276 
A  merican  Colocyn th . 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1894. 
sugar,  gum,  fat,  resin,  amyloid  and  albuminous  substances,  cellulose 
and  ash. 
A  separation  of  the  bitter  principle,  colocynthin,  was  thought 
might  furnish  valuable  means  of  ascertaining  the  relative  value  of 
the  American  Colocynth,  but  unfortunately  for  the  isolation  of  this 
principle  there  seems  to  be  no  process  which  in  the  hands  of  the 
analyst  will  yield  uniform  and  reliable  results.  Test  experiments 
with  the  commercial  powdered  colocynth,  for  the  purpose  of  verify- 
ing Waltz's,  Henke's,  and  the  method  suggested  by  George  Wagner 
(Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Asso.,  1893,  p.  179),  were  made.  But  in  no 
case  (operating  on  small  quantities)  could  such  uniform  results  be 
obtained  as  would  recommend  either  of  the  processes  for  the  pur- 
pose in  hand.  That  is,  either  process  with  the  same  powdered  Colo- 
cynth yielded  variable  results ;  three  trials,  for  example,  were  made 
with  each  process,  using  the  same  drug  each  time,  and  the  three 
results  were  so  variable  that  I  could  not  depend  upon  them  for  my  pur- 
poses. This  I  presume  was  largely  due  to  the  want  of  skill  on  my 
part. 
The  details  of  the  analysis  may  briefly  be  stated  as  follows : 
(/)  Resin,  Fat,  etc. — By  the  use  of  a  continuous  extraction  appa- 
ratus a  chloroform- ether  extractive  was  made.  The  ethereal  liquid 
evaporated  ;  the  extractive  treated  with  petroleum  spirit  which  lat- 
ter solution,  when  evaporated  and  weighed,  was  noted  as  fat.  The 
residue  treated  with  alcohol  and  the  alcoholic  solution  evaporated  ; 
this  precipitated  by  water;  the  precipitate,  collected  and  weighed, 
was  noted  as  resin. 
(//)  Reducing  substances  (sugar?) — An  alcoholic  solution  of  the 
dregs  from  /  was  made  ;  the  amount  of  total  extractive  thus  obtained 
was  noted,  and  an  aqueous  solution  of  the  extract  was  treated  with 
Fehling's  solution,  and  the  quantity  of  sugar  thus  indicated  was 
noted  as  reducing  substances.  It  may  be  stated  incidentally  that 
this  alcoholic  solution  when  concentrated  was  entirely  soluble — not 
precipitated — in  water. 
(Ill)  Gum. — A  cold,  aqueous  solution,  followed  by  a  warm  aque- 
ous percolation  of  the  dregs  from  //,  was  then  made.  The  concen- 
trated aqueous  solution  was  precipitated  by  the  addition  of  two 
volumes  of  alcohol.  The  precipitate  collected,  dried,  weighed,  in- 
cinerated and  again  weighed;  this  weight. was  noted  (that  is  the 
differences  between  the  last  two  weights)  as  gum. 
