market  by  a  somewhat  crude  analysis.  A  complete  analysis  of 
the  two  products  for  the  purposes  of  comparison  was  deemed  un- 
necessary, but  a  less  complicated  scheme  was  adopted,  which  it 
was  thought  not  only  accomplished  the  purpose,  but  was  best  suited 
to  the  comparatively  small  quantity  of  the  dried  pulp  I  found  myself 
in  possession  of,  after  proper  desiccation  of  the  fresh  apples  had 
taken  place. 
Incidentally  I  might  here  mention  that  an  attempt  was  made  to 
dry  the  whole  unbroken,  decorticated  apples,  in  the  open  air,  by 
suspending  them  in  open  frames  made  of  string.  The  air  was  warm 
and  a  good  current  stirring,  but,  after  drying,  on  cutting  open  the 
shrivelled  and  apparently  dry  apples,  there  appeared  in  the  some- 
what damp  interior,  patches  of  black  and  white  mould,  which  so 
penetrated  into  the  tissue  as  to  make  the  drug  valueless.  Suspend- 
ing the  unbroken  and  peeled  fruit  over  a  coil  of  steam  pipe,  in  a  per- 
fectly dry  room,  free  from  dust,  gave  the  same  result.  To  dry  the 
pulp  successfully,  I  found  it  best  to  cut  the  pulpy  mass  into  thin 
slices  and  lay  these  upon  porcelain  plates  in  a  hot-air  oven,  kept  at 
the  temperature  of  about  500  C.  From  what  I  can  learn  of  the  col- 
lection and  drying  of  the  fruit  in  India,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  difficulty 
to  accomplish  the  latter  there  in  the  open  air ;  but  all  attempts  to 
dry  either  the  whole  or  peeled  fruit  here  in  the  atmosphere,  proved 
a  failure  on  account  of  the  insidious  growth  of  saprophytic  fungi — 
principally  the  omniverous  mucor  and  penicillium. 
Returning  to  the  analysis,  I  have  said  a  simple  method  was  adopted 
which  seemed  to  be  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  making  comparison 
with  the  foreign  fruit.  The  dry  pulp,  deprived  of  seeds,  was  reduced 
to  powder  and  treated  with  various  solvents,  the  extracts  from  which 
were  weighed  and  carefully  examined,  according  to  details  given  below. 
In  this  way  were  obtained  (1)  an  ether-chloroform  extract;  (2)  an 
alcoholic  extract  from  dregs  from  1 ;  (3)  an  aqueous  extract  of  dregs 
from  2.    Determinations  were  made  of  the  various  extractives  for 
