350 
Constituents  of  Andrographis  Paniculata. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
August,  1914. 
one  two-toothed;  flowers  remote,  alternate,  long  petioles,  downy, 
rose  colored  or  white  streaked  with  purple;  capsules  erect,  some- 
what cylindrical ;  seeds,  three  to  four  in  each ;  roots  fusiform,  simple 
woody  with  numerous  fine  radicles. 
The  plant  is  well  known  in  Bengal  under  the  name  of  Kalmegh, 
and  is  the  principal  constituent  of  a  domestic  medicine  named  Alui 
which  is  given  to  children  for  the  relief  of  griping,  irregularity  of 
bowels,  and  loss  of  appetite.  It  is  also  called  Kiryat,  and  is  used  as 
a  substitute  for  chirata.  It  is  called  in  Sanskrit  "  Mahatikta,"  or 
king  of  bitters. 
According  to  Dr.  W.  A.  Boorsma  (Mededeelingen  uit  S  Lands 
plantentium,  1896,  xviii,  63),  if  the  powdered  plant  be  mixed  with 
lime  and  submitted  to  steam  distillation,  the  distillate  gives  all  the 
tests  of  a  volatile  alkaloid  which  he  could  not  isolate.  He,  however, 
isolated  an  amorphous  bitter  substance  (C15H2704). 
He  says  that  the  substance  begins  to  decompose  before  melting, 
so  that  he  could  not  determine  its  melting-point  accurately.  The 
amorphous  substance  obtained  by  the  present  author  has  some 
properties  common  with  the  above  substance,  but  the  melting-point 
has  been  accurately  determined ;  while  the  above  author  says  that 
the  amorphous  and  crystalline  (also  obtained  by  him)  substances 
have  the  same  properties,  the  two  substances  described  herein  have 
very  different  properties. 
Dr.  K.  Gorter,  by  extracting  the  leaves  of  Andrographis  panicu- 
lata with  alcohol,  obtained  a  lactone  (C22H30O5)  named  andrographo- 
lite.  It  is  converted  into  salts  of  andrographic  acid  by  boiling  with 
caustic  alkalies  (Apoth.  Zeits.,  191 1,  26,  954). 
For  examination  68  Gm.  of  the  powdered  leaves  and  stems  were 
taken  and  exhausted  in  a  Soxhlet  apparatus  successively  by 
petroleum  ether,  ether,  chloroform,  and  alcohol ;  after  evaporation 
of  the  solvents  the  extracts  weighed: 
Experimental. 
Petroleum  ether 
Ether   
Chloroform  .  .  . 
Alcohol   
0.437  Gm.,  or  0.643  per  cent. 
0.5864  Gm.,  or  0.861  per  cent. 
2.2501  Gm.,  or  3.309  percent. 
1.5045  Gm.,  or  2.214  percent. 
Total 
7.027  per  cent. 
