406 
Contributions  to  Pharmacy. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1     August,  1894. 
In  addition  to  the  cinnamein  and  the  resin  there  was  isolated  by- 
well-known  procedure  from  the  balsam  a  small  quantity  not  exceeding 
005  per  cent,  of  vanillin;  free  cinnamic  acid  was  found  by  agitating 
the  balsam  with  portions  of  water  at  400  C.  until  the  last  solution 
ceased  to  have  an  acid  reaction,  the  mixed  solutions  made  alkaline, 
concentrated  and  the  acid  precipitated  by  hydrochloric  acid ; 
although  benzoic  acid  was  looked  for,  it  was  not  found  even  in  the 
last  crop  of  crystals. 
In  the  examination  of  Peru-balsam  the  yield  of  cinnamein  and 
resin  should  be  about  64  to  30  ;  should  the  figures  differ  consider- 
ably from  these  a  separate  examination  by  saponification  of  these 
two  important  constituents  should  be  made  to  establish  the  adul- 
teration. 
The  chemical  examination  of  the  bark  of  Myroxylon  Pereirae  by 
treatment  with  different  solvents  gave  no  clue  as  to  the  constituent 
which,  during  the  destructive  distillation,  produced  the  balsam  ;  ether 
extracted  from  the  bark  which  had  a  very  pronounced  odor  recalling 
coumarin,  only  a  very  small  quantity  of  a  yellow  resinous  sub- 
stance possessing  the  odor  of  the  bark ;  in  this  extract  neither  ' 
coumarin,  cinnamic  nor  benzoic  acid,  nor  any  of  the  balsam  con- 
stituents were  found ;  a  small  quantity  of  wax  and  a  resinous  sub- 
stance entirely  different  from  the  balsam  resin  were  all  that  could 
be  identified.  Alcohol  extracted  only  about  0.7  per  cent,  of  a  brown 
resinous  mass  in  which  were  found  an  easily  decomposable  iron- 
greening  tannin,  phloroglucin  and  a  phlobaphene-like  substance. 
The  microscopical  examination  revealed  secretion-cells  only  in  the 
primary  bark  of  young  twigs ;  in  the  older  twigs  this  primary  bark 
is  destroyed  by  the  formation  of  corky  tissue.  Careful  heating  of 
the  bark  failed  to  show  the  formation  of  the  balsam,  which  must  be 
considered  to  be  a  pathological  product.  In  consequence  of  the 
wounding  of  the  tree  an  increased  secretion  follows,  which  then  gives 
rise  to  the  balsam  upon  heating;  the  increased  secretion,  judging 
from  analogous  cases  and  from  the  nature  of  the  Peru-resinotannol 
is  in  all  probability  a  tannin-like  body. — (H.  Trog.  Arch,  der  Pharm., 
1894,  70-98).  Frank  X.  Moerk. 
THE  FLOWERING  OF  BLOODROOT. 
John  Chamberlain,  in  Garden  and  Forest,  June  13,  records  his 
observations  as  follows :  "  I  have  been  much  interested  this  spring 
